[hackshobby]

I would imagine you have a SCAD of them Paul with folks searching out your thoughts.
Hack

 

[Paul b]

After you've read all the new threads, doesn't a count still remain on your PROFILE image?

Hack, what gives you the impression I read all the new threads? I rarely have time to read my thread as I am on 5 or 6 other forums and don't read most of the new threads there either.

I don't have that kind of time. Right now I am waiting for varnish to dry as I am installing a walk in tub for my wife and it is a lot of prep work besides the plumbing and electric.

 

[Paul b]

Here is an old picture of me.



Here is an older one.

View attachment 2677138

 

[Paul b]

My Grand Daughter, Greta's other Grand Mother (not my wife) wanted to buy a bathing suit because she is coming to the Caribbean with us and the family and hasn't wore a bathing suit for decades. She is kind of (and I don't know a PC word for this) so she is a "lot of Woman".

Anyway she mentioned to Greta that she wanted to buy a bathing suit but didn't know how to go about it.

Greta said to her "Don't worry Grand Ma Linda we can just find one on line".

Her Grand Mother said to her, what do we search for.

Greta said to her "Don't worry, I will just look up Fat Lady Bathing suits"

 

[VWD]

Kids only know how to speak the truth. When my daughter was just a little girl. I asked her who was bigger. Me or mom, her answer was mom is sideways and you are tall. So both of you are big.

 

[Paul b]

When Greta was about 5 years old her brother Teddy was annoying her. She called 911 and said she needed help.

The Police actually showed up and they had to give her a talking to.

 

[VWD]

I remember when Shelby thought she had it bad and packed up some stuff and went down the street to live at her friend house. The parent knew what was going bin and told her she could stay but they had rules and chores to do. Within a few hours she told them she wanted to go home.
We were going to let it play out. Didn’t take very long.

 

[Paul b]

Good Morning, remember, today is National Armed Forces day and without our Armed Forces, none of us would have fish........Or much of anything else.

 

[hackshobby]

THANK YOU Paul for the reminder, service, and knowing this stuff......and helping us to remember....uhhhhhh, most things.
Hack

 

[Paul b]

Hack I don't remember any of this stuff but I put the TV on in the morning and we watch Fox because they are very militarily minded so they mention it.

 

[hackshobby]

.......yeah.....THANKS, I needed that. I was really feeling like a schlump. I can't remember the last time I turned on a news show.....or tv for that matter other than for a movie.....I lost faith in who to trust....with news that is. God's awesome!
Hack

 

[Paul b]

My close friend for over 50 years and Viet Nam Buddy is being awarded today. They put him on an Air Force plane and flew him to Washington DC for a ceremony.
I don't know any details because I found out through his wife but will post something when he returns.

He was a Grunt in Nam and like me was awarded two Bronze Stars but he also got a purple heart. I didn't get one because I am faster than he is.

I am very proud of him.

 

[Paul b]

I caught that Scopus tang that I wanted to remove after he killed my Copperband.
I used a method I devised many years ago. I just kept a large net in the tank right near the front glass and for a couple of days I fed the fish right into the net.

After 2 days he was comfortable enough to go inside the net to eat. Then I just quickly move the net against the front glass and no more tang.

The other fish I caught with him were returned to the tank.

 

[Paul b]

I just put this in for my wife. I still need some trim work and granite on the right side. It changes colors.

 

[Doug1]

That should make her life a little more tolerable. I really miss my hot tub

 

[hackshobby]

NICE!

It changes colors.

Yup.....same with our shower.....every time I let Hack paint.
Hack

 

[Paul b]

So I walked to the beach this morning and today is "Amphipod spawning day". This happens a couple of days a year and you have to be there at dead low tide on a calm day early in the morning so I only catch it every couple of years by accident.

I didn't have anything to collect in so I found a Gatoraid bottle and started to turn over the slippery rocks.
The very first rock yielded hundreds of amphipods so I knew I was going to get very lucky.........Well amphipod lucky anyway.

So I collected a few thousand amphipods along with a little sand for the bacteria. It all went in my tank and my fish will be smiling until Labor day.

Tomorrow morning I will go back at the same time with a bucket to see if I can get a few thousand more.

 

[Paul b]

So this morning I again went hunting. Amphipod hunting. I was an hour late but the amphipods didn't seem to know what time it was and I still had 3 hours until high tide.

This time I went "armed" with a couple of buckets, one large one and a smaller one to scoop up the pods as they tried to sprint away. Most of the pods were much younger than I am and they thought they were faster, but I have wisdom on my side and managed to catch thousands of them and in many cases, their entire family including third cousins.

They are now in a container in my workshop calming down with a bubbler until I finish making myself and my wife some breakfast of home made bread that I baked yesterday and toasted this morning along with some farm eggs. We don't normally eat amphipods as they tend to get stuck in your teeth. It's also hard to hold them by their tail to stick them in your mouth.

I will put most of them in my tank after breakfast. I like to squirt them in the back or under my reverse under gravel filter so they don't get eaten as I want them to keep spawning and the fish get to occasionally hunt one as it tries to make an escape. I have some of them in there from a few years ago. Their offspring anyway.

I also will dump in the mud and seaweed I collected with them for the bacteria and maybe parasites.

Of course if you are the type of person who quarantines, medicates and goes to church to get your fish last rites if they die of uronoma, you can't do this.

If just one of the thousands of amphipods has a disease like Corona Virus and he happens to sneeze in your tank, you would have to vaccinate all of them. You may think finding an amphipod vein to put the needle in is the hard part, but it is not. The hard part is not getting alcohol in their eyes when you swab them. They hate that and don't like the "Visine" you would have to put in their eye to relieve the pain.

 

[Tinsnips]

Good score Paul. I wish I had access to the ocean. Would be much better diversity than store bought.

 

[Paul b]

Yeah I know, unfortunately we don't all live by the sea for the availability of life. I love dumping all this stuff in my tank as do my fish.

I am surprised no one sells this stuff. It has to come from northern seas because thats where most of the life is. Tropical sees are basically dead when it comes to microfauna especially in the substrate.