Paul B's thread

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Today is Palm Sunday and tomorrow is Vietnam Veterans Day as it is the 50th anniversary to the end of the war.

History of Vietnam Veterans Day​

Officially designated in 2017 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day by President Donald Trump, the holiday is marked by ceremonies and celebration across the U.S.

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Today is "Viet Nam War Veterans" Day.
(I made a mistake is was not 50 years ago. I was there 50 years ago it is only I think 48 years ago that the war ended)

National Vietnam War Veterans Day, we recognize the many men and women who served and fought during the difficult conflict, giving them the appreciation they deserve.

It was on March 29, 1973, after nearly two decades of conflict, when the U.S. withdrew military forces from South Vietnam. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in U.S. history, spanning several presidents and affecting many generations.

However, those who served in the war haven't always gotten the support they deserve. Some of them, History noted, were even treated with disrespect and hostility when they returned. Some were spat on, heckled, given the middle finger, or threatened. This despite the horrible experiences and "unspeakable horrors" they lived through in Vietnam.

In 2017, National Vietnam War Veterans Day was established to finally give those who served the honor they deserve. Since then, the day has been celebrated every March 29.
 
National Cemeteries are places every American should visit during the course of their lives, they are a stark reminder of the service given to us all from brothers and sisters in the military. Not all paid the ultimate cost, but all that served did so for all of us and contribute to our freedom and the well being of many that are not citizens. Many served willingly, some were made to serve, ultimately, none that serve made the decision to engage in any conflict or help others, whether you believe they needed help or not. Our elected leaders do the decisions. If you ever have a problem with what the US Military does, please remind yourself of that before ever becoming upset with a Veteran. We all should shake their hands and hug them too, if they want one, of course. Enjoy this day Paul, and all Vietnam Veterans. My dad and father in law are right there with you.
 
Thank you Gobyvin. It took a few decades for Viet Nam Vets to be acknowledged for anything positive.

I know a lot of people had it much worse than me when they came home. Now, rightfully so, they have parades, parties, bill boards, TV spots etc. I am sure you know when Nam Vets came home we were not treated like that at all, except by our friends most of whom were also Vets.
We didn't wear veteran hats or tell anyone because many people frowned on you for being a Vet.

I got home in March 1971 and my Mother kept the Christmas lights up on our house. They were lit when I came home with a huge "Welcome Home" sign on the house. The next day they had a party for me.
(Remember there were no cell phones or computers so no calls to home for the year I was in the bush)

On my last day I was in the jungle on the Cambodian border. My friend had a LOH helicopter and he flew me maybe a hundred miles to another firebase, then I got on a larger Huey to go further. Than a fixed wing plane to an Air Force Base down south. On our way in the LOH we were drinking "Wild Turkey" and flying under bridges and places I would rather not remember.

I left Nam still dirty in a TWA plane and 24 hours later after stopping in Japan and Alaska I was left off in the middle of the night in McArthur airport in New jersey 50 or 100 miles from my home. I got out and kissed the ground.

During that 24 hour flight we got bologna sandwiches on white bread, no mustard, lettuce or anything, with water for the 3 meals. No movie.

We didn't have American money in Nam so I had nothing on me and they gave us a 15 cent subway token to get home.
There are no subways in New Jersey.

No Good bye, thanks for coming, Have a nice day, drop dead, nothing. Just a subway token.
The guys who were supposed to fill out our discharge papers were not up so we were supposed to wait until day time.
We started to riot so My future wife and Sister N Law filled out all our discharge papers so we could leave.

Most of the information was not on my papers including my medals. That stuff was added about 20 years later when I contacted the VA.

That was my last day in the Army. Thank God my Mother, Brother and future wife picked me up or I would have had to do what most guys did, hitch hike.

But, at least I made it home. More than 58,000 Americans didn't.
 
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My grandmother sold my Dad's canary yellow 1957 Chevy convertible while he was over there. He stayed in Okinawa with his uncle that was a contractor after completing his service for about 6 months but ultimately ended up back here. Thanks for you service as well @Paul B
 
I really don't know what so many people are spending so much money on. It boggles my mind as so many people keep saying this is such an expensive hobby. It could be, just like playing golf, especially if you want to play in Hawaii every week and you live in Ohio.

I can see you need to buy all the stuff, a tank, some lights, rocks etc. But after you do that, all you need is some electricity, food, some water and additives.

For decades I used "Instant Ocean" I don't know what it cost but I didn't change water every hour and a half like so many people do. I used to buy that salt and I think it was enough to make 50 gallons and maybe it was $25.00 or something like that.

In my 100 gallon tank I changed about 20 gallons every 3 or 4 months so that $25.00 of salt lasted me 5 or 6 months.
That is not even a half a tank of gas, a dinner for one in a cheap restaurant or a fake eyelash for a Supermodel for a year.

I used to make my own alk and calcium from driveway ice melter and baking soda. The stuff in the box you buy with the healthy looking orange spotted filefish on the box is made of driveway icemelter and baking soda.

