The Newest Member of Our Family

Well, I did say the next post would be about Jason's new best friend. But first an update on our friends and family that were in Ike's path. The Van's did very well and have been back home for a while, but Jason's brother is still without power. He was able to borrow a generator from someone, and hopefully they will have power by the end of the week.

Jason made a new friend when I was gone on a 11 day trip at the end of August and beginning of September. I knew he would probably be lonely while I was gone for so long, so I arranged for him to make a new friend. I had been planning it for a while, but had to wait until the day before I left to carryout the final details. I went to the store and spent 20 minutes trying to choose just the right now. I didn't want one that was skittish and moved away from a hand coming at it, and I wanted one that was "pretty" too. I finally decided on one and purchased it and all the paraphernalia that was needed, especially food. I then had to drive home carefully so as not to upset his new friend, get everything inside, and prepare it's new home. I'm calling him "It" because it was up to Jason to name him. Once he was settled in his new home I had to wait for Jason to get off work and come home to see him.

I heard the garage door go up and quickly got him into position so Jason hopefully wouldn't walk by and not see him, although that is pretty unlikely. In walked Jason and spotted him right away! Jason smiled really big and said, "You got me a fish!" I told him I didn't want him to be lonely while I was gone for so long, so I figured a Betta fish was a good idea. Jason has always wanted one so I did my best to get everything he needs. I told him I wanted to see the fish alive still when I got back from my trip.

Over the course of my trip Jason was trying out names to see what worked for him, especially since I was getting sick of "fishy" for a name. Finally he was down to 2 names, and one of them I told him he could not use. I didn't want a pet being named after a person on a reality program, even if he was the color of the guy's hair! (The name was Suede. Can anyone name the show?) So he decided on ... drum roll please....or thunder roll more likely.... Ike. He thought it would be fun to name him after the next hurricane that was in the Atlantic. Which was fine until we found out Hurricane Ike was coming toward us, and we figured it was because the new fish was "drawing it this way," like a magnet. When I returned home, Ike was still alive, and Hurricane Ike was coming this way. It almost came to me having to leave right after getting home! We were glad when H. Ike turned more northerly because the Valley's ground is still saturated with water from Hurricane Dolly. (That can be another post later.)

There was one minor emergency with Ike while I was gone. His home was a huge vase that had lots of room for him to swim in, but Jason noticed within the next 24 hours of him being in it that there was a puddle of water on the floor by the counter. So overnight he put it on a baking sheet with paper towels to see if the was was leaking or we just had spilled some water. There was a huge crack running almost the entire length of the vase. Jason headed to the store to find him a new home, switched him over to that, and that is where he still resides today, even if it is just a plain old fishbowl. Not my first choice, but it will do for now.

We are doing fine right now, Ike even got to go live with us while we house sat 3 cats. Needless to say, our door stayed closed all the time. Although at one point we did have the youngest cat with us and he spotted Ike. Let's just say the kitty didn't stay too much longer in the room because it looked like he liked the fishy!!

Everyone, let me introduce you to the newest member of our family... Ike!