Tank birthday, 47+ years

[jgirardnrg]

I like the look of your sponges as well... too bad it's trying to take over the entire tank.

 

[Paul B]

It's trying but sponges use a lot of calcium because they have thousands of these calcium "shards" in them that help the sponge hold it's shape. My tank uses a lot of calcium because of that and I think it was depleted. I hardly have any calcium left so i just ordered a bunch of the stuff.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Hey Paul!

After the other thread of yours I posted in, I decided I’m crazy so I must read all 305 pages of your tank birthday thread. I’m about 85 pages in.

I saw that you wrote a book and after seeing all your DIY designs I wanted to get my hands on a copy. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a printed copy, so I opted for the E-version.

Anyway, as others have said your tank is amazing. But more than that your humor and outlook are quite inspiring. Thanks for sharing all that you share!!

 

[KingTideCorals]

Love the thread, getting lost in the sauce... so many pages LOL

 

[creativeballance]

Hey Paul!

After the other thread of yours I posted in, I decided I’m crazy so I must read all 305 pages of your tank birthday thread. I’m about 85 pages in.

I saw that you wrote a book and after seeing all your DIY designs I wanted to get my hands on a copy. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a printed copy, so I opted for the E-version.

Anyway, as others have said your tank is amazing. But more than that your humor and outlook are quite inspiring. Thanks for sharing all that you share!!

Amazon has printed, I ordered it a few days ago. I just finished reading mine.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Amazon has printed, I ordered it a few days ago. I just finished reading mine.

they must have sold out quick! I looked about an hour ago and there weren’t any unless I wanted a copy shipped from the UK. I’m impatient so I opted to buy the kindle version

 

[Paul B]

I’m impatient so I opted to buy the kindle version

Oh, for a minute I thought you said "The Kindergarten Version

Thanks guys, this thread was started in 2011. I just looked.
OMG, I was a young man then and my clownfish were only 19 years old

I can't believe you are reading this entire thread, I didn't even read it and 90% of it is not about fish, but Supermodels, cars, Steam Punk, Christie Brinkley, Viet Nam, Toggle bolts and other non marine things.

My book is shown under my posts but I think if you for some reason read this on a cell phone, it doesn't appear. Maybe the phone screen is to small for my big head.

100% of the profits go to Multiple Sclerosis research in my wife's name but there is no need to read the book. Just about everything in the book is on here someplace hidden in these 6,104 posts.

CreativeBallance. My Daughter wrote the foreword as she is the writer in the family and I just make marks on a piece of cardboard and a retired Supermodel's Mother comes over and types what she thinks I wrote from her Nursing Home.

But I am Honored that you guys are actually reading it.

My Daughter gave me a "Book Signing Party" when it was published for the "hundreds" of very distinguished authors, inventors, astronauts, world leaders, plumbers and the guy who swept the floor in the Italian restaurant where the "event" was held amid fireworks, pomp and circumstance.
The Queen couldn't make it so she sent Patrick Stewart who my friend and I sometimes double for in Star Trek movies.

My friend there, who is my best friend for life and lives next door to us also took most of the underwater pictures. He is a better underwater photographer than I am as I always get to close to the fish and get fish slime allover the lens. That slime also makes my camera lens immune.

 

[Paul B]

I am totally, 100% out of calcium so I have had to resort to smashing up blackboard chalk and throwing it in my tank. Unfortunately, I only have purple chalk which made me think my coraline algae was really growing like crazy.

But of course I was dreaming. My calcium is supposed to be delivered today and if it isn't here, I am sure my sponge will look more like a wash rag than the car wash sponge it looks like now. A car wash sponge with big, rotted holes in it.

The stuff is disintegrating but not in the places where I want it to disintegrate, mainly where it is growing on my corals and up my wall.

Today I have to go to my boat because the SCUBA diver on the back, after the boat name (Euphoria) is faded and I want to paint over it.
I am actually surprised it looks so good as it was put on there 12 years ago.

 

[Paul B]

Amazon has printed, I ordered it a few days ago. I just finished reading mine.

What did you think of it?

 

[creativeballance]

What did you think of it?

Well written, easy to read through quickly. Not boring at all. I didn't utilize it to help me fall asleep, like I use some text books.

