Tank birthday, 47+ years
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It will be about 6 months before see any tadpoles in the UK. Frogs spawn in March here.
i cant think
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I’ve never noticed that they start to spawn in March, thought it wasn’t until around June they spawned.
Na, in the UK the frogs emerge early March to spawn. Tadpoles appear a round a month later.
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Paul B
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As I said a number of times, I have been married for almost half a century and I realize many people can't seem to find happiness with their relationship.
I have a few tips that have worked for me.
This morning like all mornings I went for my 2 mile walk/jog. I make my wife breakfast every day (since I have been retired) and on my walk, occasionally I pick some wild flowers (or nice looking weeds) to put by my wife's breakfast plate.
I realize it is "corny" (as they used to say in the 50s) but my wife gets a kick out of it. Men have been giving flowers to women since they invented women. I think her name was Eve.
But there is a secret as to why men always did that. Women don't really like flowers. Some of them just sneeze and throw them away when you turn around.
It's not the flowers. It has nothing to do with flowers. It is the fact that you were thinking about her and had enough feelings that you went out of your way to either buy or pick them.
Of course you can use chocolates or "rarely" diamonds. OK very rarely. Sometimes I take a ride to Starbucks just to get her her favorite Cafe Latte.
This is just a little thing that takes no time and the both of you will appreciate it. It will be good for both of you.
I also occasionally buy my wife a Christmas present even if it is summer time. These little nothing things mean a lot to a lot of Ladies.
Many Men need to get out of the bar, get off your Harley, get away from the TV, stop working on your car and do some little thing for your lady that you would never do and she would not expect you to do.
It may allow your marriage to last for the rest of your life.
I have a few tips that have worked for me.
This morning like all mornings I went for my 2 mile walk/jog. I make my wife breakfast every day (since I have been retired) and on my walk, occasionally I pick some wild flowers (or nice looking weeds) to put by my wife's breakfast plate.
I realize it is "corny" (as they used to say in the 50s) but my wife gets a kick out of it. Men have been giving flowers to women since they invented women. I think her name was Eve.
But there is a secret as to why men always did that. Women don't really like flowers. Some of them just sneeze and throw them away when you turn around.
It's not the flowers. It has nothing to do with flowers. It is the fact that you were thinking about her and had enough feelings that you went out of your way to either buy or pick them.
Of course you can use chocolates or "rarely" diamonds. OK very rarely. Sometimes I take a ride to Starbucks just to get her her favorite Cafe Latte.
This is just a little thing that takes no time and the both of you will appreciate it. It will be good for both of you.
I also occasionally buy my wife a Christmas present even if it is summer time. These little nothing things mean a lot to a lot of Ladies.
Many Men need to get out of the bar, get off your Harley, get away from the TV, stop working on your car and do some little thing for your lady that you would never do and she would not expect you to do.
It may allow your marriage to last for the rest of your life.
As I said a number of times, I have been married for almost half a century and I realize many people can't seem to find happiness with their relationship.
I have a few tips that have worked for me.
This morning like all mornings I went for my 2 mile walk/jog. I make my wife breakfast every day (since I have been retired) and on my walk, occasionally I pick some wild flowers (or nice looking weeds) to put by my wife's breakfast plate.
I realize it is "corny" (as they used to say in the 50s) but my wife gets a kick out of it. Men have been giving flowers to women since they invented women. I think her name was Eve.
But there is a secret as to why men always did that. Women don't really like flowers. Some of them just sneeze and throw them away when you turn around.
It's not the flowers. It has nothing to do with flowers. It is the fact that you were thinking about her and had enough feelings that you went out of your way to either buy or pick them.
Of course you can use chocolates or "rarely" diamonds. OK very rarely. Sometimes I take a ride to Starbucks just to get her her favorite Cafe Latte.
This is just a little thing that takes no time and the both of you will appreciate it. It will be good for both of you.
I also occasionally buy my wife a Christmas present even if it is summer time. These little nothing things mean a lot to a lot of Ladies.
Many Men need to get out of the bar, get off your Harley, get away from the TV, stop working on your car and do some little thing for your lady that you would never do and she would not expect you to do.
It may allow your marriage to last for the rest of your life.
Wise words from a wise man! ^^^
I am also first up.in the morning and make my wife a cup of tea. I often buy her flowers or sometimes a pot plant. I do the hoovering, do most of the dog walks and pick up his droppings from the back garden. I mow the lawns and do the dishes etc.
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Rybren
Valuable Member
Well said Paul. I used to do things like that for my my wife during the 30 years that we were married. Just wish that she was still with us so that I could still do them.As I said a number of times, I have been married for almost half a century and I realize many people can't seem to find happiness with their relationship.
I have a few tips that have worked for me.
