It's a picture happy post :o)

Introducing the next generation

Now that the temperatures have gotten a little warmer (and we've moved the deadly trace block out of range), it was time to make the trip to Pet Smart for another cleaning crew to put in The Girls' trough. It's getting mighty darn dirty in there. I had a little more trouble making my selections this time, as they had just had more fish delivered and there were about a zillion of those little critters flitting around in there. After tracking three supercool looking little fishies in three different tanks until my eyes were crossed, the clerk managed to deftly bag them up and off we went home again. 
Just because I could, I found Dr. Demento's old song "Fishheads" to use for background music *giggle*. For those of you that are culturally deprived and have never heard it, it's one of those songs that transcends the ridiculous, makes you laugh, and sticks in your head worse than any idiotic advertising jingle on the planet (betcha you just can't wait to listen now, right? ;o) Here 'tis:

A little temperature acclimation (about 15-20 minutes), and in they went...Do you see them all? Allow me to introduce you...

We'll start with Faith, shall we? She's a pretty little orange and white Fantail Goldfish, and at the moment only about 3/4 of an inch long (I can hardly believe Larry, Moe and Curly - pudgy little 4.5"+ porkers that they are now - actually started out that size when we got them last summer. Wow). I really liked the way her coloring looked just like a paint horse; I'm sure Taya will be quite pleased (haha). I suppose I should offer a couple of links in here somewhere for anyone else that has horses or livestock and wishes to keep their tanks clean (or just plain 'ol loves the little fishies ;o) The post from last summer is here, and the Squidoo lens that I wrote about using fish as a green solution to a green problem is here.
Here is Faith (R) hanging out with Hope (L):

Hope is a...well, actually I'm not entirely sure WHAT she is other than some type of goldfish, that is. Having gone through the whole pink ribbon/breast cancer thing, I know all too well that in addition to having hope, you have to be pretty doggone tough to get through everything that's thrown at you. Do I need to state the obvious and tell you it's a LOT? Hope looked kind of like a rough and ready biker chick who could kick some serious keister - complete with black leather accents. Then there were those lips, which made me think of the Lifetime movie "Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy", so she was... well.... um....hmmm. You know what?...never mind. I'll just go with I had to pick her. My brain makes for some pretty strange associations sometimes. If you followed my train of thought easily, you should probably worry a little. (maybe a lot *grin* ).
After hanging out on the ledge for a while, Hope opted to scope out the smorgasbord at the bottom of the tank (it's awfully darn murky and dirty down there...but not for long methinks ;o)

Charity is our little chunky monkey; she's an orange Oranda Goldfish and looks pretty much like two ping-pong balls and a tail that were fused together wriggling around down there. Maybe some kind of aquatic orange snowman. She may look rather bizarre, but that just means she's a good fit for her new home. We're all a little odd around here :o) I'm not quite sure why the Orandas were so much bigger than the others, unless they were just a little older. They are all supposed to max out at about 6". Charity is also pretty darn round in the other direction too. Huh. A pot-bellied fish - who knew? Not me.
It didn't take them very long to find the float; they absolutely love hiding out up under there...Wheeee!

You can see how much I had to zoom in by how big the Rubbermaid stamp is on the float (photo right) for you to get a good look at Faith. I thought I'd go up the hill and get some shots of Larry, Moe and Curly so you could see how big they've gotten. Then I decided to just shoot a little bit of video for you instead. When you consider that I'm standing on the other side of the fence (and they are still pretty easy to see) it should give you a good indication of their size.  Please bear in mind this is NOT a movie masterpiece; we're talking super fast and slightly sloppy with Max and Shadow nudging me through the fence (although I was polite enough to stop filming when I bellowed at Max *laugh*). I just wanted you to see how big they have gotten, and maybe give you a little smile. I figured if I enjoyed watching them swimming around you might too - plus the clouds looked really neat - so here you are:

Larry Moe & Curly from Jen on Vimeo.

We are still looking high and low for an affordable small truck for DD to drive. It's been almost a month with one dead end after another. Pickup trucks are selling at a premium right now (meaning about $2,500 higher than they were 6 months ago) and thank you very much. Most of the trucks we have found that were close to what we could afford have already been sold and the person forgot to delete the ad(s) *sigh*. Most frustrating. We did find this microscopic econo-car that was within our price range, but what on earth would she wear on the other foot?? I always thought roller skates came in pairs, didn't you?
Have a wonderful week everyone! (The bad ones are way too much trouble :o)

Because it's only "fair" to share, right? 

