47 year old tank

[Origami]

I.remember.that...I.also.remember.when.Alaska.and.Hawaii.were..not.states

 

I wonder if they still keep maps like that in classrooms today?

 

 

I remember when Pluto was a planet.

 

LOL.

 

 

I remember when he was a dog

 

Side-splitting LOL!

[paul b]

So I got dressed in my insulated pants, boots, Carharts etc. and I am sweating my brains out and can't wait to get outside.  I push on the door and I can't open it because the snow is halfway up the glass on the door.  I manage to get it open just enough to get my hand out there and push some snow aside so I could move it back and forth enough to get my foot out and kick snow away so I could open the door.
I get outside and the snow is up past my knees.  Before I came out I pushed the button to open my garage door so I could get to the shovel.  Of course when you do that to a door that has a 6' snow drift against it, all that snow falls in.
Not much of a problem.  I take the shovel and make a slight path to my yard so I can get the snow blower out.  Of course that door is also covered in snow.
I Now I have been shoveling for 20 minutes just to get the snow blower out. 

I get the thing out, put gas in it and start it up.  I have a corner house so I have a lot of sidewalk and 3 driveways.  As I am running the machine I am wondering where my 2 garbage cans are when all of a sudden the thing stops like I hit a wall.  I go back and get the shovel and found one garbage can.  I dig it out and it is in good condition just heavy because it is filled with snow.
I run the machine a little more and I hear this noise.  GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaggggGGGgggg.
The thing stops dead.  I try to start it, and nothing.   So I make my way through the deep snow to the front..... And I found one of the garbage can covers.
It was folded over and jammed tght into the augers in the front and half way up the shute.   It wouldn't budge a quarter of an inch.

Oh great, I still have a lot of snow to move so I drag the thing to my garage 50 yards away.  Now I am sweating and panting and thinking if I have to call 911 because  I am croaking I left my phone in the house and someone will find me in the spring frozen halibut.

I assess the situation and it isn't good.  I get my sheers and start to cut the cover, but it is cold and stiff, similar to cutting a right front fender from a 1957 Oldsmobile.  I can't wear my gloves so my hands are freezing.
I get a long pry bar and I am cutting, prying, cutting, prying and my neighbor comes over.  She is a girl but an athlete girl and rides her bike to Montauk which is 125 miles away, each way so she is in good shape.

Now we are both, cutting, prying, cutting, prying etc.  30 minutes later, it comes free.
I start the thing and continue moving snow.

Then all of a sudden GGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaGGGGGgggg

I found the other garbage can cover.

These pictures are  not from this year but work with me, I didn't have time to take pictures.

[Origami]

So, by my count, you've found one trash can and two lids. You're one can short. Be careful on your next run at the job! 

 

Heck of a bit of weather you all are having. I'm just far enough inland that we're only catching the bitter cold part of it. A few flying ice crystals (feel like tiny needles hitting your bare skin) during the walk to lunch today, but that was it. 

 

Stay warm and take it easy. Work in this kind of weather is hard on the body.

[paul b]

Thanks.Tom..I.am.just.happy.I.am.retired.

 

For.some.reason.my.space.bar.does.not.work.on.only.this.site...Anyone.know.what.that.is.?

[Origami]

Thanks.Tom..I.am.just.happy.I.am.retired.

 

For.some.reason.my.space.bar.does.not.work.on.only.this.site...Anyone.know.what.that.is.?

Odd. Try a different browser. It looks like it worked yesterday. I've got to apply a kernel update in a few minutes and will be rebooting the server after. Maybe that'll do something for this. Not sure.

[paul b]

It didn't work yesterday, It's just that I copied that from another forum.  But it's working now.  Did you do something? 

[Origami]

It didn't work yesterday, It's just that I copied that from another forum.  But it's working now.  Did you do something? 

 

I had to apply a patch and rebooted the server. I'm not sure if that had an effect because the spacing problem was isolated to your post and not to others that were posting at the same time. Over the last few months, I've seen one other person that had an issue that involved spaces - but it didn't make lunch of the spaces unless their was a double space. And, in that case, it didn't remove the double spaces, it just didn't display them. Looking above at your response, I see that you double-spaced after your sentence-ending period (something I learned to do in typing class, too, way back in the era of those big Underwood manual typewriters). 

[paul b]

My space bar didn't work at all.  I had to put a period in or go back over the post and then the space bar worked so I had to go to every word and add a space, but not while I was typing.

[paul b]

My tank seems to be doing well except I keep breaking the montipora's. It doesn't matter because I doubt they will survive the move because they are so delicate.
I still have all my fish and I will try to name them. No, not like Bob, Harry and Penelope.

1 Copperband
2 mandarins
3 striped cardinals
1 Possum Wrasse
2 Fireclowns
1 Leopard Wrasse
1 Perchlet looking thing
2 Queen Anthias
1 Blue Striped pipefish
1 Janss Pipefish
1 Bleeny

Thats all I see right now so if anything else is in the back, I forgot about it.
I won't buy anything until after I move.
I don't see my yellow clown goby but he must have croaked from old age as he was very old and spawned every few days so that has to take a toll on you. I doubt they have a lifespan more than 8 or 9 years old anyway. My male bluestripe pipefish was also very old for a pipefish but he was also almost bitten half by the Janss Pipefish who has no sense of humor. My Bangai's both died of old age as did my pair of watchman gobi's.
All those fish spawned their entire life.
All of those fish were bought as babies except the Janss Pipefish. I never saw a baby of those.

