Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Lasse]

Hi guys - here is one more 70+ and self isolated. The funny thing is that I probably coming out of this with better health than before. My wife loves to take long walks - i do when we are on vacation - but at home - no - no - no. Just sitting in front of the computer gaining more and more weight, But now - when I have to be home the old rebellion wake up. Still you are allowed to walk outside (remember 1 meters distance) here and we just take the car out to the sea, to the park or as last day up to the famous spring gathering place of all cranes in Sweden - Hornburgasjön - + 5000 cranes there yesterday. And then walk for a while

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So I will get a better fitness during this time

Sincerely Lasse

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[Paul B]

Thats Great and beautiful Lasse. I also take walks. This is behind my house but there are 170 steps to get there. I can go here, then walk about half a mile on the sand and go up in another place.
My wife has MS and walks very slow now with a cane or walking sticks so we can rarely walk far together any more so I normally walk her someplace where she can do some exercize while I keep going.








This is outside Our Daughters house in Vermont.

 

[atoll]

Good Looking family you have there Atoll.

Ours "ran away" to their summer place on top of a mountain in Vermont where no one lives except cows so there is little chance of contracting anything except Hoof and Mouth disease.
They normally live in Manhattan where everyone is sick, even when they are not sick.

Thanks Paul, apart from me my wife and grandchildren all have the look. My look is more grumpy old man, it kinda suits me though.
You have a supermodel wife and good looking daughter and grandchildren. Must run in the family....well on your wifes side obviously

 

[Lasse]

Take care of you and your wife Paul - you need to be more of a swede (the kings of social distance) instead of italian during these conditions we face today.

And you too @atoll

Sincerely Lasse

 

[atoll]

Some more of my grandchildren in Oz including my 3 beautiful daughters.

 

[atoll]

Take care of you and your wife Paul - you need to be more of a swede (the kings of social distance) instead of italian during these conditions we face today.

And you too @atoll

Sincerely Lasse

We are self isolating and have only been outside our property for an hour to go the supermarket in the last 5 days.
Stay well @Lasse.

 

[Lasse]

We are self isolating and have only been outside our property for an hour to go the supermarket in the last 5 days.
Stay well @Lasse.

We are still allowed to take walks and be outside if we keep distance to other people - 1.5 m. However we are recommended to not visit crowded places and shops. If someone shops for us (children, neighbours and so on - they do that - leaving the bags outside) No physical contact even with children and grandchildren - 1.5 meters. There is no forcing laws - everything is build on free will and understanding. If this not work - they will make laws that forbid us to leave the apartment. I think that´s the situation in UK today.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Victoria M]

Bless you all and keep you all safe.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, Us Italians are social people and like to hug and kiss. Of course we can't do that now. Where we moved to there are not that many people. Still 6 or 7 million but that is on an island 100 miles long and most of them live west of us towards the city.

 

[atoll]

We are still allowed to take walks and be outside if we keep distance to other people - 1.5 m. However we are recommended to not visit crowded places and shops. If someone shops for us (children, neighbours and so on - they do that - leaving the bags outside) No physical contact even with children and grandchildren - 1.5 meters. There is no forcing laws - everything is build on free will and understanding. If this not work - they will make laws that forbid us to leave the apartment. I think that´s the situation in UK today.

Sincerely Lasse

Very much the same here.

 

[Paul B]

It's pretty warm here today so I decide to get some exercise and take a walk to the beach behind my house. It's about 170 steps almost straight down and being it's kind of still winter, I have not been doing this much yet. In the summer I try to do it almost every day. So I figure I will go like half way down, take a little rest, and come back up. Every day I will do some more. So I go down about half way and I can see the beach.



I take a little break, sit down and look around.



I see this "Thing" on the sand that wasn't there the day before. I am part of this seal, whale, turtle rescue thing here on Long Island and I figure it is one of those creatures.

This beach is almost in-accessible except by helicopter or walking down all these steps.
I figure I need to get a little closer to see what it is.

I walk down a little farther knowing that at some point I will have to walk back up and I know there is no cell phone service on the beach.