Okay that was terrible (I admit it). The fair was in town last week and because they have a farm night with free admission to local farmers, we actually got to go - Woo! I thought I would share some of the night's activities with you, in case you don't actually care to go to the fair. I almost said, "...in case you are not a fair person." but that didn't sound too good, and would likely have been deemed an UNfair comment (and geez enough with the lousy puns already!) Incorrigibility, what can I tell ya? I was curious to see how my camera would do in the dark. I'm still struggling to figure out settings on the fly, but all in all not too bad for an amateur with a monster learning curve...

Chainsaw dude was our first stop. This is one of those times when it's a total bummer being broke; he had all kinds of amazing finished work for sale. The soaring eagle in the photo was one of my favorites; but only because there were no horses (ha). He was working away at a deer while we were there. DD's fascination with wood (she's studying woodworking in college) meant we had to all but drag her away by the hair (she would have stood there watching him all night :o) And you know, I'm thinking it would not be a bad idea to hide the chainsaw from now on as she DID have a rather thoughtful gleam in her eye...

There was a traveling circus there, called Wambolds. I have to say I really enjoyed his show - he talked about his tigers, their history and spouted an impressive list of facts and figures about these gorgeous creatures. He also explained that he used reward-based training, and would feed them a small chunk of meat from a short stick following each trick they performed (and major points for you buddy). The big cats looked quite content, and he did not have to poke or prod anybody (more points for you Mr. Wambold :o) Pictured below are "Ruby" on the left and "Pearl" on the right (she was a stunning, albeit slightly blurry, white tiger). Please note that I was largely shooting blind, we were near the back of a large crowd so I had my camera stuck up in the air over my head - not my first choice of picture taking positions :oP

It being Farm Night and all, there was the obligatory calf scramble and greased pig contest in the big arena. Have to say, they are a riot to watch. The contestants were all FFA members from area high schools and were all sporting crash [football] helmets. As you can see by the photo below, this was obviously a wise decision. Again, large crowd with me shooting up over my head (and way WAY off in the distance). A couple of the calves seemed to catch on, and more than one (photo below left) opted to turn the tables by pinning the person.  I believe I heard the announcer say something about some split britches, but other than that there were no casualties *grin*. I got tickled at the boy in the photo below (right) whose pig somehow ended up all wrong: or is he just on the wrong end? Anyway, the kid hit the dirt, the pig shot through his arm and he wound up facing backwards and hanging rather desperately on to the tail end of the little porker (whoops :o)

The Freak Out is DD's all-time favorite ride, so we bought a few tickets for her. There are only a couple of rides that she won't go near; she's pretty much amenable to anything out there. DH, on the other hand, only likes to ride anything that might incite cardiac arrest. Me? There's only one single ride I'll get on without a tranquilizer; can you guess what it is? It's a pitifully easy guess, actually :o) Look at the neat thing that happened when I tried to take a picture of the ride once it really got moving (check it out below - pretty cool, huh?) One of those "happy accidents" Ann! *grin*  Too bad I can't remember what setting the camera was on that time; I think it might have been the "fireworks" setting, but I'm not really sure. Looks kind of like a tulip, doesn't it? I think I probably should have been taking notes or something... Sheesh.

The happy hairball pictured below is for my dear friend Lori. Having seen your husband's expression over your heartfelt wish to Mama a llama, I'm thinking this is about as close as you're gonna get sistafriend (gotta say I do so love the 'fro though ;o)

Are you still wondering about my favorite ride is at the fair? Well, silly you:

 Have a great day ~ the bad ones are way too much trouble!

I'm adding a VERY important P.S. for other new to outdoor fish folks; goldfish hibernate once the water temperature drops below a certain point (I think it's 50). The reason I'm posting this is to let other [clueless] people like yours truly see what a fish actually looks like when it's hibernating. Their little body functions slow WAY down and they will either float just above the bottom or lay on it. It should also be noted that they do not necessarily all hit this phase at the same time; which can result in a very serious error (my profound apologies to Faith :o/  They don't have eyelids, so their little eyes are wide open. Basically? They look dead; we're talking doornail here. Just look at Charity and Hope in the photo below...