What are you doing today?

[Back in the fold]

The garden is weeded. The vacuuming's done. The yard's cleaned up, and the water changes are caught up. I think I'll do some reading today. The stack of killifish journals I inherited from my friend has to be a foot and a half high, and every article is something a skilled hobbyist crafted to communicate something he or she thought people like us would like to know. They go back to the 1990s - not that long ago from my point of view, but still reflecting a different era in the hobby.

I got a load of fish over the past few weeks, and every tank is in use for either QT or permanent living. So what happens? We got a run of big rainstorms, including lightning last night. The corys I've wanted to spawn, Hoplisoma atropersonatus, concolor and melini all put eggs all over their tanks, and I had nowhere to raise them. But now I know they're old enough. They're all locally uncommon and a bunch of each would make some of the local aquarists happy. Now I'll set up properly, and they'll stop spawning.

It is much nicer reading the printed word on paper than it is on a lighted screen and , yes , those guys from the days of yore did craft something that was worthwhile to read and fortunately their missives remain for us all these years later .
The weather caused those little catfish to spawn ! ? ! ? YES ! I knew it ! The weather changes and the moon phases does have that effect on our aquatic friends .

 

[BlaiseinLondon]

It's forecast to be the hottest day yet of our current heatwave in the UK, so I was out with my dog at 05.20; by the time we got home at 06.00 it was already uncomfortably warm (I'm in London, which tends to be the worst place to be in hot weather).

I went into my office (less than a 5' walk, thank God) at 06.30 to do a couple of bits of work and to collect my laptop etc and was back home half an hour later. I'll work from home all day so that I can keep an eye on the animals in the intense heat. All the curtains are closed and I have fans on full strength, so hoping it won't be too horrible.

 

[GaryE]

I took advantage of our having a dry and sunny day to haul my 4 canister filters outside and give them a good cleaning. It's so much easier than in a sink, and they were far overdue.
Something remarkable happened - they all went back together easily and started back up without a major battle.

I'm reading about the European heat and remembering Montreal in summer. the heatwave would hit and every morning on the bus to work, faces would get more and more haggard and tired looking. We'd all start looking like cut flowers from 3 days before. People would get short tempered too. Hang in there everybody. Take care of yourselves, your neighbours and your pets.

 

[Essjay]

Woken by a thunderstorm this morning. I leapt out of bed before I was properly awake to shut the bedroom window, just in time as the first few raindrops had hit the glass. It wasn't a bad storm, lasted around an hour but it got so dark I could hardly see to get breakfast. My husband decided yesterday he wanted to get the early bus to go shopping and avoid the heat so he went out during the storm .

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Today I'm trying not to melt the UK needs to get a grip and figure out the air con business. This level of heat is completely unnecessary and honestly, I don't care for it

 

[Essjay]

You are in the amber warning zone aren't you? So far we haven't been in a heat warning area, but today we are in the thunderstorm warning zone. More storms are forecast this afternoon. This morning's storm had almost no rain which surprised me, they are usually accompanied by warnings of flooding. I think I'll brave the sun and go outside to pick the ripe fruit in case we do have torrential rain later. Younger son gave me three fruit bush "twigs" last year for mother's day and the tayberry fruit are ripening a few at a time with the loganberries lagging behind a bit.

 

[GaryE]

For the level of heat we get, nasty but for short periods, our heat pumps would cool us down effectively. It's what we used for both heating and cooling in Montreal, although colder than minus 25, it laboured. It was fine at plus 30 and higher in summer.

The guy who bought our house had been transferred from the US, from Texas. He was shocked at the smaller systems here, but they do the job. If I were in the UK, I'd look into them.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

We've actually had a couple of nice rainstorms lately. Yesterday I was in my classroom practicing music, and for a little while it rained so hard I could barely see across the parking lot. Not nearly enough to overcome the severe drought we're having, but we'll take it! At least it hasn't been super hot here.

UK friends, are heat waves such a problem because no one has air conditioning/cooling? Over here in Wyoming everyone has both heat and AC in their houses. But I suppose AC isn't ordinarily needed in most of the UK.

 

[Essjay]

The government has been trying to get us to change to heat pumps for central heating but it's the price that's the issue. Most of us can't/won't pay out that kind of money - up to £13,000 installation depending on the size of the property.
We just don't have enough hot weather to justify the cost of installing air con. Our younger son does have a portable a/c unit for a single room; he's just lent that to his son's nursery.

We have just today and tomorrow left of the heatwave. We are predicted a high of 21 C (70F) on Sunday and next week here in north England

 

[GaryE]

That's brutal. We got two heat pumps for our house, installed for free on a 10 year contract at $50 a month each (27 pounds sterling). They last around that long, and the standard deal includes all repairs, etc. Our electricity costs dropped, although my multi-tank fishroom habit doesn't help...

In this house, we've never needed the cooling function. The ocean does that from across the road. But in sticky humid Central Canada, we had one installed and it did the job for the 2 or 3 months that mattered. If we were 5km inland, we would use it. When it's 22 in summer here, it'll be 30c 15 minutes' drive inland.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You are in the amber warning zone aren't you?

Yes, my living room says 30.4°C...outside is 36...the kids were sent home early from school because the building was a sauna. People laugh at us Brits when we complain about our heat until they experience it for themselves

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

UK friends, are heat waves such a problem because no one has air conditioning/cooling?

I'm sure there's a scientific answer but my take is that we're a tiny island so the humidity is stupid, that and our houses are built on top of each other to make best use of the limited space available and to retain warmth.... which is fine for the winter ( that's been quite mild in comparison to previous years). We do have ceiling fans in the bedrooms but they just push hot air around so we're literally just airfrying at this point. I'm sitting under a wet towel next to a floor fan but I'm far from comfortable

 

[Essjay]

Our Galileo thermometer in the lounge still has the 26C bubble floating. I went to pick fruit an hour ago and when I opened the door it was like opening an oven door, I couldn't believe how hot it was outside. The media has been full of explanations about the dew point and why this heatwave feels worse than the 2022 record breaking one when the temperature was even higher. It's forecast 90% humidity overnight here.

Cloud is currently building up. Rain will push humidity even higher but will also lower the temperature a few degrees.

 

[bgarthe]

I am preparing for my brother’s arrival later on and I just acclimated the new Diamond Tetras that came in. They are SO cool.
Yesterday I WCed my three smaller tanks including the 20g long that the Diamonds will go in replacing my older grumpy angelfish I rehomed. The other two are the (5 & 10g) QTs that I keep bio-active with 24/7 live in fish.

 

[Back in the fold]

Today is fish day . Water changes , feeding all fish well and also making up a couple new fly cultures . Later yoga and a run and finally eat , relax and watch the sunset . Life is good .