It gave me a good understanding of how the hobby has "evolved" from an equipment standpoint. It has given me a lot to think about. I will say that it has had me change direction with some of my future purchases. I will be doing some of your DIY projects, like the rocks and LED fixtures "soon".

I will say that I agree with your husbandry methods even before reading your book, so its a lot of preaching to the choir.

 

[Paul B]

I will say that I agree with your husbandry methods even before reading your book, so its a lot of preaching to the choir.

Thats probably because I am a good husband.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Hey Paul, supermodels are more than just being Pamela Anderson right? It’s an attitude and outlook on life as well if I understand you like i think I do?

if so, you’ve made me realize I’ve found my own supermodel An incredible woman who has done things I’m not even sure I could do, who happens to be my best friend and yeah. The love. I’m only 29 but, and it could be I’m a sissy because I haven’t been around as long as you...but I don’t think anyone else is a supermodel like her...

Also...she thinks my dream of having an absurdly large glass box with fish and stuff will be awesome. And she got excited when I said I think I want to try and DIY the stand and make it a built in in the room...

Idk. Maybe I misunderstood the true meaning of Supermodel. But I’d take her over Kim Kardashian any day. Heck, I’d take being mauled by bears over Kim. But maybe I’m weird.

anyway, I’m at page 120 and going strong. If you’re still making steam punk stuff, let me know if you sell any. Also, I haven’t started your book yet, I’m trying to wait until I finish this thread. But I already know it’s going to be a great read. And I already know I’m going to try my hand at your feeder designs.

I don’t really think you realize what an awesome dude you are lol

 

[FlexingFishSticks]

Amazing! Happy birthday to the tank and hope many more to come!

 

[Paul B]

Belted Coyote. You got it. To me a Supermodel doesn't even have to be good looking. Being old I have some friends for many years (decades) and of course few of them are not what anyone would call a Supermodel without knowing them. "Supermodelism" is something that comes from with in.

Of course it doesn't hurt to also look like a Supermodel but those looks fade as my hair did and if we pick the right partner, we will be happy for life and he or she will help that be a long life.

Some really good looking girls I have known I don't like at all because of their personality and some of my female friends have been best friends since High School and we still see those people all the time even if they are not really good looking.

It's your personality that determines what kind of person you are, not your looks although unfortunately it's usually your looks that draw people to you at first. When you are young anyway.

I married a Supermodel in many ways almost fifty years ago. Her looks are probably what attracted me to her but that is not her best attribute. She is still my best friend and I feel she is a part of me. When she hurts, like she does now because she developed Multiple Sclerosis 20 years ago, I hurt.

If she is in pain and can't sleep, I can't sleep. If she is depressed, I am depressed. We are like one person. We hang out, talk, enjoy many, but not all of the same things and I love her now as much or more than I did when I married her.

My wife bought me all my SCUBA equipment, all of my fish stuff, and most of my boating stuff. During 47 years I had a lot of birthdays and Christamasses. Last year she threw me a huge Surprise Party here with all our friends and did it every ten years of our marriage.
This was her when we got married. I took this in a mirror



She still looks great and exercises every day. Believes in God and is a very good and caring person/Mother and GrandMother.
These are things we should consider when we decide to marry someone and hopefully spend the rest of our lives with.

I actually met her when she was 12. I was dating her older cousin because I am 6 years older and we were in a wedding party together.
(No, I didn't go out with her when she was 12, or even 13. )

I was always proud to be seen with her and can't believe she married a Lug Nut like me.


Ten years ago she is still beautiful and thats when she noticed we had a tank.

Of course, I look exactly the same as when I was 18


This is her last year at our Fourth of July driveway party. I think she is still a Supermodel even if she is not feeling very well.



As for SteamPunk. I still make them but not since Covid because the gallery where they are displayed is closed and I have no where to put them. 14 of them sold in Manhattan in a Gallery.
My wife is there here next to one of my pieces


There are 8 of them in a gallery out here. They average about $3,000.00 each with the cheapest at $900.00 but I don't make them any more as they are to time consuming.
The gallery gets half so there is no money in them as some of them cost me $400.00 to build and can take weeks.

 

[Rybren]

Truer words about people and relationships have never been spoken Paul.

