December 3, 2011 @ 12:33 AM.
We have been experiencing technical difficulties. On Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Ana winds began to pick up and by 6:30 PM, we noticed transformers blowing and lighting up the sky. During the night, the power went out four or five times, and shortly after 1 AM Thursday, the howling wind twisted and snapped a large tree near our offices. Around 8: 40 AM, shortly after leaving for our day jobs, the lights went out at our Mt Washington offices for nearly 36 hours. Without power, we were unable to answer any emails or to post any new content. The power returned at about 6:30 PM on Friday, December 2, about an hour before we returned to the offices. Our first priority was to check on the aquaria and remove the quilts they were wrapped in. With no electricity and no heat, the aquarium water dropped from the Amazonian 80s to the low 60s despite our having boiled some rain water the night before and adding it to raise the temperature to about 70. We did that a second time at about 1 PM today, that time boiling about 2 1/2 gallons from each aquarium that was returned hot, again raising the temperature to about 72. This afternoon the warming was accompanied by the quilt wrap. Boris and Medea Luna, Lefty and Digitalis’ 16 fledgelings, and the summer spawns all survived. One small fry in the bathroom died, leaving five siblings from a very small brood.
