Our Newest Family Member

What do you get a retired guy who has everything he needs, refuses to make a Christmas wish list and simply takes the fun out of the holiday by telling folks NOT to buy him anything?

Apparently, a REALLY, REALLY  BIG FISH !!!!


The Big Guy is a tropical fish enthusiast. He has maintained a large home aquarium (often more than one) since he was nine years old. He owned a fish store at one time and our home is decorated in what I like to refer to as "Traditional Sea Life".

With this in mind, one of Santa's helpers thought we truly needed a 4 foot long, helium-filled, remote controlled clown fish. Who knew there even were such fish in the sea at our local mall?

The first night, Big Fish simply explored the living room.

Using the remote, one can make him go up and down and steer him by moving his tail fin.  Turned off and left to his own devices,  he does the usual helium balloon thing of floating aimlessly (and silently) around the house on his own. Once I got past the creepiness of this "wandering", we started to make fun of him and took pictures of his strange antics, posting them on FB with captions.  (We're now getting messages both for and about him!!) Folks want to know what he's up to!

We figured he was getting hungry when he tried to go into the kitchen.

The Big Guy is determined that he is merely a generic clown fish and is NOT Nemo. So, we call him "FISH" or "BIG FISH".

Wonder what the little guys in the tank thought when they saw him!! We did NOT pose him. He went over to take a look all on his own!

In the first week here in the house, he had enough helium, and we kept him balanced enough (through the adjustable levels of ballast suggested), to keep him fairly close to the ceiling. At that height, he was unable to clear doorways so he stayed in the stairwell, the living room or the hallway. in that state he would work his way to a specific doorway and simply stick his nose in the room to look around but his top fin kept him from going into those rooms.

We have found there is one spot in the living room where he kind of noses his way into the corner and tends to stay there a while. The other day he had been sitting there for hours when he overheard me on the phone telling a family member that we had snow through the night and the street was pretty well coated. We watched, stunned, as Fish quickly backed out of his corner and turned to stare out the picture window.  He then circled the living room and headed down the hallway(as if running from the snow.)  

Did I mention he has now lost enough helium that he can enter the various rooms on his own ?

Well, I found him later, floating over our bed staring at a picture of a seagull. I think he was yearning for a warm beach, after all, he IS a TROPICAL fish!!! (Personally, snow makes me want to find a warm, sunny beach, too!)