Like you, I was initially attracted to a physically beautiful woman, but it was the inner person that made me say, after our first date, that I was going to marry that woman. (It took her more than a couple of dates before she felt the same way. Don't know what that says about me ;Blackeye)

She would have turned 65 this coming Sunday. It will also be the 5th anniversary of her passing. Cancer sucks!

 

[jgirardnrg]

@Rybren my deepest sympathy goes out to you. She was a beautiful woman.

 

[Paul B]

Yes I remember that well Rybren. I recall the last few days you had and the love you had for her. It was a horrible thing to hear about and she certainly was a Beautiful and caring Supermodel in many ways. I can't believe it was that long ago.

Why she married you.....OK I won't go there.

She was definitely beautiful.
My wife is 65 (I think)

She now barely walks with a cane and is usually in sharp pain like she is today. (I know you went through that with your wonderful wife)

She gives herself a shot 4 times a week and goes for acupuncture and cortisone injections in her face.

You are correct, cancer and all diseases suck. Unfortunately, if you make it to become a Geezer like us it is something most of us will have to experience. It is just easier if you have someone to go through it with you.

 

[Paul B]

BeltedCoyote as for Kim Kardashian, if I didn't know about her and just looked at a picture, I would probably say she was beautiful. But from all I hear and read about her, I wouldn't be attracted to her at all as she just doesn't seem to have the qualities I desire.

Jane Fonda is and always was drop dead beautiful, but I really abhor the woman for what she did. Being a Viet Nam Vet, I just can't stomach her so her looks have no bearing on it.

Many people, or the majority of people were just not blessed with great looks. I am one of them, But many of those people make up for it immensely with their caring personality.

I think it is also what people do that you don't know about that makes them beautiful or a Supermodel.
It's easy to be nice to people when they are looking at you but some people will go out of their way to help others without anyone even knowing it.

My wife is in some kind of prayer group and they meet like once a month. They all come with a list of people they pray for mostly because of pain or disease. Weather you believe in that or not makes no difference. It's the fact that they are "trying" to do "something" even if it only makes them feel good.

There isn't much you can do if a person is in pain except to stay with them, maybe help them with everyday things that are simple to us.
My wife now can't take things out of the refrigerator or oven or she will drop it. I do that. She can't make the bed on her own, I help with that. She can't clear the table, so I do it. She can't clean like she wants to, so I do a lot of it and she is a cleaning fanatic. I drive her and I hold her when the pain is unbearable and I pray for her because it is the only thing I can do.

But that all comes about because of the love and respect we have for each other that was always there but evolved to be stronger over time.

 

[Paul B]

Today we are bringing my wife's Jeep back to the leasing company because the lease is up. We are waiting until October to get her a new car because thats when the new models come out. After that we are going to our friend Sue's house for a barbecue with the crowd where I will be crabbing at her dock. I usually get a few dozen crabs there which is what I am hoping for.

WE are all going to the local beach behind our house on Saturday night for a moonlight dinner and if all goes well, we will have Linguine and crabs.
If I don't catch any, there are plenty of rocks to eat.

 

[Paul B]

So this morning I was going to make a nice breakfast for My wife and our best friends next door. I forgot it is Friday and we normally go out for breakfast.
I figured I would make some eggs, potatoes toast etc and I got some nice farm fresh potatoes and I was going to make a new breakfast recipe for the potatoes which meant I had to slice them very thin.

We have one of those hand slicer things where you slide the potato back and forth and it goes into the slicer and slices the thing.
I have used it many times and you don't have to be a rocket scientist. But you really have to be careful.

So it was going well until I sliced off the end of my finger. This isn't good because I am getting blood all over the slicer and I didn't want to get it on the potatoes because we have ketchup if we want them red.

So I wrap a paper towel around it and figure I can still keep slicing to finish my breakfast menu.
I take another potato and continue slicing. Oops, I slice my other finger and almost cut off the tip of that one off.
I didn't go to college but I assumed it was time to stop using the slicer.

I take a paper towel and wrap the two fingers up together and try to clean up the blood before my wife sees it and gets the horrors.

No such luck, the blood is kind of dripping all over the place faster than I can clean it up. So now I have to wake my wife because I can't keep wrapping this thing up with my left hand and I didn't want to make to much of a mess.

