Some people go crazy over their pets and I know that most pets bring a lot to the lives of their owners. However, of all the pets a person could choose to have in their lives I wonder which pet is the most useless. My husband used to say that cats were the most useless creature ever put on earth but I tend to disagree, and I guess cat-owners would disagree also. In my opinion goldfish earn that title. What do they do all day. Swim round and round and get nowhere.
I have a pond in the back garden where two of these live. I think maybe they are crossed with piranhas as they just about jump out of the water with mouths wide open when it’s feeding time. They must sense that I’m there because as soon as I get to the side of the pond they come racing to the surface.
I feed them every day so probably giving them too much but they devour it all.
Once upon a time we did have about 18 and it was like a maternity hospital for fish. They kept coming and coming seemingly appearing from nowhere. Sadly one day while we were out a blue heron came uninvited for dinner – probably brought some friends, and when we returned home the pond had been depleted and the fish dish must have been the main course.
We came to the conclusion the heron was the culprit because we had seen one hovering around the yard a couple of days before. Must have been casing the place before inviting his/her friends along.
It was AFTER this had happened (and isn’t it always after the horse has bolted) and when we started all over again that my other half made a wire covering to fit over the pond to keep the uninvited away.
Since then over the years goldfish have been bought and goldfish have gone to that place where goldfish go when their expiration day has dawned (i.e. some have been interred in suitable containers and with great ceremony, while others have been flushed with success depending on who was there at the time). I am now down to two again. When these are no longer around I think I’ll fill in the pond and grow some pretty flowers instead as it’s hard work keeping it all clean.
Back to my original thought. Really and truly just what do goldfish do all day – absolutely nothing! You can’t cuddle them or take them for a walk. You can’t teach them tricks to amuse your friends. I do talk to them but they ignore me. Mind you that happens to me a lot these days even with humans – talking to them and being ignored.
Oh, dear! sad news. How strange that I should be writing about them as I just went out to give the goldfish their daily flakes and found one of them floating lifeless on the water. I realised by looking at the swollen body that it was well past CPR and so I scooped it out of the pond very carefully and dug a hole in the garden. With a respectful gesture I dropped it in, laid it straight and covered it over with soil.
I could have given it the royal flush but I thought it deserved better. I didn’t actually say a few words but I spared a thought for the little fish, its swimming days now over. I felt sad. The other one seems to have disappeared and is in hiding, maybe grieving. Do goldfish grieve I wonder.
I’m not really a heartless person but somehow I think I will be looking at seeds in the very near future.
I have a pond in the back garden where two of these live. I think maybe they are crossed with piranhas as they just about jump out of the water with mouths wide open when it’s feeding time. They must sense that I’m there because as soon as I get to the side of the pond they come racing to the surface.
I feed them every day so probably giving them too much but they devour it all.
Once upon a time we did have about 18 and it was like a maternity hospital for fish. They kept coming and coming seemingly appearing from nowhere. Sadly one day while we were out a blue heron came uninvited for dinner – probably brought some friends, and when we returned home the pond had been depleted and the fish dish must have been the main course.
We came to the conclusion the heron was the culprit because we had seen one hovering around the yard a couple of days before. Must have been casing the place before inviting his/her friends along.
It was AFTER this had happened (and isn’t it always after the horse has bolted) and when we started all over again that my other half made a wire covering to fit over the pond to keep the uninvited away.
Since then over the years goldfish have been bought and goldfish have gone to that place where goldfish go when their expiration day has dawned (i.e. some have been interred in suitable containers and with great ceremony, while others have been flushed with success depending on who was there at the time). I am now down to two again. When these are no longer around I think I’ll fill in the pond and grow some pretty flowers instead as it’s hard work keeping it all clean.
Back to my original thought. Really and truly just what do goldfish do all day – absolutely nothing! You can’t cuddle them or take them for a walk. You can’t teach them tricks to amuse your friends. I do talk to them but they ignore me. Mind you that happens to me a lot these days even with humans – talking to them and being ignored.
Oh, dear! sad news. How strange that I should be writing about them as I just went out to give the goldfish their daily flakes and found one of them floating lifeless on the water. I realised by looking at the swollen body that it was well past CPR and so I scooped it out of the pond very carefully and dug a hole in the garden. With a respectful gesture I dropped it in, laid it straight and covered it over with soil.
I could have given it the royal flush but I thought it deserved better. I didn’t actually say a few words but I spared a thought for the little fish, its swimming days now over. I felt sad. The other one seems to have disappeared and is in hiding, maybe grieving. Do goldfish grieve I wonder.
I’m not really a heartless person but somehow I think I will be looking at seeds in the very near future.
Mind you I think the name covers the very first interactions between man & beast.
