Friday, July 8, 2011

Puppy Dogs And Fish Tales

Puppy Dogs.
A few weeks ago, after much, much thought and consideration, (and praying!) we decided to find Ole and Lena a nice country home. While we loved them, we just weren't around enough to give them the time and attention they deserved. They wanted so badly to run! Every time we tried to even walk them, they would break loose and run away. Landon was tired of chasing them and Tim was tired of paying all the fines to bail them out of the pet jail. The barking was never ending and bark collars didn't even phase them. It was causing a huge amount of stress in our family. They needed/deserved a home where they had acres and acres to run and play and bark freely.While I was the one who suggested it, it wasn't hard to convince both Tim and Landon it was for the best. I made a few calls and found a shelter that said because they were black labs, fixed, shots, etc. they had families that would take them that day! I requested a country home and that they be kept together.  I was assured that would not be a problem. Because of that, I can sleep at night. I understand some will never understand this, but I refuse to dwell on it. It was the best choice for our family and it is what it is. Rock and Roll Ole and Lena! Rock and Roll!

Fish Tales
That weekend Tim, Landon and I were in Walmart. (Imagine that!) When we go together, Tim and I take separate carts and meet in the middle somewhere. Sometimes Landon goes with me, sometimes with Tim. This time he went with Tim. When we met in the middle, guess what was in Tim and Landon's cart? Freaking fish! We have already been down this road twice and the end results are never good. I end up taking care of them and they end up dying.(I know nothing about fish!) But, because of the situation, I bit my tongue and let it go.They got a blue male betta and a brown female betta. Because they are "hardy" and "low maintenance" Tim said they can just live in the big fish bowl with a few toys and fake plants instead of the big tank and the whole nine yards. This helped me bite my tongue big time! I am now the proud owner of two fish. The fish bowl needs to be cleaned and the water changed every week.  Because the bowl isn't huge I have been using our culligan water. I think the Wheaton water had a lot to do with the previous fish's departure and now that we have a water softener, I just can't imagine that being good for them! So, there I stand once a week at the water cooler holding the water pitcher for 2,875 minutes. I use the room temp. water setting (which pours really sloooooow, vs. the cold water) because I think the fish would be much happier in it. I can't imagine taking an ice cold bath! Today was the day the bowl needed cleaning. I decided to turn the cleaning of the bowl into a little nature lesson for my Day Care kids. I showed them how scoop the little fish out and put them in another container of clean water where they would be safe while their bowl was being cleaned. Because I was trying to hurry a bit, I didn't bother with the slow room temp. water and used the cold fast water. I dumped the fish in the cold water in a clear container on the counter so the kids could watch them. I turned to the sink and began to wash the fish bowl. Behind me I heard, "Oooohhhhh....look at them gooooo....oooohhhhh....heeeey.....why aren't they swimming no more?" I spun around and found both fish laying on their sides at the bottom of the container. Inside of me, I was freaking out!!! If they were dead, why weren't they floating on top? Why were they on their sides on the bottom?? Were they in shock? Were they dead? What in the world??? I wasn't sure what to do, but I calmly(only on the outside!) reassured the kids that they were just sleeping and taking a break. Then I turned on the warm tap water and filled the container to the top, silently praying and praying.... "Come back to life! Pleeeeeeease come back to life!!!" It was a miracle!!!! They came back to life! (Now I know how Mary felt when Jesus came back! Well, o.k. maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but it was a miracle all the same!) They slowly started swimming again!!! I couldn't believe it! I had no idea fish would do that. I know nothing about fish. What I do know is, apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like cold baths!