This morning like all mornings I went for my 2 mile walk/jog. I make my wife breakfast every day (since I have been retired) and on my walk, occasionally I pick some wild flowers (or nice looking weeds) to put by my wife's breakfast plate.
I realize it is "corny" (as they used to say in the 50s) but my wife gets a kick out of it. Men have been giving flowers to women since they invented women. I think her name was Eve.
But there is a secret as to why men always did that. Women don't really like flowers. Some of them just sneeze and throw them away when you turn around.
It's not the flowers. It has nothing to do with flowers. It is the fact that you were thinking about her and had enough feelings that you went out of your way to either buy or pick them.
Of course you can use chocolates or "rarely" diamonds. OK very rarely. Sometimes I take a ride to Starbucks just to get her her favorite Cafe Latte.
This is just a little thing that takes no time and the both of you will appreciate it. It will be good for both of you.
I also occasionally buy my wife a Christmas present even if it is summer time. These little nothing things mean a lot to a lot of Ladies.
Many Men need to get out of the bar, get off your Harley, get away from the TV, stop working on your car and do some little thing for your lady that you would never do and she would not expect you to do.
It may allow your marriage to last for the rest of your life.
Charlie the Reefer
Well-Known Member
Loved your book Paul. Congrats on such a long lasting marriage. I appreciate your reefing advice, but as a guy just getting into the hobby, I think maybe I have more to take away on your relationship advice...
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Paul B
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Thank you, I appreciate that. I can go on and on about having a good marriage but my wife may divorce me if I do.I think maybe I have more to take away on your relationship advice...
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From a long time ago.
Thinking outside the box
Unfortunately there is this box. It is very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wants to stay and think inside the box. People inside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddly enough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methods that people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby started in the United States in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon.
Even though many of the methods don't work, people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard so the information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wrong information over and over again. We can't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs and many times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing has been done forty seven thousand times.
Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the box hears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and even though it worked once, and never works again, it is still done because eventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those "Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but his Ideas keep getting re-circulated. He goes on to collect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where he becomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. All we had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bell bottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to find our own ways to do things. We had to experiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest per state and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was a researcher. When we bought a fish, no one knew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and he wasn't talking.
So if our tank got overcome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golf course, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we would learn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that never works so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with that also. Again, if we were inside the box we would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct that situation. No, we didn't change the water or check our parameters. We had no test kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out pretty well.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never get sick. We found out that our fish were supposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy and prone to diseases. We could have changed the water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyone changed water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were natural and healthy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanks inside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing so trys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of that person and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done that way. If say that person uses a reverse undergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical box knowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roar will become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it is just not taught inside the box. Even if those outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriously, and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easy to implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting old shoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so going outside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new, important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were the result of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought inside the box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn't allow for it.
Most Neanderthals thought inside the box which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carrying sticks and little else. It took an outside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw away that stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented that box.
Thinking outside the box
Unfortunately there is this box. It is very comfortable and warm inside the box which is why almost everyone wants to stay and think inside the box. People inside the box all have much of the same ideas and ways of thinking and oddly enough many of the same problems that don't get resolved using the same methods that people inside the box have been using since the salt water hobby started in the United States in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon.
Even though many of the methods don't work, people still use those methods because the sides of the box are very hard so the information gets echoed all over the box and we hear the same wrong information over and over again. We can't help but to use those methods because that is whats inside that box. The box also gets a daily influx of Noobs and many times Noobs will try something and it will work. Of course they don't know that that thing has been done forty seven thousand times.
Then that information bounces around the box and everyone in the box hears it and thinks that is the way to do that particular thing. So it is done over and over again and even though it worked once, and never works again, it is still done because eventually that Noob gets out of the hobby and goes on one of those "Getting out of the Hobby, everything for sale " threads, but his Ideas keep getting re-circulated. He goes on to collect stamps and becomes an accountant at Burger King where he becomes a manager of the French Fry cooker.
Many years ago there was no box. All we had was wide open spaces, Elvis, Marylin Monroe, bell bottoms and a lot of sky. There were also no methods so we had to find our own ways to do things. We had to experiment and in doing so we killed more fish than StarKist Tuna. There was only one salt water hobbiest per state and there was no internet and we didn't know each other so everyone was a researcher. When we bought a fish, no one knew anything about that fish except the fish itself and Jacues Cousteau and he wasn't talking.
So if our tank got overcome with hair algae, we learned on our own how to deal with it. We grew enough algae to cover a 19 hole golf course, but eventually we overcame and eliminated the algae. Of course if we were inside the box we would learn that changing the water will help with that. But we, outside the box realize that never works so we didn't do that.
When our fish got parasites we quickly learned how to deal with that also. Again, if we were inside the box we would change the water , with the same result.