[paul b]

I went on R&R to Sydney Australia in 1970.  When I was looking for my hotel in Sydney I was studying a map as I was standing at an intersection.   These two guys come up to me and one of them says"  Hey %$#(*@#./)&%#   you,,,  walk,,,,, man over.//;.
In other words, I couldn't understand him and had no idea what he was talking about.  Those people talk funny.
Then I realized he wanted me to help this blind gentleman across the street.  He leaves me with the guy and he goes off.  There were no traffic lights in Sydney that I could tell so I couldn't cross the street either.  It's like Italy.

So i am standing there with this blind guy and he says to me.  Hey Bloke, what are we waiting for!  I said, I can't cross, there are too many cars.
He says, Oh don't worry, and he steps into the street pulling me along.  I put my hand over my eyes and the cars coming right at us stopped, the rest of them went around us on the sidewalk.
We got to the other side and he thanked me and walked away.

Then I again studied my map when another blind guy wants me to take him back across the street to where I just was.
The same thing happened and I realized I was standing in front of some kind of building for the blind.
Now I had to wait for another blind guy to take me back across the street.

Then I had to take a bus.  It was a double decker bus and I got on the top.  A guy comes up to me and says, Hey Bloke, How do you like our Birds?
I looked out the window up at the sky and I said, I don't see no Birds.  He says Birds, you know Birds.   I look again and say, I still don't see no birds.  He then says, the Ladies man, the Ladies.  Who knew!

You can't make this stuff up

[paul b]

I went to a Doctor today with my wife because she needed some tests done and I needed a Doctor to fill out my papers to renew my Coast Guard Captains License.

The doctor was in my Union Hall.
So we get there and they call me to see the doctor.  The Doctor was a thin older woman with long blond hair.  She was very nice and we talked a while and she asked about all the diseases that I don't have and never want.  I am pretty healthy.
So after a while she hands me this small paper "gown" which looked more like a see through napkin and tells me to take off all my clothes.   I said, wait a minute, I just would like you to fill out these medical forms, and besides, I just met you.
She said, I can't fill out the forms until I examine you.

So I figured she wanted to listen to my heart, blood pressure, lungs and all that.
So I am laying on the examining bed thing wearing this piece of paper and I see her lift her skinny arms up in the air while she put on these blue examining gloves.

I said, Wait a minute!   "what do you need those for?"

As she walked over to me she lifted the napkin I was wearing and said, "Don't you want me to test your prostatel? ".    Like,  "NO"!!!!  I really don't.  Most parts of me function fine and that is one of them. 

She said, "It's really no problem".  I said for you maybe,  I just had that done last Tuesday thank you very much.

She did "need" to examine "other " parts of me and I couldn't wait to get out of there as I never had a woman doctor need to examine me so thoroughly, especially to fill out a form.

So I ran, I mean, I got out of there and took my wife for lunch.

[Origami]

LOL. Been there. "Turn your head and cough." It's all so clinical to them. But to you and me.... uhum, we just met. Don't you think we ought to get to know each other a little better before we go there? 

[paul b]

I never had a woman want to check that.  I was in the army and know all about it and my regular, Man dr, checks that if he wants.  It is not my favorite part of a physical. 

[paul b]

Someone asked me about Selcon. If you are feeding live things such as worms or the right frozen things like clams, Selcon is not only not needed, but you can't make Selcon stick to wet or frozen foods. It will just wash off as soon as you put it in the water. If you feel you need to use Selcon you can put it on something freeze dried where it will absorb nicely.
But real food, especially live food has everything in it a fish needs.. Clams are my favorite food because they are filter feeders and full of minerals including calcium which is one mineral that fish normally eat a lot of because their fish prey has a skeleton that fish digest and that is made of calcium. I use live worms, blackworms and whiteworms mainly for the live bacteria and to get and keep fish immune they need the correct live bacteria every day, Good and bad bacteria.
I occasionally lose a fish but never from a disease. They get old or get bitten. Sometimes they jump out or I assume, like people they can get some internal disease or injury that we can't diagnose or even see. I also have seen my fish try to jump out and smash themselves against the light, that has to cause something.
Occasionally at night I hear a splash and can only imagine if they are chasing each other where one or both of them jump and hit something.
But fish should never get sick and if you get them immune, they never do.

[paul b]

I am going out east near where my new condo is today and I will also try to collect some water here.  The last time there was to much ice and the waves would have sunk the Titanic so I wimped out and didn't get any water except where the waves broke over my head.  Hopefully it will be calmer.  I will try to get 15 gallons and some sand.  There is no mud there but the bacteria in the sand is almost as good.
The Long Island Sound is 27 miles across here so it may as well be the Atlantic Ocean.  The water is very clean and I have used it many times.  I just have to strain it because it is so rough this time of the year that it is filled with floating particles and pieces of seaweed.

