The weekend that was.

Friday night we ran the entire show from start to finish with a small audience, and it went fairly well. The energy was good for the opening number and it propelled us forward and having the lighter more fun first half to push us forward, the dark second half had more energy.

We had Saturday off and I used it to cross all the other things I've been working on off my todo list. I got the aquarium canopy finished and couple coats of urithane put on it. I did the laundry and hung it out on the line to dry (So happy to retire the dryer until late fall and conserve energy), and we spent some time out in the old neighbourhood for Sarah's graduation for Hair dressing school.

Sunday I put the final touches on the Aquarium canopy and we got it installed with all the lights etc. There are some adjustments that have to made, because I never took into account that the boards laminated together for the top are over 80 gallons of water with hot lights to help evaporate it... so they are starting to warp a little already. We are getting a piece alluminum to use as a cross brace, and that should fix the problem. Aside form that minor oversight (give me a break I've never built an aquarium canopy and stand before) everything else is pretty near perfect. The fish are really exploring all the rocks now that the lights are on, and they are so much more active. On Saturday I bought a little blue Cleaner Wrasse. He's the neatest fish... he actually cleans the other fish, and they let him... in fact they line up and push each other around to get to him first. The unfortunate part of the story is that I didn't do my research before buying him, and if I had I probably wouldn't have bought him. The problem is these little guys are essential parts of the reef chain in the wild, they can't be bred in captivity and they don't often survive long in aquariums. That being said we have more fish on order and I've heard some sucess stories on a few forums that I plan to copy to keep the guy healthy and hopfully, long lived. Pet stores sell them all the time, but people involved in the hobby have to stop buying them... pet stores will only stock things that sell, and if people stop buying something they will stop collecting them from the wild. These little fish don't school, and only sometimes pair up to work the reef together. A pair of these guys may cover an area ten square miles cleaning every fish in the vicinity... so if they are removed the local population suddenly starts getting sick and comes down with parasitic infections etc.... they are very importantly in the chain and shouldn't be removed. This is one fish I won't ever replace.

Sunday at 5 we all met up at ST Mach's for a full run with the orchestra. The songs and dances are so much better when you have the full band playing. Tonight the dreaded cue to cue promises to be a very long evening.

und now some pictures:

Tis finished



The view as you enter the house:
The Pictures of the dogs are being moved from there into the bedroom over the bed. It will make the corner less "busy"



The controversial Blue Cleaner Wrasse:
He's just so damn beautiful.



In the Dark: