Cold Goldfish Drama

It is really cold out. We had a freeze last night and will again tonight. The goldfish are not happy. They are not allowed inside as they are not house pets. In fact, my argument for getting them in the first place was that fish are not pets. They aren't, you can't pet them. As some of you may know, Manly Man has me on animal restriction. I cannot have anymore pets until we move to a larger place. Still, fish are not pets. Seriously.

Last summer I set up the little pond in an attempt to raise tadpoles. After spending $100, I had a first rate tadpole habitat. Then the tadpoles ate each other. I bought some sort of mosquito eating fish and three goldfish to take the place of the cannibalistic tadpoles. The Monkeys named the new goldfish. We have Yang, Ozzy Osborne, and Ketchup. Yep, those are the names my babies picked out for goldfish - goody,goody.

Of note, only one monkey has fallen into the the little pond. Well, only one that I know of.

Some of the pond plants were allowed inside, much like the cats. The three goldfish will stay outside in their half whiskey barrel pond in very cold water. All three of them are hovering near the bottom. Ozzy Osborne looks a little sideways (imagine that). A quick Internet search tells me that they will survive just fine outside over winter. These are not hot house goldfish. They are hardy goldfish.

Not convinced they will be safe, I put in an emergency call to Sister #3 regarding winter care of goldfish. As you can see, this is a high emergency. She has yet to call me back. I can see her over there in neighboring tiny town while snickering at my ignorance and refusing to share her water gardening/fish herding knowledge.

I am only panicking a little. Anybody know if I am doing this right? Anybody? ARRRRGGHH.