I used to get driveway ice melter and draw a beautiful picture of a Moorish Idol on the box to make myself feel better that the stuff is basically free.

Now I buy the 2 part stuff because I am to lazy to get ice melter and I don't want to buy fifty lbs of the stuff but even that is cheap. I have a 2 gallon bucket of both calcium and alk that I mix with water and I don't remember what it cost but I have been using that same bucket for probably 3 years.

I use some LRS food which is expensive but I also feed clams that I can get in a bait shop for practically free or I can get them in a supermarket. I eat clams all the time so when I buy clams for clam chowder, or linguine and clams, I buy a few extra clams as they are like 20 cents each.
I raise white worms which are also basically free and they eat stale bread and maybe 50 cents worth of yogurt a year.

I also don't get dosers. I have to stand next to the tank anyway to feed them so while I am standing there waiting for the food to defrost and I am going "Doot Da Do, Doot Da Do" I fill a small container with calcium or alk and dump it in. Eventually like in a couple of weeks I test it and then put in a little more or less. Trust me, the corals don't care if the alk is 7, 8 or 9. They also don't care if the temperature is 76, 78, 79, 80, 81 etc.

It's the same with salinity. I once went to Germany on one of those riverboat cruises. My tank sitter let the water level drop 7". Of course all the corals above the water died, but the rest of the corals sitting in water with so much salt in it that the Lord would have no trouble turning me into a pillar of salt like he did to Lotts wife when she turned around to fix the strap on her Prada high heel shoe.

These forums make us feel like we need an abacus or the Hubble telescope to measure our parameters. We are not building space shuttles or those little things on the end of our shoelaces. (aglets)

Yes, we want our parameters close to some measurement but we don't have to go nuts.

Livestock is also cheap if you know how to keep it alive. If you need medications, quarantine and all that, it could be expensive and if you need that, you are doing it wrong.

I have this bottle of copper and formalin since the 70s and it is still almost full. I only keep it for nostalgia as it was made in Brooklyn like I was.



My fireclown is about $30.00 years old. He was probably $15.00 so he cost me 50 cents a year. Corals also. You buy them and corals are immortal like Thor. I also can't keep them forever but I can get at least 5 or 6 years out of them, some I have for much longer and most of them I have no idea how old they are. They grow and fill the tank so why are we constantly buying new corals. What are we doing? Eating them?

If you keep losing fish, do the oceans a favor and get a new hobby. There are many interesting hobbies around, my other hobby is collecting those little packets in electronics that say "Do Not Eat" and think up recipe's with them.
 
If it ever stops raining here I would like to change some water. I don't remember changing any since last summer and I don't want to read back through my posts to figure out when it was. I am not a big water change person and it probably almost never has to be changed but I just feel it should be done eventually.
 
Beautiful day here in Long Island today so I collected 40 gallons of water behind my house.
The alk was 7 and the temp was 40. I didn't test calcium but the salinity is 1.016.
It is crystal clear so I don't have to do anything to it except warm it up and maybe add some salt.

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The alk was 7 and the temp was 40. I didn't test calcium but the salinity is 1.016.
It is crystal clear so I don't have to do anything to it except warm it up and maybe add some salt.
Wow. Interesting that the salinity was so low. I have to drive to the ocean some day and do this.
 
Remember the temp was slightly lower than 40 degrees. Maybe when it warms up it will be higher.
I have collected it when it was so low it barely read anything on my swing arm hydrometer.
I will heat it up tomorrow by putting a 5 gallon container in the vat of seawater with hot water in it.
 
I filled my 35 gallon seawater transport tank and pumped it into my basement holding tank today, before the big rain we have coming. It was a beautiful day. Your water collection location kicks my spot’s butt. Nice beach!
 
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The water in Buzzards Bay near my house is pretty consistent over last three years. 30 ppt, ALK around 7 too. pH is always 7.9-8, Ca is high 300’s. PO4 is low, like 17-20 ppb, undetectable NO3.
 
Today my knee isn't working and I had to many cortizone shots already as it is coming out of my ears. I need another new knee but I can't get one because I can't be laid up that long so I am nursing it as much as I can.

Of course I put that heating salve stuff all over it as everyone does even though we all know that doesn't do anything except make you smell like a forest.
So to save money, I now just hang those little "Christmas Tree" car fresheners all around my knee in the hope that it fools my knee to just do what it is supposed to do. :cool:
 
Today my knee isn't working and I had to many cortizone shots already as it is coming out of my ears. I need another new knee but I can't get one because I can't be laid up that long so I am nursing it as much as I can.

Of course I put that heating salve stuff all over it as everyone does even though we all know that doesn't do anything except make you smell like a forest.
So to save money, I now just hang those little "Christmas Tree" car fresheners all around my knee in the hope that it fools my knee to just do what it is supposed to do. :cool:
Get better!
 
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