COLD DARK ROOM

[EllieMay]

Good mornooning all.

JoesDad is flying to New Delhi for work this evening. He’ll be back on Friday night. He has been there for work many times before, even working out there for 17 months continuously at one stage and commuting back and forth every fortnight.

I have never been to India; there’s no point going when he is working as he does long days in the office and it’s not somewhere I would feel comfortable exploring on my own. At the time of his long contract the children’s school public exams completely wrecked any chance of going out.

But we the children have grown up and have lives of their own so it will happen sometime in the future

We have started to hatch plans for a long and exciting trip overseas next year (not involving India) I am certain we haven’t had CDR postcards from this part of the world from anyone... I shall keep you on tenterhooks and will let it unfold once we have something more certain

Well that’s exciting... overseas where no member has ventured before.... hmmmmm [emoji848]

 

[JoesMum]

Happy Sunday all.

And the second week of the great Florida adventure continues. We broke “kayak camp” early Saturday morning, with peeps departing their separate ways. Some driving, some flying straight back to the Maryland area. That said, I dropped off one of our team at the airport and continued straight to Ocala (Florida) Silver Springs area where I paddled on the famous Silver River.

Crystal clear spring waters, brilliant green lush vegetation, tons of turtles, birds, alligators and even monkeys! Ogh..forgot to mention the manatees too!

Once completed 10.2 mile route, I loaded up the kayak and drove over to Florida’s east coast (Atlantic side) to Ormond Beach. Wifey flys in this afternoon and we are here for the week.

And now, just a few pix to share.

View attachment 268037 View attachment 268038
Tons of Turtles

View attachment 268039
A Few Alligators

View attachment 268042
Manatees Under My Kayak

View attachment 268040 View attachment 268041
These Are Anhingas

View attachment 268043
And a Monkey or Three

Very cool pictures! Especially manatees! Are the monkeys native?

 

[JoesMum]

Good afternoon (just) all.

We have been out in the spring sunshine tidying the garden. The bird song is wonderful.

I peeped under our toad shelter and discovered it has become a mouse larder over the winter

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Finished up on the pond for now. Soon I'm going to add rock waterfall.

 

[Reptilony]

What you have said is true. But if this would be @Cathie G first betta, I would suggest she not attempt it so soon.

There's just so much that can go wrong...just like putting two tortoises together.

And she said she is short on space. I don't think I would attempt a sorority in anything smaller than a 20L.

Yeah you’re right...A single male betta would do perfect in a 10g. I know walmart sell them for very cheap too. Some shrimps could also live peacefully with a betta and can be practical for eating all kinds of uneated food and algae. But is this her first aquarium?

 

[Reptilony]

Happy Sunday all.

And the second week of the great Florida adventure continues. We broke “kayak camp” early Saturday morning, with peeps departing their separate ways. Some driving, some flying straight back to the Maryland area. That said, I dropped off one of our team at the airport and continued straight to Ocala (Florida) Silver Springs area where I paddled on the famous Silver River.

Crystal clear spring waters, brilliant green lush vegetation, tons of turtles, birds, alligators and even monkeys! Ogh..forgot to mention the manatees too!

Once completed 10.2 mile route, I loaded up the kayak and drove over to Florida’s east coast (Atlantic side) to Ormond Beach. Wifey flys in this afternoon and we are here for the week.

And now, just a few pix to share.

View attachment 268037 View attachment 268038
Tons of Turtles

View attachment 268039
A Few Alligators

View attachment 268042
Manatees Under My Kayak

View attachment 268040 View attachment 268041
These Are Anhingas

View attachment 268043
And a Monkey or Three

Wow those pictures are unreal, so beautiful! What do you use to take them?

 

[Reptilony]

Good afternoon (just) all.

We have been out in the spring sunshine tidying the garden. The bird song is wonderful.

I peeped under our toad shelter and discovered it has become a mouse larder over the winter
View attachment 268044

What is a toad shelter?

 

[JoesMum]

Finished up on the pond for now. Soon I'm going to add rock waterfall.

Looks really good!

 

[JoesMum]

What is a toad shelter?

It’s somewhere for toads to live. They’re in ponds breeding right now, but after that they disperse and like damp cool places to hide. They’re really good at eating slugs, so they’re definitely to be encouraged in the garden.

Mine is a concrete one like this which is placed under our red hot poker plants (kniphofia) in a cool and shady area that doesn’t get much sun.


This was last summer’s resident

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Looks really good!

2 of the plants I got from my dad's house when he passed and I've managed to keep them alive inside the house all winter.

 

[Bee62]

Hi Sabine!

Lovely to not see you pop in. Sorry I missed you [emoji177]

Thank you very much Linda. I never thought that you would miss me. I love your hearts and what you wrote. It really makes me happy. Thanks again.

 

[KarenSoCal]

Yeah you’re right...A single male betta would do perfect in a 10g. I know walmart sell them for very cheap too. Some shrimps could also live peacefully with a betta and can be practical for eating all kinds of uneated food and algae. But is this her first aquarium?

I don't know if it's the first. And I think a 5g is ok for 1 betta, as long as it has lots of plants and hiding places.

My bettas had a problem with shrimp...the shrimp attacked the fish's fins! It would hang on tight to his tail, while the fish went crazy trying to get it off. So now I put a couple nerite snails and a mystery snail in. I have them in the tank already, then introduce the fish. All is peaceful.

You can see the mystery snail on the right in this He's bigger than the fish!

