Welcome, Tadpoles!
The boys received a 'frog environment' for Christmas. The 5.99 fee for a tadpole seemed a bit steep and was complicated by the fact that the tadpoles would not be shipped during our current climatic conditions. Fran took Eddie and Martha shopping this afternoon and they found a pet store that carries tadpoles. (2 for $.98). She forgot to buy food, but the book says that they may not wish to eat for their first 12-18 hours here. Then I had to run out and buy bottled water (which should be good for the Beta fish that pater received for Christmas, too. No more of this letting a glass of water sit around for 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate.) Then over dinner we had a lovely discussion of why we will pay for bottled water for the tadpoles but expect the beloved humans to drink the reclaimed, cleaned-up water from Lake Michigan. Hey, I'm not crazy about drinking the stuff, either. But right now eau-de-la-tap is all we can afford. (And at the rate some prima donnas bathe, that is becoming burdensome, too.)

The last frog lived quite happily next to the fireplace, but with the arrival of our canine friend we must look for safer confines. Next to the gerbil is the best place for the 'environment.' This has caused me to relocate the white ceramic cock, coq, rooster that I received for my birthday. It was just right next to the gerbil, on top of the book case in the dining room. Oh, well. [Sorry about the whole cock/coq/rooster thing. I had been perfectly content referring to it as my white chicken until some wiseguy at my birthday fete mentioned that it should be more correctly referred to as a rooster.]