Wir haben ein neues Hobby: Wir haben ein Aquarium. Noch ist es allerdings ohne Fische, aber es wird schon. Auslöser war ein Kinderbuch vom Sohn, das er im Urlaub mit dabei hatte: Es drehte sich um Haustiere. Die Figur im Buch heißt Benno und er hat ein Aquarium. Nachdem mein Sohn erkannt hatte, dass er bei seinen Eltern auf taube Ohren stößt, wenn es um das Thema Hasen geht, zog er nun den Fisch-Joker. Er will jetzt Fische.

Zunächst nahm ich den Vorschlag nicht sonderlich ernst, aber Sohn fing wieder und wieder mit den Fischen an. Als Lektüre empfahl er mir sein Kinderbuch. Da stehen zwei Seiten über Fische drinnen. Hieraus bezog die Familie ihr Primärwissen über Fische. Ich muss zugeben, dass mich ein Aquarium schon fasziniert hatte, doch hab ich keine Ahnung über Aquaristik oder wie der Umgang mit Fischen so   heißt. Im Kinderbuch stehen aber schon ganz sinnvolle Sachen und auch der Fischbesatz wird nett beschrieben. Sohn möchte Neonfische (6 Stück) und Black Mollys (wahrscheinlich, weil sein Teddybär Molly heißt). Meine unseriösen Vorstöße wie Hai oder Rochen wurde abgelehnt mit den Worten: „Ach Papa, sei doch ernst.“

Der Familienrat tagte und wir beschlossen weitere Erkundigungen einzuholen und Leute mit Fischen zu befragen. Wenn ein Becken (sagt man das eigentlich?) billig hergeht, dann schaun wir mal. Etwa 4 Wochen später war es soweit. Beim Lidl gab es für 60 Euro ein Einsteigerset mit 84 Liter. Also schritten wir zum Kauf.

I just wanted to show my new flowers,  the petunias which go pretty well on the small balcony.

Also my new fish, with the beta male ruling the fish tank. There are also the xiphos, the black molly and the blue guramis.

This just in from our sometime Fish Wrap Correspondent, Black Molly.  Seems the Little Falls City Council is due to hear a conditional use request tomorrow night (October 13, 2008) at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall for the proposed placement of a 190-foot mono-pole telecommunications tower at 107 13th Street Northwest.  That location appears to be in a block just south of Pine Grove Park and Zoo, basically across the street from the entry side.  Here’s what Black Molly has to say about the issue in her letter to the City Council:

To:  Jake Depuydt, Mayor Cathy VanRisseghem, Little Falls City Council Members, Bruce Kiesling

For these reasons, I’m urging you to deny the conditional use request for the placement of a mono-pole tower at 107 13th Street Northwest.

If you feel strongly about this issue, one way or the other, be sure to attend the Little Falls City Council meeting tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.

The legals are a fine place to swim,

Phineas F. A. Pickerel

Well, I am still in awe of last night’s massive success! BookPeople gave us the prime real estate up on the second floor for the book signing event, which I am very thankful for. Black Molly put on an AMAZING four song set which, no doubt, helped draw people up from the ground floor of the store. I hear you could hear the band playing outside the building!! LOL! By the time I took the podium to read from ETERNAL VIGILANCE, the place was packed! It was a bit overwhelming (in a VERY GOOD way) seeing so many people so I hope my presentation wasn’t too shaky, but I think I pulled off a pretty good reading. I’m not sure exactly how many books were sold in total, but BookPeople was very pleased with the turnout and asked me to let them know when the next book was coming out. I cannot express my gratitude enough for Black Molly donating their time and talent to the event, to BookPeople for hosting it and to all of the people who attended! I am truly touched and inspired!!

XOXO

The following is a report from Fish Wrap Correspondent Black Molly:

————

On Friday, July 11, 2008, the Morrison County government and citizens bade a fond farewell to County Administrator Tim Houle.  Tim has served the county since 1994, first as County Coordinator and then, when the county narrowly approved the redefinition of the position, as County Administrator.  Houle is leaving Morrison County in order to serve as the new Crow Wing County Administrator, a position he was a candidate for in 2000.

The afternoon event was filled with gratitude for the work Houle has done for the county and region from such dignitaries as Representative Al Doty, the Morrison County Commissioners, former Representative Steve Wenzel, and several commissioners from adjoining counties.  One of the Crow Wing County Commissioners spoke at the event, saying that Houle had induced a rare unanimous vote among Crow Wing’s Commissioners when the decision was made to hire him.

