Tank birthday, 47+ years

atoll · Jul 27, 2023

Oh dear not good. Good job your able to have your grandchildren while things are sorted. Hope she names a full recovery Paul.

Paul B · Jul 27, 2023

Thanks, she is in terrible pain and in a cast from above her elbow to her fingers.

Rybren · Jul 27, 2023

Sorry to hear that Paul. I hope that she gets the care that she needs quickly.
During the height of COVID one of my sons fell and snapped both bones in his forearm. Because of the limited operating rooms and extra protocols in place due to the pandemic, it took about 5 days to get surgery to pin the bones. He was in excruciating pain, even with the "happy" pills they were giving him.

Skay · Jul 27, 2023

Paul B said:
The Back Nine of Life.
You know ... time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware
of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just
married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it
seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that
I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my
hopes and dreams. My first girlfriend, my first real job, first car, first fish tank. I lived a good life, worked hard loved hard and traveled a lot.

But, here it is... the back nine of my life and it catches me by
surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where
did my youth go? With my hair I guess.

I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that
those older people were years away from me and that I was only on the
first hole and the back nine was so far off that I could not fathom it
or imagine fully what it would be like. Most people were older than me, certainly important people like Presidents and doctors. Now they all seem like kids to me.

But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting gray...they move
slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse
shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I
remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is
beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see
and never thought we'd become. We used to talk about skiing, SCUBA diving, going down the rapids, girls, the war we fought in and now much of our conversations are about operations we had or are going to have, Grand Kids, IRAs, reverse mortgages and Old Tank Syndrome.

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all
the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do
things that I wish I had done but never did!! But, at least I know, that
though I'm on the back nine, and I'm not sure how long it will
last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's over. A new
adventure will begin! Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I
hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many
things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime. I still feel strong, but when I try to lift something that used to be easy, it is not so easy any more. I am a person that almost never asked for help with anything but now some things are just a little to heavy. I used to have no problem installing the outdrives on my boat, now I can barely wrestle them into my car. I think I am in good shape and I still swim every other day but aches and pains pop up every day and you wonder what you did to get them.

So, if you're not on the back nine yet...let me remind you, that it will
be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish
in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!! Life
goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure
whether you're on the back nine or not! I lost many good friends in my life, some of them very young and some recently. Many who were very young in the war. As I get older and the people I know and love age with me I find myself going to a lot more funeral's than I used to. Almost all of the people who attended my wedding who were family instead of friends are gone.

My parents and all my Aunts and uncles I used to visit as a child are all just memories.

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so,
live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to
remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things
that you have done for them in all the years past!!

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to
those who come after. Make it a fantastic one. LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY
TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY ! HAVE A GREAT DAY Remember "It is
health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. LIVE HAPPY
IN 2020!

LASTLY, CONSIDER THIS:
~Your kids are becoming you......but your grandchildren are perfect!
~Going out is good.. Coming home is better!
~You forget names.... But it's OK because some people forgot they even
knew you!!!
~You realize you're never going to be really good at anything that you were not good at before.
~The things you used to care to do, you aren't as interested in anymore,
but you really do care that you aren't as interested.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV 'ON' than in bed. It's
called "pre-sleep".
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF"
switch..
~You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"... ???
~You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!

~Everybody whispers.
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will
never wear.

~~~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of
all, OLD FRIENDS!!

Stay well, old friend, and let
them laugh in AGREEMENT!!! It's Not What You Gather, But What You
Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.

man i just turned 21 and i’m already having an existential crisis

Lowell Lemon · Jul 27, 2023

Praying for your family today Paul.

Nemo&Friends · Jul 27, 2023

I always enjoy your "rants". I cannot fix anything, but my husband can fix almost everything and like you his age (almost 80) start to limit him.
Good luck for your daughter. My grand son (5 Years old) also broke his 2 arm bones and they had to be reset. He still is in a cast from finger to past the elbow. As he is small, not much of his arm is outside the cast. He cannot get it wet, so no swimming or water spray to cool off in the mid 90s degree. Cannot participate in any activities at camp...
But 5 years old usually recover completely.
Other good point, his pain went away about 48 hours after the cast was set. Hopefully it will be the same for your daughter.

Paul B · Jul 27, 2023

My Daughter is 44 so doesn't heal as fast as our Grand Kids. They were roller skating and she was just standing there on skates. My Grand Son, Teddy came barreling around and fell on her so she fell on the concrete. They had to take her in an ambulance, then a different ambulance when that hospital couldn't set it properly.

I am not sure why a hospital in Manhattan couldn't set a broken wrist. :anguished-face:

This must have been Veterans Day

Paul B · Jul 27, 2023

The beach behind my house is all rocks like all Long Island Sound beaches. I would mush rather walk on a rocky beach than our south shore beaches which are just pure white sand which I find very boring. You never see anything interesting on a clean sandy beach although swimming is probably better there.

I also did almost all my SCUBA diving on the Sound because just like in a reef tank, fish prefer rocks to sand.

mmw64 · Jul 28, 2023

Paul B said:
The Back Nine of Life.
You know ... time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware
of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just
married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it
seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that
I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my
hopes and dreams. My first girlfriend, my first real job, first car, first fish tank. I lived a good life, worked hard loved hard and traveled a lot.

But, here it is... the back nine of my life and it catches me by
surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where
did my youth go? With my hair I guess.

I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that
those older people were years away from me and that I was only on the
first hole and the back nine was so far off that I could not fathom it
or imagine fully what it would be like. Most people were older than me, certainly important people like Presidents and doctors. Now they all seem like kids to me.

But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting gray...they move
slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse
shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I
remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is
beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see
and never thought we'd become. We used to talk about skiing, SCUBA diving, going down the rapids, girls, the war we fought in and now much of our conversations are about operations we had or are going to have, Grand Kids, IRAs, reverse mortgages and Old Tank Syndrome.

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all
the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do
things that I wish I had done but never did!! But, at least I know, that
though I'm on the back nine, and I'm not sure how long it will
last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's over. A new
adventure will begin! Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I
hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many
things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime. I still feel strong, but when I try to lift something that used to be easy, it is not so easy any more. I am a person that almost never asked for help with anything but now some things are just a little to heavy. I used to have no problem installing the outdrives on my boat, now I can barely wrestle them into my car. I think I am in good shape and I still swim every other day but aches and pains pop up every day and you wonder what you did to get them.

So, if you're not on the back nine yet...let me remind you, that it will
be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish
in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!! Life
goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure
whether you're on the back nine or not! I lost many good friends in my life, some of them very young and some recently. Many who were very young in the war. As I get older and the people I know and love age with me I find myself going to a lot more funeral's than I used to. Almost all of the people who attended my wedding who were family instead of friends are gone.

My parents and all my Aunts and uncles I used to visit as a child are all just memories.

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so,
live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to
remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things
that you have done for them in all the years past!!

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to
those who come after. Make it a fantastic one. LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY
TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY ! HAVE A GREAT DAY Remember "It is
health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. LIVE HAPPY
IN 2020!

LASTLY, CONSIDER THIS:
~Your kids are becoming you......but your grandchildren are perfect!
~Going out is good.. Coming home is better!
~You forget names.... But it's OK because some people forgot they even
knew you!!!
~You realize you're never going to be really good at anything that you were not good at before.
~The things you used to care to do, you aren't as interested in anymore,
but you really do care that you aren't as interested.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV 'ON' than in bed. It's
called "pre-sleep".
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF"
switch..
~You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"... ???
~You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!

~Everybody whispers.
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will
never wear.

