The Walterland Blog

If you're going to have a blog... then blog about stuff. Anything will do... just look at mine. Stupid, random crap. Don't have a blog where all you do is post links. I'll give you an example. Take my friend Josh's blog. Out of the 10 most recent posts... 6 of them were links. Don't get me wrong... A link is OK from time to time... but don't turn Blogging into Linking.

I don't like cinnamon... but I do like apples. I'd have to say that it is my favorite dessert fruit (like pies and pastries and such). What I don't understand is why it seems that every time there is something apple... it includes cinnamon. Why do they do that... I personally don't feel it enhances the flavor. I think it screws it all up.

You don't add ingredients to other fruit flavors... You don't hear of blueberries and whatever... or strawberries and whatever. Leave the apple stuff alone...

I have taken notice recently that many elderly folks just do whatever in the hell they wanna do... I mean... who's gonna say something and pick a fight with an old person. I've noticed that most of them are full of piss and vinegar as it is. I think they are just looking to pick a fight sometimes... For example, I went to the local seasonal Halloween store with the family yesterday. We had a great time... we got Emily a little cowboy hat. As we left the store, I took notice of an old woman sitting on a bench... I don't know what made me look at her, but I wish I hadn't. I managed to look at her just in time to watch her blow a snot rocket... but, for some reason, it was in slow motion. It reminded me of trying to get that last little bit of shampoo out of the bottle. I saw the bubbles on it and everything.

Now, I can usually stomach a lot of gross stuff, but this made me literally want to vomit... I told the wife I wasn't feeling well after witnessing that spectacle. It's still very fresh in my mind. I may not finish my lunch now...

The wife, and daughters were coming home from the grocery store yesterday... Emily said to the wife,

"It’s time to go home mommy... it's time to go to our new house that Daddy and Josh built..." Well, the wife started laughing at this... mainly because... it's funny. Emily's response was,

"Don't laugh mommy... Josh is nice... and Josh has a pretty shirt."

Well, I don't need to add that that was followed by more laughter. I got home from work and was told this story, and it had the same hysterical effect on me... so, I asked Emmy about it. she again told me that Josh and I built our house... but now Josh was nice AND pretty.

Well Josh... today we salute you... Mr. Pretty Shirt House Builder...

Well, the Super Fair Fish are still with us. That's an official record for my aquarium. This feat was celebrated today by the wife and kids today at the local Petco. They were there to purchase some new neighbors for the Super Fish. I shoulda let the wife do this from the get go. She bought feeder fish for like $0.25/ea. and... she also picked up some chemicals.

The last report I got, all the fish were still alive. There does seem to be a small issue though... the old fish are trying to "bully" around the new fish. I guess they have the right to do that... they've been there longer, they've earned it... it's their turf. This was demonstrated by Super Fair Fish 1. He had wrangled all the new fish into a corner and was standing guard over them... making sure they didn't "make themselves at home." I hope this is still going on when I get home tonight... I think that'd be funny as hell to watch.

That's Hot...

While at the York Fair on Monday we came across a game where you can win goldfish. I know everyone knows the game, and most have played it. It cost us $2 to get 20 ping pong balls. Out of 20, I landed 2... Great! Now we have some more sacrificial fish for the death tank. And... I won't feel as bad killing off "Fair Fish."

We got back from the fair and into the tank they went. They musta spent a lot of time in the dark at the fair, because every time I turned the light on... they freaked out. After doing that for about an hour, I got bored and went outside...

I'm happy to report that as of this morning, the fish were still alive and kicking. There can really only be two reasons for that...

1.) I got Super Fair Fish... or
2.) The tank has finally stabilized itself from the set-up.

I think it's reason #1.

I went to the annual York Fair this past Monday... One of the main reasons for going this year is because our three-year-old LOVES animals... So, we took her to see the goats and sheep and crap they have there.

While walking around that stinky arena looking at farm animals I discovered that I think I'm a little scared of cows. Sounds kinda stupid huh... These things are like road signs... you don't realize how big the damn things are until you get right up next to one. MY GOD!

