Finding Dory

Shane has been asking us for a pet for some time now. On Tuesday, we finally caved. Our newest family member is Dory, a red and white fan-tail goldfish. You would have thought that I had lasso'ed the moon for the young man. Comments received included:
 

"Thank you so much for getting me this fish." "I love my fish so much." "I am going to take such good care of this fish."

In addition to Dory -- whose name very nearly was (drumroll please) "Nemo" or "Marlin" -- we also got a snail, who was to help us keep the tank clean. The snail, who never really had a name (sometimes we called him Sampson), is no longer with us. We clean the tank the other day, and the snail never seemed quite right after that. I went to clean the tank again tonight and the snail just floated in the water after being removed from the side of the bowl. I don't know if it was rough handling in the previous transfer, Shane did pull him off the side of the transfer cup rather quickly and not rather gently. Or, if it was overly warm water temp on the return to the bowl. I actually ended up ushering the kids out of the room and adding a few ice cubes, b/c the water seemed a bit warmer that room temp. But Dory (knock on wood) seems none the worse for wear. Shane doesn't know yet about the snail. He's asleep. Possible future post fodder.