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02:58 pm
4/5/08

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anita_margarita
The fish all seem very, very happy in their new home.

Yesterday I saw an email ad pop up from the local Yahoo Freecycle Group for free Koi. I called Gary to see if he was interested and he said yes, so I emailed in response to the ad. The lady called Gary and yesterday afternoon we went to her house.

She had a cement Koi pond that was badly, badly neglected: very muddy with out-of-control algae and slime. She was trying to drain it but the pump kept getting clogged with mold and slime. I got a bucket and bailed it for a while, as did she. We had two nets, and eventually, gradually, slowly, retrieved all five Koi, a catfish, and numerous mosquito fish. They went into plastic buckets with fresh water, and Gary & I rushed them home and poured them into his pond. They must have thought they died and went to heaven to suddenly be in clean water with lots of oxygen. They're all beautiful: a white one with some coppery-metallic scales, a white one with yellow spots, a very large gold one, a black one, and a pale blue one with dark blue and red spots.

Gary didn't want the catfish or mosquito fish, so I took them to a nearby pond and gave them their freedom: The emancipator.

The five residents of the pond seemed happy to welcome their new friends: no hurt feelings, as far as we can tell.

Milo the cat has never shown the slightest interest in the Koi, especially after a mishap last summer when she fell into the pond and was the only cat in the history of the world to walk on water. She is very cautious around the pond.

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On April 5th, 2008 11:03 pm (UTC), [info]sahlah commented:
Fish rescue! Nice, please show us the happy new blended family!
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On April 6th, 2008 12:28 am (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
I shall try to get a picture or two. The black one is particularly hard to see - except in the morning light, for some reason.

Gary is concerned now that they will form a committee and outvote him on certain administrative issues.

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On April 6th, 2008 12:17 am (UTC), [info]onlylisa commented:
Well that's certainly a tale of being in the right place at the right time!
Lovely story about Milo - haven't heard about your cats for a while.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:29 am (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
Milo is my step-cat; she resides at Gary's. My cats would hiss and screech at her, even though she's a harmless little thing. She's a lady and mine are ruffians.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:45 am (UTC), [info]onlylisa replied:
Cats are funny creature aren't they?
I've realised it this morning more than ever - someone asked me to make an icon of a dog that says 'grumpy'. The internet is full of cat pics showing every emotion possible but I cant find a grumpy dog - they seem to only have happy and sad.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:47 am (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
Dogs are not grumpy. Angry, sad, lonely, apologetic...but I don't think I ever met a grumpy dog. One that would bite your ass off for no apparent reason, yes, but not grumpy.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:50 am (UTC), [info]onlylisa replied:
Well lonely, sad and apologetic must come under the same face blanket cause I can only find happy and sad.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:18 am (UTC), [info]yummydeb commented:
Yay for fishies being rescued! That's pretty cool.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:30 am (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
We definitely felt that we had done a public service. Although I was glad to get rid of the catfish: I forgot that they have barbs and I got stabbed trying to get him from the net into the bucket.
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On April 6th, 2008 12:32 am (UTC), [info]yummydeb replied:
Oww! Well I guess maybe it couldn't help it but it seems kind of ungrateful!
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On April 6th, 2008 02:06 am (UTC), [info]fried_pearl commented:
We're going to start calling you the fish whisperer.
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On April 6th, 2008 07:35 pm (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
I kind of like it.
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On April 6th, 2008 06:40 am (UTC), [info]auntconi commented:
Rescue...
Yay for the fish rescue, all of em ~ to wherever they went.
Sorry to hear about the catfish and his attack of the barbs ~ ouch!
You and Gary did a good thing!
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On April 6th, 2008 07:38 pm (UTC), [info]anita_margarita replied:
Re: Rescue...
It was not an altruistic thing in the beginning: Koi are expensive and we thought, free Koi! A huge savings! (Gary had been intending to go buy some, but even the cheapest ones start at about $30 each.)

Then when we got there, we were VERY dubious after seeing the pond. But when the fish got all cleaned up and were swimming around, we realized that it feels pretty good to give a neglected fish a good home.

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