The Fish Are Alive!!

I had the thought this morning that the precious goldfish shouldn't be left out of the story.  When Dan built his greenhouse, he thought "how nice would it be to hear the sound of a waterfall".  So he built one in the corner.

The next thing you know, there was a pond.  What's a pond without fish for the granddaughter to feed?  Besides, they will keep the pond clean of moss, right?   That would be my thought too.  Little did he know just how tough these little guys are.

Now they are HUGE and well ... you can't just let them go in the river cuz there ISN'T a river.  My dad used to put goldfish in our big horse watering troughs to help keep the moss at bay.  They lived forever until the cats finally snagged them.

So that's why I'm babysitting the fish who live in the aquarium during the hot summer months.  They really are fun to watch, and this picture just proves they are still alive and kicking!

I've figured out how to water the cactus from far away, although thank goodness the intermittent rain is helping considerably.  In the meantime, I picked up a few miscellaneous pieces of fabric to start the cactus quilt.

This is such a good idea for me since it takes a very long time to hand sew all these little pieces onto the fabric.  The longer it takes, the less I spend on MORE fabric.

You trace the pattern on butcher paper, iron it to fabric, cut it out, then turn and iron the edges.  A couple hours of hand sewing later, there you have it.  

After previous encounters with the wonderful wildlife of this location, I never enter a room without peaking around the corner and turning the lights on.  Remember this guy in the bathroom?  My feet never even come close to entering until I do a double take EVERY single time!!   

I know I'm weird, but I check not only the floors and walls, but the bathtub as well.  THIS is why!  Sorry the picture is so blurry, but neither my big camera nor my phone would focus since he's so tiny.  Do these things come from eggs??  Exactly WHERE did he come from?  It's the tiniest thing I've ever seen, about 3/8 of an inch long.  

Thank goodness my bathtub caught him before he got away.  That's when I noticed all the dead spiders in the tub that he had been snacking on.  Alas, he went for a short ride down a long drain pipe.  I'll probably get another $10 added to my water bill since I left it running for about 15 minutes, just to be sure he made it to the ocean!!

Well .... that was a nice break from sewing!!  There is still lots of embellishment work to be done on these squares, but basically this one is complete.

I've got a long way to go ........  and that's a GOOD thing.

You will excuse me if I go check the bathrooms.  Several times a day now I do a quick once over to be sure there are no critters lurking around.  On another note, the bed is wonderful.  Not that I sleep any better, but I don't wake up with achey anything.  That gives me the extra strength I need to fight the critters!!