Weekly Recap: with the aquarium and the floods

Last week I left you with the addition of three fish to our house. On Saturday I got out a 2.5 gallon tank to house them in. I was sad to discover that my combination filter/heater was not working for either function. There was much discussion of getting out one of my big tanks, but I reminded everyone that I sold the large tank because this house has a illogical, crowded layout. I hung on to the smaller one, a 28 gallon bowfront, hoping that someday I could set it up. But there's nowhere to set it up right now, and I hated hearing the creaking, cracking sound as I unloaded pallets of aquariums in freezing cold weather. I would be so sad if I cracked my last tank, and that makes two reasons not to get it out right now!.



So we started researching, and my husband and I picked up a 10 gallon kit that night. My son bought another fish too. Cool updates in the aquarium world that I've missed out on - LED tank lights and new shapes of tanks. We've already picked out what our next large tank will be. It's fun to get back into fish stuff. I dug out all the supplies I have, my kids decorated with a mismatched variety of plants, and the only thermometer I could find was a hygrometer...

Sunday we enjoyed a birthday dinner, played Mouse Trap at Grandma and Grandpa's house (remember our science lesson last week?), and discovered the source of the smell that wouldn't leave our fridge... orange juice dripped into the cracked door seal and turned to mold. Yuck, but I'm glad that's cleaned out now! Getting a new seal soon...

Monday morning our heater quit working! I noticed it was 62 F in my house. Brrr! We celebrated my daughter's birthday, got the heater fixed, enjoyed watching the rain, and had cake and ice cream with the family. For our history lesson we learned about the French Revolution again.

Tuesday we finished up our study of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, and went to the orthodontist.

Wednesday's science lesson was about the energy of sound and sound waves. The kids had fun recording random sounds and seeing who could guess what they were. It rained some more. It's been warmer, so no snow has fallen, but the rain is melting the snow.

Thursday we all went to the dentist for cleanings. Our geography lesson was on language families. The rain keeps coming, and there is flooding in our little city. The sewer treatment plant is very near to us and there is a lot of new developments nearby. Many houses have sump pumps that drain into the sewer system instead of the storm drain like they should. This, plus the rain and melting snow have overloaded the system and some homes have sewage backing up into their basements. We are lucky to have no flooding, but our sump pump bucket has water in it for the first time since we moved in here.

Friday was a music lesson about Ravel. We bought a couple of new fish. The flooding is getting worse, the rain continues. Our sump pump doesn't turn on by itself but we run a hose out the back window and turn it on to drain into the little canal/ditch. We're safe and dry!