Library day, and triops update

The triops are now a week old and, for the Eldest's pair, tomorrow they will be transferred to their new "tank" - a 1 gallon pickle jar. LOL Here, the new tank is set up and the temperature strip has been transfered over to make sure it's ready by morning (which, as you can see, it already is).

What a difference between the triops in the two tanks. The two in the tank on my desk are much larger, and one of those is quite nearly 2 cm in length, with all its features fully visible. I could actually see the difference in its size throughout the day, as it constantly flits in and out of my view. We added the "glow beads" today (little pieces of glow in the dark plastic), but they weren't under the light long enough to make checking them out in the dark worthwhile. Meanwhile, the triops seem to be thoroughly exploring them. Tomorrow, for this tank, the nutrient bag is to be removed and the second one put in. Taking it out is going to be a challange, as the triops have been chewing holes in it, and particles are now loose.

The other kit didn't have a "tea bag" for the nutrients. As you can see in the picture, they were just loose. I'm hoping that, once they've been transferred to the new tank, the smaller triops will start to grow more. We'll also start supplementing their food with tiny pieces of shrimp and/or grated carrot, which is supposed to encourage increased growth.

Besides tending the triops, today was a library day. Last time, we'd only borrowed some movies. Eldest had wanted to borrow some Shakespeare. The only book we could find was a complete works of Shakespeare that was absolutely huge and, as far as I could tell, not actually available for borrowing, but just for reference. Instead, we took out 3 of the plays on DVD, but only got around to viewing one. It was The Taming of the Shrew (which the girls thought was hilarious) put out by the CBC and featuring a very young Colm Feore. How interesting to see the Lord Marshal of The Chronicles of Riddick in the role. Both girls, however, thinks he looks much handsomer now than when he was younger. ;-) Along with the Shakespeare, we'd borrowed a Before the Dinosaurs video from the Walking With... series by the BBC, plus a couple others for pure entertainment.

We had more time to check things out at the library today, so we wandered around a bit. My youngest chose a Lemony Snicket book on tape, along with a couple of Calvin and Hobbes comic books. She loves reading those. I grabbed an Asterix that we somehow managed to miss before (they and the Tin Tins are big hits, but we've read all the copies the library has many times). I tossed in the book Settling In, which is about the different types of housing people lived in as Canada was being settles. It should be interesting to go over with the girls, as the remains of a lot of these early structures still dotted my home province. Actually, I grew up in a house that had the original part made in those early days, and it's still very solid, as is the cabin my grandfather built 100 years ago.

We snagged more movies as well, and watched most of them today. I got My Fair Lady, which they'd never seen and which I hadn't seen for so long, I hardly remembered it. My girls were tickled when the recognised one of the songs from another favourite movie of theirs, The Birdcage. We all agreed, it sounded much better sung by "Agidore" in The Birdcage. LOL

We also picked up another dinosaur movie, this one called Dinosaur Secrets Revealed, from the History Channel. That one was really cool. It was so interesting to learn about all the "mistakes" people have been making about dinosaurs, how and why they made those mistakes, and how we've since learned differently. The thing I think I liked the most about it, though, was hearing one scientist simply say that, when it came to dinosaurs, we don't know. We believe what we do now because of how we can currently interpret what information we have, but unless a live dinosaur suddenly emerges, we'll probably never know exactly what they looked like and how they actually lived. I found that so refreshing compared to hearing so many scientists saying "this is how it is," as if we can ever say that for sure about anything.

Another interesting movie we picked up was a biography of Fabrege. It was fascinating! I'd popped it on as the girls were getting ready for bed, and we all ended up staying up to watch it. The art of Fabrege is just amazing. What we found most suprising to learn, however, was that Fabrege himself never actually made any of his pieces. He planned them, designed them, and ensured they met his exacting standards, but he never physically made a piece himself. Somehow, that never occurred to me. His grandson, however, continues to make Fabrege eggs in the style, though using materials his grandfather never used, and he physically makes them himself. From what we saw on the video, I think his grandfather would be proud. I think we'll be borrowing some books on Fabrege when we're back at the library next week.

I also picked up an instructional video on digital photography. It's somewhat older (though with how quickly the technology improves, I didn't expect any different) and focuses strictly on the basics, which is good. The girls are both enjoying photography, but it's time to learn more about the mechanics of photography if they're going to improve. Mind you, the younger isn't as interested in the photography as much. She's the one that wants to make movies when she grows up, so she's going to have to learn to use the video function until we can afford to get an actual digital camera. It sucks, but it's the best we can do right now.

Eldest also picked up a novel today, which she promptly finished within an hour of getting home. So, she's been working on her drawings some more. She's still working on her pages and characters for her comic book and stories, but today she also went back to some of her earlier permutations, which is something I think is good to do every now and then. Her drawing styles have evolved a great deal, and she moved away from some things that were very enjoyable, just different from where she's at now.

Well, those are the highlights of our day today. Until next time...