Paul B's thread

While I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to breakfast I figured I would ramble, or waste time because there are no new posts that I am interested in or should comment on for fear that I would be banned for my "Avant Garde" procedures. I have been up since 1:00, not on purpose but that is for another post. If you Google "Lousy nights sleep, you see me". Uh Uh she just got up and I was going to say something so Earth shattering that you have no idea. Neither do I. :cool:

I was looking at my tank last night in the dark with a little Grand Marnier and I thought, OMG, I have too many fish. I have a lot of hiders so at first you don't see half of them. (kind of like Supermodels on a bad hair day) I like the hiders best because they, kind of like me are loners. (but I have a ton of friends, some with hair)

The hiders I have are a Janss pipefish, possum wrasse 2 Gecko Gobies (I really love them but never saw an entire fish as they really hide) mandarins, but they do what they do, scooter bleeny (which are not really bleenies) and 3 or 4 other fish that are so secretive that I forgot what they are but are very cool. (I think one is a basselet, or maybe stripped bass).

Speaking of loners, even though I have a lot of very close friends on many occasions, especially when I was young 87 years ago I always did better on my own. In those days real Men, like me spent our time searching for girls. (no I was not a Perv, that's what all Real Men did)

These were just singers at a Veterans event.


If I wanted to have luck at that I would go off on my own. (We didn't have web sites then as the only webs were made by spiders) I would go to a beach or park, find one hitch hiking etc. and have a nice date on a beach and maybe we would make a connection and I found a girlfriend.
I could talk the chrome off of a 1957 Chevy bumper.

I didn't look like Brad Pitt but not Tim Conway (like I do now) either. But many men didn't know how to do it and they went around in mobs, loud mobs. I tried to be a little more sophisticated and it seemed to work out.

My own BFF who I married 45 years ago (and stopped searching for girls) I met at a wedding. She was too young for me but I dated her older cousin.



I even air brushed her picture in Vargas style when she was 18



OK time to go out. Sorry for the rambling, I will try to think of some fish stuff to post. :rolleyes:
 
Today my wife and I are going to clean the boat as it is to dirty to go out in tomorrow. We will just do a light cleaning as I am having the marina compound and wax it. I did that myself all my life but I got old (er) and now let them do that.

I inadvertently left a beer and an energy drink in the refrigerator where of course they exploded when they froze and turned into a sticky punch that needs to be scraped out.

The boat started right up and I hope to take some long rides this year. I have saved for boat gas all winter as the boat is not all that efficient.
It costs something like $1.25 a minute to run so I won't be going to Europe any time soon. :confused:
(I just figured that out in my head so I could be way off) :rolleyes:

I hope this year to find an amphipod collection place because the water here on the South Shore is not rocky and I hardly found any last year. I can collect mud anywhere so I will be sure to get some of that. :D
 
We had some visitors yesterday and I let a very cute little girl feed my tank. The fish got enough food for a month so they should be very happy. :confused:

My wife and I went to clean the boat yesterday and the thing was filthy. I can't take it out today and it is the first Memorial Day I will miss boating in more years than I can remember. It's just to dirty and moldy. This is the first winter I stored it here on the south shore of Long Island and it must be damper here as it was never this dirty. The marina can't clean it for 2 weeks so I will go down there this morning before it gets too hot to do another preliminary cleaning so we can at least go out on it. I like my boat to be pristine, even the bilge so I have a lot of work to do.

Unfortunately I am also building a wall in my living room for the 7' (electric) firefplace and TV I am building.
I built the entire wall on wheels in a different part of the living room and when it is finished, I will just roll it into place.
The thing is all surrounded in 18 gauge steel panels that I had custom cut and I polished and sprayed them with a clear coat. It goes along with the industrial look of the rest of our place. I will take some pictures eventually.

If it doesn't come out good, I will just hang a picture of Christie Brinkley, or better yet, my Grand Daughter and call it a day.

(getting her ears pierced)



 
My reef is doing exceptionally well and I am not sure why but I am as happy as I can be. Well I could be happier but I don't hear Christie Brinkley ringing my door bell so I am almost as happy as I could be. ;)
I have 6 or 7 SPS for over a year since I moved here and they have been growing nicely and almost doubled in size. All my gorgonians are also growing fast and the LPS are all smiling and doing the Macarana.

I do have to trim my blue sponge as it is trying to take over and is growing faster than the Macropora.

