Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

Thank you Katrina. I don't want to give the wrong Idea. She does get around, albeit slowly. She can still drive. I put in a "left gas pedal" attachment in her car but I only let her go locally so once a month she goes to her hair place, and it scares me to death but I want her to have her independence.
In the summer she swims about 2 hours a day in the pool here. It's when we are home that the depression sets in and the pains start. Last night she dropped half a bottle of red wine which I am cleaning up now. Our refrigerator is stainless steel so it's easy to clean.

Remember she has had this over 20 years so I gradually get used to it. I won't let her take anything out of the fridge or stove because I know she will break it.

We still have house parties where I do most of the work.. I want to keep her active and she is. Probably more active than most people.

We are invited out for dinner twice this weekend and those people live in places with a lot of stairs so it takes a very long time to get up to their house. But she has a good time so I am glad we have so many close friends.

We are doing Easter with the kids and Grand Kids, so that is going to be exhausting.

 

[Rybren]

Rybren, you already had your share of troubles and I feel for you.

Thanks Paul. We all have our burdens to bear.

 

[Paul B]

Right now I am sitting in front of my tank with the pumps off. I love to do this occasionally because in about 10 minutes, I can see at the surface all sorts of really cool creatures who seem to only come out when it is calm. I have no idea what they do the rest of the time but with the pumps off, they are skittering on the surface.

Many times I see fry of something be they tiny shrimp, new born crabs or new born fish fry. There are usually some type of tiny worm looking things that go by the fastest and of course normal pods. It's just so cool.

The amount of spaghetti worms is amazing as they cover most of the rocks and the corals stretch to their full length seemingly trying to figure out who turned off the tide. It is just really cool and one of the things that fascinates me in this hobby. I know most of us want to see the colorful fish or corals, but those things are very common and we rarely notice or pay attention to the vast amount of unseen life in our reefs.

Of course if you set up your tank last Tuesday, you won't see anything and if you are looking at a quarantined or medicated tank, you will also not see anything.

I just took these pictures looking up at the surface of the water so the top of the pictures is a reflection of the top of my reef looking down.

 

[Paul B]

Double post

 

[Paul B]

Nothing exciting happened on my morning walk and I didn't find any worms so my Red Waspfish ate the last worm I had so they had to share it. It is a supposed to rain tonight so I assume I will find some.

I use my morning walks alone to do my thinking and inventing. Unfortunately my old brain doesn't have an off switch so I can't stop it, even when I am trying to sleep which is annoying. (The VA tells me that is due to PTSD, I think it's because I was born the year after TV was invented.

If I don't take something to sleep, (and I have a variety of things to take) I am virtually wasting my time closing my eyes in bed because invariably some stupid creation will jump into my head which will take up 98% of my mental acuity causing me to wake up like 12:00 midnight, then 2:00 am, then 3:30 then 4:30 when I get up anyway.

Not that I want to, it just happens. It is also an old thing as I believe many older "Gentlemen" have this issue.

If I remember,25 years ago, I used to be able to sleep. I am working on a very cool kitchen cabinet creation now and my prototype, which is almost completed is working flawlessly. If it works well I will pursue another patent which is also why I can't disclose it.

I already have two patents and they don't give them to you for free. My last creation didn't qualify for a patent but I thought an insulated Bikini for cold water was a good idea.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Good morning Paul. Your day is off to a great start.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, so far. It is a beautiful day so I think I am going to rotate the tires on my car. The only problem is I can't lift thee tires any more. Between my screwed up spine, new left shoulder and a right shoulder I can't raise, it will be a challenge.

All my life I could easily lift two tires at once and throw them over my head, but age creeps up on you....That or they are making tires much heavier. I hope it's the latter.

 

[Katrina71]

They are 100% heavier The PTSD sleep thing...yeah. I'm glad you tinker. You have a gift for sure. I'm really curious about your cabinets now!

 

[Paul B]

Katrina, I'm not really allowed to say much about the cabinets yet but essentially if you have a very high kitchen cabinet that you can't reach (I have 9' ceilings and the tops of the cabinets require a ladder)

I deleted the part about my new invention. I am not really allowed to discuss it yet.

