Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
He stays well hidden in the back and I rarely see him. I shoot some food back there and hope he sees it.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Today is a beautiful day so I figured I would powerwash the eaves of the house. To do that I had to turn on the hoses outside that I had off all winter. I tried to turn on the valve inside my house for the hose and it wouldn't budge. That figures, I never turned off this valve before but this winter it went to zero degrees and I figured I would turn it off so I didn't break the pipe. That valve was installed when they built the house in 1959 and generally you don't touch something that has had water flowing through it for so long. I put a wrench on it and tried it but I could see that I would probably break the valve if I turned hard enough so I shut off the water main in the house. Sure enough, just as I figured, the valve handle broke off. Great. But at least it broke in the off position. So I remove the bonnet nut and put a vise grip on the stem and get it to move. That valve is not in a place where I want to change it. Maybe 20 years ago, but not now. It is over the red central vacuum just to the right of the blue bucket that is my RO/DI top off and behind the float switch for that system. It is also right against the side of the house in a place I can just about reach with one hand. I would like to ask the genius who installed it what he was thinking as it could have been installed just as easily a foot away from the stone wall where it was accessible, but people rarely so sensible things. So I just put the valve back together, made sure it was open and not leaking and I sweated a new ball valve in a place where I could get to it. This also happened a few weeks ago with another valve for a different hose. They are always in the stupidest places.
But now all is well again and I can get back to powerwashing.

 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
As I was feeding the fish tonight I noticed a pipefish that I thought I lost a couple of weeks ago. It is a very plain looking pipe that crawls around the bottom like a dragon faced pipe. I got him at Aquarium Village my favorite store.

He is crawling around hunting, and apparently finding pods
 
Scott Conoly

Scott Conoly

Member
Not familiar with that feeding device/method but looks cool..like watching a bunch of herbivores at a pond on the African savannah! What is it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Just after Thanksgiving I had a hand operation. If you worked construction for 40 years and your joints still work, you didn't work hard enough. One finger (the one I use to point at Supermodels) was becoming stuck in the bent position so I went in to have it fixed. They "fixed" my knee at the same time. Well, the knee surgery didn't do anything and neither did the hand surgery. If I see a Supermodel now, I will have to point with my foot or chin.
The surgeon sent me for hand therapy and all that. Even the Supermodel in the therapists office massaging my hand couldn't fix it so I went in today to see a "different" surgeon. This guy only does hands. The other guy did arms, legs, ears, teeth and anything that ails you so I figure I would go to a guy who only does hands.
The nurse comes in and asks me all the silly questions, things like "Do you use your right hand much?" and "what do you use it mostly for?" "how soon would you like it fixed?". I said, "I don't have to comb my hair but if someone was hitting you in the face with a hammer, would you like him to slow down, or stop?".
Then she takes me for an X Ray. The Doctor comes in and he is a little older than my Grand Son. He bends my finger around a little asking me if this hurts and if that hurts. Now there isn't any part of my hand that doesn't hurt.
He says, We have three options. I can give you a cortisone shot in the finger. I ask, "does that ever work?" He says, "No". Then he says "We can try putting me on steroids for two weeks" I ask, "Does that ever work?" He says "Usually not, but it may make me fat" So another surgery it is. This time they are not going to knock me out so they can ask me stupid things while they cut open my hand, maybe tell some knock knock jokes.
This week I need to work on my boat outdrives to get them ready because I won't be able to use my right hand for a few weeks so if I need to pick my nose, I will have to use my toe.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
In a few weeks my boat will be in the water and it will be amphipod hunting season. The early summer is when they are free swimming and possibly breeding but I really don't know. I do know that there are so many of them at that time that all I have to do is put my arm in the water (in a tide pool at low tide) and I am covered in them. If I anchor my boat, the anchor line is full of them. I normally hang a frayed rope off my dock and it becomes filled with amphipods. To me, this is very important as is all live foods. Not just for the obvious health benefit of feeding live food, but more importantly for the living (wild) bacteria in their guts. I feel this is the main reason my fish seem to be immune from everything so far so I will keep collecting and feeding live foods. Of course I still feed live blackworms and earthworms for the same reason.
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Why do you want water temp? I am not going for at least a month. I need my boat in the water first.
This ain't Florida you know. We have seasons. This is still snow season. :eek:

Happy Easter:bounce:
 
Paul B

Paul B

Well-Known Member
43.2 is still a little cold and the amphipods are still wearing down coats. Our water gets up to about 68 or 70 I think in the summer. Closer to the 80s in that tide pool where I collect..
Happy Easter.


Getting ready for these amphipods to come over.

 
cracker

cracker

Well-Known Member
Oh So the ice pack just broke up? LOL I wanted to know because cold water critters taste so much better!
Ok so I used the Link Master's NOAA site. Recent water temps 69 degrees. I'm wondering at what temps your pods do their thing. Maybe they are doing it here now.
 
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