04.22 pm

Goodness gracious! I don’t know what can have come over me – I’m not starting late today! Today’s been rather interesting, actually – this morning Julian was going to change over the usual 30% of the water in Auric and Dapple’s Fish House, but as we were going to be getting another couple of fishies for Auric and Dapple to play with, he was also going to set up the little “holding tank” for the new fishies as a sort-of “quarantine station”, until they settled in. It was the one that we’d had for Auric and Dapple, when we first brought them inside, and it didn’t need much to get it ready, as we already had a filter pump for it, and some plastic plants – all we needed was some gravel for the bottom of the tank, and of course, the new fishies, which we thought we might get on Monday. So before changing over 30% of Auric and Dapple’s water, he went up to the nice big Pet Barn place (next door to Aldi, up at Vermont South) to get some more Fish Tank Gravel. When he came back with the gravel, he told me that the Pet Barn place had some more of the fishes that we wanted to get, “Golden Comets” (last time we’d looked for them they appeared to have sold out!) Then he looked at me and said “And I suppose you’re going to want me to take you up there this afternoon, so that we can get them!” I was a trifle surprised at that, because I’d thought it would take a bit longer than a couple of hours to get the water right for new fishies! But he said no, it wouldn’t take long – he’d do all the preparation, and change over Auric and Dapple’s water, and then test both tanks after lunch. Which he did, and apparently the water was fine, so we jumped in the car, and came home with two pretty little Golden Comets, temporarily being called “Lemon” and “Butter”, until I can think of better names for them. They’re a lovely, very slightly greenish “new lemon” colour (“new lemon” in that they’re a very pale yellow, not the almost “dark yellowish/brownish orange” of old lemons, that you’ve left in the fruit bowl for too long!) though if you look straight down on them in the water, the tops of their heads have a very slight orange tinge to them – which I hope won’t darken up too much as they get older and bigger! We’ll keep them in the holding tank for about a week, then we’ll introduce them to Auric and Dapple – I hope they’ll like eachother and get on well – all of the people at the aquariums we’ve been to have told us that goldfish get on fine with new ones, unless they’re very small, in which case they’ll try and eat them! Goldfish, I’ve been told, will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, and as they don’t have stomachs, everything just goes straight through them, which is why you shouldn’t feed them too much because they can easily get a blockage, so now when I feed them in the evenings, I only give them about six or seven teeny little pellets of spirulina (each one is slightly smaller than a sesame seed, and slightly larger than a poppy-seed!) The trouble is, Auric is bigger, much more agile, and a great deal faster than poor little Dapple (who’s growing at a rate of knots, I might add!) and he’s so greedy! Naughty little Auric always manages to get the lion’s share of the little pellets, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for Dapple, and feed them a bit more, so that he’ll get some dinner too…

So, we have our new little fishies! 🙂

I bought another six new fonts today – so made yet another header for my Blog Project – I haven’t put it up yet, but might do so tonight… I’ve done a bit more work to the “body” of it, and it should be ready to go Public by about the middle of next week – I’ll keep you all posted! 🙂

I’ve actually spent most of today with Phaédra – who is now level 40 – and still in Feralas, though I’m not sure for how much longer – I’m already starting to “one-shot” most mobs, which is a real bore! I do hope Blizzard are taking serious note of the number of, and types of, complaints that I’m quite sure are pouring in, especially in regards to Shamen – the Demon Hunters are going to be available for creation and play on August 9th, and of course the entire “Legion” Expansion goes live at the end of August, which starts on Monday! August starts on Monday, I meant – and for me, Monday is also “Weep and Despair” Day for me! I go back on those horrible, evil, nasty, despicable, cruel and unnatural, fluid loving and retaining pills again! Arrggghhh! And my foot still hasn’t recovered fully! I did a short “weekend” walk of 20 minutes today, and I know I said I wouldn’t do it again, but I had to! I hadn’t quite got to the ten minute mark, when my damn left foot started acting up. I ignored it, and started limping a bit (believe it or not, it’s quite difficult to limp on a treadmill!) so I did manage to complete my twenty minute “weekend” walk – but it wasn’t fun! Going back on those damn pills again, even if it is only for ten days, means that I should probably lengthen my walk every morning, not scale it back! Oh well, I’ll just have to see how I go…

And now, once again it’s time for the good bits!

Food stuffs. Last night we had a nice little piece of steak for dinner – at least, I thought mine was nice, Julian wasn’t all that happy with his, as he found a bit of gristle in it. The trouble is, the supermarket shelves are all but empty, thanks to the strike – and apparently there were hardly any fresh vegetables at all left at Coles in Vermont South! We had steamed green beans, chips, and the ubiquitous half a tomato with that, and for dessert, I had an “Eve” apple, plus that Jalna “Cafe Latte” pot-set yoghurt that I was telling you all about last night- which, I must tell you, was very, very nice! It had quite a nice, strong coffee flavour, though… somehow it’s difficult to reconcile the slightly “sour” yoghurt taste, with the creamy, slightly sweet, coffee flavour! But in spite of that anomaly,  I really did like it, and I do hope that it’s going to be a “permanent” on-shelf product at the supermarket, not just a special, “limited edition” type of “here today, gone tomorrow” item! Because he was up at the shops this morning getting the gravel for the bottom of the small fish tank, amongst a bit of other shopping, and knowing that he’d be pretty busy getting the holding tank ready for the new fish when he got back with everything, Julian also brought home some very nice savoury Danish’s for our lunch, plus a couple of those delicious fruit and white chocolate scones, so I had a small “ham and cheese Danish” for lunch, and the fruit and white chocolate scone – unfortunately, when the fruit for the scones was being handed out to the Bakers, my Baker must have been hiding behind the door or something, because I think there might have been one, or perhaps two, small pieces of fruit in mine… but it still tasted delicious! 🙂 Tonight for dinner we’re having a reprise of the Outback Spirit Beef and Bush Tomato sausages – with our usual half a tomato, chips, and steamed green beans – and for dessert I’ll have a “bald-kiwifruit-brown” skinned Nashi pear, and a Vanilla Le Rice.

Weigh-in this morning. Was very interesting, and I almost can’t wait to see what I weight tomorrow! I went from 63.9 kg to 64.0 kg – up one point! I wonder if I’ll stay on that tomorrow too, as I’ve been staying on each weight for two days at a time for the past week! I doubt it though – a combination of not being able to do my proper length walks every morning, and the nice but “not really good for me” lunch that I had today will make quite sure of that, unfortunately! Then of course, come Monday and those ‘orrible little pills, I’m going to start having veritable King “fluid” Tides for a while! 😦

And that brings me around to tomorrow, Sunday, which as everybody knows, is our day for gallivanting around Azeroth, walloping nasty creatures, and playing the “Cousin Guido” game for quest-givers¹ – not that we mind all that much, especially if we get decent quest rewards! Hopefully we won’t die too often, though death is but a fleeting thing, in World of Warcraft, and we always have a good time! 🙂 And that, I’m afraid, ladies and gentlepersons, is about “it” from me for this evening! Do call in again tomorrow night though, to find out how we went in WoW, and whether we died or not, what my weight did, how all the little fishies are, and how Flipper is, as well as all the other fascinating and exciting things that filled our day… but until then, please try hard to bee good, remember that a sure way to lose happiness is to want it at the expense of everything else, and don’t forget to look after yourselves, to always drive carefully, and to keep warm and dry in this contrary Melbourne weather… but above all, please don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂

¹“Cousin Guido” – A typical “Cousin Guido” scenario plays out something like this:

Cousin Guido [enters stage left] “You called for me, Boss?”

Boss: “Yeah… that lousy rat, Stinky LeRue, owes me big time! I want youta go around there and measure him up for a bespoke pair of concrete shoes… and book him aboard a nice sea cruise while you’re there too… one-way ticket! Bwahahahaha!”

Cousin Guido: “Yeah Boss, consider it done!” [Cousin Guido grins evilly, and exits stage left, cracking his knuckles…]