Want to Put Your Name in the Pool?

Our backyard slopes down from our house until the ground levels out at our back fence. Rainwater pools in the back right corner of our lot after a heavy storm, and that's probably why the previous owners put in a small pond in that spot. I'm sure the backyard was a muddy mess most of the time. It might sound fancy to say we have a pond, but in reality it's just a permanent puddle with a water pump.

I considered draining the pond when we first moved here, but the April showers proved that wasn't possible, so we kept the pond full. A month later we noticed that the still water was full of mosquito larvae. Since mosquitoes cannot breed successfully in flowing water, and we didn't want a mosquito colony on our property, I had to learn how to get the pump working.

Last June I thought it would be fun to put some goldfish in the pond. We bought six feeder fish from PetSmart (32 cents each), and three died during the first week. The other three survived the summer months and Char's overfeeding - we shouldn't have been surprised with how big they grew. Char gave the fish names when I told her they were her pets:

1. Black Hat had a black spot on his tail.
2. Carrot was the goldest of the three.
3. Frosty had a white spot on his nose.

I did research how goldfish survive the winter, and I thought the pond was deep enough to keep them the fish from freezing, but either it was too cold this past winter or I overestimated the pond's depth. The fish didn't make it. Char was a bit bummed, but she cheered up when I said we'd try again.

Char declared, "This time we'll get seven fish!" And we did.

He they are on the way home from the pet store yesterday. The guy on the bottom doesn't look too happy.

But Char was, and she named them before we got out of the car:

1. Rosie is the name Char currently gives to all new stuffed animals and to the daughter she'll have, "When I grow up!"
2. Flower is the pretty one.
3. Christmas Tree is also the pretty one.
4. Target enjoys archery (?).
5. Flip did summersaults in the plastic bag.
6. Hotel was named after a building we drove past.
7. Restaurant's named was changed to Popcorn this morning.

I don't know many fish will survive, but I'll bet one will be named Rosie.