 

[Katrina71]

That's a cool idea. I also have the same issue. I'll be looking forward to your idea. Honestly, your raw edge table inspired me to seriously consider doing a project with Boy Scouts to fundraise. Just some side tables, but similar.

 

[Paul B]

I rotated the tires on one of my Jeeps but I had to make a device to be able to do it. Not only you of course have to lift the tire and line it up, but you also have to hold it there with one hand to try to start the lug nut. I lower the car just enough so I don't really have to lift the tire but you have to be exact with that or the holes won't line up.

I was a mechanic and changed thousands of tires thousands but I was 50 years younger then. Also, SUV tires are much larger and I have larger tires than are supposed be on the car but that isn't the issue.

Most older cars had threaded lugs sticking out from the hub so all you had to do was lift the tire and throw it on the lugs and they would hold it there so all you had to do was put on the nuts.

My Jeep and I assume many cars now don't use that simple system, There are no threaded lugs sticking out so you have to hold up the tire, There are only holes in the hub so you have lay on the street so you can line up the holes while you are holding the tire because there is nothing to hold the tire up so you can line it up to start the lug .

I invented a thing that holds the tire in position while you screw it in but I shouldn't have to do that. I had to buy a lug that fits my car because it is a proprietary thread, meaning you have to get it from Jeep because it is not a standard size thread as they want you to buy the lugs from them.
Then I cut the top of the lug off and weld a rod onto it the same diameter as the thread but much longer. This way with the tire off, I screw in this device and just throw the tire on so it lines it up.

I would like to call the engineer who thought of this stupid system and tell him to get in touch with the engineering school he went to and see if he could get his money back.

I also noticed my front tires are wearing on one side meaning I need an alignment. I do that with a string and will do it another day. I'm not giving Jeep any money for a simple thing like that because I am not a Jiboni.

 

[Paul B]

I walked this morning with a mission. I need some earthworms because that is my 3 Waspfish favorite food I now have a hard time giving them anything else. That is fine because earthworms are plentiful and one worm can feed all 3 fish.

It only rained a little last night so there weren't worms all over the street like I see after a heavy rain. I couldn't find one worm. Then I came upon a damp bunch of muddy leaves about 30' long at the side of the road.

I found a stick and moved some leaves out of the way and happily found 5 worms. So my fish are good for 5 days at which time it will probably rain heavy and I can get a bunch of them.

 

[tbrown]

I walked this morning with a mission. I need some earthworms because that is my 3 Waspfish favorite food I now have a hard time giving them anything else. That is fine because earthworms are plentiful and one worm can feed all 3 fish.

It only rained a little last night so there weren't worms all over the street like I see after a heavy rain. I couldn't find one worm. Then I came upon a damp bunch of muddy leaves about 30' long at the side of the road.

I found a stick and moved some leaves out of the way and happily found 5 worms. So my fish are good for 5 days at which time it will probably rain heavy and I can get a bunch of them.

Red wrigglers might be an easy alternative? They sell them as bait at most stores and they're fairly easy to setup a home breeding setup in a small bucket.

 

[Paul B]

Tbrown, I do see those for sale. But after it rains I could collect dozens of earthworms so I think my waspfish will be fine and happy

 

[Paul B]

Honestly, your raw edge table inspired me to seriously consider doing a project with Boy Scouts to fundraise. Just some side tables, but similar.

Katrina, we also used to do a lot of fundraisers, mostly for MS. We organized a (I think 10) mile walk that started in front of the World Trade Center, and I think 3 or 4 out here on eastern Long Island. We had a pretty good turn out and had the police stop the traffic so we could get by the main roads.

We stopped half way at a beach with a bathroom. Then back to the hotel we started out from.
It was a 22 mile bike ride.

Now my wife, Dale is organizing a fundraiser at our condo pool. There are about 260 families here and she wants to hire maybe a comedian and fortune teller for the event.

It won't make much for the charity, maybe a couple of thousand but it will be something.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday we went out to Montauk for an overnight visit. We stayed at Gurney's Inn/Spa and had a great time right on the Atlantic.

I saw a whale just after I took this picture this morning.

We stayed there a few times before and it is only an hour and a half from our house.
That Montauk Lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington, but I don't know if he slept there. Inside now is a whaling museum and that white tower building next to it was a submarine sighting tower in WW2
You can climb up to the light as we did many years ago. Now I am waiting for them to put in an escalator.


Basically a half mile from the Montauk Lighthouse is Camp Hero.

https://www.danspapers.com/2023/02/inside-camp-hero-montauk-military-past/
Now it is an abandoned Air Force base with all sorts of rumors about Aliens, time travel and mind reading. Supposedly there are tunnels under the park where they performed these clandestine experiments. I hear they also tried to quarantine fish there which is the scariest rumor.

Of course we went there this morning.

Quote:
Today there are hundreds of accounts, including child abductions and torture, extraterrestrial beings, inter-dimensional travel, **** scientists, UFOs, reptilian beings, a sasquatch-like beast and much more.

One of the most widely held beliefs is that the base sits atop a large underground facility that still operates, running a variety of top-secret experiments and clandestine military programs. While it seems wildly fantastical, the claims were given a little more credence in 1984 when Camp Hero’s deed was handed over to the state as parkland—the paperwork notes explicitly that the state owns everything on the surface of the base, but the government retained ownership of everything below the surface. What, exactly, is down there?

 

[Paul B]

Honestly, your raw edge table inspired me to seriously consider doing a project with Boy Scouts to fundraise. Just some side tables, but similar.

Katrina. WE had a house party Saint Patricks day so I changed the lighting under that table to green. I also made the coals in my fireplace green but it is hard to see in the picture.

Lighting over my kitchen cabinets were also green. (But I am Italian)

 

[Minifoot77]

Katrina. WE had a house party Saint Patricks day so I changed the lighting under that table to green. I also made the coals in my fireplace green but it is hard to see in the picture.

Lighting over my kitchen cabinets were also green. (But I am Italian)

Was the beer green?

 

[Katrina71]

Yesterday we went out to Montauk for an overnight visit. We stayed at Gurney's Inn/Spa and had a great time right on the Atlantic.

I saw a whale just after I took this picture this morning.

We stayed there a few times before and it is only an hour and a half from our house.
That Montauk Lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington, but I don't know if he slept there. Inside now is a whaling museum and that white tower building next to it was a submarine sighting tower in WW2
You can climb up to the light as we did many years ago. Now I am waiting for them to put in an escalator.


Basically a half mile from the Montauk Lighthouse is Camp Hero.

https://www.danspapers.com/2023/02/inside-camp-hero-montauk-military-past/
Now it is an abandoned Air Force base with all sorts of rumors about Aliens, time travel and mind reading. Supposedly there are tunnels under the park where they performed these clandestine experiments. I hear they also tried to quarantine fish there which is the scariest rumor.

Of course we went there this morning.

Quote:
Today there are hundreds of accounts, including child abductions and torture, extraterrestrial beings, inter-dimensional travel, **** scientists, UFOs, reptilian beings, a sasquatch-like beast and much more.

One of the most widely held beliefs is that the base sits atop a large underground facility that still operates, running a variety of top-secret experiments and clandestine military programs. While it seems wildly fantastical, the claims were given a little more credence in 1984 when Camp Hero’s deed was handed over to the state as parkland—the paperwork notes explicitly that the state owns everything on the surface of the base, but the government retained ownership of everything below the surface. What, exactly, is down there?

 

[RSNJReef]

Just came across this thread and just wanted to say thank you Paul for everything you’ve done for this hobby. I’m guessing you get this often but probably not nearly enough, so, adding to the pile of notes.

I guess I can call myself a reefing teenager at this point as I’m 11 years in, but, when I first started, I got in way too deep way too fast, and in trying to find solutions I would often find posts from you which would guide me in the right direction. You also started me on my journey with mandarin, and, at this stage, have given away more breeding pairs for one reason or another than I can remember. Your wit and humor with your posting also made the reading that much more easier to digest and fun to go through.

Before I make this too run on, again, for the hundreds and/or thousands of us that you have helped without possibly realizing it, thank you.