I just about kilt that cat today...

So there I was, lazily dreaming the morning away, when I heard a THUD! I was hoping it was just the husband leaving for his Saturday round of early morning golf, but I heard no talking, no giggling, and certainly no swearing, so I knew it couldn't be him and the boy. Besides, it was five minutes past his tee time.

Wait... *snarl grumble growl* I know what it is!!! And $#@* that @#*$&%@#$*$ cat!!!!

I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen to find a mess of mass proportions. Okay, not mass proportions, but that definitely sounds better than just a mess. Because it was a MESS!

I have to go back a few days to explain it.

The other day, we were headed off to bed, telling the fish and the fry nighty night sleep tight when holy batman! There's more fry! Those fish just don't give up.

Again, like the last time, we decided to wait until morning to see if any of them lived, and sure enough, the next morning, there was still a whole little school of fry swimming around the tank. We are not totally heartless people, so the husband and I discussed it and decided it was time for some rearranging in an effort to preserve the lives of our new little offspring.

This was a big project. Huge.

You may recall that we have two fish tanks. We started out with a nice small 10 gallon tank and decided to upgrade to the larger one. We kept the ten gallon tank on the counter in the kitchen because I like things to be in my way as much as possible, and when we were done cycling the new tank and ready to add new fish, we took the goldfish, because we're not heartless people, and stuck it in the 10 gallon tank on the kitchen counter, hoping it would just die on it's own. So, we have a tank, but it's got a 3" goldfish in it that is determined to live forever and no way am I putting my fry in with it.

Ishee suggested that we flush it down the toilet. She wanted to see if it would ever swim back up. Do I look heartless? I'm not going to flush an innocent creature down the toidy just to see if it can swim. I had to think on it.

Meanwhile... the huge part of all this rearranging... our big tank had been in the back corner of the living room and the husband whined about it being there almost daily. It's just too hard to admire his babies from that viewpoint. But where else can we put it in our crowded living room? That's when I had a lightbulb moment and decided it was time for some major rearranging of the huge variety.

The big beautiful solid poplar and glass curio cabinet my husband built... is now on a different wall, and in it's place, the first thing you now see when you enter my home is... a 28 gallon fish tank. Any idea how much a huge solid wood and glass curio cabinet weighs? Not much less than a 28 gallon fish tank half full of water, that is for sure!

We then proceeded to catch 10, yes 10 little black and silver fry (mollies) and add them to the four we already caught... we now have a total of 14 fry (in case you can't add) in the ten gallon tank on the counter in the kitchen. Baby fish are not as cute as say a baby kitten, but let me assure you, adult fish are way cuter than adult cats, though they listen about the same!



Oh, and what'd we do with that goldfish? Well, again, this was up for much debate at our house. Ishee still wanted to flush it. The husband thought I should put him in a cake pan of water and let the cat have at it. The boy is not a massochist and he had no desire to off it's little hide, even suggesting that we buy yet another tank for his bedroom for him to keep the precious little goldfish until it's demise, and the middle child could have cared less since that is what she does best. Since I was in charge of this rearranging party, I took an old flower vase and filled it with water and poured him in and set him back on the counter next to his former home. He's not got much room to swim around, but that's okay, I think we'll take him back to the pet store anyway. If he lives that long. I just don't have it in me to flush him.

Now we can continue on with the story of how I just about kilt the cat this morning.

So I rushed into the kitchen after hearing a thud... which was brave of me since I sleep in my undies in the summer time and all the windows were open and the father in law is out irrigating this morning... yeah yeah yeah... but I was in a hurry. Afterall, I had a fish to save!

There on my kitchen counter was the fat beast sitting in a puddle of water that she should have been afraid of, watching a fish squirm and squiggle. The cat proceeds to give me a look of "Look what I did! Look what I did! Aren't you so proud of me? I caught a fish!" Her reward was getting chucked off the counter and nearly chucked out the door.

Have no worries, I rescued the fish. I'm not sure why, but I rescued that darn fish. There for a split second, when I was awakened from dreamland, and I knew just what had happened, that I ought to just let nature take it's course and let the cat have at that fish while I continue on into dreamland. I'm glad I didn't. Also in the middle of that puddle of water was... momentos from the past few months I hadn't yet put away such as my nieces wedding announcement, my other nieces high school graduation announcement, Ishee's coupon to Wingers she's been dying to use, the boys final 8th grade report card, and... my new camera!

Yep, it was a good thing I came in here and rescued that fish.

Two of our fish are pregnant... again... and I'm sure we'll have more fry to add to the tank. I haven't a clue why we're doing this... we don't NEED them, that is for sure! There's just something about taking a living creature and raising it, just to prove that you can, I guess.

As for the cat... she's hiding for she now knows just how unimpressive I found her fishing abilities. Hopefully from now on she'll stick to sitting on her perch watching them from the outside like the rest of us do. Who am I kidding? It's a CAT! She listens just about as well as those fish, which is NOT AT ALL!