Dragoness Eclectic's Journal

Keep in mind we live in the Deep, deep South.


Icicles are forming on all the eaves, the bird feeders, etc.




The cars are covered with ice from freezing rain.




Sleet is coming down.




They've had to close all the bridges connecting to New Orleans because they are icy.

Back in December, there was a total lunar eclipse. I tried to take pictures of the partially eclipsed moon, using the tripod I inherited from my father to take the pictures.

( Blurry moon pics )

As promised, I'm digging out quite a few photos I never got around to posting.

Last November we took a trip to Houston to tour the Houston Science museum. There were two main features of interest: the fossils and the butterfly exhibit. This post is about the fossils.
( Pictures of long-dead things )

I didn't take nearly as many pictures Sunday, so there's no need to break Sunday's images down into separate posts. The crowds started to thin out on Sunday, as people went home--though the Con actually goes through Monday, most people have work or school to return to that day. The one-day Con goers mostly came on Saturday, one of the reasons Saturday is so crowded.

I spent an annoying amount of the morning trying to catch Jim Butcher when he didn't have 5000 people waiting in line to sign his books, and just missed him. (Okay, I caught up with him, but he was running late and didn't have time to sign books). I also went to John Ringo's book signing session to get a book signed, and actually did catch up with him.

Finally, Sunday I actually got into the Dealer rooms and was able to shop. I picked up some T-shirts, and phoned Steve several times to see if he was interested in some of the older GURPS books one of the booths had on deep discount--he was, and I bought them. Other than that, I mostly just looked. These days, if I want a lot of the kind of sci-fi/fantasy souvenirs, games and exotica found at a sci-fic convention, I can just order it over the internet, so I don't find myself wanting to buy everything the way I did back in the old days, when a con was the only place you could get some things. Of course, back then, I didn't have the money to buy all the stuff I wanted; now I do, and I don't want much of anything. Go figure.

( Pictures )

As previously mentioned, on Saturday, Sept 4, there was an "Avatar: The Last Airbender" costume photo-shoot, up on the 10th floor of one of the hotels. What that meant was everyone in ATLA costumes was invited to show up and pose to have their pictures taken by all and sundry.

( Many, many ATLA costumes, including Becky's )

Every Dragon*Con, Friday evening is "Evening at Bree", which is a dance and Tolkien-character costume event with live music by Emerald Rose, a Southern Celtic/Pagan folk band from north Georgia. We like their music; it rocks. Becky and I both like to attend the dance, too.

( Way too many people in hobbit costumes )

Left out of the bird pictures from last spring was this mystery bird:



I finally dug around in my bird books and identified it. It's a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Wednesday, I finally went out and got fish. I got 3 White Clouds, some fish food, some plant food and took the whole lot home. The fish and plant food went on the tray where I keep the aquarium supplies. The fish went in the aquarium.

( Fish pics )

After leak-testing the aquarium (and discovering that the house's foundation has settled somewhat crookedly and the north end of the aquarium is about 1/2" higher than the south end), we emptied the tank again in preparation for the actual set-up.

I put in the undergravel filter plates first, then washed the gravel I'd bought for the aquarium and put it in, covering the undergravel filter to about 2 inches deep, then emplaced the fake plastic rock shelf. It's actually a multi-piece jigsaw puzzle of fake rock shelves that you can assemble in many amusing way. I assembled it. Then I considered the fake plastic log, but decided that (a) it looked like a fake plastic log, and (b) there was already enough clutter with the fake plastic rock shelf, considering I still plan to add plants; conclusion: no fake plastic log need go in.

I poured water in, using the plastic rocks to buffer the flow, and filled the tank most of the way up. Somewhere along the way I put in the plastic tubes, hung the filter, inserted air stones, etc. After the water was all in there, I hooked up the air pump.

( Photos and text )