Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

My garage is just as full and I have an 8' steel workbench in there. I basically use that for my mechanic stuff as I have all my auto tools in there. Remember in another life I was a General Motors mechanic so I have an awful lot of tools.

 

[atoll]

I have Carpenters tools bricklayer tools etcand mechanics spanners and tools. A couple of vices pillar drill, chop saw and various other power tools. Ladders portable work bench and more. My workshop looked big when I first got it over 12 months ago but hardly now
16' x 8' I need one half the size again now.

 

[atoll]

Right bit of self embarrassment coming up, and I am not referring to the LFC sign on the door don't laugh

 

[Paul B]

Some of it is neat. Not much room to work in there. What do you do in the winter?

My mechanic tools are in my garage which can fit 1 1/2 cars but I don't own a half of a car.

When I was a mechanic in the 60s the tool truck would come by weekly and I would buy tools. Every year when a new car would come out, I would have to buy special tools for that car. For instance when the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser came out in about 1968 it was like a station wagon looking thing. (fairly popular at the time as there were no SUVs) it had a tailgate which would open left to right and from the top down (like a pick up truck)

But if you pulled both handles at the same time, the entire tailgate would fall off crushing your feet and smashing a very expensive item. There was a special tool to adjust that so it didn't happen.

I have a huge rolling tool box and as you know cars had points then and you had to adjust them and time the car. Things we don't do today but I still have the tools as well as spring compressors, cylinder hones, valve grinders, ball joint removers etc. My wrenches and all my car tools are very old. But none from China.

I used to have arc welders but now I only have a small gas welder which is empty and I have not used that in decades.

I do a lot of woodworking so I have a large radial arm saw as well as a large band saw.
Somewhere in there I was a plumber so I have every plumbing tool I can think of except a power threader which I don't need. Of course for the past fifty years I was an electrician but those tools are much smaller.

The vast majority of my tools I no longer need but I still (very rarely) use my hydraulic jack or ramps to get under my car.
Then I need the Jaws of life to get me out. ;Bored

To build this thing in my living room I needed my woodworking tools as it has a frame of wood and is covered in steel plates that I grinded like that. The mantle is 9-2"X10" planks that I hollowed out to fit around the steel and the bottom piece is a 400lb piece of slate. I needed a lot of help to get that up to my place.
It's 10' long



This is the mantle on my 10" radial Arm saw where I built it in my garage.



The make believe flue pipe I made from a copper gutter.



The entire structure which is proabably 1,000lbs is on rollers so I can move it away from the wall to paint or clean.

 

[atoll]

Great work Paul, am not as versatile as you. Electrics I will do a little but know my limits.

I have enough room in truth to work at my bench or I do the bigger stuff outside like the steps I made out of timber decking. I had to make that in 2 sections as there is a drain and gully grid under it. Before I made it my wife then to be just had some old light weight concrete blocks, a few bricks and a mall wooden stool. How she never broke her neck getting in and out us a mystery, it was the first thing I did amongst many jobs that needed doing.

I rebuilt an old 30s door that my daughter in law bought, all the joints had gone as in those days they used horse glue and it wasnt the best. I also had to block out the lock and cylinder along with the old hinges at it had been hung on the opposite side to her door. I made a large plant trough, a mud kitchen for one of my daughters and granddaughter.
I replaced all the 7" skirting in my sobs 1920s house, my back still tells me never to do that again. I dug out the foundations and concreted them before making a timber patio. That was a challenge as the ground fell away in 2 plains and there was a manhole cover and 2 gullies to get round. The list goes on.
Somebody said was I retired ...yeah right

 

[Paul B]

Nice work, I love it. I built this bridge, but I had to borrow a few tools.

 

[atoll]

You copied it from mine Paul. The Meni bridge from Bangor to Anglesey North Wales.

 

[Paul B]

Mine is the Brooklyn Bridge, where I was born.

 

[Hal3134]

Hi Paul, I just wanted to let you know that your “buy American” comments from a year or so ago hit me hard. You we’re talking about buying only Dewalt tools. Since then I’ve also decided that Dewalt is the way to go. This COVID-19 is just reinforcing that I need to support American jobs. I just thought you should know that you’ve made a difference.

 

[atoll]

Mine is the Brooklyn Bridge, where I was born.

Mines not far from where I live about 35 mins drive away so it was quite handy to go to work to build it.

 

[Paul B]

I have been against buying anything from China since they invented China. Most people just don't care because it's cheap. This virus comes from China, and it's free, who would have thought?

I would pay 20 times as much to get stuff made in the USA but if I can't, I will try very hard to not get it from China.

China makes some great things and the people who live there should buy them and be proud.
But I am an American Patriot and my Pride won't allow me to buy anything from there if it is even remotely possible no matter what it cost. Not even if it is free.

My friends can tell you that I have thrown away tools after I found out they were from China.

My wife goes to an acupuncturist for a MS symptom she has and it has been working. The practitioner came from China and now is a real American.
She told us she would never believe anything from that Government. The Government needed her Fathers land for something so they took it and gave him 18 cents a day to feed their 6 kids.