I go down some more and realize it is a person. OMG. Someone must have had a heart attack, broke a leg, was overcome with velvet or is dying from boredom.



I really don't want to descend all the way down because I am not in shape to go back up.
I watch intensely for maybe five minutes to see if they move.

No movement, they must be hurt, in a coma or dead. OMG again.

If I don't get to them I will not be able to sleep thinking about what could be wrong with them.

So I head down still seeing no movement. I check my phone to see how my stocks are doing, I mean to see if I have, service.

I get to the sand and start walking. He or she is maybe 75 yards away, laying on the sand with their feet facing the water and their head facing the mountain.

If they are hurt, I will have to make it all the way up the stairs to call for help and they will have to dispatch a helicopter as there is no other way to get to this particular beach. Should I put rocks on the beach spelling out "SOS" like they do in the movies?

Light a fire?

My mind is racing. Will I have to do CPR, set a broken leg, perform Mouth to Mouth or just brush the marauding hermit crabs off of the body. I don't know but I am getting closer.

I still see no movement but it is windy and the seagulls are giving me a headache.

I get up to the person and notice it seems to be a female. She had kind of nice looking designer boots on and a down jacket with a hood fringed with fur.

Still no movement so I figure right away, she must be a run away Supermodel that is scared of the Corona Virus and wants to get away from the Paparazzi.

As I walk closer I am shuffling my feet making noise with the rocks to try to stir the person.

Nothing!!

I inch right up to her and yell, "HEY ARE YOU OK? ".

She quickly jerks her head up and says, "Yes, I am Fine, I must have fallen Asleep".

I wanted to say, "Are you like Sleeping Beauty and ate a poison apple that made you fall asleep on the rocks and sand of a deserted beach with your feet near the water or are you some sort of Mermaid that thinks you have ich?

I didn't ask and just said, "I am glad you are not dead because I can't carry you up all those stairs.

And I left. But tonight I will sleep knowing I almost saved a Supermodel and walked up more stairs than I wanted to.

 

[radsdad]

20,000+ US deaths from the flu this season did not affect the TP supply.

 

[Paul B]

In these tough times My wife and I have been trying to get innovative and to do things that don't involve other people, or at least not other people that have to get to close.

This week we played a few Scrabble and Monopoly games that I had to dig out of mothballs.
We do a crossword puzzle at night and we also have a WII game, which is on the TV and we can play golf
(I hate golf), tennis, boat racing and a few others.

I touched up some paint that my wife has been telling me to do for a while.

We take a walk or I ride my bicycle.
I have hobbies and a nice workshop/Man cave so I could occupy myself forever but my wife can't. Her hobbies all involve exercise, mostly in a gym which of course are closed now.

I don't want to leave her alone to much because she is already to depressed that she can't do any of her things (her MS medication increases depression) and now she has a big leg brace which she hates. But in the scope of things, it's better than what a lot of people have to endure.

All in All the people around here all seem happy and are coping.
WE were donating food (bagels) to a hospital until our Daughter yelled at us to stay home so now all we can do is call a restaurant and have them deliver it to them.

I don't know if we will do that today. The "older" people here are all living with someone so they are taken care of.

I will see how many times I can wash my car today and clean the glass on my tank. My fish are getting mad at me as they are tired of looking at my face. ;Wideyed
But it's the entire world which doesn't make it sound any better.

Early in the morning I always turn on the TV to see if the thing peaked yet, and as we know, it has not. Here in New York our hospitals are filling up and they have tents in the parking lot for the overflow.

Thankfully the children aren't affected as much. Our Grand Kids left Manhattan and are in Vermont on top of a mountain far away from anyone except cows. Thank God for Skype.

It should peak soon (we hope) and I hope everyone stays safe and healthy,

 

[atoll]

Much the same in the UK Paul there are over 1/2 million NHS (our health system) volunteers who have signed up to assist in many ways maybe more like a million now. Just been announced our prime minister has the virus but mildly it seems.
Last night at 8pm millions of people stood, clapped and cheered for those nurses doctors and helpers for a minute in appreciated of all they are doing on our behalf. Being 70s I am confined to barracks but at least I can get into the garden.
Yesterday I tidied up my small wildlife
pond, cleaned the filter and started the waterfall. My workshop is in desperate need of a tidy so that's a job for this afternoon.

