Introducing ... Marcus

We made it all the way from April to August with our little guppy who was living in the Sprite-bottle terrarium, but he finally went belly-up last week. Nathaniel said, "Oh, man. I hope he died of old age."

I'm not sure what the lifespan of Wal-Mart guppies is, but I'm gonna say that four months is a pretty good run. And our snail was still alive, God bless him!

I was feeling bad about the guppy's demise, so the other night while Grayson and Nathaniel were on a Scout camping trip, I went to the pet store and picked up a few things. And when they got home last Sunday, we set up a new home for a new friend and our old buddy, the snail.

First, we washed off our colorful rocks.

Then we cleaned up our pretty little plant.

Next, I arranged it all in our new bowl.

Then I asked Grayson to assist with adding our new fish -- a Betta, or Japanese Fighting Fish -- to the bowl. He's a boy.

The kids were gathered all around the bowl, anxiously awaiting the transfer.

It went off without a hitch!

I took suggestions for names, and they all had some, but Nick was most vocal about "Marcus." No idea where that came from.

They wanted to feed him right away, but I wouldn't let them. The instructions on the jar are way different than the instructions the guy gave me at the pet store, so I'm gonna have to do some research.

They had fun watching him. For about three minutes.

That's how long it took him to do a couple of circuits of his bowl, and then he went back to being almost completely stagnant. Betta aren't the most active fish.

Still. Twenty-five dollars for three minutes of entertainment? You can't put a price on that.

Wait.

I had a Betta in my office once that just kept me company and lived for a couple of years with no care other than topping off the water every couple of weeks.

Preeeety much hoping for something like that with this one, too.

Don't let me down, Marcus.

Oh, one other thing. I turned around to do something after the kids lost interest, and when I turned back around, guess who had DEVELOPED an interest in Marcus.

Yep, Scoutie had found him. I don't even know how he knew what was up there, but somehow he figured it out.

As it turned out, he seemed to really only want to have a drink. Not a taste of Marcus himself.

But I know I'm really going to have to keep an eye on the both of them.

I mean, I got a SIGN and everything, but I can't be sure Scout's gonna read it.

Fingers crossed.