I see multitudes of tiny creatures climbing on everything and no, they are not pods. They look like tiny lobsters and may be Godzilla Larvae. I will have to microscope one of them to make sure.
All my fish are also dancing especially the Janss pipefish, possum wrasse, gecko gobies, scooter "bleeny" and copperband. I need to put the copperband on Jenny Craig as I think she is a little too rotund and it is not flattering.

I don't know how many fish I have because I have 5 or 6 hiders which I only see every other Tuesday on a leap year but I guess there are about 25 or so.
Nothing has died or gotten sick (which I knew wouldn't happen) in the year since I moved. Nothing has gotten sick in over 30 years so that is not a big Whoop.

Spaghetti worms and asternia stars are all over the place but I consider them free inverts. I did see two aiptasia today which I killed but I am sure there are more. They don't bother me and years ago I used to feed them because they were the only inverts we could get.

This tiny boxfish did get stuck to a powerhead and got crushed just before I went to the Caribbean and I have not found him so I figured he croaked. But that doesn't count. I can't keep those little guys as they swim as well as a bumper from a 1966 Ford Fairlane.

 
I just fed my fish and gave them some white worms. OMG I have a lot of those suckers. They go through a stale, frozen slice of whole grain bread with yogurt on it in a couple of days.

They are totally different than the worm culture I started out with and looks like I mixed in Godzilla DNA but I don't remember doing that.
Of course the fish love them but I also feed all the other LPS little mouths that I could swear smile after they have a bite.
LPS are growing up the walls as are the SPS but I am not sure what they are eating besides clam juice. All is well. :D

I have been building this fireplace/TV thing in my living room that is coming out very nice. I will post pictures. Tomorrow I hope to get the stone that will be on the hearth. I also am trying to get a non pressure treated railroad tie for the mantle. I am having a lumber yard cut one for me. :cool:
 
It was hot last night so I put on the AC for the first time this year. In the night it automatically set the temperature to Antarctic mode. I have to spend the day chopping icicles off the light fixtures. :eek:
 
I have to change the exhaust manifolds on my boat and it is breaking my heart that I will not be able to do it myself. I really have never hired anyone for anything especially something like my car or boat but there comes a time when this stuff is just to heavy. I have changed them on my last two boats but I was a lot younger then. The manifolds are the 4 big iron things, one on each side of the engine with the worm gear clamps on the far end.
This boat has two engines and there is very little room to work. They weigh maybe 25lbs each and you have to be able to twist yourself in there to lift them out, then align them up to get them back in. It is not a complicated job but it is a heavy one. You are supposed to change them (in salt water) maybe every 5 or 6 years and I have this boat 12 years and never changed them. They could be 15 or even 20 years old. :eek:
If they allow seawater to leak into the cylinders you could break a connecting rod or crack the block, two reasons to junk the boat. I don't trust anyone's work and I just like doing this type of work. :(
But age and strength just won't allow me to do it again. Getting old stinks but it is better than the alternative (I think)
It's the end of an era when I can't repair my own boat. :bawling:
They are also not real cheap. To do it myself would cost about $1,500.00 and to have them to do it is almost tipple that. And I wanted to buy a clown gobi. :p
 
So last night we took our Grand Daughter Greta to the beach behind out house to launch these hot air balloons. They are these 3' paper bags with a wax fire in them. We got on the beach with the Jeep as the sand is very deep and soft. The thing went fine going in.
After we lit and flew the fire things (and they go for miles and so high you can barely see them) we got in the Jeep to go home.

The thing wouldn't let me put it in 4 wheel drive. It didn't light up or anything but the Jeep kept going. Then the "Check Engine" light came on. Then something was flashing that said
"Torque Steering something" needs service" Then the "Air Bag, not working" light came on. I felt like I was driving a Christmas tree.

It didn't seem to effect the drivability or 4 wheel drive capabilities but when I got home I checked into it. I found out I have this "Trail Hawk Trail Rated" model which is the Super, Duper Jeep with the drivetrain that allows you to drive under the Pacific Ocean or on craters on the Moon. I think that may impress some CPA. I also found out it was built in Italy, which didn't make me happy at all. :eek:
I have a Test module you plug in to tell you what is wrong, but there is something wrong with my test module that tells you whats wrong. It didn't give me any codes to tell me whats wrong. It's either a module or a software problem because when they invented computers and put them in cars, they invented all these silly problems.

