A Day Off, But A Busy One...

...is exactly how today went for me. I took today off in anticipation of receiving 20 baby Bearded Dragons by Fed-Ex. While I was waiting for them I did some chores around the house. I started with cleaning up my animal tanks; and I got about 1/2 through when I ran out of pine shavings for the mouse tanks. Then I decided to go to work in the front entry way to our house and got some sanding done of areas I plastered a few days ago. Just as I was getting ready to start that, the Bearded Dragons showed up with the Fed-Ex guy. They got all my attention for the next 45 minutes or so. I got 21 of them, one arriving DOA, the others seemingly okay except for one that looked a bit air sick (or whatever).

Once they were put into tanks and set up with proper heat and lighting, it was back to the sanding. I started that without using a dust mask. After just a minute or two, I decided that a dust mask was what anyone with half a brain would use, so the half a brain that was not thinking earlier had a good thought at that moment and I got one out of my shed. Man what a mess sanding spackle/plaster makes. Luckily it was a fairly small job, confined to a vestibule sized entry way. I finished the job with a good clean up.

After that it was onto the computer to contact the dealer who shipped me the bearded dragons. Sent him a pic of the dead one, and sort of complained that these were apparently younger and much smaller than he promised. Time will tell if he remedies that, maybe with a partial refund. That would be nice, otherwise next time I buy it will be from someone else. These guys will make an appearance at the Long Island Herpetological Society's 18th Annual Reptile Expo this Saturday, at SUNY Farmingdale. Hopefully I'll earn my money back, and have a few left over for a future breeding project. I have not heard anything back yet, but I'll be patient as he went in for knee surgery today. I trust he will contact me when he can.

Took a shower, felt nice and fresh, then had the oddball idea of cleaning the leaves on my sidewalk and front lawn. I guess the shower could have waited. I filled a 55 gallon drum sized bag with leaves and other debris like twigs and seed pods. Oh joy I was dirty filthy again, and sweaty too. I figured since I was dirty why not clean some weeeeeeeds (they grow just like those e's just did) out of the garden, and I did that for at least another hours or so. Yup, another clean up was in store for me.


All that aside, I was off to Costco. Now Costco near me is usually a madhouse of humanity. Today it was on the quiet side. I guess being a weekday, and being I was there at about 3:30 PM was a good thing. I was in and out of there in about 45 minutes at most; a new record for me. Once outside, I stopped at the liquor store right next to Costco where I picked up a birthday present for yours truly. Tomorrow I will enjoy some of that Stoly Vodka as I celebrate my 52nd. After Costco is was home to offload. Then I went to Queens to check out a Exo_Terra reptile tank someone was selling. Brand new, in the box, at below cost by about $25. I took it, and $160 disappeared quicker than I earned it for sure. On the way back home I stopped at a local Petco and picked up another of those tanks, though a smaller one. It was on sale for less than half price. No I am not upgrading my reptile & amphibian enclosures. I will either raffle these off or sell them at the LIHS Reptile Expo this weekend to earn some money for the society. Any profit above what I p[aid for them goes to the society. Nothing in it for me except that I know I am doing good for the society.

For the last hour or so, I have been trying to fix my virus protection software from Windows Live One Care. It keeps telling me it needs urgent attention because the virus definitions are out of date, but when I try to update the update fails. I think I'll be picking up Norton Internet Security again tomorrow. My Windows Live One care is due to expire in about 2 months, but I do not like the product at all; so back to Norton for me. Even though I did not much Norton's support policies, there product is superior. Hopefully no viruses or other nasties will infect my PC before I get Norton installed.

Tomorrow promises to be busier than today, and I also have tomorrow off. Besides getting ready for the reptile expo, I have other chores to do, and I have to take Brendan for his first (and I hope only) road test. Should prove to be an interesting day.

All the best,
Glenn B