I tell my wife I need a band aid and she sees it and panics and wanted to get the paddles and jump on my chest, give me CPR and call the paramedics to fly a helicopter here to rush me to the ER while she ties a tourniquet around my neck.
(I live five minutes from the hospital.)

She wants to come with me but I convince her to stay home and my friend next door decides to take me to one of those "Emergency, Urgent Care Docs in a Box."

We go to the nearest one with the biggest sign that reads "URGENT EMERGENCY CARE, NO WAITING" Just walk in Doctors on Call.

It's closed

It opens at 8:00 and it is ten to 8:00. So we wait outside while I am making a puddle of blood in the parking lot.

After a while I go to the door and hold up my arm and the "Nurse" comes out and says, we will open soon but we have no doctor. He "may" be here in 20 minutes but I am not sure.

The area is surrounded by golf courses so I figured he was on the 18th hole and was lining up his last shot.
I ask where the next "Doc In The Box" is. Thank God I don't live in Buck Chuck Oregon and these places are more numerous than Starbucks.

We drive to the next "Urgent Care, No Waiting Emergency" places and it's closed. Of course it is, But it opens in 5 minutes so I go through the motions and show the "Nurse" my bloody arm and she lets us in after I put my mask on.

She needs my insurance cards, next of kin, drivers license, photo ID, social security number, Astrological sign, address of my cemetery, first pets name, Mothers maiden name etc.

Then she hands me a pen to sign the 6 consent forms so they can see me. Now I lost one or two pints of blood and am getting a little stupefied and get the forms all full of blood do they really didn't have to write down why I was there as the doctor could tell by the blood stained paper.

The Dr. comes in and soaks my hand in a little bowl of liquid and says he will be back shortly. By the time he comes back the thing is almost overflowing from blood, I am A Positive.

He wraps up the finger with the missing tip and goes to give me a shot in the finger where the tip is still hanging on. But as he is trying to give me the shot, the other finger is bleeding through the dressing going on to the other finger. Now the Dr. is getting a little "Viclemp" and I can see he is getting nervous.

He keeps wrapping the finger up but it is bleeding through. I finally said I will hold the bandage tight so it doesn't leak so you can fix the other finger.
He gives me 3 or 4 shots and looks for the needle and thread. I think he left it in his golf cart.

Finally he starts to stitch this thing up and during each stitch he says things like "OOH No, OMG, Dam, Come On," etc which doesn't give me much confidence and I was wondering if he went to medical school or plumbing school.

Finally he gets 7 stitches in and he goes to the other finger which is still bleeding profusely like when you used to use a canister filter and the hose inadvertently comes off and squirts water all over the painting on the wall that your Mother N Law gave you for your wedding gift.

He looks puzzled like I am going to offer advice to stop the bleeding so I say jokingly "Why don't you use that stuff you put on your face when you cut yourself shaving". He says, yes, I have that stuff in a bottle. Good Idea.

He puts a little stick in the bottle and says this is going to hurt. Of course it will. So he puts a little into the pool of blood that used to be my finger tip and I hit the ceiling. Like OMG!!!

It felt like when you are SCUBA diving in Aruba and you point up to show your girlfriend what the bottom of the boat looks like and a Man of War jellyfish wraps a stinging tentacle around your finger so you jerk your hand down at the exact same moment a lionfish was making a grab for a baby Achilles tang
and impales you with 3 or 4 poisonous spines forcing you to grab the nearest thing witch is a spire of fire coral.

If you ever did that, you know what this "death fluid" feels like. I would rather he heated up a sword and melted me together like they do in old western movies.
So he gives me 5 shots of lanicane in that finger and pours the stuff on it. It still won't stop bleeding so I said why don't you use that glue they "stitch" you together with when they replace your knee, and I show him my scar where my new knee is. He says, I have that and comes back with this tube of stuff I swear he got in Home Depot and blobs it on. It is running down my hand but not stoping anything and just making the table stick to my hand so he keeps wrapping it in multiple layers of cloth hoping the blood won't seep through until after I get home.

I am sitting here now wiping blood off my keyboard waiting for this to stop and I know it will soon as I am almost out of blood. ;Bucktooth