Senator Paul Koering had attended the event earlier in the afternoon, but was unable to stay to present Houle with a plaque of appreciation.  This, along with other plaques and gifts, was presented through the course of the afternoon.

Along with expressing thanks for his work and sharing congratulatory remarks, county staff gave Houle a bit of a roasting.  Perhaps toasting would be a more appropriate word, but not toasting in the sense of raising a glass.  Instead, employees of Morrison County Public Health presented Houle with a golden toaster, a symbol of Houle having banned the use of a toaster in the Public Health office after several incidents of burnt toast set off fire alarms in the Government Center.

Further, Houle was presented with a Superman “S” to wear on his chest after making public remarks about the fact that he was an ordinary guy who didn’t have a big red “S” underneath his shirt.  Several comments were also made about the reflectiveness of Houle’s head and how Nathan Richardson, one of the county’s founders, and Houle were rivals in the head size department.

The presentation ended with Houle saying that he had played only a small part in the county’s accomplishments and that everyone, from the front-line county workers dealing with the public on up to the County Commissioners, was responsible for how well the county is being run.

In this fish’s opinion, Houle’s modesty is sincere, but he most assuredly deserves credit for the leadership he has brought to Morrison County and his use of that leadership to inspire those in the county to provide friendly and efficient service to Morrison County’s citizens.

We’re going to miss you, Tim.  Thanks for your dedication and service.

Your Fish Wrap Correspondent,

Black Molly

As if I wasn’t excited enough about the AUGUST 1st book signing for ETERNAL VIGILANCE at BookPeople (http://www.bookpeople.com/), it’s been confirmed, as of today, that Kitty Korvette’s band BLACK MOLLY will be doing an acoustic set at the store before the reading as part of the evening’s events! Is that not absolutely killer?!! So, you HAVE to be there!!! Mark your calendars and when the day comes, pack the car and DRIVE TO AUSTIN!! It’s going to be one amazing night!! Check out Black Molly on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/blackmolly69 !!

Guess who I met yesterday?  Yeah, sure, I gave it away in the post title.  Real brainy, I am.  Al Franken made an appearance yesterday in my small Minnesota town.  The local DFL organization sponsored his appearance and Hubby and I went, along with Hubby’s parents.

Al is one of the Minnesota DFL candidates for the U.S. Senate seat currently being held by Norm Coleman, or, as I saw him referred to yesterday – Smilin’ Norm.  I don’t much care for Norm and I’m just going to leave it at that ’cause I’d rather talk about Franken.  In the DFL race for the seat, Al is up against Mike Ciresi, who’s not much of a candidate as far as I’m concerned.  Franken has that Paul Wellstone passion that is irresistible and hopeful and he’s smart as a whip.  I’ve long believed that satirists (as Al refers to himself) and comedians are some of the most intelligent people among us.  They have to be in order to create their jokes.

When Franken arrived, he made his way around the room and shook hands with everyone present.  All I could think to say to him was, “Nice to meet you.”  He’s got a good, firm handshake and he looks you in the eye when greeting you.  No distracted shirking with Al.  He gives great speeches, too.  He covered a ton of issues and his beliefs within a short amount of time.  Actually, I’m not sure how long he spoke.  We were all mesmerized and not paying any attention to the time.  We would’ve been happy to sit in the crowded restaurant listening to him for several hours.

Strangely, even after the speech, I didn’t have anything to say to Al when I had him sign something for me.  My mind was a complete blank.  I agreed with him on every issue.  I’m absolutely going to vote for him, but I was so overwhelmed by the situation that I stopped thinking and just went with the flow.  It was enough to shake his hand and listen to him speak.

Now, in case you’re thinking that I was star-struck, that wasn’t the case.  Al is very approachable.  I’ve been in similar situations with large crowds and a speaker who’s not well known and I tend to experience the same paralyzing reaction.  I’m not good in crowds, period.  I can’t mix it up and engage in small talk and schmooze.  I’m much better meeting people in small group scenarios, particularly one-on-one, where I can ask questions and take my time in getting to know someone.  In a crowded situation, I prefer to sit back and observe, let the scene wash over me and watch how everyone interacts.

In fact, I took notes during Al’s speech.  Periodically, I post under the pen name Black Molly on Fish Wrap, a blog that looks at local issues, and thought the Al Franken appearance would make a good story.  It did and you can see my post and a couple of photos related to the event here.  How’s that for taking the role of observer?

Go, Al!