My Pleco

I thought i'd post a photo of my plecostomus. He/she is almost 10 years old, and has gotten quite huge.

I had read somewhere that they can live up to twenty-five years! It was originally less than an inch long. I have a 20 gallon tank, and it was supposed to be the fish that stabilized the water levels before I added figure eight brackish water pufferfish.

Well, I became insanely busy with work, school, and life, and I never added the pufferfish, didn't want it to be harmed, so he/she is my only fish. I attribute it's longevity to using only filtered water to change the tank, and not adding any sort of chemicals. If I had known it was going to get this big and live this long, I would have gotten a larger tank!

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

Giant African Land Snails

I was busy surfing the Internet, and came across something i've not seen or heard of. Giant African Land Snails!

http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-Giant-African-Land-Snails

I would love to have one of these! They are so cool. I would like to know what it would feel like to have a 10" snail crawling across the palm of my hand. Weird! It said they are sold where they are legally able to be pets. I wonder if they have any of these local, or even in the United States, but I highly doubt it.

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

Tidal Pools

I've been fascinated by tidal pools ever since I was a young child. I watched an old public broadcasting station that had a program called "Hodge Podge Lodge," and in one episode, the host, "Ms. Jean" took her television audience on a field trip near an ocean. She scooped up various sea creatures out of the many tidal pools, and I became utterly fascinated. Wow, this was so cool! (An interesting side note is that currently she is about 86 years old, alive and well, and still teaching at a local conservancy on the east coast. She even wrote me a nice letter after I sent an email to the conservancy)

Many years later, when I was in high school, I went to California, and we drove up Highway One along the coast. I believe it was around Easter time, and it was quite cold. We stopped at various beaches along the way, looking for tidal pools, but did not find any. I did find some barnacles and various anenomes clinging to the rocks that met the water, but nothing else. Well, except for a dead sea lion, and the tops off of jellyfish, that looked like giant contact lenses.

I am planning a trip to Oregon in the future, and am busy researching the coastline, and trying to find areas that have the best tidal pool areas. I am also studying the types of creatures I find there, and how to view the tidal pools as I do not want to disturb them.

I found a lovely photo of a tidal pool, which I posted at the top of this post:

http://www.featurepics.com/StockPhotos/Tide-Pool-Sea-Anemones-Kelp-355014.aspx

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

St. Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital

I found this great animal hospital that cares for injured and sick wild animals, including hedgehogs. It is appropriately called "St. Tiggy Winkles" in honor of the lovable hedgehog character in the Beatrix Potter book.

http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/index.html

Check out the 360 degree tour, that allows you to visit different areas of the hospital and the kind people helping animals. If you live in an area that has wild hedgehogs (and i'm already jealous of you!), there are even plans on how to build a house for them. I remember reading awhile back that you should weigh your hedgehogs in your backyard before winter, and feed them appropriately to bring them up to their appropriate weight, since they do not hibernate. If memory serves me right, that is about a pound.

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

NASA Chief Under Fire For Personal Shuttle Use

I was digging through some old NASA stuff online, and came across this hilarious article on a NASA chief allegedly using the Shuttle for personal use.

Yes, it is from "The Onion" so it is fictional, but still funny, to many space fanatics like myself.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41904

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

Me and My Microscope

I LOVE my new microscope. It is a nice, professional one. I've always loved creatures like amoeba, paramecium, rotifers, water bears, and all kinds of things microscopic. I've had so many toy microscopes when I was younger, that I decided to make the plunge and get a nice one.

I bought a trinocular, which means it is a binocular compound, with an added extra eyepiece that I can add either a USB or regular camera.

I also have a QX5 Digital Blue microscope. It is more of a kid's toy grade, but it's pretty neat, as it hooks right into my computer, and I can take videos of things like the fish tank worm that I was trying to identify and posted on YouTube.

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/

Happy Science

Welcome to my Bluefizzure Science Blog!

What will I write and post about?

Well, I have been wanting to do more science and technology writing and research on the "happier side" of science. There are many topics that I find interesting, and this will help me to document my ongoing investigations. There are so many negative, sad, unhappy, and depressing things that are going on in the world, that they overshadow all of what is good.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read.

--Elizabeth
http://www.bluefizzure.com/