If a fish died, we learned through trial and error how to correct that situation. No, we didn't change the water or check our parameters. We had no test kits anyway so we had to rely on our common sense which worked out pretty well.
We also learned, on our own how to feed fish so they would never get sick. We found out that our fish were supposed to spawn all the time and if they didn't, they were not healthy and prone to diseases. We could have changed the water but knew that in the future there would be this box where everyone changed water all the time but still had numerous problems.
We never had a new fish that wouldn't eat because our tanks were natural and healthy, not sterile like a newly shampooed rug like many of the tanks inside the box.
Sometimes, after a while someone climbs outside of the box and in doing so trys to go against the fine folks inside the box. The people inside the box make fun of that person and say his (or her) Ideas can't work because it is just not done that way. If say that person uses a reverse undergravel filter, the laughter from inside the box will rise to a roar. If that person goes against biblical box knowledge and finds a way to keep fish healthy without quarantining, that roar will become a typhoon and the box will shake.
The box people will never accept those outside the box ideas because it is just not taught inside the box. Even if those outside of the box ideas are proven, they will never be taken seriously, and more importantly if any of those ideas and methods are very cheap and easy to implement, forget about it, that person may as well take up collecting old shoes because he will be driven out of the fish hobby.
Now everyone knows there are some really nice tanks inside the box. Some tanks, everyone are jealous of so going outside the box is not for everyone. But history proves that all of the new, important, earth shattering or Awe inspiring events that happened were the result of thinking outside the box because if everyone always thought inside the box there would never be any improvement because the box doesn't allow for it.
Most Neanderthals thought inside the box which is the reason they walked around for thousands of years carrying sticks and little else. It took an outside the box thinker to invent a microwave so Neanderthals could throw away that stick and heat up a TV dinner. Eventually Neanderthals got taken over by Liberals who invented that box.
Kmst80
Well-Known Member
Hah...nice little rant there.
I found to leave those people inside the box be, they will never listen to anything outside the box.
I was raised in the GDR...or East Germany. We were communist but had nothing or had to wait ages to get something. My dad waited 15 years for his first car, the new piece of furniture was 7 years. Since you couldn't get stuff when you wanted it, you had to make it yourself hence thinking outside the box. My first soccerboots were 5 sizes to big so I put crunched up paper in the front, those were the only soccerboots we could get at the time.
Growing up like this teaches you thinking outside the box or using your imagination. Best life lesson you could have.
I found to leave those people inside the box be, they will never listen to anything outside the box.
I was raised in the GDR...or East Germany. We were communist but had nothing or had to wait ages to get something. My dad waited 15 years for his first car, the new piece of furniture was 7 years. Since you couldn't get stuff when you wanted it, you had to make it yourself hence thinking outside the box. My first soccerboots were 5 sizes to big so I put crunched up paper in the front, those were the only soccerboots we could get at the time.
Growing up like this teaches you thinking outside the box or using your imagination. Best life lesson you could have.
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Paul B
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Kmst80. Nice story and you had it much worse than almost anyone living in the States. Unfortunately many people living here now, especially young people born after wars don't have much of a clue and to many people here feel they are entitled to things without working for them.
I find that disgusting. I like hard work and appreciate things I work for and don't want anything for nothing which is why I don't gamble or even play the lottery.
I didn't have it near as hard as you because I was born here in Brooklyn New York. But as for being creative, my Dad died suddenly when I was 10. My Mom had 2 sons and a mortgage so there was no chance of a new bicycle or anything like that. I built my bikes from parts I found in lots.
All my first tanks were the bottoms of wine barrels and I kept mostly turtles and frogs that I caught. I still love those creatures. I always worked and like working. At 12 I was offered a job in a car wrecking yard by my neighbor and I learned about cars which always made me money.
Anyone can be successful if you live here and have a work ethic. Not so much in a communist country. I fought the Communists in Viet Nam and saw the conditions they lived in. I was very lucky to be born here.
I am glad you were able to get out of that country and go to Australia, a country that I visited on R&R in 1971. I stayed in Kings Cross when that was a nice place to visit. I hear it went down hill after I left.
How far are you from there?
I find that disgusting. I like hard work and appreciate things I work for and don't want anything for nothing which is why I don't gamble or even play the lottery.
I didn't have it near as hard as you because I was born here in Brooklyn New York. But as for being creative, my Dad died suddenly when I was 10. My Mom had 2 sons and a mortgage so there was no chance of a new bicycle or anything like that. I built my bikes from parts I found in lots.
All my first tanks were the bottoms of wine barrels and I kept mostly turtles and frogs that I caught. I still love those creatures. I always worked and like working. At 12 I was offered a job in a car wrecking yard by my neighbor and I learned about cars which always made me money.
Anyone can be successful if you live here and have a work ethic. Not so much in a communist country. I fought the Communists in Viet Nam and saw the conditions they lived in. I was very lucky to be born here.
