Tank birthday, 47+ years

Paul B · May 8, 2017

Yesterday my wife asked me to help her find her old Barbie Dolls. She had a bunch of them when she was a kid and she wanted to take them out and play with them with my Grand Daughter. Neither of us remembered where we put them but I figured I would look in this very old cedar chest that was My Mother's.

It was under my tank (I don't have a sump and the tank is built into a wall.

The Barbie's were in there like brand new with all her clothes on the hangers because my wife is a fanatic with that stuff. We even found Ken but the poor guy looks like he had Chemo because he lost all his hair and just has a head full of dried glue.

Anyway, in that same trunk I found an old picture I air brushed of my wife probably 40 years ago.

I copied it from this picture and made it highly stylized like Nagel from Playboy used to do.

I was also working at the New York Playboy Club at the time.

I copied it from this picture. I think it came out pretty good. It helped that my wife was a Supermodel.

Paul B · May 8, 2017

I just noticed that I have a brown, in descript little gobi who is dying of old age. I have no Idea how many years ago I got him and he is a sort of fish that I almost never saw as he hid almost all of the time. I even forgot about him for months at a time.

I know he is probably dying of old age but I know people are thinking he has black ich, white ich, ecru ich, velvet, dropsy and a wide variety of ailments and I should immediately dip him in fresh water, soak him in Prizapro, metheline blue or vodka, test my parameters and change my water. But I will let him die in piece in a guppy breeding container.

He lived a good long life but he never had a mate to spawn with. That probably annoys him but I never found another one so unfortunately all he can do is look at the pictures of the Supermodels I have in my house and close his eyes. (if he had eyelids) I am pretty sure he won't last the night.

I wrote an article about how you know if a fish is dying of old age but I don't think I am allowed to link it here so if you are interested, and if I can find it I can PM it to you.

Good Bye little friend and thank you for letting me enjoy you for a number of years.

Zack K · May 8, 2017

RIP soon little dude

saltyfilmfolks · May 9, 2017

Dang. He's fat. And got old. Lucky fish.

Paul B · May 9, 2017

He is still alive but you can see in an old fish they get wrinkles just like we do. His face got fat, his lips are fat, his cheeks are fat and he is fat.
He shows no signs of disease or fear. That's how I caught him. I saw him sitting at the front of the tank and he never does that. I could tell right away by the expression on his face that his life was almost over. I went to get the net and I think he read my mind so he swam to the surface of the water allowing me to pick him up and put him in a guppy breeder. He tried to eat his last meal but didn't have the strength to swallow. Just before he dies he may show a few parasites because his immune system is failing. He will start falling over and lose the ability to swim. If I left him where he was, the fish would pick at him and a large hermit crab would finish him off leaving any scraps to the bristle worms. Now he can pass in peace.

mcarroll · May 9, 2017

Paul B said:

Beautiful photo!

Paul B · May 9, 2017

Mccarroll, I had that picture enlarged and it is hanging on the wall with a few others over my computer. My copperband can actually look at himself from my tank.

Actually it was this one which I think is a little better.

I also enlarged this one

This one.

This

And a few more.

mcarroll · May 9, 2017

[drool]

Brew12 · May 9, 2017

mcarroll said:
[drool]

Well said!

Paul B · May 9, 2017

Oh Stop it!

Brew12 · May 9, 2017

Paul B said:
Oh Stop it!

No. And you can't make us. Nanny nanny boo boo. ;Woot

Paul B · May 9, 2017

Finished. The crank turns on some very bright LEDs on the front left. The tubes and gauge light up and the bulb is dimmable. I think I will keep this one. Now I have 10 of them for the art show

Rybren · May 9, 2017

We had a bunch of those hand crank gennys when I was a kid. We used to have shock tests to see who could take the most juice. I wonder what ever happened to them.

Oh yeah, great lamp Paul.

sundog101 · May 10, 2017

Those lamps just keep getting better.

Where do you get all the old parts?