This farmer guy tried to get me and Emmy to pet the one... I told him I thought his cow was freakishly big. His reply, "well, she weighs a ton." He was serious… I got a little more scared. Right after that we left.

Why is it that I don't think this is going to be very effective...

Honda develops airbags for motorcycles...

Well... I got the call yesterday afternoon... The last fish had passed on. This came as no surprise to me. This tank has a 100% kill rate. After I scooped the last fish carcass out of the tank, that also was NOT floating, the water started to clear up. I don't think at this point we are going to empty the water... We're just going to let it work itself out and possibly go purchase more fish on Sunday.

Emily noticed this morning that there were no fish left. She wasn't sad about it either... she just wanted to go buy more. I guess the fun part of the tank for her is all the new fish she gets. I wonder what she actually thinks a fish tank is now... With all the revolving fishes... Once we're actually able to sustain life in that tank... she's probably gonna get bored of seeing the same fish all the time.

Last night... we lost another fish. This was the last one from the original batch. So, we are down to one. This one isn't looking too good either... it's definitely a goner. I bet it's dead before I get home from work tonight.

On a side note... Aren't these things supposed to float? I have killed 7 fish in the past 3 days or so... Not one of them was floating. Every damn one of them kicked the bucket in a plant. That makes it more of a challenge to scoop them out without Emily noticing.

I think the plan is… Once this fish bites it, we’re gonna empty out “Death Tank” and start over… new water, new chemicals, new fish. Start all over again… More to follow…

Sunday was Emily's 3rd birthday. For her birthday, one of the presents the wife and I got her was a fish tank. She LOVED it... Katie and I set it up Saturday night after she want to bed so she could wake up and see it in the morning... It was great. She was so excited to go get fishes to fill her new tank.

We went to the local Petco where we purchased 5 fishes. They seemed nice and content in their new home. Later that day, one died. A little later on... another one died. I think I see a pattern here. By morning, we had lost 3 of the 5 fish we bought. I'm thinking it's something with our water... So, Emily and I went back to our local Petco that morning and had them test our water.

I was told that all of our levels were high due to it being a new setup... I was also informed that this will work itself out and we wouldn’t need any chemicals. OK, great... So, we bought 3 new fish. We took them home, put them in their new home, and watched for signs of a struggle... nothing. By this time though, another one of the fish we purchased on Saturday had died... So, with the three new fish, we were down to 4.

Later on in the day, I noticed that one of the new fishes was kinda "floating"... Here we go again… After that one died, he wanted some company. So, he took one with him... Now, we're down to 2 fish...

Time to recap... Purchased 5 fish, 4 died. Purchased 3 fish, 2 died. Apparently our fish tank has a 25% survival rate. That was over $20 worth of fish that died in a period of about 24 hours. This raised a question in my mind... When I went and bought the second set of fish... and both the Petco guy and I knew the water was kinda bad... Would it be considered cruelty that he sold me the second batch?

What is it about golf balls... Apparently where I live... they are like gold or something.

My backyard meets up with a golf course... This particular area seems to be a popular spot for golfers to hit, and lose, their balls. There are a group of kids that routinely scour the area in search of these little treasures. Now, I have found a few golf balls myself... I find them, and give them to my daughter. The difference is... I don't go looking for them. I'll find them while I'm mowing the lawn or something... Anyhow... what do these people do with these golf balls then?

My neighbor actually goes out onto the course itself and looks for balls... He currently has 4 little buckets and some little bingo drum thing filled with balls. I wonder if he considers that some sort of status symbol. "The one who finds the most balls... wins." I don't get it...

Why is it that when one person on a phone conversation starts whispering... the other person does too. This is another one of my "Fun with People" experiments. Try talking on the phone sometime and just start whispering... see if the person you're talking to starts whispering too... I bet if they do, the first thing they'll say is, "why are you whispering."