Thursday, November 10, 2011

Aunt's Orchids

My aunt EV is a plant expert.  She expertize in growing all sorts of plants and orchids (I think) is one of her best.  I visited her long time ago and got a chance to take some of her plants pictures.  She used to have lot more but she has sold most of her plants after down sizging her house.  Pictures shown here are only part of her collections.  I've never see these plants in local nursaries, and lucky that most of her plants has a name tag so you can easily tell what short of plant it is.  =)

 Here is only part of my aunt's collection.

 The plant's name is on the tag...which I don't even know how to pronounce it...

 Here is another tray of her mini orchid.

 Paph - this is only a short form of 'Paphiopedilum'...Holy!!

 Here is another shot of the same plant.

 This one is a special one 'coz it has a 'net' around it...

 I like my aunt's handwritting, looks neat!  =)

 'Pony Ride' - finally something I understand!!  LOL!

 Among all the plants, I like this one the best!!  So cute~

1993?!  This plant is here since 1993??!!

Not sure why all her plants don't have flowers....um....

...And not sure why lava Rock is a good growing medium for orchids....um...

Here is another pot of  'don't know what it is'...

Looking at my aunt's plants are better than researching any sorts of text books!  Hahahah!!

Phrag - a short form for Phragmipedium...

...I wonder how it's flower looks like...

Um....??....  Looks like grass to me!!  Hahaha!!

Envy green, I did some researches on Google, it's flower looks nice!  =)

Petite plaisance

This orchid looks cute to me.  =)

I wonder how big these plants can grow up to...

If my memory serves me correctly, this is an African Violet?!

I guess the full name of this plant is 'Sophrolaeliocattleya Mahalo Jack', crazy name huh!! 


'Fragrance Fantasy' - I like this name!!  =)

LC love knot, I like this name too!  =)

Um...this doesn't look like it's an orchid...

A closer shot at the African Violet.

  The tag hides behind the plant and I don't know what it is....except I know it's an orchid!

Monday, November 7, 2011

I Wish I Run A Zooooo At Home~

I spent a nice afternoon visiting several aquariums and pet stores yesterday.  The lucky part was that I've brought my camera with me so I was able to snap as I go!  Heehee!!  Not too sure if I were allowed to take pictures inside the store however...I just took my chance here.  =)  Taking pictures inside these stores are hard, I got to be fast, determined and accurate!  One second late or if I get busted, I'd probably be thrown out of the store!  LOL!!  ....Just kidding....

 I don't know what kind of guinea pigs these are but they look horrible to me!!  (Sorry to say that...)

 Not so panda but I believe this is a panda hamster, costing $30 each while those ordinary one only cost like $10!  Holy crap!

Short haired Syrian hamster.

 Bugs bunny~

 Lizards Do-Re-Mi!

 Um...ball python, juvenile?!  I don't mind keeping one at home!  =D

 Snake, that's all I know!

 I like those Pythons more than this kind of snakes...

 Budgies.

 Discus
 Albino crayfish, resting on a leaf.  PS, looks like one of her claw is missing?!

 Silver diamond angelfish, I guess...

 Here is another shot of the angelfish.

 ...Don't think these are Rams, um....Cichlids??!

 Giant catfish!  Haha!

 These fish look so weird and ugly....don't know what they are...  Maybe some sort of catfish?!

 Red Parrot

 Electric blue crayfish

 More budgies~  I wish I can keep one too!  =)

 Baby bristlenose pleco

 Figure 8 puffer.  You can see the number '8' on it's back!

 ....I bet I've shot him at the wrong moment....

 LOL!!  There you go!!  =D  Guess what, this bird cost $1,800!!!

 Chinchillas - I used to have 2 at home...  Grey one cost $99 each and white one cost $199 each!  Holy!

 This guy must be having some sort of issues....he is the only one that's on sale in the store...  $70...

 Stinky bunnies.

 Gerbils?!

 If I have a chance to keep a budgie, I will definitely get a blue one like this!!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Picture of My Day: Santa Monica Municipal Airport


Santa Monica Airport (SMO) is located about 3 km from the Pacific Ocean and 10 km north of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), California.  I was going through my 'old stuff' and came across with my pilot guide...  Santa Monica is where I used to live and I took several flight lessons at SMO while I was in the States.  It was fun flying with a low wing Cessna.  Take off is easy: throttle all the way in as you begin to travel down the runway, and pull the handling wheel towards yourself when you hit about 100km/hr.  Landing is the hardest part for me (not to mention those fuel consumption and travel distance calculation)...  From my memory...(forget about launching all those flaps and communicating with the tower): first you need to approach the runway in a pretty high speed, point the nose towards the ground as if you're just gonna crash the plane, then pull the nose up 'at the critical moment' and land with the rear gears...  I didn't get my pilot license 'coz I don't know how to land without help... Landing freaks me out although that's the 101 thing in flying.  Plus, I needed to do a solo flight from Santa Monica to Las Vegas, calculating my own flight course, fuel consumption, wind direction, and estimate my time of arrival + 3 exams... Crap, ain't no gonna make it!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

苔斑魮 (Green Tiger Barb) - 被罰中!!

苔斑魮 - 這種魚屬於鯉科,主要棲息在小溪流、河川等流動的水域。牠們體延長而呈卵圓形,側扁。有些體側呈淺褐色,腹部銀白。常見的有四帶無鬚魮 (Tiger Barb),此外還有具黑色斑紋的苔斑魮 (Green Tiger Barb) 及白化種的虎皮魚 (Albino Barb)。這家伙本來好好的與大眾一起生活,但某天卻殺了我一條懷孕中的剛果旗 (Congo Tetra)!!今天牠又剛好被我看到在追殺另一條剛果旗!倒楣的牠被我困在這小籠中面壁思過,與世隔絕。

這樣的眼神,彷彿知道為什麼自己要被罰...

 多得牠的惡行,我才有機會拍到牠清晰的近照!

 牠被隔離到魚缸邊, 默默地在等待著...

這種孤單,無奈的感覺我能理解。(哈!)

*** 困了牠一整天,再看到牠沮喪的樣子我也於心不忍...

 決定把牠放生...

 這些便是被牠殺個正著的剛果旗。

 希望牠往後能改過自身,與其他朋友好好相處!

一線飛狐 (flying fox),無聊中...

 唉~ 以為隔離了條苔斑魮可以保護這條剛果旗,怎知牠仍然被其他魚欺負!!牠的肛門部位被咬傷了...  之前那條也因此傷而死掉...

 被逼要把牠隔離...  慘...

我心不忍,卻甚麼都不能做...