Why I Oughta...

Along side Ariel and Flounder, that orange and white fish on the left is our new pet: Lucky.  Well...his name *might* be Lovie because the Savage calls her that, but everyone else calls her Lucky.  She's been living in this two gallon bowl for the past few weeks after being 'won' (can we call it that?) at the Naperville Rib Fest. This new 'pet' has, ummmm, been a source of disagreement around the family.  I've taken on the bulk of the burden of keeping her tank clean - which hasn't been super easy - but getting her at a carnival is a sort of 'loophole' that was exploited that I don't think was appreciated by senior leadership.  Add the fact that we've been out of our temporary home for five weeks and the burden has been shared across generations. Over the next few days, we'll transition her back to Elmhurst and if she survives the multiple water changes, the car ride and the change of locations, then she's far hardier that I exp...

We're sitting on my niece & nephew's goldfish they've named "Goldie" for a few days.  He's sitting on our counter in his (apparently from this photo) not terribly clean bowl. The Babe has been feeding Goldie every morning and has taken to talking to him.  From a parent's perspective, me thinks this might be enough to tell me that taking on a huge fish tank is just not the right move for us right now.  Who knows...maybe I'll get impulsive, but for now I'm going to stay out of the Petco's around town.

We captured these two guys with a bucket right at the edge of our beach on Paw Paw Lake.  The Babe is into fishies so she got a kick out of seeing these guys on our countertop.  They stayed there for about 20 minutes and somehow "escaped" back into the lake when the Babe was getting ready for bed.

I spent some time this past week digging around online and physically in ONE pet store looking at fish tanks and equipment.  I had a tank when I was younger (junior high-ish) that was 30 gallons and I had a lot of fun with it.  The Elmhurst Library has a tank and every time I take the Babe there, it is our first stop in the children's section and she goes nuts.  I figure that this might be a fun family activity: keeping a tank.  Nat thinks this is a VERY bad idea for a variety of reasons including the work involved, the upkeep, my track record on things, etc. She's likely correct, but that doesn't mean I won't keep looking and perhaps even pull the trigger. Do you guys have tanks at home with your kids?  Tell me I'm nuts - that this will end up being too much work.  Or...do you and your kids love it?  I think big, so 10 gallons is too small potatoes for me.  I was thinking of 30 gallons as a nice middle ground starter tank.  Freshwater...