 

[TriciaStringer]

Such a beautiful Sunday! We participated the heck out of a one mile fun run in memory of our baby we lost last November. Our friend did the quarter marathon. He is an actual runner. We are actual walkers.
Have a blessed and amazing day!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Yeah you’re right...A single male betta would do perfect in a 10g. I know walmart sell them for very cheap too. Some shrimps could also live peacefully with a betta and can be practical for eating all kinds of uneated food and algae. But is this her first aquarium?

We have our Betta (named Alpha) in a 10 gallon, along with live plants, two coryodora catfish, one Neon Tetra, and a ton of snails. They all get along. Alpha used to be solo in a very small container i had at work on my desk, maybe 1/2 gallon, but when I retired we upgraded to the 10 g and a few more live things. The small tank had no filter, so i added and changed water every few days. In the 10 g, we initially had to be careful ‘cause Alpha would swim near the filter and get “stuck” on the uptake filter. Now, hes strong, no longer happens. We still only cycle the filter for only a few hours daily. Bettas like calm waters.

 

[EllieMay]

Happy Sunday all.

And the second week of the great Florida adventure continues. We broke “kayak camp” early Saturday morning, with peeps departing their separate ways. Some driving, some flying straight back to the Maryland area. That said, I dropped off one of our team at the airport and continued straight to Ocala (Florida) Silver Springs area where I paddled on the famous Silver River.

Crystal clear spring waters, brilliant green lush vegetation, tons of turtles, birds, alligators and even monkeys! Ogh..forgot to mention the manatees too!

Once completed 10.2 mile route, I loaded up the kayak and drove over to Florida’s east coast (Atlantic side) to Ormond Beach. Wifey flys in this afternoon and we are here for the week.

And now, just a few pix to share.

View attachment 268037 View attachment 268038
Tons of Turtles

View attachment 268039
A Few Alligators

View attachment 268042
Manatees Under My Kayak

View attachment 268040 View attachment 268041
These Are Anhingas

View attachment 268043
And a Monkey or Three

These are wonderful!!!!

 

[EllieMay]

Thank you very much Linda. I never thought that you would miss me. I love your hearts and what you wrote. It really makes me happy. Thanks again.

Linda is not the only one who misses you. I know I sure do Every morning, I look at my clock and think fondly of you! I hope you never get too busy for us! [emoji253][emoji253][emoji253]

 

[Yvonne G]

Today's walk was the hardest momo ever had. As you can see in the pics I had snow up my knees and im 6' so imagine for this 6lb dog...He still had a lot of fun!View attachment 268017View attachment 268018View attachment 268019

BR-r-r-r. . . will it ever be Spring?

I'm still dragging my feet. Maybe in April...

It's no big deal, you're not missing out on much. It's just handy to have FB to fall back on when/if the Forum every goes offline for any length of time.

Just popped in to see what I've missed in your busy lives while I've had another marathon ironing session.
Considering it's just me, I can't believe how much ironing I have to do!
Anyway it's bedtime now so I'll probably see you tomorrow evening because I'm off out for Sunday lunch - can't wait!!!
Nos Da all take care.

I used to iron when I was working. Now I mainly wear sweats in winter and shorts in summer - all no iron type of clothing!

 

[EllieMay]

Such a beautiful Sunday! We participated the heck out of a one mile fun run in memory of our baby we lost last November. Our friend did the quarter marathon. He is an actual runner. We are actual walkers.
Have a blessed and amazing day!

Those are wonderful pictures. great way to start your Sunday. I hope you have lots of good memories to help you with your grief. Sending you warm ehugs and extra smiles for your heart [emoji171]

 

[Maro2Bear]

I don't know if it's the first. And I think a 5g is ok for 1 betta, as long as it has lots of plants and hiding places.

My bettas had a problem with shrimp...the shrimp attacked the fish's fins! It would hang on tight to his tail, while the fish went crazy trying to get it off. So now I put a couple nerite snails and a mystery snail in. I have them in the tank already, then introduce the fish. All is peaceful.

You can see the mystery snail on the right in this He's bigger than the fish!View attachment 268050

Nice Mystery Snail. I had about 5 and they sort of died in about a month. Not sure why. Maybe water temps not quite warm enough....but they were moving and eating nicely. While kayaking yesterday, i saw two more very large MS egg clusters. If i was close to going back home i would have collected them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Good afternoon (just) all.

We have been out in the spring sunshine tidying the garden. The bird song is wonderful.

I peeped under our toad shelter and discovered it has become a mouse larder over the winter
View attachment 268044

How interesting. We have many, many toads here. In spring we have to actually watch where we put our feet as we walk as there are millions of baby toadlets covering the ground. I never thought of having a toad house. I guess there are so many junky obstacles laying around for them to hide under. I love toads, but mice not so much. The cats take care of the mouse problem.

Such a beautiful Sunday! We participated the heck out of a one mile fun run in memory of our baby we lost last November. Our friend did the quarter marathon. He is an actual runner. We are actual walkers.
Have a blessed and amazing day!

A sad, yet fun time. I've never participated in any kind of fun run, but it sounds interesting.

Nice Mystery Snail. I had about 5 and they sort of died in about a month. Not sure why. Maybe water temps not quite warm enough....but they were moving and eating nicely. While kaysking yesterday, i saw teo more very large MS egg clusters. If i was close to going bsck home i would have collected them.

Sounds like you're having a very nice vacation from the cold weather of home.