Well, we have a 17 mph wind, gusting to 28, and there's some snow on the ground from last night. Maybe that doesn't qualify as lion weather, but it's certainly not meek.

Quiet on the cams. Looks like the morning paper being fetched.

Rush hour.

It's...

Coloring Crayon Day

In 1903, Binney & Smith, Inc. put crayons on sale for the first time. Their brand name "Crayola" was made by putting the French word for chalk (craie) with "ola" (for oily). The first Crayola crayons came in a box of 8 and sold for 5 cents. Today, Binney & Smith produce about 7 million crayons every day in 120 colors. The average American child uses 730 crayons by his 10th birthday. It's no surprise that a study shows the smell of Crayola crayons is one of the twenty top scents recognized by adults in the U.S.

I love coloring with crayons. When I did a lot of mailart - my moderate art skills found crayons easier to use than colored pencils, paints, inks, brushes.



I love the aquatic colors. I can color mermaids and mermen and fishies and coral and bubbles until I drop into a total zen state.

Sorry, Jenni, you've been replaced. LOL

Yep, the lamb has left the building. We had snow on the ground here, too and I just had to get up and close the two windows up here in the computer room. There was a stiff breeze blowing thru from front to back. Supposed to stay chilly this week. Wah!

At least it's sunny out right - but clouding up later in the day. Like they say in New England - if you don't like the weather, wait a minute.

Fishy:

It has now started snowing again, Rusty. About a cm on the ground. Wind is up to 23 mph and temp sticking at 32F. Winter isn't giving up without a fight. The crocuses are not at all thrilled.

Oh boy, you got the winter back again, and here it is so sunny and warm today. I just went and fed the fish in the pond, and saw that there is lots and lots of frogspawn floating around. Annie B.

hi gang...snow???? yikes! and rusty, you had just gotten your pond all fixed up for summer! the first year i lived in D.C., it snowed on april 6th...i remember the date because by that time i was ready for some sunshine, and it just kept snowing...i couldn't believe it was snowing in april! LOL! here is some southern california sunshine for you...maybe that ground hog will get a hint!

HOODIE HOO

No snow here this morning but the wind is a howling and it is
Today is National Clams On The Half Shell Day Yummy love those little critters!!

Look what I found, are there any lunatics outside???

http://entertainment.yahoo.com/entnews/wwn/20030319/104808600007.html

Martin well at least we know the world will be around in 2256 that is good news.. Now if I could just find that machine!!!!

Here in Florida it feels like either a late fall day in the north or a January/February day in Florida. It got into the 40s last night, probably won't see 65 today and is due to go back into the 40s (and in some areas just north of us in the 20s) tonight. Burrrrr

Can we cook *my* fish? I don't think I likes 'em wiggling!

Gail - what's in bloom down thataway? Azaleas?

How many fishies ya got? Are they goldfish? I was a little upset at the snow after both ponds have the heaters out, but the pumps are running and the fish won't mind a little snow as long as the surface doesn't freeze.

BB was reading the Sunday paper and we don't feel quite as bad as we did about the small fishkills we got in our ponds this winter despite the open water around the heaters. Even Quabbin Reservoir had a higher loss than usual. There was no January thaw here and the snowpack was so thick, that O2 levels were down in the water and the fish snarfocated.

We even lost a number of big bullfrogs and green frogs - very unusual.

Rusty they only wiggle when you hit them with lemon!!LOL

Freddie - and the appropriate accompaniment is a big SLURP! Right?

Did someone order MEN?

Only got about a dozen gold fish left, and three golden orfe. It is only a small pond, and has no filter or anything, just plants, and the water is as clear as anything. Don't know how many frogs there are, but there are quite a few.

Three golden orfe and a partridge in a pear tree? What, pray tell, is an orfe? And the natural ponds with no filtration are a joy. I only added the pump five years ago when the koi in my pond reached a foot long. The goldies would be fine with an occasional waterchange.

We did import some wildpolliwogs/tadpoles the first few years we had my pond - wood frogs, greens and bullfrogs. Now we seem to get enough eggs to keep the community going. The woodfrogs leave when they get terrestrial but they come back every year to breed. We also get toads - the best singers in the backyard.

We have a dozen or so tanks in the basement with goldfish/koi fry and don't run a pump - just keep the fish few and the plants thick and the tanks take care of themselves.

Jake's Want Ads!

RUSTY Golden Orfe are a long slender fish. They swim near the surface and catch the insects. My pond is too small for them really, as they can be prone to jumping. They also like to be in a group. Annie B.

If I may...did a google search and this is what I found..

A golden, light orange European minnow with a slender, sleek body, that likes to school and is pleasing in natural settings

is this what you have Annie???

Cool - Jake is working on his ventriloquist act for the next BT Get Together!



More traffic on the street cam than the reef cam today:

Hmm - the golden orfes look like a fish we used as feeders at the aquarium. They started becoming common at the bait place and the fish stores about 1989 or so. They had a slight pinkish cast to them and were called Tuffies in the trade. I never did figure out what they really were.

