Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

[Paul B]

Last night we went out to a seafood restaurant with 3 other couples.

I ordered Flounder oraganata. It was lousy. I love that dish, but I think the chef was a Jiboni or didn't know what or didn't have any spices.

It came with a side of pasta, also very bland.

I did have some escargot. Not a big fan.

Anyway, it was pouring rain, and we had to leave in it. Being a Veteran, The rain doesn't affect me, but my wife moves very slow, so we got drenched.

I got her in the car, and she was trying to buckle the seat belt but was having trouble, so I figured I would put on the dome light. (This is her Jeep Compass)



I reached up for the light button but instead, hit the switch right next to to it which opens the moon roof.

The glass roof opened all the way and it's one of those big moon roofs that goes all the way to the back seat so I assume the people in the back seat can see the moon better.

Well, when it's pouring out, those roofs collect quite a bit of water around the edges and when it opens, it all goes on your head.

Wonderful! and it was one of the very few times I didn't have a hat on, so the water naturally runs off my bald head like Niagara Falls.

And it was 40 degrees, so this was not warm Caribbean water.

My wife was screaming and I quickly reached up to close it. But it was raining so hard that I couldn't see so I kept fiddling with the switches to try to close it.

I never opened that stupid moon roof and don't even know how to close it because there are 6 switches up there, right next to each other and they all have hieroglyphic pictures on them but none of those pictures look like a closing moon roof and maybe if I was an Inca King, I could figure it out.

Remember, I still didn't put on the light.

Eventually, between myself and my wife, we figured it out and the thing closed before I had to put on the bilge pump.

You have to reach up behind the switch and pull it down, but in the pitch dark, with monsoons crashing down in your eyes, after eating a lousy meal, it wasn't easy.

 

[reefsandrotts]

Last night we went out to a seafood restaurant with 3 other couples.

I ordered Flounder oraganata. It was lousy. I love that dish, but I think the chef was a Jiboni or didn't know what or didn't have any spices.

It came with a side of pasta, also very bland.

I did have some escargot. Not a big fan.

Anyway, it was pouring rain, and we had to leave in it. Being a Veteran, The rain doesn't affect me, but my wife moves very slow, so we got drenched.

I got her in the car, and she was trying to buckle the seat belt but was having trouble, so I figured I would put on the dome light. (This is her Jeep Compass)



I reached up for the light button but instead, hit the switch right next to to it which opens the moon roof.

The glass roof opened all the way and it's one of those big moon roofs that goes all the way to the back seat so I assume the people in the back seat can see the moon better.

Well, when it's pouring out, those roofs collect quite a bit of water around the edges and when it opens, it all goes on your head.

Wonderful! and it was one of the very few times I didn't have a hat on, so the water naturally runs off my bald head like Niagara Falls.

And it was 40 degrees, so this was not warm Caribbean water.

My wife was screaming and I quickly reached up to close it. But it was raining so hard that I couldn't see so I kept fiddling with the switches to try to close it.

I never opened that stupid moon roof and don't even know how to close it because there are 6 switches up there, right next to each other and they all have hieroglyphic pictures on them but none of those pictures look like a closing moon roof and maybe if I was an Inca King, I could figure it out.

Remember, I still didn't put on the light.

Eventually, between myself and my wife, we figured it out and the thing closed before I had to put on the bilge pump.

You have to reach up behind the switch and pull it down, but in the pitch dark, with monsoons crashing down in your eyes, after eating a lousy meal, it wasn't easy.

It's stories and mishaps like this that keep couples laughing through the years.... How is your wife with the pain management?

 

[Paul B]

Reefsandrotts, she is as fine as she can be right now. Still has quite a bit of pain, but with MS, that is unfortunately expected.


My Mother was also a 5' 11" (I think she shrunk to 4' 8 before she died at 99) Very tough Sicilian. No one messed with her. Once I was taking the bus with her when she was in her 70s. She was walking to the seat and a big guy ran in front of her and got in the seat.

She put on her Sicilian War face, put her finger in the guys face and yelled as loud as she could: "YOU. You better get out of that seat NOW or I will scratch your eyes out". He got up fast.

She also once broke a pool stick over my head as she was chasing me. My neighbor almost called the cops and I had to go to the hospital. You don't mess with short Sicilian women.

Once when I was about 3 years old I was out with her and a big dog ran up to me barking and growling. The dog was bigger than her. She reached for the dog and grabbed him by the mouth, swung him away from me and told the dog, If you ever go near that kid again, I will spit in your eye. That dog never came near me again.

She was born in the toughest part of lower Manhattan in 1910 and had 4 brothers and one sister. All of her family worked in the fish business, which was Mob-controlled at the time. Her parents (My Grand Parents) came through Ellis Island a few years before and didn't speak a word of English.