I also only buy cars with American sounding names that were designed here so there is no chance I will own a Toyota, Kia, Subaru, Lamborghini, Acura, Mercedes, or Mitsubishi even if they are built in Missouri which they probably are. I just couldn't live with them.

If Americans never started to buy those cars or products from China, all that stuff would still be made here.

It's just me and yes, I realize my Jeep was built in Italy which breaks my heart even though my Grand Parents were built there also.

 

[Paul B]

Atoll, I love that show "The Repair Shop". Do they film that anywhere near you?

 

[atoll]

The repair shop is situated in Weald in Sussex which is down south about a 6 hour drive away.
Funnily enough I was watching the latest episode this afternoon, even my wife likes it. One of the items they were repairing was an old toy steam engine, I have a few of them old Mamod ones. They guy resorted it but couldn't quite get it running. I was shouting at the screen I could get it running sweet. He didn't quite know how to get it running properly but I bet I could. They are a little temperamental just like us and just need a bit of what we call fettleing in other words a bit of tinkering/ adjustment here and there. The team on the programme have great skills between them for sure however.

 

[Paul B]

The young kid who fixes the wood cabinets is a magician. I love that show but I saw all the episodes twice.

 

[atoll]

The young kid who fixes the wood cabinets is a magician. I love that show but I saw all the episodes twice.

Yeah the black guy
, Asian I think is pretty good alright.

 

[Paul B]

No I mean the white young guy who fixes the cabinets. Also the Lady who fixes the ceramics. Unbelievable.
The black guy is more of the fabrics expert.

 

[Paul B]

My good friend who is sick still has a fever and is very weak even though he tested negative. His wife is trying to get him to a doctor today to re test him and her as he obviously has something. I am very concerned for him and his wife, our closest friends for most of our life.

Here on Long Island we can't order food from a supermarket for curbside delivery because it is a 2 week wait just to order so I am going to have to go in person because I don't have enough Amphipods to eat and my fish are all hiding.

I know Larry from LRS foods eats his fish food but I am not in the mood for sushi today.
I may have to start fishing behind my house but I am not sure what I will catch there. In Know in the summer there is sea bass but now I think all we have is ducks and seagulls and I don't want to yell Fowl.

I made a nice breakfast this morning and my wife and I had it on the beach. But it was cold. So cold I saw a chicken with a cape-on.

 

[Zionas]

I know the medium sized and larger Centropyge angels can easily do 10-15 years or more if well-cared for, but has anyone kept one of the pygmy angels for 10 years or more? They’re smaller so I’m suspecting a shorter lifespan, but I could be wrong.

What about lifespan of Hawkfish? Can all Hawks do 10 or 15+ years?

Congratulations to Paul B, you’re an inspiration to us all. I hope to raise “super fish” like you have by giving them the best diet and environment possible. Hope luck is on my side.

 

[Paul B]

Zionas, it doesn't have much to do with luck. I think it's the correct food and I really feel non quarantined fish are better suited to live longer due to their much better immune system. But of course that is only an opinion but I have not been able to find any very old quarantined fish or tanks.

I also feel it has to do with occasional feedings of living food that would keep the gut bacteria "refreshed". And it is the gut bacteria that determines fish and our health.

That fact is often overlooked but I think, in time people will begin to grasp the importance of that and we will have no more need for a disease forum. If my fish never get sick, no fish should get sick as I don't buy magical fish.

 

[Zionas]

I guess you can consider me a Chinese dissident. I find it very sad how the world keeps kissing China’s butt when it comes to everything when this current iteration of “China” is a notorious cheater, violator, and abuser of human rights and other things. Unfortunately it seems the world these days is far more concerned about money and a cheap manufacturing base than it is about rights and principles.

The Communist Party (or really, Han Nationalist Party) is one of the most secretive and opaque regimes in the world, and an especially dangerous one because they, unlike some other authoritarian regimes, have a lot of sway over the global economy.

They’re a bunch of man-children with nukes, really. Absolute hypocrites who always play the blame game with other countries and with their own people who object to their views because they probably know better.

I am absolutely appalled that 3 days ago the UN has giving them more appointments to the UN Human Rights Council. It’s like April Fools but 2 days late. Last year I nearly flew to Hong Kong to join the protest movement, if not for the fact that I’d pretty much lose my entire life and my friends and so on would probably be questioned by the secret police.

I don’t want to offend you or anyone here, but we have to admit that the US and Western countries have committed their own share of inglorious deeds and I believe that more must be done to hold certain people in the government accountable.

The CCP claims that without it, China will fall into disarray. That line of thought is so typical of abusive regimes. Really, the whole relationship of the Chinese people with the CCP is like that of an abusive parent and his / her kids (which unfortunately, I have experienced first hand and therefore know how similar it is). The CCP and the Chinese people (mainland) are like an abusive parent and his or her kids on a scale 1000 times bigger.

My dream is for freedom and democracy to arrive in mainland China. The past must not be forgotten.


@Paul B That’s exactly what I was referring to. What do you think of feeding live bloodworms occasionally (the type used for fishing bait)? Or maybe blackworms and live shrimp?

I want to give my fish the best diet possible so they can live long healthy lives.