1,2,3,4,5...9!

Every day I feed the fish. Every day I count the fish. One, two, three, four, five little fishies! I feel like I'm caught in a Muppets show or a Dr. Seuss book. And yet I do it. Since the mysterious disappearance of the goldfish in the pond, and then the mysterious re-appearance of five of them, I've always wondered where they were in the meantime, and what happened to the four poor fish that never came back.

The temperature has dropped into the teens in recent nights. The other day I decided to clean the pond filter one more time before the pond froze up. With the cold weather, the water is finally starting to clear. Today, I could see all the way to the bottom again. One, two, three, four, five...

Six, seven, eight, nine!

We have some water lilies in the pond that I bought last year. They came in plastic mesh, holding together the dirt and pebbles that the lilies are planted in. You just drop the whole thing to the bottom. In the winter the lily pads died, but in the spring new ones grew, and then flowers.

As I peered into the depths of the pond, pleased at the results of the filter cleaning, what did I see? Four fish! Nestled at the bottom of some water lilies. Connie's sharp eyes noted that they looked trapped in netting. So I doffed my shirt and reached into the frigid water, pulling up the whole bag o' plant and fish. Sure enough, the fish had somehow found their way into the bag, but couldn't find their way out. Not rocket scientists, our goldfish. It's like a goldfish motel. Fish check in, but they don't check out.

I tore open the mesh bag and out swam four happy little fishes. They seem healthy, just smaller than the others. It amazes me how they can survive the winter without eating, and now survive for months trapped in a small mesh bag. Here's to fish!


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: News