Ask and ye shall receive

Remember when I was whining about not having anything to blog about other than the shop? Apparently the blog gods were eavesdropping.

After spending a rather beautiful day in the Adirondack region on Monday with my mom, Sandy and Mike, Tuesday came around and smacked me right on my booty. Ben woke me up early in what some might consider a state of panic and told me about the not-so-little surprise that Olive left for us overnight. She must have eaten something bad, or the heat just finally got to her, but she developed a stellar case of diarrhea and proceeded to spray it ALL OVER THE HOUSE! Every room except for Ben's office was covered. We cleaned it up, and planned to keep an eye on her throughout the day just in case her symptoms got worse.

After Ben went to work, I closed and locked the front door before I took my shower, and as I walked toward the bathroom I heard this weird squealy cracking sound followed by the sound of running water. When I turned around I realized that the seal on my 45 gallon aquarium (that houses my elderly tropical fish) busted out in several places and water was spraying EVERYWHERE! I couldn't get it to stop and I couldn't decide on what to panic about: the contents of the living room which were then soaked, or the lives of the fish I've had for so many years and through so many moves. I ran to the basement and grabbed my bucket and siphon and took as much of the water out of the tank as I possibly could. The fish were moved to a Rubbermaid tub, after almost losing one on the floor, and they're still there as I type this. I re-caulked the tank but the seal needs to cure for at least 24 hours before water can be added. Keep your fingers crossed for me because when I get back home I'm going to fill the tank in the driveway and check for leaks. If this thing isn't water-tight I have no other options for my fish. It would kill me to just let them go, especially because, as I've said, I've had them forever (Randi we had these fish when we lived together!!!). They won't survive much longer in the Rubbermaid thing and I can't afford another tank. I wish I could find someone nearby who could adopt them if this tank situation doesn't work out. I really hope it works out. This could be a bad one.

***Update***

The caulking job was successful, or so it seems. We won't know how well I really did until we see water spraying out everywhere again. Let's hope that doesn't happen. The fish survived the move and they're swimming around happily. I can't believe how tough they are! Olive is fine, too. She's just up our butts now to go out and play. Just like having a four year old.