~~~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of
all, OLD FRIENDS!!

Stay well, old friend, and let
them laugh in AGREEMENT!!! It's Not What You Gather, But What You
Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.

Just perfect Paul, thank you!

Paul B · Jul 31, 2023

Being our Daughter has a broken arm and wrist, our Grand Daughter Greta came to visit for a few days.

We took her to dinner but she is allergic to just about everything. The only things she can eat are over $25.00 a pound.

Kmst80 · Jul 31, 2023

Paul B said:
Being our Daughter has a broken arm and wrist, our Grand Daughter Greta came to visit for a few days.

We took her to dinner but she is allergic to just about everything. The only things she can eat are over $25.00 a pound.

Just fish it out of your tank next time. I am sure one of those is hiding in your tank and you just forgot about it :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Nano_Man · Jul 31, 2023

Paul hope your daughter is on the mend.The bonus is spending time with the grand children

Paul B · Aug 1, 2023

This morning like yesterday it is cool and windy. Not great weather to go amphipod collecting but I went anyway because the rocky coast is on my morning walk. I only go walking at about 6:00 am and at that time no one will see this fish Geek walking around with a pail turning over rocks like a 5 year old.

Last week you could put your shoe in the muddy water under rocks and come up with a thousand amphipods, but today was different.
Almost every rock had under it crabs. Japanese Shore crabs which are an invasive species and took over just about every inch of real estate so they are here to stay.

But the adult amphipods were gone. Not one. I don't know if it was to cold (71 degrees) I doubt it, or it was Prom night.
I couldn't collect even one adult amphipod but I got a lot of mud and these limpets which are extremely common.

They won't live more than a few months in my tank but occasionally I collect them just because I can. I may throw them back in the sea in a few weeks.

Looking closely at that muddy water, now that I am home, I see that I did collect multides of baby amphipods and other microscope creatures which will all go in my tank. I also see that I collected many very tiny Japanese Shore crabs which I will not add to my tank. They are not very harmful and grow to about an inch but I don't want them and may put them in a small tank just for the coolness factor or I may mail them back to Japan. :)

I mainly want the mud which contains all sorts of bacteria which I feel is beneficial to my tank and probably also harbors what many hobbyists would consider pathogens. These will not harm anything and will only help to boost the immunity of my fish.

atoll · Aug 1, 2023

Paul B said:
"I mainly want the mud which contains all sorts of bacteria which I feel is beneficial to my tank and probably also harbors what many hobbyists would consider pathogens. These will not harm anything and will only help to boost the immunity of my fish."

Cue the doubters.

Nano_Man · Aug 1, 2023

No doubt from me last time Paul was turning stones he has got me doing it lol. And Iam not going back to tunnel vision reefing. I can not go much more natural and every thing going great

Paul B · Aug 1, 2023

Nman said:
I can not go much more natural and every thing going great

It has been working in the sea for quite a few years and I don't see wild fish croaking from ich. :p

Paul B · Aug 1, 2023

atoll said:
Cue the doubters

We will never convince the vast majority of this as many people have been brain washed by commercialism.
There is no money to be made by natural things.

Bottled bacteria is expensive so a lot of people feel it is the best thing since Clearasil pimple cream. :D

Also most people don't live near the sea. :cool:

atoll · Aug 1, 2023

Nman said:
No doubt from me last time Paul was turning stones he has got me doing it lol. And Iam not going back to tunnel vision reefing. I can not go much more natural and every thing going great

Nor me.
My philosophy to reefkeeping has been the same for around 35 years.
Follow mother nature as closely as is reasonably ( you will have to put your own ideas on reasonably) possible and you won't go far wrong. Afterall she has had millions of years to perfect her ways and you can only make things worse not better than her.

atoll · Aug 1, 2023

I am one of those that don't live near the sea. However, I do my best to follow nature as best I can. No dried foods, fresh natural alge, frozen or fresh foods, plenty of oxygen, aquascaped as the fish would mostly been found on the reef and so on.