PETER the Puffer

how one little fish turned our evening upside down

5:30pm While browsing the local Wal-Mart, Lisa fell in love with a round-faced, polka-dotted, fluttering-fin pufferfish. As a family we decided that we wanted to buy him to be a companion to Fairy Godmother (the male betta) and Kermit (the african dwarf frog) that we've had for over a year. Leave it to Wal-Mart to have the Paint & Hardware guy scooping out the fish. We told him what we had at home and asked if everyone would get along; he didn't have a clue. The only thing he could offer us was that the tank had over 20 puffers at the start of the day and it was down to four when we got there. We decided to get him anyway (did we really have a choice?). He was looking right at us through the tank and even swam to the top when the lid was removed; he was so excited to see us. We picked up a new tank with room for him, Fairy Godmother and Kermit to live. (Our current tank recently suffered severe trauma). 5:35pm We named our pufferfish, PETER the Puffer. 6:30pm At home, Earl started putting together the new tank and Lisa googled "green spotted pufferfish". Here's what was found: Life Span: 10+ years. Hmm, that seems awfully long. I came across a little yellow fish with black polka dots. It had a cute baby face and greeted me at the glass, like a puppy dog, appearing happy to see me. I had to have him. YES, this described my encounter with PETER exactly. I took the little cutie home and everything seemed fine as I went to bed. I awoke to find the rest of the fish cowering in one half of my aquarium, missing fins and tails. The little "sweetheart" was happily buzzing around the other side of the tank, belly full of fins. UH OH! Green Spotted Puffer fish are aggressive predators. They have sharp teeth and prey on shrimp, snails and other shell fish. It is best to keep your puffer in an isolated tank as he will quickly destroy all other tank mates. HMM, I think we might have a problem. We bought a carnivorous fish with sharp teeth; not our puffy little PETER? 8:00pm PETER goes into the new tank, against guidance from the tank instruction manual to wait a full 24 hours. PETER refuses to eat Fairy Godmother's fish flakes or Kermit's frog pellets; they're just not his style. 8:20pm Earl heads to PetSmart for pufferfish preferred food while Lisa is still researching on the internet.Their teeth are constantly growing, much like rodent mammals and providing rocks or coral for chewing on will prevent the teeth from overgrowing, unless you want to take the time to file them down. If their teeth get to long they will not be able to eat. File them down? If puffers are not offered hard food such as snails and clams, their teeth will grow to the point where they cannot eat anymore. If this happens you have to trim their teeth. To do this, fill two containers with 1 litre of aquarium water each. Add 1 - 2 drops of clove oil to one of the containers. Clove oil can usually be found at drug stores. Capture your puffer and place it in the container with clove oil. After a couple minutes the puffer will slow down and eventually stop moving. When this happens trim the teeth with a very sharp pair of cuticle scissors, or some other small sharp scissor. Supposedly, cutting the teeth is like cutting fingernails, but I found the teeth of my puffer to be much more brittle. When the operation is complete, simply put the puffer into the other container. When it wakes up it can be returned to the tank. I have heard that some pet stores will do this operation for you. Of course it is best to avoid this situation altogether by meeting the proper nutritional needs of your fish. AH? 8:30pm Earl calls from PetSmart with confirmation that yes, PETER the Puffer will indeed devour any tankmates. 8:45pm Lisa calls Wal-Mart to ask about returning the carnivorous puffer. They agree to take him back, with a receipt. They close at 10:00pm. 9:10pm Earl removes PETER from the new tank and adds Fairy Godmother and Kermit. Earl and Lisa say so long to PETER and wonder what the girls will say in the morning. 10:00pm Earl returns home with three head & tail light tetras to replace the one puffer. Lisa calls them the Kindergartens (they swim in a school).

**UPDATE** Earl and Lisa explain to the girls that although we all really liked PETER, he doesn't play nicely with other fish and we weren't able to keep him. In his place we got three new fish! They have been named Tabitha, Telly and Tim--the tetras--AKA the Kindergartners.

Girls Just wanna Have FUN

a week of new adventures

Emily started swim lessons and had a blast. She didn't listen to her teacher and hardly participated at all, but, if you know our little Em, we couldn't ask for much more. She had been so excited in the days leading up to her first class, then when it actually came time to get in the pool, she wouldn't budge. It took Annabelle and me nearly 5 minutes to get her in. Then all she did was sit on the stairs. After another 5 minutes she really started to have fun. Mind you, class is only 25 minutes long. Things never really got better during that first class, but by the end of the second one things starting looking up. Michael Phelps, watch out!

Annabelle thought her first dance class was so much fun. Over the next 6 weeks she will learn Jazz, Ballet and Tumbling. At the end there will be a little production for the parents. It was so much fun to watch her; she was so cute. Her teacher told me after class that she picked up on the ballet postions very quickly. Maybe we have a prima ballerina on our hands.

Molly had her first experience with the MegaSaucer. She started playing with toys a couple of weeks ago so we thought maybe it was time to dust off the old saucer. She looks so tiny in it. She has started to explore it a little bit, but because of size, she's pretty limited. Lucky for her she has 2 big sisters that like to help. They stand around the side and show her how the toys work.

Chester Copperpot never made it this far...

There are 3 places that I have always wanted to visit.

• Wilmington, NC where Dawson's Creek was filmed
• Astoria, OR/Cannon Beach,OR where The Goonies was filmed
• Minneapolis, MN to see the apartment building used in the Mary Tyler Moore Show

Over the weekend we went on a unofficial Goonies tour and it was all I hoped it would be.

On Saturday morning we headed for Cannon Beach. Haystack Rock was featured several times in the movie. We had a great time with family; eating, playing and trying to stay warm. The girls had a blast collecting shells, crab legs and digging holes. Emily had an especially enjoyable time chasing the seagulls. It was about 60 degrees outside and the ocean felt like 20. We had several wardrobe changes as girls got cold, and wet and dry again. We even had one wardrobe malfunction, but you'll have to ask EARL about that one.

Next we headed for Astoria in search of "Mikey's" house.

Annabelle: When do we get to the store?

Dad: We're not going to the store.

Annabelle: Yeah

Mom: We're going to A-stor-i-a. It's a city, like Seattle. It's name is Astoria.

Annabelle: How come it's not a store?

Mom: Because it's just not. It's a
city.

Astoria was just as great as the beach. We drove around and were able to see places and roads that were used in the movie and we were even able to find the house that was used as Mickey's house. It looked a little different after 23 years, but it was definitely the same house.

I have to take a moment to brag. I have an awesome husband! If I didn't, there's no way I would have this priceless image of him reenacting the truffle shuffle outside of the Goonies house.

What a great weekend. Goonies never say die.

1 down, 2 to go. Wilmington here I come.

So grown up, but still my little girl

My little girl is all grown and going to school. She just got on the big yellow bus and drove away; so excited and not at all scared. I'm so proud of her. She is going to love kindergarten. She wasn't full of much information when she got home. She acted as though it where any other day. I grilled her as much as a could and this was all I got.

• Jarom almost fell down on the bus. The bus was her favorite part and she wasn't scared even though mom and dad weren't there with her.
• At school she didn't talk to anyone new, just Jarom. She played with blocks, did a dot-to-dot, colored a bus and had recess in which she got to play on both playgrounds. Her friend Allana from church has a friend at her new school who recognized Annabelle on the playground.

When told that she would be going on the bus again tomorrow!!, she replied, "I know." That's our little Annabelle.