Friday, August 01, 2008

Biting The Dust

Yesterday was a great day. Hubby had his first full day off since moving here so he happily wrapped his arms around the kids and kept them occupied. That allowed Mommy to get a much needed haircut, squeak a doctor check up in and then I was off to work at the golf course for the night. Thursday nights are my nights at the golf course serving a bunch of rowdy former elite hockey players. It is a great social outlet for me given my passion for hockey and most of these guys played hockey with my Dad so they often share funny memories.

As it often happens, Hubby in his excitement of being with the kids for the day, decided to go a little overboard in their entertainment activities. In his infinite wisdom, he decided that we didn't have enough things going on in our house with the daycare and all, but we should inherit a few more pets. So, we are now the proud parents to our cat, and she is happily grateful to become the sibling to four no ... make that three now, goldfish. Each child of mine has a little tank with these swimming beauties displayed on their dresser.

And those said fish gave us our first lesson of life today. Upon waking this morning, Kaelen came running into my room with excitement to show me his new pets. Stumbling out of bed and into his room, I bleary eye balled his fish, Tricky and Ricky. I admit that I had to lie because I think goldfish are ugly and gross, but I praised those fish and Kaelen's chin went up a notch in fatherly pride. Off to Masyn's room next only to discover a gruesome scene; said baby is standing in her crib with hair going every which way, crying and pointing to her fish tank. Thinking that she is wanting to show me her new pets, I pick her up and take her over to the tank only to realize that the water is so murky and one of her fish is showing off his talent for swimming on his back in the middle of the tank. Kaelen meanwhile is saying, "oh oh ... Mommy, the fish is died already!" "Oh, no..... why?"

Due to minimal sleep, my creative skills were not at the best so I told them the truth: the fish died. That led to a multitude of questions about how, why and when. Just as rapid as the questions were fired, I responded with quickness that even impresses me given the fact that I hadn't consumed a pot of coffee yet. Because that fish looks gruesome and the water even more so, we headed off to the kitchen to make life a little easier for "Goldfish" (the name that Kaelen ceremoniously gave the survivor). That is when "the dilemma" dawned on me: how do you dispose of a dead fish? Do I:

  1. Flush it down the water tunnel known as the toilet?
  2. Place it in a body bag known as a baggie and throw it in the garbage?
  3. Huck it in the magic bullet, puree it and feed it to the cat for a dinner appy?
  4. Ensure that it is really dead by dumping it in the garburator, chopping it up and then sending it down the water tunnel?

What would you do? I will let you know what I did tomorrow .....

Until then, I continue to field questions about the fish and do they go to heaven. I also have to do spot checks on the other survivors to ensure that they do not attempt the dangerous maneuver of the back stroke. Today could be a long day with lack of sleep but at least it will be entertaining.

5 comments:

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

Oh my goodness. A cat!?

As for the burial, when our fish passes we'll probably be doing some grand service in a tiny box and bury it in the back yard. Otherwise, if the kids aren't looking, I'd say toss it in the garbage?

Steph

Allie said...

We have had our cat for 8 years now. Hubby went out and purchased four fish yesterday, which one did not make it through a full day in our household. Unfortunately, I can not blame the untimely death of the fish on the cat as Hubby purchased the small safety tanks for the fish which are designed to keep kids and cats out of them ....

Goofball said...

When I was 5 I got a goldfish....It lived for 3-4 years but the last year it got senile or suicidal or something as it jumped out of the tank every single morning! Whenever the first person walked into our kitchen (where the tank was) and turned the light on...he jumped on the floor. So we got a habit of catching the fish as a first thing when we were in the kitchen and putting it back in its tank. It did survive a year like that.

I don't remember what we did when it died.

Jenn said...

I would also throw it in the garbage. Although maybe the flushing could turn into some sort of "heaven".

Jenn

Anonymous said...

I think we flushed ours but really I don't know. I took the kids to ice cream while Scott handled the disposal of the body.