Oh, the stories this fish could tell. If he could talk. And had friends to talk to.

Even though this fish story is *********this big********, it's 100% true. I have pictures to prove it. :) Note before the story: while I was taking pictures during the "incident", Nathan looked over at me and asked if I was going to make fun of him. I told him while I would not be making fun of him, this was absolutely better material to write about than I could ever James Frey myself. He gave "a look" that communicated: sure - you're going to write about this, but not make fun of me? Just so we're clear: the photos below may - or may not - have been taken inside my home. The man in the photos may - or may not - be Nathan, my husband. The man who may or may not be my husband may or may not have been helping me set up our new ledges on the wall. We may or may not own a blow dryer. We may or may not have a fish. Clear as mud? Good. Sooooo...on our short stop in Carmel a couple weeks ago, we found the coolest fish bowl ever. It hangs on the wall - how fun is that? A few days later, we bought a beta that came home to sit on our dining room table - in a bowl - until we could hang the new bowl on the wall. Well. Well. Last Saturday was the day. "Nathan" dechlorinated the water, put it in the bowl, hung the bowl on the wall and added the fish. And then we watched the fish drop like lead to the bottom of the bowl. Just like this: J: (about 2 minutes later) He's dying. N: He's not dying. He's in shock. Give him a minute. J: (a minute later) He's dying. N: He's just getting used to his new surroundings. He'll be fine. J: (a minute later) He's dying. N: He's not dying! Somewhere during or after this exchange I touched the bowl. It was cold. Really cold. Cold enough to make a fish hibernate - forever. I get Nathan's attention, and he touches the water and realizes - oh my goodness, that water is too cold for a beta! It's going to die! So Nathan runs out and comes back with...a blow dryer. He starts blowing the bowl from below, the water from above, desperately trying to save this five buck fish. So, just for kicks, I grabbed my kitchen thermometer. After a few minutes of blow-drying, we were up to 61.0 degrees. I'm guessing that the Beta, being a tropical fish and all, had never seen a temperature below 70 before it came to our house. So Nathan kept on trying to heat the water and save the nameless fish. And you know what? It worked. Fish lives. It probably took about 15 minutes to get the water temperature up to 75 degrees, but today, seven days after The Incident, the fish swims on.