Riding Lessons and Crazy Fish

An update on the riding lessons plan:

Part 1 - DH took Friday afternoon off and we road tripped to a Western-wear store 80 miles away for a pair of boots. Justin lace-up boots, to be precise, size 9 1/2, and hopefully with a sole that will pass inspection. Because in a town of 80,000 or so, cowboy boots are practically impossible to find, although we have a few dozen shoe stores.

Then we drove another 15 miles to one of the best Farm & Home stores I know of, and one I miss shopping at now that my sister doesn't live there. Got there half an hour before closing, and managed to find a Troxel riding helmet that fits, plus two Breyers I've been looking for.

Part 2 - I called this morning to make sure the classes haven't filled up. Not-so-good news - the Western Riding class I want to take isn't full. No one's signed up for it yet, and there's a 3-person minimum. Crap. The other evening class is "Beginning Riding" - I'm not sure the timing would work out, and I wonder if it might be too basic for me. I've never had riding lessons, but I did have a horse for a long time, so I'm not totally clueless.

** ** ** ** **

On to the "Crazy Fish" portion of the show. I have this plecostomus, named Squiggy (long story, his cohort was named Lenny). Squiggy is pushing a full 12 inches long, and is at least 9 years old. He's living in a 20-gallon tank with 6 danios and 7 platies, and I'm pretty sure that he's the reason I can't get the ammonia and nitrate/nitrite levels down to something more reasonable. The tank is well-stocked with just the 13 small fish, but adding a pan-sized fish to the mix makes the tank pretty over-populated.

Squiggo's also a bit nuts. I was siphoning water out of the tank last night and he took offense at something. He tried to jump out of the tank, which startled me. I jumped, the bucket-end of the siphon jumped with me, and I splashed fish-water on the carpet. It matched the big splash that Squiggy's jump left on the wall, even with a lid on the tank.

So, it looks like it's time to find a new home for Squiggy. I keep thinking he's going to croak of old age soon, based on Petco's "2-3 year lifespan" on the info sheet, but he thinks he's the Energizer bunny I guess. Petco won't do trade-ins, I couldn't sucker Bro-in-Law into putting him in their 55-gallon tank, and Sis, who stuck me with him in the first place, lives too far away.

Ideas so far:

• Freecycle him
  
• fry him
• have him stuffed and mounted (and mailed to Sis)
  
• smuggle him into the koi pond at the public garden
• bait?