I hate to sound unkind, but FINALLY, AT LAST, the summer people have left. Now I can get on with my life. The weekend was too hectic, dinners with friends every night. Time for me to get back on my Wt.Watchers program, that's for sure. That's one reason I'm happy to have the neighborhood back. The weekend was nice but there were plenty of hikers and peepers around. I saw, oh, about 5 groups of friends. There will be a set of visitors next weekend, to finish closing their camp, but I'll only visit with them briefly. Two very elderly and frail people and their son & his wife. Very nice people, I've know them for a long time.
I've know many people here for a long time. I'm sort of amazed at the number of friends I have around the neighborhood, how long I've known them for, and my social life in general. I always think of myself living a solitary life--never lonely, but happily enjoying solitude.
It was a time for everyone to close camp over the weekend, which meant that I got the contents of almost everyone's refrigerators. Like, half a jar of corn relish (I hate corn relish), two half-full cartons of very old ice cream (thank goodness for greedy dogs), 2 half-full jars of peanut butter (ditto the dogs--trying to get the p'nut butter out of the jars kept them busy for a very, very long time, then add to that the amount of time they spent licking the smears from their legs and paws and noses), 2 half-full containers of ketchup, stale bagels, half full containers of pickle relish (too many to count), mustard, half a jar of mayo, a stick of butter--oh heck, I could go on for a long time. Anyway, I'll have a big bunch of stuff to take to the dump this week. I went there on Saturday. It's always so satisfying to go to the dump. Get rid of magazines & catalogs, piles of newspapers, bags of plastic, tin and glass containers, plus a nice chat with a very pleasant dump lady. We have a relatively new dump person, she's too young to be called a lady. It costs $4 for a big bag of garbage $2 for a small one. I never have much to take there: I feed leftovers to the dogs and I burn paper (HORRORS!).
I have 3 dirty fish tanks to attend to. 2 here at work and one at home. It's a banner year for algae. The goldfish don't seem to mind but it's getting harder and harder to see them through the green yuck on the sides of the tank. The tank at home is a mess, too, plus I only have 2 tetras left. The heater doesn't work right so they were very slow & cold until I messed with the heat. Boy did they perk up when the water got warmer!
I'm trying to decide what to put in the tank at home. 2 years ago my mother & Mark had 5 goldfish in a tank. They schooled and were beautiful. Though I'm not fond of goldfish, those guys were a lot of fun to watch. Which is one reason my mother didn't want the tank once they died. Mark would sit at the dinner table and instead of talking to my mother he'd stare at the fish.
The fish were what we call "feeder fish," small goldfish that are meant to be eaten by others. They tend to die young. That's what my mother & Mark have in their fish pond, lots of feeders. Mark does this remarkable and fancy dinner thing where he covers the table with plastic & mirrors, then fills it with water & puts a bunch of feeder fish in it. It's the coolest thing. The plates are elevated, of course. Candles to reflect the sparkle. Really great. Once my exhusband and I were treated to the dinner. Exhus refused to believe that the feeder fish would die quickly. There were 50 of them for that dinner. We had to buy a big goldfish bowl & other stuff so we could take the fish home--J. always was one who has to prove his point. On the way home 14 died. Over the next few days a bunch more died. Like, a big bunch. Finally we were down to 2, then of course one. Mark is too polite to say I told you so, but really ...
No comments:
Post a Comment