There he was.  Belly up in the bowl; with a smidgen of his new claw just forming.   Just as dead as dead could be.  So much for the shrimp pellets. 

Dreading the news I would have to share with my daughter- who was certain, Yoshi aka Bob the crayfish, was sure to live forever, we made a few stops on the way home from school.

And then:

Ava, I have some bad news to tell you.

Yeah, mom, what is it?

Yoshi is dead. 

Is Swimmy dead too?

Swimmy is the blue Beta fish who has been with us for two years now. He was in his own bowl, complete with a faux rock castle.

No, Swimmy is fine.  Swimmy is alive and swimming.

Oh.  Okay. 

And with a shrug of the shoulders, that was that.

The moral of the story?  There are more things I should shrug my shoulders at and get on with it.