[elbowdeep88]

What do you strain it with?

[paul b]

A coffee filter. 

[paul b]

Today, and yesterday I am kind of sick and I very rarely get sick.  But I am not as immune as my fish, I think that is because I have Grand Kids.  I think I may have a touch of HLLE or velvet so my wife is giving me fresh water dips and dosing me with Przapro and coppersafe.  My pH is 8.4 but my PO4 is a little high.

My wife noticed I was sick because I was breathing air up near my ceiling.  

I am only drinking RO/DI water and making sure the temperature is 78 degrees.  I ordered some blackworms and will mix those with a little Mastick so I can stick them on the wall and I can snack off of that all day.
I will also darken the lights and keep my bully neighbors away.

[paul b]

This is how many of these cute little guys I removed from my glass every day for the last 3 days, and it is full again.  I am experimenting with them even though they hate that.

[paul b]

I just looked up UG filters for 125 gallon tanks and they are getting hard to find.  I need one for my move and I don't have time to build one.  I am sure they still make them, I just need a little more time to search.
I will also get a 125 gallon tank.  Initially I will use my water cooled LED lights but I may have to add another string of LEDs to light the thing properly.

My 3 powerheads will be fine at first and I hope to bring all my rocks and corals but I am sure I will lose quite a few corals especially the montiora's because they are so delicate I broke most of them already and thy are laying all over the place.  They grow fast so I am not concerned.

I will also have to make a list of my fish so I don't miss any.  Most of them are small and hide all over the place, I may even find some under the UG filter that I haven't seen in years.  That would be cool.:D

[paul b]

I got another one of these guys to help my other one eat asternia starfish.  I have not seen either of them.  I think they are in the back "Mushing it up" as my Mother called it.  But I need them eating not "Mushing it up".
If they wanted to do that, they should have stayed in the store.

I haven't seen these guys in a few months but this week I see them.  They got much bigger so they shed.  They love eating new born brine shrimp and do this little macarana dance when I squirt some near them.  They also love a live worm every day for dessert.

This guy also loves baby shrimp but after the shrimp are gone he trys to eat anything that is floating by which is mainly bubbles.  He has been catching bubbles for months.  I would imagine that would be a good way for us to lose weight.

This guy colored up nicely in the few months I have him

As did this guy who I am very partial to.

These guys spawn like every three and a half minutes.  It's unbelievable.  They don't even have to spawn because the female is always so full, that she "Leaks" eggs all over the place.

This guy loves to eat pieces of clam.  I never told him he is a vegetarian.  I got him as a tiny baby but I don't remember where or when.  (That was a song title)
I am sure it was many years ago because I don't remember not having him.  But I don't remember much

[paul b]

Speaking of eating:  I remember some guys in Viet Nam tried the Beatles, but I passed on that because C Rations were so delicious. Guys in the Army do all sorts of stupid things. In training for Gas warfare they gave us this really big hypodermic needle that we were supposed to stick in our leg when they yelled "GAS".

It wasn't really gas (i know that because the drill instructors didn't have gas masks on) and since I went to high school and everything, I knew that. So they yelled "GAS" and everybody dropped to the ground and stuck this ice pick looking thing into their leg. Everybody except me of course because of that high school thing. I made sure I was near a tree when they yelled "GAS" so I was able to stick the thing into the tree and break the needle off, then I put it on my leg like it was stuck there and I screamed in pain. (I am a good actor)

No one found out. Like I can't believe there are so many people stupid enough to fall for that.

It's like when I got certified for SCUBA diving. We were in this very muddy lagoon here in NY. It was about 20' deep with zero viability. We were supposed to swim around the boat four times and every time we passed the instructor we had to show him the handful of bottom mud that we just swam down to the scurvy bottom to get.
Everyone, except me of course, swam down to the bottom 4 times to get mud. I just carried the same mud that I grabbed on my first dive and kept swimming around. High school paid off.

[Washingtonian]

Hey Paul, you are seeing the Harlequins eat food other than Stars?

 

I have been asking for Asterinas from my LFS to feed these guys.

 

Would be great to know they will take other types of food!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[paul b]

I don't even see them eat the stars.  I think they are sending out for Chinese.  Right now there are so many stars on my glass that I should install a wind shield wiper.  

[Origami]

Hey Paul, you are seeing the Harlequins eat food other than Stars?

 

I have been asking for Asterinas from my LFS to feed these guys.

 

Would be great to know they will take other types of food!

 

They are obligate feeders that feed only on the tube feet of sea stars. Some claim to have seen them feed on the tube feet of sea urchins and that would make some sense (I guess). They aren't obligated to feed only on Asterina. Many, who continue to raise Harlequins in their tank after they've decimated the Asterina population will introduce chocolate chip sea stars into the tank as a food source. Some have even gone so far as to raise a bunch of stars in their sumps and to "harvest" a leg off of a star to give to the shrimp on a periodic basis. Because sea stars can regenerate lost appendages, this can be an effective replenishment approach if you can get the numbers right.