mathmom's blog

The coffee paradox states that you are too sleepy to make your coffee until after you have had your coffee. We made coffee with a french press for a long time, but it took time and energy and intelligence, all of which are lacking before you drink your first cup of coffee. We thought we had solved the problem with a Capresso, a nice coffee machine which has a burr grinder and a basket that swings over to the water side after the beans are ground, keeping the steam from getting into the beans. It makes quite good coffee. Unfortunately, if you forget to set it up properly you end up with a pot of hot water in the morning. And if you aren't awake in the morning, you pour the pot of hot water back into the coffee maker, which melts the coffee maker. Which is what I did this morning. Hopefully Michael can fix it (his practice repairing waffle makers and clock radios should come in handy). If he can't fix it, maybe he can help Luke take it apart. This isn't the only machine...

The last neon tetra died within days of Eleanor announcing that her name was "Emma." I found out the fish's name when Eleanor had to write down the inhabitants of her house for her "Special Day Book": Mama, Daddy, Amanda, Luke, Eleanor and Emma (the fish). We went to get some new fish. I think I remember that my sister-in-law recommended rosy minnows, so we got two. They cost 12 cents each (quite the bargain!) and I think they were worth approximately what we paid for them. They were very timid, although they found great places to hide from the danios including in the roots of the plant that are growing out into the water, in a crevice in the back of the lower pool, just below the second pool... Finding them was always a challenge, but they kept turning up alive after I hadn't seen them for days. Since they were rosy minnows, Eleanor decided to call one of them "Rose Red". Sure enough, soon after this fish was named it showed up plastered to...

Yesterday evening I was helping Eleanor make macaroni and cheese, getting dinner for Amanda, and getting dinner for Luke and myself, when I realized that Luke had been way too quiet. I had put him down to answer the telephone earlier, and left him over by the telephone table. Unfortunately, the telephone table is right next to the aquarium, and the fish food was right on top of the telephone table... Luke has learned to open fish food containers. He has also learned that fish food tastes yummy! (or at least not too bad when you are hungry). When I called to him, he crawled around the edge of the stairs with fish flakes all over his face and hands, and a big grin on his face. It's a good thing they are so cute when they are getting into trouble. He smelt vaguely fishy all evening. Michael thankfully vacuumed up the spill , putting all the fish food he could back into the container. I am trying to get used to putting the fish food out of Luke's reach, while still putting ...

I haven't updated y'all on the aquarium for quite some time. It is doing pretty well. Plant wise, we have learned that violets, while pretty, don't really do well in such a wet environment. I got a palm plant which is doing quite well and a peperomia which is either doing well or badly, I can't tell. It really likes the florescent light and responds by growing florescent green leaves. It has taken over the top plant area, but its leaves are spread out and flopping all over the place. The Baby's Tears I got at the beginning did really amazingly well at first, but then slowly died. We are now down to 3 neon tetras (one died as soon as we brought it home) and 2 zebra danios. After Fred died, one died more recently and ended up on the pump intake, and the other has simply disappeared. Amanda claims that it is in the center pool, hiding in the rocks. I can't see it, but perhaps she knows something I don't. I am certain it has passed away, wherever it is...

We got fish for our tank today, after a week or two of it running on empty. Michael said that the tank looks good empty (which it does, thanks to the plants) but we should at least try keeping some fish. We got 5 zebra danios to start, we'll see how they do. The largest one is named Fred, the smaller ones are Danny. We did not let our kids name them since it is highly likely that at least one of them will die in the next few weeks, since we have no idea what we are doing beyond reading the manual for the tank. Since it is Sunday, here is a religious fish song for all of you (to be sung to the tune of "And they'll know we are Christians by our love"). In case you are wondering, we do not have Jesus fish on our cars =). There are fish on our Hondas, there are fish on our Fords There are fish on our cars to show we're driving for the Lord And they'll know God has blessed us by the cars we can afford, And they'll know we are Christians by the fish on our ...

I got a "river tank" from my brother and sister-in-law when they moved to NY. I love it! (Thank you thank you thank you!) It's the most beautiful fish tank I've seen, with fish swimming up waterfalls and plants helping filter the water, and lots of other neat features. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to set it up yet. I'm not sure exactly what happens to me when I look at all the pieces, but my heart rate goes up, I start sweating and forgetting what I just read... You'd think I could handle something like this, seeing as I got my PhD in mathematics, but there are pumps and enzymes and stress coats, and 10 easy steps to set it up... It shouldn't be so hard. Not only that, but I have had a black thumb and therefore don't have any of the houseplants I need to take cuttings from. Probably my hesitation stems from unhealthy perfectionism and I should just jump right in! On the other hand, I don't want it to die a horrible messy death and ...