Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

Water Pets

I kill plants, mostly from overwatering or underwatering or both. I never really figured out when to water plants and when not to water plants or if plants should be watered at all.

Yes, I have killed a cactus. And what are those expensive plants? Orchids, I think, which I kill quite easily. Then there was some kind of plant that grows in water -- seaweed or something like that -- killed for lack of water.

I turned to water frogs, which I owned long before they were identified as carriers of e. coli or salmonella and were killing infants and children. My water frogs didn't get the opportunity to kill anybody because Frog No. 1, which I did not have time to christen, died two days after I brought it home. Maybe, I gave it too much food; maybe, I added the wrong kind of water; I don't know.

Frog No. 2, which I refused to give a name because I was afraid to get emotionally involved at that point, survived for less than 6 weeks. I say "less than 6 weeks" because then you are under the impression that the frog lived for 5 weeks and 4, 5, or 6 days, and oh-so-much-longer than 2 days. That would be wrong. Five days, then dead.

So, after several years, I decided that I could handle a Jellyfish Mood Lamp. Water goes in the tank. Jellyfish go in the water. Put the cover on. Push the "On-Off" button, and the jellyfish swim around.

And it says "AGE 8+" on the box. I could do this. The Jellyfish Mood Lamp arrived today. I eagerly tore the box open and ran to the sink with the tank and the little packet of three jellyfish. Fill the tank -- did it. Put the jellyfish in carefully -- did it.

Pour the water out. I don't know why. There are only pictures for my 8 year old mind to follow ... no words. And the picture clearly meant that the water should be poured out. I started to pour it out, but then the jellyfish started to run with the current. I backed off, turning the tank right side up.

I decided to deviate from the instruction sheet. I put my hand like at the mouth of the tank so that just the water filtered out. Whoa -- there went a jellyfish, sliding through my fingers, and down the drain, the drain with the garbage disposal. Ah ha! I thought I could see it. I just needed to turn on the LED lights above the sink to cast some light down the drain.

I did not guess correctly. There is the switch for the garbage disposal and there is the switch for the lights, both on the same switch plate. I flipped the wrong switch. But I turned off the garbage disposal right away. Maybe, just maybe, the little bugger avoided the whirling things that smash the garbage into the liquefying strainer thingy.

Miraculously, it was laying there. I retrieved it with the tongs because my hand is too big to reach that far down the drain. I plopped it back into the tank and filled the tank with more water from the tap. Okay, the instructions read "DISTILLED WATER PREFERRED;" but tell me what 8-year-old is going to know where the distilled water is. Besides, we have filtered water.

I put the top on the tank. The jellyfish are swimming around. They, at least, look like they are alive.

This might work.

Posted by Bill at September 2, 2011 04:40 PM