Hot Water!

Yay, I have hot water this morning and that's a big relief. Ron called yesterday to say that we did not "seem" to have any hot water. Because there's only the two of us and a 50 gallon water heater, I can't recall that we have ever run out of hot water. No hot water? My fault! I did it! While talking to Jim The Boilerman on Monday, I had jokingly noted that my water heater was getting up there in years and was probably due to go out. Did it? Did I make it happen by saying that and then NOT knocking on wood? I KNOW I should never say things like that. I'm not superstitious but . . .

So I stopped at Sears on the way home and got prices, stopped at Menards and got more prices. Way too much, at least twice or three times what I paid to have the current one installed. Argh. Came home, found the manual (amazing), read the manual, read the label on the water heater and noted all the WARNINGS! Got brave and took off the panel to find the pilot light. Thank God, it was working. Being paranoid about explosions and fires, I was not looking forward to trying that. Read everything again. So why was it not heating water? Must be broken. Wasted another hour researching water heaters on the internet. Still no idea. Gotta buy a new one, but how to afford a water heater AND a new furnace. Went to dinner, walked dog, sat down in front of the water heater again. Hmmm. Little dial is set on Pilot. What other options are there? OFF. ON? There it is, under the dust. Switched the little dial to ON, and WHOOSH! It will either blow up now, or heat the water. And this morning I have hot water. YAY! The mystery is how the water heater happened to be set at Pilot rather than ON. We NEVER EVER fuss with the water heater. Another mystery.

Argus found a new treasure last night. Several days ago he came home with a special prize, a squashed Hi-C juice box. I made him leave it outside, but he picked it up the next evening to take along on our walk, I presume always watching for a suitable burial site. Last night he forgot the box and had nothing to carry and started hunting the gutters, for something, anything, and came up with a prize. I could see cardboard so knew it was not a dead thing, and he was not inclined to let me take it (I didn't push) so I figured it might be a cigarette package, his favorite. We did our two miles, he peed on trees, greeted several other dogs, and never let go of the prize. When we got home I reminded him it was NOT coming in the house and took it from his mouth. A DOUBLE! No wonder he was so pleased with his find - a Marlboro pack AND a squashed Caribou Coffee cup. Very special indeed. So now he has all three treasures laying in the grass by the front steps, handy if he wants to pick one up on the way out tonite. Such a guy.

Love the face shot of Argus that I added this morning. THAT is the real Argus, with sparkling eyes and a near-smile!

Lots of new baby fish to attend. Last year I purchased some stunning Red Delta Guppies from a local Discus breeder. Terry had invested in good stock and was offering the option of "show quality" or "pet quality" guppies. Snob that I am, I purchased the show quality fish and they were stunning. Really lovely. A cherry red male with an enormous tail, and three beautiful females with bright red tails - yes, females in some show strains are by no means drab. The Guppies have done well in a 20L tank with some fancy LD08 Plecos and lots of Cherry Shrimp. A few youngsters have survived and are quite handsome, but decided I needed to raise up more babies so I could select for any show quality youngsters to carry on. Guppy parents tend to eat their youngsters, so I have been removing the babies and putting them in small net tanks attached inside the parents tanks. Have about 25 of them now, which should be enough, but means fish to feed three times a day and more water changes for that tank if I want the youngsters to thrive.