Couple stoplights:



I went out with the dawgs for a few minutes - the wind is really blowing.

TODAY'S TRIVIA:

1880 - 1st town totally served by electric lighting (Wabash,IN)

1889 - Eiffel Tower officially opens

1918 - 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
1932 - Ford unveils its V-8 engine
1949 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

1732 - Franz Joseph Haydn, composer

1924 - Leo Buscaglia, "Dr Hug", psycholigist (Love)

1933 - Shirley Jones, singer/actress (Partridge Family)
1934 - Richard Chamberlain, actor (Dr Kildare)
1946 - Gabe Kaplan, comedian/actor (Welcome Back Kotter)
1948 - Al Gore (45th US Vice President)

Thanks Yep, that's what I got. My book says they can grow up to 1 1/2 feet long. I culn't find a picture of them so thanks for that one Freds.

Hey! Rusty! You missed the most important part of trivia history. Today is the day that U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward
purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. Bought it for 7.2 million dollars, which works out to about two cents per acre.

As a result of that purchase, I am a US citizen and not a Russian citizen!

(I see it is also "Transfer Day", the day that the Danes transfered the Dutch West Indies to the U.S. The Dutch West Indies are now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands)

dan, were your relatives in alaska in 1867? so you are a true Alaskan native????

Oops, got egg on my face. How could I miss Alaska?!

Another landmark today - Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode was released in 1958!

Had a diver poke his face in a little while ago:

has anyone spotted spongebobsquarepants yet???

So what are we looking for, Cynde, a squishy yellow foam rubber diver in blue shorts?

all i remember last time is he had a cardboard sign that said will dive for air fills...or something of that sort...no idea what his "dive gear" looks like! oh, and who is cynde???

Erp. LOL She is our resident "Welcome Wagon" and general know-it-all where Bonaire visitors are concerned. I'm sure *she* would know SpongeBob's modus operandi!

Bluetang: Nope, none of my family was here in 1867. My dad came in 1943, but, yes, I was born here in 1945. So, that would make me native-born, but not native, which term is reserved for the aboriginals--in this area, the Tlingit (kling-kit) Indians.

lol rusty you are correct in that she is the resident "know-it-all"

Hey Guys....Talking about snow,we had snow here in NC yesterday and frost coming tonight..Last week everyone was in shorts and tees...Freddie your orange minnows look better than the gobbly gook I saw those folks on Fear Factor eating.LOL.
UB

topkick, no way could i eat some of the stuff those people have to eat on that show! yack!

Hey! I don't know who started in on the snow bit, but knock if off. Now its snowing here--and I don't mean just a little. Looks like a blizzard out there!

When Dan talks blizzards the rest of us have to acknowledge his expertise! LOL

We do have heavy winds still blowing and the trees are swaying. All the folks who took advantage of the warm days last week to rake the yard and going to be POed when they find they've had a delivery of MORE LEAVES!

I missed this shot earlier when our diver came by:



Also caught some nice shots of a Princess Parrotfish and the Cam Boogers:

Hi gang!!
Blue and UB just remember that all that stuff they eat on Fear factor is a delicacy somewhere in the world.. I know ,I know... I wouldn't eat some of it either, but if one were to remember that it is a delicacy it might go down easier!!!
SLURP!

WOWWIE

this must mean the it is

Blimey it's taken so long to get here. Hello gang. I watch fear factor too. I can't watch them eat that gunk, I have to come to the puter and cam instead. Annie B.



Two for the price of one in case I don't get back here.



Cheers.

Good evening,friends! Can't believe it's so dark on the island and still so bright here. Can't start my HH yet. Still 35 more minutes before I get off work.

Guess what everybody? I got to meet Freddie this weekend at Beneath the Sea. I'm taking part of the day off tomorrow, so I will write a brief trip report.

Margarite

G'night folks. See you all tomorrow sometime. Annie B.

hi all, you are all probably either having your evening wogga wogga, or in bed...waaaa dan, wow, born and raised in "J"! well, your storm must have swung right around us...got to have the top down coming to work, went down to the beach for lunch...gorgeous day!

rusty, this bird was on our neighbors chimney stack yesterday. i tried to get closer. it was black and grey with a long pointed beak...any ideas?


thanks for the sunsets annie how ya feeling gal?

freddie, thanks for the sunsets too! margarite, can't wait for the report!

Oh rusty, his chest was grey (or dirty from the chimney stack!) and the rest of him was black. He had a long skinny tail too.

Cynde. I am feeling good thanks, so is Emma. Sorry don't know about that birdie, I bet Trev would though if he weren't snoring. LOL

Can't wait to hear all the gossip. You gotta tell all. Bet you had great fun with the Fredster. LOL. Annie B.

I gotta go to bed.

Cynde, I gave it my best shot on your boid - but no luck. Need to be more familiar with your Western species. All I can figger from the long, narrow hooked beak is that it eats insects, and from the long, dropped wings, that it flies fast. Hmm - flycatcher? LOL Looks similar to our mockingbird but I can't nail the ID down.