The News at 2:00

Our lead story today is a sad one.
I regret to inform you of the passing of Superfreak. Sources say that foul play is NOT suspected, and by all indications, he died of natural causes. The family decided to forgo an autopsy, and chose instead to perform an immediate burial at sea. -Ok, so maybe not literally at sea, in the interest of accurate reporting, lets just say that "water was involved". (Insert your own yellow journalism joke here :-)
In lieu of flowers the family has requested that donations be made to the National Aquarium in D.C.

NO, the next story is not about mob related intimidation tactics.

(for those of you who got the "Godfather" reference, 10 points )

Rather this is an announcement of the completion of a joint project undertaken by myself and my 10 year old daughter, Genevieve. This bust of a horse's head was created as a gift for Genevieve's friend Sarah's 10th birthday. Sarah is known to be quite the "equine enthusiast".

Please keep your computer tuned to this blog for further updates.

Good day, and may the good news be yours.
(got the WKRP reference? + 50 points.)

Superfreak lives and other Updates

A quick update, mostly because I think that my birthday tribute to Doug has had sufficient playtime ;-)

First of all, Super freak lives. Amazingly, enough our little Cory Catfish has beaten the odds and has so far avoided being an appetizer for our monster cichlid Mr. T. He has grown to little more than an inch long, so I guess there is a possibility that Mr. T. simply doesn't care for the taste of catfish.

In fact, every one of the fish we bought last trip has survived - I know, I've probably jinxed it now, but lets just hope it's one of those Christmas miracles.

Speaking of Christmas miracles- Look the Christmas elves finally finished with our Christmas decorations. Just in time for a wonderful visit with Doug's cousins from N.J. this weekend.

So far Hero has not mistaken the Christmas tree for his very own indoor "potty". I hope our luck holds out.

Fingers crossed

3 years ago when we finished our basement we installed a 45 gallon fresh water fishtank, built directly into the wall. Of course our tank has seen it's fair share of inhabitants come and go. Gill, our angelfish (named after that tough angelfish in "Finding Nemo") is actually one of it's original residents.

We also have a Labidochromis cichlid (named Mr. T) who was no larger than a molly when we first got him, he is a monster now. And he has come under suspicion several times when some of his smaller tank mates have mysteriously disappeared never to be seen again.

A few weeks ago the number of fish in our tank reached an all time low of 4 members! Mr.T, Gill, our Pleco (named Hannibal)-(yes, as in the A-team characters- NOT Silence of the Lambs)and an Archer fish named creatively enough Archie. Well, we finally got around to stopping at the fish store today and picked out 5 new fish. Three giant Danios- chosen in the hopes that they would not be as tempting to the cichlid, 1 diamond tetra, and 1 cory cat. Unfortunately the Cory Cat is very small (about 1/2 inch). Hopefully he will grow very fast :-)

Names for the new fish are still under discussion. (Feel free to make suggestions).

(and please no suggesting "Sushi" for my poor little Cory Catfish)