Merry Christmas 2011

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Clutch Number 2

The clownfish laid again! We were hoping to get a video of it this time, but they laid while we were at Walmart! Maybe next time! I did get to see the little tubes they have to deposit eggs and sperm. They stay inside their body until its time. The girl part was out before and after our errands, and the boy part when we got home. Probably gross to you, but pretty neat for me! We have the majority of the supplies we need now. Hopefully we will have the rest by the 23rd, which is when I think they will hatch. We will keep you updated!

Ashley

hatched!

The clown fish eggs hatched last night sometime after 1230. I checked about every half hour from 900 until I went to bed. Never saw any hatching, but they were all gone this morning! It makes me wonder if the adults know they hatch, or if when the lights come on they are like oh no they're gone!

We still have to get all of the stuff set up, and figure out where we are going to do it. We will have to have like 5 tanks, and the only place I think we have room is in the loft, but that will be in the way when guests come.

Hopefully they will lay again this Wednesday!

Ashley

Egg Update

The clownfish eggs are coming along nicely.  They should be hatching Saturday night.  I tried to take a picture, but the camera won't zoom in enough to be able to see them.  The eggs go from bright orange to salmon pink to grayish pink to grayish silver.  I couldn't get a picture after they were not bright orange anymore.  Today they are in the grayish silver stage.  The silver is the reflection off of their eyes.  Since I couldn't get a picture of it, I found a few on the internet just so you can see how cool it looks.

Ashley

Black Clown Fish Eggs

Our black and white clown fish FINALLY laid eggs after 18 months! It takes 8 days for them to hatch, so we will have to see what happens next Saturday. They appear to all be fertile. I will try to stay up to date with picture taking (not that you really care!) so you can see the changes as they go.

If you feel like you are playing Where's Waldo, they are bright orange eggs, sort of centered in the pictures.

View from the front of the tank.

View from the side of the tank.

Mom and Dad.

Big mama. She is in charge of guarding the nest.

Proud papa. He is in charge of keeping water flow on the eggs. He will fan them with his fins, and also touch them with his mouth.

Dad.

Cleaning those eggs.

We have 8 days to decide if we want to raise this clutch. We don't have everything ready, so it may have to wait until next time. After they start to lay eggs, they do it every 12 days. Should be pretty exciting!

Ashley

New Vehicle

Our lease was to expire in October, but our mileage was going to go over early so we decided to get a replacement early. Our new ride is a 2008 Nissan Xterra. We broke it in this week with Britt and Manny in town and took it up Pikes Peak and up Guanella Pass a jeep trail in Georgetown Colorado to go shooting guns for the day. That was fun.

Here is our new ride

Dirty in the Mountains:


All cleaned up after the abuse:

Weekend Getaway

It wouldn't be summer without a camping trip and last weekend we were finally free to get into the mountains. We left friday after work and got setup in daylight. We have a favorite camping area that we like to frequent and I believe this time we found an unbeatable site. We like to find somewhere we dont have to worry about the dogs being free so the more isolated the better.

This was our view, a perfect view of Longs Peak


Ashley did a stellar job with the food as I put her in charge of the menu and she also did all the cooking. Highlights included bacon, egg and cheese muffins with coffee for breakfast and steak and fried potatos for dinner.

Lilliann and Tinkerbell had a blast and 4 days later have finally picked up a toy at home instead of sleeping all day, they were worn out to say the least. They are great campers and the 4 of us make it cozy in our 1.5 person tent haha.


The weather didn't cooperate but we still had a great time. Saturday it poured, hailed, and stormed real bad for around 2 hours. It then let up and sprinkled long enough to make a fire, dinner, and s'mores. Then we headed for the tent for the night, it continued to pour through most of the night. We were both worn out, Ashley read some and we crashed. It was a great weekend spending quality time with my wife.


Here is a slideshow of the pictures, trying out new features.