My wife is out at the supermarket getting provisions, she has to stay 6' from the nearest person. We have had panic buying but that seems to have subsided.

This virus has brought the best out of some people but the worse out of some others.

Stay safe.

 

[Hecticdude]

In a couple of weeks my reef will will have reached 40 years old.
Unfortunately I don't remember when I was 40 but I remember when I set it up. I was a skinny 22 year old just back from Viet Nam.
It is still running very well, still using the same reverse UG filter, same dolomite substrait but none of the fish are original. The oldest one, a fireclown is just over 16, all of the older fish died in an accident that was due to my carelessness.
The tank is mostly LPS, gorgonians, giant mushrooms and a few leathers.
There are only three SPS corals, two of which have been with me for a few years and are growing nicely.
I am not sure is any of the original NSW from the Long Island Sound is still in there or any of the original amphipods but maybe much later generations.
I still can't take a decent picture and the tank is not as blue as these pictures but it is what it is.

Congratulations!!!! That is awesome

 

[Paul B]

Atoll you need some Lionfish and sea turtles in that pond.

WE have Home Depot here which is a huge store and they are only letting in one person in at a time. I guess they can only have so many people in there at once which is a good thing. The people on line outside (6' apart) are all chatting and in good spirits.

I will wash my car (again) today as it will be almost 60 degrees then I assume we will take a walk. My wife is supposed to walk a little more each day with this new leg brace and it is bulky and uncomfortable. If I don't walk with her, she will definitely fall so we do that.

We just had a video chat with her Neurologist because of course she can't go to his office so he is "visiting" his patients on SKYPE which is fantastic.

On a sad note, our local hospital has a refrigerated trailer in the parking lot for the patients who died of the virus because the morgue is full and they can't bury them right now.
I really hope this thing passes soon and that they come up with a vaccine.

Maybe one good thing that comes after this are some good medications to prevent this in the future and it would also be great if some of those medications helped cure other things. Wouldn't that be great.

 

[Paul B]

Last night I was thinking about this and I remembered something disturbing. I used to Play Santa Claus in NYU in Manhattan that has a floor for Cancer children and infants. Those kids and little babies are the worst of the cancer patients and something like 40% of them don't make it.

On the best day it is heartbreaking but of all the kids I visited there, every one was happy and looking forward to the future. Not one ever complained even covered in tubes and wires.

Now with this situation I am sure no one can visit those little patients so I don't know what they are doing. Those kids have no immune system due to chemo and radiation.

Our situation, almost no matter how annoying, is not that bad when I think of much less fortunate people who have other severe things "plus" this.

 

[cancun]

It's pretty warm here today so I decide to get some exercise and take a walk to the beach behind my house. It's about 170 steps almost straight down and being it's kind of still winter, I have not been doing this much yet. In the summer I try to do it almost every day. So I figure I will go like half way down, take a little rest, and come back up. Every day I will do some more. So I go down about half way and I can see the beach.



I take a little break, sit down and look around.



I see this "Thing" on the sand that wasn't there the day before. I am part of this seal, whale, turtle rescue thing here on Long Island and I figure it is one of those creatures.

This beach is almost in-accessible except by helicopter or walking down all these steps.
I figure I need to get a little closer to see what it is.

I walk down a little farther knowing that at some point I will have to walk back up and I know there is no cell phone service on the beach.

I go down some more and realize it is a person. OMG. Someone must have had a heart attack, broke a leg, was overcome with velvet or is dying from boredom.



I really don't want to descend all the way down because I am not in shape to go back up.
I watch intensely for maybe five minutes to see if they move.

No movement, they must be hurt, in a coma or dead. OMG again.

If I don't get to them I will not be able to sleep thinking about what could be wrong with them.

