one fish, two fish, sunfish, dogfish?

Fishing is Philip's new passion. Or rather, casting is his new passion. He received a "Spiderman" fishing rod for his birthday last September but hadn't had much use out of it as he didn't own hooks or bait. A week ago Saturday Kevin took him to Walmart and bought him some little hooks and plastic, rubbery bait. He was thrilled.

Last Tuesday, after a long day, he asked me if I'd take him up to the pond (right behind our neighbor's yard) for him to practice. We had been saving some bread to use as additional bait. So, we got all set up and he cast the rod. He threw the line like a baseball and so it bounced off the water and back onto the shore where Silas thought that perhaps bread had landed from heaven. He dived on it, gobbled up the bread...and the hook, and the bait. AGH!!! I freaked out! "Stop, Silas, STOP!" I tried to pull the hook out of his mouth but it was very obviously caught someplace in the back of his throat. He started making hacking noises and coughing up foamy blood. Thankfully, the Lord had given me presence of mind to put scissors in my pocket. I cut the line, knowing that now I had to act really quickly because the hook could travel into his esophagus or stomach. I frantically called Kevin from the pond. He urged me to call the vet and get the kids ready to leave. I called our vet who could not help us, but did give me the number for NC State Vet hospital. They were very helpful and gave me two very large price quotes on possible procedures. I was torn, for a minute. Then I called my good friend Cathy and asked if I could drop the kids at her house--yes! She graciously welcomed them, along with her 3 young grandchildren already in her home!

I dashed Silas into Raleigh and the short of it was that they could still see a glimmer of metal in the back of his throat so they sedated him and were able to extract it easily. Poor guy was very lethargic for the next few days, but seems to have fared okay overall.

So, what did we do the next Saturday? Kevin went out and bought another fishing rod--for the girls. And instead of catching a dog, Lydia caught a sunfish!

Everyone enjoys standing on the bank and hoping for a catch.

Or just even looking for fish.

And some people just hang out on the bank because I can't have people falling in the water as well!

Yesterday I took the kids back out and this time Philip caught a sunfish on his Spiderman rod! I have told the kids numerous times that I'm fine with them going out there, but I will not be removing hooks from mouths or anywhere else. They had all promised me that that was fine, because they would do it! So, Lydia's moment of truth arrived--she had to remove the hook from Philip's fish. She was scared and grossed out, but she actually worked at it for a long time and did it! Another day of firsts!!