When we moved to North Carolina 6+ years ago our old house had a HUGE dinning room.  Even with a big dining room set of a table, eight chairs and a buffet, there was still one big, blank wall staring right at me.  I got the brilliant notion of putting a 55 gallon fishtank on a stand on that wall.  My hubby affectionately called it my "chinese restaurant" from that point on.  Secretly, he realy enjoyed that tank.  Here's the catch - I had had tanks before in Florida and who knew that North Carolina water was THAT much different?  Thus began my undesired career as the "fish killer".  Honestly, I spent more on fish that first six months than I did on the whole tank set up!  Eventually, I found a good pet shop where the owner clued me in on what was wrong and our tank thrived for 5 years after that.  When we built our new house, there wasn't any one place that called out for the fish tank and so I decided to sell it - to a wonderful older lady so her grandaughter she was raising could have a pet.

Fast forward to the present -----  #4 has been wanting fish for the last several months.  After watching him gaze longingly into the horse trough for the hundredth time at the lone orange fish known as "lucky" (don't even ask!)  I finally gave in about a month ago on a trip to the "Evil Empire" and bought him a little 2 gallon tabletop tank.  Of course, we are in the only "Evil Empire" store in a two hundred mile radius that DOESN'T actually sell the fish, just the supplies.  Not a problem.  We'll just stop on our way home in the little town over from ours and buy two little ten cent fish at the only pet store in our county.  Of course, as is our luck, she is completely out of any fish under the price of $30.  After trying to have a logical conversation with a crying 2 year old, I called hubby's secretary who lives up the mountain from us and begged her to stop and buy two fish for me to come pick up at her house.  Crazy that we spend about $8 each on gas for our gas hogging SUV's over 50 cents worth of fish, but the smiles and joy on #4's face were all worth it.  About a week later, when #1 was cleaning out the horse tank she thought a racoon had eaten the fish and didn't pay attention until there was suddenly a wild flapping of orange on the ground.  She came running into the house, hand outstretched yelling and dumped the orange fish into the tank.  I thought for sure, he wouldn't survive going from an outdoor tank of about 40 degree water to the tank of about 70 degrees, but he's alive and kicking today.

Now here we are a month later and for some unknown reason, both black fish have gone to the "great tank beyond" in the course of a week.  Each time, #1 has sneaked them out of the tank while #4 was alseep and they have "gone to the dr".  Now I am not one to lie to my children.  I believe in the truth about life, death and the food chair as evidenced by our ownership of a ball python snake the children all love to watch eat the mice.  Right now, #4 is still a bit young to get the concept though.  So either today when we are up the mountain in town running errands or on tuesday when we are there, I guess we will be stopping by the pet store to purchase new tank mates for "pumpkin" since "elmo" & "birdie" are going to be in the hospital for quite some time yet.   Ah, the joys of motherhood.  Since I still don't have any clue as to why these two happily swimming fish became floaters, everyone cross your fingers...................