So I head down still seeing no movement. I check my phone to see how my stocks are doing, I mean to see if I have, service.

I get to the sand and start walking. He or she is maybe 75 yards away, laying on the sand with their feet facing the water and their head facing the mountain.

If they are hurt, I will have to make it all the way up the stairs to call for help and they will have to dispatch a helicopter as there is no other way to get to this particular beach. Should I put rocks on the beach spelling out "SOS" like they do in the movies?

Light a fire?

My mind is racing. Will I have to do CPR, set a broken leg, perform Mouth to Mouth or just brush the marauding hermit crabs off of the body. I don't know but I am getting closer.

I still see no movement but it is windy and the seagulls are giving me a headache.

I get up to the person and notice it seems to be a female. She had kind of nice looking designer boots on and a down jacket with a hood fringed with fur.

Still no movement so I figure right away, she must be a run away Supermodel that is scared of the Corona Virus and wants to get away from the Paparazzi.

As I walk closer I am shuffling my feet making noise with the rocks to try to stir the person.

Nothing!!

I inch right up to her and yell, "HEY ARE YOU OK? ".

She quickly jerks her head up and says, "Yes, I am Fine, I must have fallen Asleep".

I wanted to say, "Are you like Sleeping Beauty and ate a poison apple that made you fall asleep on the rocks and sand of a deserted beach with your feet near the water or are you some sort of Mermaid that thinks you have ich?

I didn't ask and just said, "I am glad you are not dead because I can't carry you up all those stairs.

And I left. But tonight I will sleep knowing I almost saved a Supermodel and walked up more stairs than I wanted to.

Paul love your pics! Nice beach too!!! I hope you and everyone else on here are all doing well! So I did get a cleaner shrimp last weekend! My fish love him, and my Wrasses haven't looked at him and licked their chops....lol..so far so good.

I am starting to like more interesting fish...I guess you rubbed off on me Paul! I picked up this pair of orange spotted file fish today, and this tube anemone! Sorry for the poor pics...he he!

 

[atoll]

Atoll you need some Lionfish and sea turtles in that pond.

WE have Home Depot here which is a huge store and they are only letting in one person in at a time. I guess they can only have so many people in there at once which is a good thing. The people on line outside (6' apart) are all chatting and in good spirits.

I will wash my car (again) today as it will be almost 60 degrees then I assume we will take a walk. My wife is supposed to walk a little more each day with this new leg brace and it is bulky and uncomfortable. If I don't walk with her, she will definitely fall so we do that.

We just had a video chat with her Neurologist because of course she can't go to his office so he is "visiting" his patients on SKYPE which is fantastic.

On a sad note, our local hospital has a refrigerated trailer in the parking lot for the patients who died of the virus because the morgue is full and they can't bury them right now.
I really hope this thing passes soon and that they come up with a vaccine.

Maybe one good thing that comes after this are some good medications to prevent this in the future and it would also be great if some of those medications helped cure other things. Wouldn't that be great.

All mirrored here Paul across the pond. Places being converted into makeshift hospitals. An ice rink as a mortuary, the list goes on. Doctors are suggesting we will get more of these kind of viruses in the future and possibly more regular. That's worrying if they turn out to be correct, let's hope they are not.

 

[atoll]

I was thinking recently about nice looking big fish v much smaller what Paul and I call more interesting fish.

Do people with these large tangs and angels think and see their tanks differently than us I wonder. What we see as boring those with large fish think differently.

There is little doubt those with big fish see the beauty in them and perhaps they enjoy the spectacle and beauty over from their chair of choice over what we see which IMO is more the ecosystem of our reef.

We possibly zoom in to just what is going on that bit more, well we have to as our animals are so much smaller in doing so I think we may be more "in tune" shall I say with the biodiversity, interactions and symbiotic relationships that are going on.

We don't panic when we haven't seen one of our fish for a day or two unless the fish is one that is always out and about all the time. I think we tend to be more relaxed about our animals and tank. I am not sure if all the above is correct it's just the way it often seems to me so don't shoot me.