My old Willy's Jeep didn't have any of these issues because it was a 1960 Willy's and the thing was built to just work. No issues, no breaking, no modules, just steel parts.
When you wanted to put it in 4 wheel drive you pushed this big steel lever, it made a big noise and then you could drive through a house and not even dent the thing.

Now they have these silly, plastic, electronic modules that allow the vehicle to do all sorts of things that used to be done with iron and steel. The new electronic assisted vehicles do not run any better, there 4 wheel drive is no better, they are certainly not cheaper or more reliable. What they are is disposable because you need to be Houdini and Einstein to fix them. I could fix anything on my Willy's with a hammer and maybe a torch.

I went to the Jeep dealer and they said they have to check it out to see if it is under warranty even though Jeep Corporate headquarters told me it is.
If it is not, I will just have to fix it myself or take it to some Jiboni with a drawer full of modules and software programs. :rolleyes:



 
Someone should build a "Mans Car" A thing made out of steel plates with a cast iron engine. No plastic allowed, just big, steel gears. It wouldn't go very fast but it would be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Go through 6' of snow while idling and the radio would only play music from the 60s and 70s. No Rap, Justin Beiber or Girly songs.

You could change the oil with Vaseline or Steak Sauce. The tires would be re treads from 747s and you wouldn't need a "climate control switch"
Just a "Cold and not so cold" lever. You wouldn't be able to car jack it because if you tried, the door would explode. It couldn't get towed away because it is too heavy.

Just a real Mans car, That's what I want. :D
 
The new jeeps are designed to get yuppies to work when there is 2 inches of snow on the road without actually getting out and turning the hubs. It is handy, but where will you get the electronic parts in 10 years.
 
Most Yuppies don't go to work. Their Dads support them because they think that's what is supposed to happen and their Dads are Jibonies.

My Daughter always worked as I did, and if she didn't, she could eat cake, cheap cake that she would have to make herself.
I don't buy my kids cars, homes, cell phones or insurance. If your kid can't or don't know how to pay for things with their own money that they worked for, send them back for a refund as they are defective. :eek:

I believe everyone that can work, should work. And if they don't want to work, they can starve, we can build more cemeteries because I don't want to support them. :rolleyes:
 
Just laughed my a** off with this

If your kid can't or don't know how to pay for things with their own money that they worked for, send them back for a refund as they are defective. :eek:
 
I can't believe at least 3 of those tiny baby fish that I collected a few days ago are still living and actually thriving. I put them in as food. They stay at the surface and eat tiny
"stuff" just like a whale shark. OMG, I hope they are not whale sharks. Those things never even make it home in a bucket.:)
They have nice colors and iridescent fins just like very healthy fish are supposed to have. Maybe they will spawn soon.:cool:

They may be stripped bass, bluefish, marlin etc. Who knows. The next time I go I will bring a bigger net and collect a few hundred. This may be the next fish craze. I hope they get colorful as I can only see faint vertical stripes on them. They are tiny, like this size. -------> ! <--------
(picture that thing horizontal) but real cute. I can collect thousands of them in 5 minutes at low tide in a small lagoon I discovered. I am sure it was discovered before, probably by Nancy Pelosi, but you know what I mean.

Whatever I throw into that tank lives forever. It's like the fountain of youth for marine creatures.
OMG, I forgot to quarantine them for 75 days. :eek:
 
I have been putting in this "electric" fireplace. We moved to a Condo and I am not allowed to put in a real one. Besides I have no chimney. My last home had a real fireplace but I have to live with what I now have.

All I have left to do on this is install the stone hearth at the bottom which will open on hydraulics for storage. (really electric lifts)

The wall is 1/8th" steel plates. I ground them to have those swirls.




It started like this. The entire thing is also on wheels so I can move it away from the wall for maintenance, painting and when I hide from my wife. The black thing at the bottom is the sound bar for the TV


I cut the steel with an electric sheers as a tin snips won't cut it.



The mantel is 8 2X8s glued together and "hollowed" out to fit on the fireplace.


The "Stovepipe was from a copper gutter.


I bent it round and held it in place with these.
 
That is so cool. I wouldn't be able to come up with something like that, let alone actually have a clue how to build it.
 
You just need tools and live long enough and you could build anything. I have enough tools to build a space shuttle. A small space shuttle but a space shuttle none the less. I would need a volunteer to ride in the thing though. :rolleyes:
 
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