Monday, March 27, 2006

Monday Memories: Beaker the Japanese Koi

I've been watching the Monday Memories occasionally on a few other blogs (most notably Running2Ks blog), and thinking it would be fun to participate. So for the first time this week, I'm jumping in and playing along. The idea is just that you post a memory about pretty much anything, I think, and link to others doing the same thing.

Today I'm posting about one of my most memorable pets: a fish named Beaker.

#####################

Note: There are a number of HTML errors in the Monday Memories code linked at the bottom of this post, so if you want to participate and want the corrected code, drop me a note and I'll e-mail it to you.



Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about Beaker the Fish


I had a lot of pets throughout my childhood--everything from frogs and snakes to dogs and cats. A few, though, were quite unusual.

One of these less-typical pets was a japanese koi. People don't usually expect a large golden pond fish to have much personality, but Beaker did. We got him when he was small, and he eventually grew quite large--at least the length of my forearm and hand.

He was extraordinarily friendly and would follow us around the pond. The year the pond froze over, he followed us under the ice as we slid across the surface.

Beaker would come swimming over to the side of the pond whenever someone approached, even if they weren't feeding him. We called him by dabbling our fingers in the water and saying his name.

It was actually our cats who taught him this--they would drink out of the pond, and Beaker would swim over to them. It was a strange and wonderful sight to see a cat and a fish bumping noses in a friendly fashion. For some reason (maybe because of his size?) our cats never tried to catch Beaker. They would sit and watch him, and when he came close they greeted him as though he were another cat.

Beaker not only came when called; he liked to be petted. I'd dabble my fingers in the water and call his name, and he would come over and stick his nose out of the water for me to gently stroke it.

Beaker liked to eat fish food, worms, and insects. But the best treat to feed him was brine shrimp. We'd mix them with a little water and feed them to the fish out of an old baby bottle with an enlarged hole in the nipple. He liked that a lot, and it was fun to show off that trick for visitors.

With patience and lots of worms, we taught him many tricks. He would sit up in the water and beg for worms with his head sticking out into the air above.

One of my favorite tricks was getting him to swim through a hoop. I'd hold my hands underwater with my fingers forming a ring, and he would swim through.

Then we'd do a trick I called "fish on a pedestal". I'd hold my hand flat under the water, and Beaker would swim on top of it and stay there while I lifted him out of the water. He'd stay there for a few moments before flopping back into the pond.

Beaker was a lot of fun, and we grew very attached to him. The neighborhood kids and visitors to our home always liked to see him perform tricks or hold the baby bottle for him to eat brine shrimp.

One time, I remember a business acquaintance of my dad's came up to the pond to see Beaker. He was so amazed at the fish's tricks that he stepped back from the pond and went tumbling head over heels down the steep hill. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt, and laughed about it for years afterwards.

We were vigilant about Beaker's safety, nursing him back to health in an aquarium when he got sick and chasing stray cats and great blue herons away from the pond. Unfortunately, a local heron finally succeeded at pulling Beaker out of the pond, even though the fish was too big for the bird to eat.

My sisters and I cried when we found Beaker left gashed and lifeless on the bank of the pond. We had a little funeral for him and buried him in a special corner of the garden with a marker on his grave.

Links to other Monday Memories

(If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below)

Lynda
Beckie
Shelli
Ocean Lady
Jen
Rowan



Click here for the Monday Memories code
Click here for Shelli's blog


Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!







10 Comments:

Blogger Norma said...

What a wonderful story. Made me think of all the pets I had as a child who met a sad end. This is one of the final gifts our pets give us as children--how to cope with loss.

Thanks for visiting my MM, and I hope you'll continue to participate.

2:58 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

OOPS...believer is my other blog. This is where I actually linked you. Sorry.

3:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a neat story! I like the name you gave him. How sweet that ya'll gave him a marker. We've lost so many of our fish in our aquarium. My little boy was mortified with the first loss. His fish's name was Jaws. He was bawling for a long time. :(

6:29 AM  
Blogger Lynda said...

Wow, Beaker sounds like an amazing fish. What a beautiful and sad memory.

Thanks for visiting me and my MM about my boys!

9:19 AM  
Blogger Jen said...

Oh no, what a sad ending! He seemed like a really neat fish with a lot of personality!

Thanks for stopping by!

10:04 AM  
Blogger Heather said...

Wow, what an amazing fish - even that sounds amazing to me - who knew fish could/would do tricks?

11:18 AM  
Blogger purple_kangaroo said...

Thanks for stopping in and commenting, everyone!

Norma, that's so true . . . I hadn't really thought about it, but pets do help us learn how to cope with loss.

Believer/Beckie, how scary! Apparently you were ok though?

Shelli, thanks. I do plan to continue participating . . . if only to break up the stories about my kids and sleep deprivation with slightly more variety. :)

Ocean Lady, I hope your little boy wasn't too heartbroken.

Lynda, thanks. I'll add your link to my post soon.

Jen, he was a neat fish. Thanks for stopping by here, too!

Mommyham, I never would have guessed either. We saw a koi at the aquarium store drink out of a baby bottle and that sold us on them. :)

Rowan, I think you're right. Fish can be really smart.

8:46 PM  
Blogger Sparrow said...

great memories... I'll have to start doing the Monday Memory thing, too, if I remember. :-)

11:52 PM  
Blogger Lazy Daisy said...

Hey girlfriend....sorry it took me so long to get here...I know it's Thursday now. Love the story. Sure miss R2. Nice to get to know you and your sister. I have a friend named purple kangaroo who lives in Australia.

4:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to add to this story about Beaker. I remember the first time the great blue heron showed up. We thought it was really neat and went upstairs where we could see him at the pond better to watch him for school. We were enjoying watching him when all of a sudden he went after Beaker. We all tore down the stairs, and if I remember right I grabbed a broom, and out the door to scare that blue heron off. After that, it was a battle of wits as we devised one plan after another to keep that bird from getting Beaker. We even put wire fencing over the pond...which the stupid bird used to stand on and try to spear Beaker through the holes. In the end his persistance won out and it was so sad. I always wondered why that bird stopped by our pond that day after never having had any herons there for years and then wondered how a bird could be so persistant as to come back time and time again trying for a bird that he couldn't even eat. I've never thought great blue herons were nice birds after that. :-)

PS The old family friend who fell still mentions that when we see him. LOL

11:52 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Purple Puzzle Place Home