Lazy Saturday Afternoon

In order to keep our green thumbs motivated ("green" may be a bit of a stretch for us...) Laura and I like to mosey on over to the Green Parrot Nursery down the street to see what's shakin' in the flora world. As I've mentioned before, they've been renovating up a storm, so there's always something new to check out. Laura was able to find the gardenias she's been wanting, and I found some edemame plants I'm quite interested in. I have to do some more research, though, to see if they'll survive long enough down here to yield a whole bowl of soybeans.

Flowers bought, we walked home and sat on the porch chit chatting and chalking on the sidewalk. Then I saw the weirdest thing- a rat! On the telephone line across the street! It was huge!!! I started pointing and screaming, and a guy who had been turning his car around thought I was referring to him. He gave us an odd, somewhat scornful look and sped away. I felt kind of bad, but I wasn't yelling at him, I was yelling about the rat! I don't now where it went once it jumped onto a tree, but I hope I never see it ever again. However, the unwanted rodent drew our attention to the telephone pole, and to the sign upon said pole. Braving the possibility of attack, we (cautiously) walked to the other side of the road to check it out. It stated that there would be no parking on Wednesday from 5am to 3pm due to filming. I desperately want to know what's going down, but don't know who to call find out. They film so many things here. But we've all decided to get up early Wednesday and sit on the porch to gawk at the happenings on our fair street. Our luck they'll just park a huge prop trailer in front of our houses and do the interesting stuff elsewhere. Who knows, maybe we'll get spots as extras.

And, possibly, one step closer to Ryan Reynolds.

Anybody Else Thinking Sushi?

Yesterday we took trip to Metarie to the fish store. Dustin has invested in a Nano Cube- a saltwater tank that mimics a natural reef and ecosystem. Neptune needed some more water and to browse the ever-changing variety of corals, anemones, fish and other sea creatures the store offers. I'd never been, Shelby was excited to see all the fishies. I figured the tanks would be interesting enough, but the things they had in there I hadn't even seen on Discovery, let alone in a home tank. There was even a sandy colored sting ray with vibrant blue spots. The diversity displayed in the many tanks was amazing. All colors of the rainbow, pulsing in the gelatinous skin of an anemone or streaking across a fish's scales. It was quite the sight.

We got our 10 gallons of freshly salted water (I have no idea exactly what they do to it), some brine shrimp and krill to feed our little buddies, and a few new friends. I've been wanting a serpent starfish ever since I saw a YouTube video of one devouring a snack just like an octopus. Dustin also got me an adorable little purple and white sea urchin, who insists on adorning himself with shells he finds on the sandy bottom of the tank. Dustin picked up some flat, neon colored, glow in the dark mushrooms and a peach colored anemone with finger like fronds it uses to snatch food from the water. I never thought I'd spend $121 on fish. At least not the kind I couldn't eat. I seriously wanted a sushi fix after being in that place. Is that wrong? Instead, we went home so Dustin could get ready for work and I made creole omletes with crawfish cream sauce.

Once we got our new aquatic friends in their new home and Dustin off to work, Shelby and I walked down the street to Green Parrot Nursery to look at the Spring arrivals. They're still constructing some new structures, but they've made a huge concrete fountain that's home to several huge koi fish. We looked at the blueberry plants and mire lemon trees, and decided just to pick up some plain terra cotta pots for the plants we already have (since the Wal-Mart doesn't carry them anymore). I'm hoping to walk down to the hobby store next to get some acrylic paint so Shelby and I can unleash our creativity on the plain pots. I'll let you know how it goes!