I am glad you were able to get out of that country and go to Australia, a country that I visited on R&R in 1971. I stayed in Kings Cross when that was a nice place to visit. I hear it went down hill after I left.
How far are you from there?
Subsea
5000 Club Member
@Kmst80
In 1967, while in the USAF, I traveled by train from Frankfurt, Germany to Berlin. With Berlin in East Germany as part of the Soviet Union, I saw first hand communist oppression in the USSR. Also, during my 4 years of service, I spent four 90 day tours in Cambodia as a crew chief on Puff the Magic Dragon in support of 82nd Airborne Rangers as they dealt with both NVA & Kamar Rouge communist.
Are you close enough to the coast to dive on the Great Barrier reef?
In 1967, while in the USAF, I traveled by train from Frankfurt, Germany to Berlin. With Berlin in East Germany as part of the Soviet Union, I saw first hand communist oppression in the USSR. Also, during my 4 years of service, I spent four 90 day tours in Cambodia as a crew chief on Puff the Magic Dragon in support of 82nd Airborne Rangers as they dealt with both NVA & Kamar Rouge communist.
Are you close enough to the coast to dive on the Great Barrier reef?
Subsea
5000 Club Member
As I said a number of times, I have been married for almost half a century and I realize many people can't seem to find happiness with their relationship.
I have a few tips that have worked for me.
This morning like all mornings I went for my 2 mile walk/jog. I make my wife breakfast every day (since I have been retired) and on my walk, occasionally I pick some wild flowers (or nice looking weeds) to put by my wife's breakfast plate.
I realize it is "corny" (as they used to say in the 50s) but my wife gets a kick out of it. Men have been giving flowers to women since they invented women. I think her name was Eve.
But there is a secret as to why men always did that. Women don't really like flowers. Some of them just sneeze and throw them away when you turn around.
It's not the flowers. It has nothing to do with flowers. It is the fact that you were thinking about her and had enough feelings that you went out of your way to either buy or pick them.
Of course you can use chocolates or "rarely" diamonds. OK very rarely. Sometimes I take a ride to Starbucks just to get her her favorite Cafe Latte.
This is just a little thing that takes no time and the both of you will appreciate it. It will be good for both of you.
I also occasionally buy my wife a Christmas present even if it is summer time. These little nothing things mean a lot to a lot of Ladies.
Many Men need to get out of the bar, get off your Harley, get away from the TV, stop working on your car and do some little thing for your lady that you would never do and she would not expect you to do.
It may allow your marriage to last for the rest of your life.
Paul,
You are indeed a true romantic. For certain, you are married to a super model.
Patrick
Kmst80
Well-Known Member
Paul,Kmst80. Nice story and you had it much worse than almost anyone living in the States. Unfortunately many people living here now, especially young people born after wars don't have much of a clue and to many people here feel they are entitled to things without working for them.
I find that disgusting. I like hard work and appreciate things I work for and don't want anything for nothing which is why I don't gamble or even play the lottery.
I didn't have it near as hard as you because I was born here in Brooklyn New York. But as for being creative, my Dad died suddenly when I was 10. My Mom had 2 sons and a mortgage so there was no chance of a new bicycle or anything like that. I built my bikes from parts I found in lots.
All my first tanks were the bottoms of wine barrels and I kept mostly turtles and frogs that I caught. I still love those creatures. I always worked and like working. At 12 I was offered a job in a car wrecking yard by my neighbor and I learned about cars which always made me money.
Anyone can be successful if you live here and have a work ethic. Not so much in a communist country. I fought the Communists in Viet Nam and saw the conditions they lived in. I was very lucky to be born here.
I am glad you were able to get out of that country and go to Australia, a country that I visited on R&R in 1971. I stayed in Kings Cross when that was a nice place to visit. I hear it went down hill after I left.
How far are you from there?
drive about 1000 km north and you will reach the town of Ipswich which i call my home. Been to Kings Cross though, the red light district of Sydney.
Growing up in a communist country wasn't all that bad. Everyone had a job, everyone had a roof over the head, everyone could afford the basic needs of living. We kids could go on summer and winter camp each year for free organized by the factory my dad was working in. After school care was free.
But does that outweigh the one party system where they have to build a wall around the country the keep the people from running away, where the Stasi(Like KGB) is everywhere and everyone and can do what they want, where you get shot if you tried to flee the country, where you got thrown into jail if you are against the system?
Communism in itself is a great idea and very different to what we see in communist countries, but it will never work because mankind is greedy.
Kmst80
Well-Known Member
I snorkeled the reef a couple of times, but have to go a bit further north from where i am. But the next moneypit hobby is going to be scuba diving...the only way of seeing the reef properly.
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