Paul B · May 10, 2017

Sundog. I worked in Manhattan as a construction electrician and during that time I demolished some old buildings. I took home some parts from there. The rest I get from antique shops or like last week I went to a barn sale out on the end of Long Island. Also some members on here donated me some. That big copper tube was from Chasmodes on here as well as the smaller radio tube. The big tube I got from E Bay. I drilled through the base of that tube and snaked an LED into it for the red light. The crank lights up those two LEDs on the front left. I had blue LEDS in there but they burned right out as the generator puts out about 24 volts AC and those leds are rated for 12 volts. I will now put them in series to halve the voltage through each one and add a resistor.
The wooden box was from 1920 and is very cool.

This one was the most difficult to build. Those glasses are wine bottles cut in two pieces and that black band around the center is a split piece of PVC. I had to make it split so you can change the bulbs which still isn't easy. That one will probably be the most expensive.

This one is cool and I may add a large gauge in the front. I would have liked to have those bells actuallyring when you pushed the button but the coils were toast and it is a horror to re wire them. I did keep the mechanism in case I get a mile of very thin wire so I can do it.

I kind of like this one also. The base is a quart paint can that I cut the middle out and put the top in the bottom and crushed it.

Most people seem to like this one the best, and I guess it is the most "Steam Punkish"

dbraun15 · May 10, 2017

Those lamps are great...I think I like the last one the best as well...the first one is great also!

Paul B · May 10, 2017

My wife didn't like steam punk when I built the first one. Now she wants me to keep the last one I built in my Living room.

Paul B · May 10, 2017

I made a video of that little gobi. He is still alive but is obviously dying of old age. You rarely see this because if he was still in my tank a crab would have grabbed him and the fish would tear his fins to pieces.
He has no diseases and is breathing normally but can't really swim or eat. His eyes are clouding over and his fins are deteriorating as his immune system fails. He also has not eaten in a week.
Eventually he will succumb to bacteria because the macrophages in his slime that normally protect him are not able to do their job. He may eventually show some parasites but not so far. He is not suffering as far as I know, just the normal process of dying of old age. If a fish is lucky enough, this is what happens, just like it happens to us. My Mom died at 99 of old age and like the fish, her body systems just shut down one by one until there is not enough systems working to sustain life. It's not a bad thing, just a thing that happens and it is much better than carpet surfing or dying from some silly disease which should never happen.

Paul B · May 11, 2017

It seems very quiet today and I found out why. My cell phone doesn't work. It doesn't ring and I can't call anyone. But I can text, which I never do anyway. This quiet is actually nice. Life was a lot easier before they invented these stupid things.

In those days my Mother used to hang out the window and yell for me, if I didn't hear her, I would get a beating when I came home. But that was life then.

So just now I go to the Verizon store and tell the guy the problem. He calls my phone and of course it rings and works fine. Then he calls his phone from my phone and it works fine.

I go outside and call my house, two of my friends and Nancy Pelosi it works fine. They call me, no problem.

I drive home and try the phone but if I want to talk to someone I have to hang out the window and yell because it don't work. I can't get calls or receive them.

I hate these things.

I can get a new phone for basically free because I have an I Phone 4 which runs on steam and has a crank on the side that you use to call someone and I am due for an upgrade.

I don't want an upgrade because first of all, I won't know how to use it, I am still learning mine and it's so old the directions are written in Latin with references to chariot's.

And the new phone won't fit in my phone case which I built and is very cool.

So tomorrow it's back to the phone store where I am sure it will again work.

mcarroll · May 12, 2017

Paul B said:
Life was a lot easier before they invented these stupid things.

In those days my Mother used to hang out the window and yell for me, if I didn't hear her, I would get a beating when I came home. But that was life then.

Close to home! LOL!!

Reminds me of an old telecom troubleshooting joke that went something like this, as I recall hearing it: "I can hear you. The problem is leaving here just fine! (It must be at your end!)"

I found a more complete version of the joke here:
http://www.randomjoke.com/topic/haha.php?48737