What we began Saturday was not technically speaking a heist to grab a stock of goldfish before something terrible happened, but I admit there are similarities in narrative structure here.
So this house up the street, the new owners put in a nice goldfish pond. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger stopped to admire it several times over the summer and talked with the owners about it and compared notes about our setup and all. But a couple weeks ago the house was put up for sale. And last week the For Sale sign became a Sold sign. bunnyhugger worked up her courage and left a note offering, you know, if you don't feel up to taking the goldfish or aren't confident the new owners will take care, we'd be glad to take them. We've been hoping to get some new goldfish for ages and been watching Craigslist and such for people who have goldfish they can't care for anymore. Saturday night, after we watched the Flophouse Live Stream Show, we got their phone message: this was great by them, except that they turn the house over to the new owners Monday.
So this is how on Saturday night I was starting up our quarantine tank and getting out our minnow traps and the cans of cat food to use as bait and walking out past midnight, flashlight in hand, to put traps in a front yard pond. (The house turns out to be in front of a streetlight anyway.) Nobody challenged me, which is fine enough, but if you saw someone in his sweatpants striding up the road at 1 am with traps and cat food what questions would you ask them? Bear in mind, I'm a tall white guy with a beard.
Sunday we were planning to be out of town all day and you'll see why sooner than you think. But the upshot is that we didn't get back home until 1 am, and so after blowing out candles on cupcakes and opening a gift I went back out, this time with bucket, flashlight, and a net, to grab whoever I could.
There were eleven fish in this mix. Eight goldfish plus two bluegills that they had because ??? ?????? ????? ?? ? ????? and a perch that they had because ????? ??? ? ???????? ??????? ????? ??? ? ??????? ????? ??????. And then I put the traps back in the water, figuring I could check when bunnyhugger got up in the morning, before the new owners could check. There were three more goldfish in traps this morning, and I thought I could put a trap back in and check again later in the morning.
A little before 11 I went out and saw people moving stuff between the house and a car. Feeling as awkward as you might imagine I set down my bucket and grabber and two nets (one short and wide, one long and narrow) and ... they didn't say anything or even much acknowledge me. There weren't any more fish in the trap, though. And I introduced myself figuring if these were the new people I could take an empty trap out and they wouldn't mind much if I never bothered them again. But, no, it was the old owners, who were glad to meet one of the people taking their fish and saving them the stress of getting a tank and rounding them all up in a day. And, better: they had written a letter to the new owners explaining they'd sold the fish to us. So I should be able to get the stragglers --- eight fish, by my count, including two that are so pitch-black that I hadn't seen them before --- without too much further strangeness.
Want to see some of Cedar Point? Here's the end of the 150th Celebration show.
Fireworks! We'd wondered why we didn't see them when we were at the park in June.
And the answer is that it's a small show, plenty when you're nearby but not reaching that high up.
Another burst of fireworks and think how this must look if you're on, say, Power Tower in the background on the right there.
Some more fireworks! And also think how this must look if you're on Rougarou, in the background on the left there.
Fireworks while one of the dancers rides the Cedar downs float!
Another fine and exciting burst of fireworks.
Trivia: The earliest, 1403, uses of the word ``pageant'' are to describe a mystery play (one based on a story from the Bible), performed on a wheeled platform or wagon used as the stage. The stage was also called a pageant. Source: Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning, Sol Steinmetz.
Currently Reading: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Marcia Chatelain.
