If DH just happens to catch another sturgeon, I guess I could strap it to my leg, a la Sarah's angry boot, and take a pic. After a few days, it should be leathery enough to strap back on again, in honor of Jean's preference. Sturgeon - the other lingerie. :D Sounds like a great outfit, CT! Did you work in fashion in another life?? LOL As long as I leave out the hooks. DH's fish camp nickname is Dr. Hook, thanks to a big'un right through the finger. I wouldn't want to horrify him while attempting to tempt. :D I gave that issue to my mom, but I think I remember the guy you're talking about. Typical blonde Swede? I get Horticulture for the articles. LOL Just kidding. (I couldn't get that "Secret" page to load...:( ) LMAO @ Keith Richards...oh, man. That's pushing it on the "rugged" thing. Anything in cammo is fine with me....maybe a uniform here and there. Paul, Sr. is a bit much for me (American Chopper, OCC), but Paulie, Jr....has potential. :D John Cena in The Marine...HEL-lo! *giggle* Brenda

Not seeing anything curious or mysterious (twilight-zone-ish) here. I am, however, confused as to why you think 15-20 fish disappeared overnight when you plainly state you cannot see them unless they venture to the shallows (?) Perhaps the hawk made dinner of the koi but that's the least of your concerns at present. Your best course of action is to stop treating *symptoms* and start correcting the root of the issue (unless you don't mind pouring a constant stream of $ into your pool cum pond). Just for starters, what is your ratio of plant coverage to surface area? It's not clear how your dh converted the pool pump to include a bio filter. (I maintained a pool for many years & I just can't make sense of this - do you mean he's routed the flow through a filter?) In any event, IF it was working there would be no need to add packet after packet of 'good bacteria' as the filter would be serving this function without ANY help from you. You say "things are looking up" after adding (how many?) packets of bacteria? Bleh! It's not unusual to experience a spring algae bloom (green water) but it's nearing the end of Aug now and you should not be experiencing green water. I'd suggest you go take a look at cliff_and_joann 's filter system. They've shared detailed schematics of their setup which you will find helpful. I say again, stop treating symptoms and start correcting the underlying issues. Not only will your fish enjoy good health but your wallet will too, blessings, ~digger p.s. one last thought...toss the lava rock.

Re: "And also my DH installed the whole house surge protector right before he left for Canada. The units were working fine before he left for his trip." That could be the Smoking Gun. Marco made some good points above. I'm also an EE but on the semiconductor/computer side of things. So while I want to think I know everything there is to know about residential wiring I'm not a professional as that is not my day job. Doesn't mean I don't do all my own electrical work though but I usually research a fair amount on things I'm not sure on. Other thing to consider is the whole house surge suppressor could be faulty. Does it have an alarm to tell you when the MOVs (metal-oxide varistors) are bad? These devices are sacrificial or maybe they were bad to begin with. Or it could have been your husband's installation? Given that it was installed just prior to going on his fishing trip he was probably in a hurry & knowing it was on your birthday he had probably caught a little grief over that so his head might not have been totally focused on the job at hand. It just seems too coincidental that the surge suppressor was installed just prior to both units going out which as mentioned above is low probability. If you don't want it to happen again I'd hire an electrician to check your husband's work. Mike

Oh Daisy... that reminds me of my folks. In 1975 we lost the entire upstairs to my parents home and the ceilings caved in the kitchen downstairs. The kitchen was redone with all the colors of the 70s. Orange/yellow/avacado/brown all in one room. The counters were particle board until they sold the house in 1995ish. Dad put in a pc of laminate counter about a year before they sold. As for our ability to do this project- we've done it all. Heck, we just rebuilt our boat outdrive by reading the repair manual. As for the woodworking skills needed for the wall/surround thingy. It is all square boards. My only concern is having no seams show where boards meet. I think the wall behind tv will actually be one large sheet so as to be seamless. Flyleft really hit it on the head- WE ARE JUST TUIRED. We spend 10yrs making last house perfect, then found new house just as we were installing new floors in old house. New house had no yard and interior only had a few things needed, mainly the fireplace. Good news... since it was cool this weekend at night we built our first fire. You need to make sure there are no install issues before closing wall up. Everything works perfectly. DH was really happy. We started talking about moving forward so that is good. Someone asked what needs to be done first. I thought it was drywall but that is actually only for the interior of the recessed spaces. We need to take 2x4s and 2x8s and make the raised surround and mantle and mantle supports. That all gets covered up with the wood then trimmed with 1x4ish trim. The whole thing gets painted white. The mantle is pretty simple to frame as it is just a long box. We cannot avoid the flooring because when we took out the raised hearth it left a huge spot in front of fireplace where the new hearth needs to be put in. And since we are putting in the new hearth along with the tile around the fireplace itself, we might as well do the tile in the entryway also. DH said then we might as well do tile in the upstairs bathroom...see he is motivated... but I told him that could definitly wait as it is upstairs and is not urgent. I think now that fireplace works properly we can get going. Luckily he has Fridays off from work to fish, Saturday to work on house and Sunday to rest and play with kids. Two years ago it took me over a week to paint my vaulted livingroom/entryway- 25' ceiling. Decided last year I did not like the color. Took me two days to repaint. Amazing how fast you can go when truly motivated. I say this will be done by Christmas for sure. I will keep you posted.