Faith, Hope and Charity...

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)