tikatu | Well there was a death in the family yesterday.... (Reply)

Boy #1's plecostomous died. It had been sitting at the bottom of the fish tank for the past couple of days and smelled pretty foul when the boy finally decided that: yes, it was really dead and pulled it from the tank. He cried a bit over the fish; we'd had the thing for probably three years and watched it grow from around an inch and a half to roughly six or seven inches long (amazing that it got that big in a 10 gallon tank, the fish girl at the pet store told me). He and the Girl buried it in the back yard. I was glad; it might have stopped up the toilet had it been flushed.

Since the tank was rife with algae, I decided that we really needed to replace the pleco right away, perhaps with more than one algae eater to keep the replacement from growing to such a big size. So, off we went to the pet store where we've gotten the best and longest-lived fish. We got another pleco, and a whip something-or-other (I can never keep these fish names straight), and a banjo catfish to replace the cory cat that had died several months ago.

Boy #1 fretted about the banjo cat all evening because he didn't see the thing moving. But his worries were all for nothing; the banjo cat (which is a very flat, well camouflaged fish) was moving around, eating just like its cory cat relatives. The new pleco, a tiny thing compared to its predecessor, immediately began the algae clean up. I expect it, and its snake-like co-worker, will have plenty to munch on. I have been informed by the Girl that we need a new tank heater; that will come at the end of the week when Hubby gets paid.

It's amazing how attached you get to these creatures, even the smallest and least demonstrative of them. I hate to think what will happen when one of our cats dies. It was rough over the summer when Cotton disappeared for 10 days. If Callie or Tika were to die, it would be devastating because they are our cats, mine and the Girl's.

First chapter of Serendipity is up on fanfiction.net. I've gotten three short reviews on the end of Turnabout, and two on Serendipity (one from Math Girl, who has been following at ffs.org--crafty gal!). Chapter Two tomorrow, I think. Hobbeth and I have brainstormed on what to entitle the chapters but I'm not quite satisfied. I'll see what comes out when I post chapter two. Have to work on chapter nine somehow. I got a start but didn't like where it was going so axed it. A good rescue is in order and I might have an inkling. We'll see.

Have had some definite explosive decompression today and a semi-queasy tummy, so stayed home from church. Plus, Boy #2 had some homework to catch up on; he lost his assignment sheet and the teacher emailed me the rest of the weeks' homework. He's got it done now, and I'll have to make him get ready for bed.