Life Is Funny: This is NOT a Toy
Monday, January 11, 2010 at 7:00AM MAD21 By MAD21
We have a very determined cat. KC is a wonderful pet. For the most part she stays out of trouble. But on the occasion when the urge overcomes her, she has been known to get in big trouble.
I was going to post a story about the day the veil of ignorance was removed from KC's eyes regarding how much fun it would be to play with the Christmas tree (even after it had been up for a few weeks). But this story is much more funny than finding ornaments all over the living room floor, and hearing what can only be described as someone shaking the tree into submission.
We have had a fish tank for a long time. Six years to be exact. We originally got it to put in our then-new baby's bedroom for the white noise the filter provides. Before the baby actually came, we had purchased several fish, all of whom succumbed before the baby even lived in her room. We finally gave up, and just left the tank empty with the plan to buy more later. Well, it turned out to be MUCH later. Like... five years later. Yes, we filtered water for no fish for five years. Read on. It gets better.
Last spring our favorite babysitters called and asked if we would like to have some goldfish they'd won at a school carnival. We were like... Sure! Finally. Some residents for our very clean, very lonely fish tank. Our girls were SO excited. We got three huge goldfish. At the time of their arrival, we tried to explain to our girls that they had very short lifespan. One died a few days later, the other two lasted all summer.
The tank sat empty again for about four months until Daddy brought home three more fish from the pet store. He figured for 58 cents, it was worth another try. Plus, we had decided that unless we were going to have fish in the tank, it needed to be put away.
When Daddy brought the new fish home, he left them in their bag inside the stores shopping bag and sat them on the counter with the idea that after he got a few things done, he'd come back and introduce them to their new home. I came out to the kitchen awhile later to find them still sitting on the counter. I called downstairs to my hubby and reminded him they still needed to be put into the tank. He said he'd be right up. I went to bed.
Several hours later, I was awoken by my hubby freaking out. In a frantic whisper he says, "Wake up! Wake up! The fish are GONE!" I was like, what? He said, "The fish are gone and so is the whole bag that they were in!! But the shopping bag is still on the counter with water all over the place." He had gotten distracted and left the fish to fend for themselves all evening on the counter in the kitchen.
I hopped out of bed and grabbed a flashlight. Not wanting to wake the girls in our little treasure hunt, we quietly looked everywhere. Under beds, behind doors, under tables, and all of the usual places KC (also known as our little thief because she likes to steal away with our girl's stuffed animals) takes things to hide that she has stolen.
I should also mention that we also had not found the cat. So while it was kind of funny that we were looking all over the house for the fish and their bag, we were also worried that the cat had gotten hurt in her overzealous desire to get to the fish.
After about 20 minutes, my hubby finally found the bag in our youngest daughter's bedroom. And... get this... the fish were still alive in about three tablespoons of the water that was still left in the bag. One died the next day, the other two lived about a month.
We just spent the weekend cleaning the tank out for new residents. We'll give this one more try with new water and a different variety of fish. And THIS time, the fish will go directly to the tank and not set up camp on the counter.
Never a dull moment in our house. Nope.
My friend and fellow blogger Wendy at Weight..What? has a fun carnival at her blog called "Life is Funny." Every Monday we talk about something in life that we find funny. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.
Cat, Family, Fish, Fun, Life Is Funny, Pets in Life Is Funny
Reader Comments (8)
you know there are ways to keep your fish alive. testing the water for the right balance of acidity, hardness, and various other goodies is a great first step. Not leaving the fish out for the cat is also important.
Thanks, Nick. We've been getting goldfish, which are my least favorite kind of fish. They tend to be dirty and you can't have any other variety of fish living in the tank with them. SO. We've cleaned everything, and will be filtering the water for a few days. Then we'll take a sample to the store and have them check it for us before we purchase new fish. And we will not be buying anymore goldfish.
Next we have to figure out how to keep KC away from the tank...
Excellent post! Too funny! I've given up on trying to keep fish alive and am just focusing on keeping the cat alive.
Well I must have done quite well to keep one fish for years! It was huge and after 2 years of being alone I bought 2 tiny ones to keep it company, two days later it was dead!
Great post - your cat sounds like a great character to have around. Never a dull moment indeed!
Diane
I like fish tanks... for other people. Cleaning them is such a pain- can't stand it! At least I can snuggle on the couch with a dog or cat before I have to clean up after them. Don't have fish, don't want fish. Phew! Got that out of the way. :)
You can also try the free white noise player located at http://www.whitenoiseplayer.com
Should I start calling you Darla? (Finding Nemo)
I'm a big fan of enjoying fish that live with someone else, too. The ick-factor for taking care of a fish tank is right up there with cleaning bathrooms and litter boxes. However, that is why it's nice to have a hubby who's ick-factor scale is different from my own. Hubby doesn't mind taking care of the fish tank, or the fish that succumb in it. We'll keep trying until either he tires of taking care of it, or we decide to put our pennies into something that will live longer than a month or two.
Thanks for all the comments! Except you, Wendy!! <evil laugh>