Some New Family Members

Out back of the townhouse, there is a small pond. Upon move-in, this pond included a nameless koi of decent size, about 8 inches. He was a fine fish but shy; I thought nothing of his hiding tendencies in the early days.

It was only a few months later that I realized the nameless koi was no longer part of the family, so to speak; he literally disappeared from the pond. A befuddling occurrence, considering I never found the body of this fine fish. It took many months more for the idea to sink in that, in fact, some animal might have made friends with the koi and escorted him somewhere outside of the pond. Since the koi disappearance, the pond has been vacant... until this past weekend.

Some new family members joined us on Sunday, three new goldfish that came courtesy of Petco down the way off Rockville Pike (thanks to Wendy for showing them off!). They don't have names yet, but they do have the luxury of spreading their gills to take in the nearly fresh water of our little pond. We wish them well as they join our backyard and hope they find a better fate than our nameless koi, whose whereabouts are still a mystery.

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Party Like It's 1999

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