I can't wait to get these plants outside so I have more room in my shop for more important projects.

 

[Paul B]

Very rainy beach walk.

They installed the bottom part of the beach steps so I can now walk on that section of beach, which of course, I did. They had to add 3 steps to reach the sand that eroded away in the winter.

 

[Paul B]

Just playing with my phone

 

[Paul B]

It was low tide this morning on my beach walk so I turned over some rocks looking for amphipods, or any signs of life. Nothing at all. Maybe it's too cold or maybe it all died and we are all doomed.

I had 3 of these guys. I say "had" because I almost never see more than one at a time. If I look when the lights are off, I can see 2 of them, but never 3.



One comes out every time I feed and since they all look alike, I don't know if they are taking turns, or if there are only two of them. I know they are like Lionfish and only have to eat occasionally so I am not concerned. But I would like to know where they hide.

I have to target feed them, and they are very slow eaters, so I have to feed the other fish on the other side of the tank, then quickly squirt an earthworm in front of his face. If he doesn't eat it in a few seconds, the filefish will be all over it like a cheap suit and he won't leave the Waspfish because he knows more food is coming and you can't fill up a filefish.

 

[Paul B]

Nice early beach walk and low tide, my favorite time. But so far, nothing live under the rocks.

Bladderwrack. If I think about it, tomorrow I will bring something to bring home some seaweed. But it doesn't last long in a tropical tank

I didn't see any horseshoe crabs but I saved a rock crab and a conch.

 

[Paul B]

Very nice but cold, windy walk. I rescued a horseshoe crab that was 25' from the surf. He was very grateful.

 

[Paul B]

I didn't find a stranded horseshoe crab this morning like I often do which I am happy about. But when I do find them, upside down on the beach, 75 feet from the water, before I put them back in the sea, I try to explain to them that they have to pay attention to when the tide is going out.

I don't speak Horseshoe crab very well, so they just roll 4 or 5 of their 9 eyes and look at me like I have two heads.

 

[diana a]

Any 'sign of amphipods? When you see them I'll hopefully be able to drive to Sandy Hook in search for them.

 

[Paul B]

Diana, I look every day and so far, not even one. But last year they were also gone all year. I don't know whats going on.

 

[Paul B]

This morning like every morning before sunrise I took a 2 mile walk on the beach.

There is no cell service there so I figured I would take my wife's "EMERGENCY" pendant.

It's one of those things where the woman falls and she yells out "Help I've fallen and I can't get up". You know the commercial we all make fun of.

Well, since my wife became handicapped, and falls, I don't make fun of it anymore.
She uses it if she takes a walk with her walker or if I let her off at the "Outlet Stores" here with her electric cart, if she falls, it will call me, Taylor Swift or the police.

It's supposed to work every place in the US and maybe Mars.

So I walked on the sand for a while and checked my phone to make sure I didn't have service and I pushed the button on the thing. That gets you "Immediate Response" to an emergency service.

The thing beeped a few times and sounded like it was calling someone.

A female mechanical voice came on and said: "Sorry, The number you called cannot be completed at this time. Call back later" .

So I have to remember, if I am down there and a Great White Shark or crocodile has me in it's teeth or some old Lady wants to kidnap me and do unmentionable things to me, there is no sense using that device at that time.

 

[Paul B]

A few times a year I go down to this beach and collect some mud and maybe rocks and throw it in my reef.

Of course this has some good and bad points because sometimes my tank grows a produce farm as the water here is loaded with seaweed and farm run off along with other chemicals.

I mainly want the bacteria, so I have to take the good with the bad. But when I couldn't do this, I would take plain old garden soil and put it in my tank. I still do. (I didn't invent that, it was Robert Straughn, The Father of Saltwater Fish Keeping)

Now I feed live blackworms and earthworms and those worms live in soil and are full of soil.
I throw in the worms along with the mud they are living in.

I can't see the bacteria or know if they are smiling, so I don't know if it lives in salt water, but I assume some of it does and so far, in over 50 years, the tank hasn't crashed yet.

 

[Paul B]

My reef used to be filled with Caribbean Gorgonians, and they got covered in invasive sponge, so I had to remove them.

I couldn't find any for a long time, but I just got two of them.

This one is about 14" long and another one is a little bigger.




If they do well, I will cut pieces off and re plant them because they are a little big.

 

[MadReefer]

My reef used to be filled with Caribbean Gorgonians, and they got covered in invasive sponge, so I had to remove them.

I couldn't find any for a long time, but I just got two of them.

This one is about 14" long and another one is a little bigger.

View attachment 60184


If they do well, I will cut pieces off and re plant them because they are a little big.

I have a similar one and its 3 big bushes. Will post a pic later after I clean the glass....HAHAHA