Hello, Geezer coming back to this forum. Paul B

[Paul B]

This morning I took my first walk on the beach for the season. I can't go in the winter because they remove the bottom 10' of stairs and being I am not Spiderman, I don't want to jump that distance. But today I rescued my first horseshoe crab of the Spring.

For an animal that has been here for millions of years they are very stupid. They have billions of miles of water but they keep crawling into very shallow water until a wave turns them over on the dry sand until the seagulls tear them apart for lunch.

 

[Paul B]

So I walk every morning and I am in farm and golf course country here and being it rains in New York more then London I needed new hiking boots because my sneakers get all wet walking on the grass which I have to jump up on every time a car or school bus comes by.

All my life I lived either in or near the city limits so we always had sidewalks, something non existent here. So I ordered these "hiking" boots from Amazon.

They were very cheap, practically free so I knew they would not last very long but I figured for the 2 miles I walk every day in wet grass, they would be fine for walking or turning over horseshoe crabs.

I got them and tried to put them on but they are like cement. Very stiff with absolutely no flexibility or movement so I figure they sent me the plaster model of the boot that they put up in front of a store in a mall.

I sent them back

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Paul,
NOT inexpensive but Merrrell make a nice one.
A slip on shoe for campsites too.

 

[Paul B]

Having an old tank has unique problems. Not healthwise but things grow in tanks and keep growing. Things like bristleworms. They are great scavengers and kind of benign when small. But they keep growing and can probably get a foot long.,

That is the reason I can't keep clams or most crabs any more except hermit crabs. When an invertebrate sheds, the bristleworms can most likely smell it and they attack the helpless animal. Especially arrow crabs which are very susceptible when newly moulted.

Occasionally I trap them but the really large ones can't fit in the trap and if I make a large trap, the fish and hermits will go in.

 

[Paul B]

I had to bring in my Jeep for a recall to change the Catalytic converter. Ever since then I have a rattle that drives me crazy. I don't want to bring it back because I would have to leave the car for a couple of days and the same Jibini will probably work on it. So I had to drag out my ramps that I hardly use once a year and jam myself under there.

Getting up is getting harder every year.

 

[Paul B]

I just went and collected water from a beach. I got a little stuck on the beach in the soft sand but I got out. I don't have to do anything to this water as it is crystal clear. Normally I have to filter it as it is green with all sorts of floating garbage in it but this time I am not doing anything to it except heat it. It's 65 degrees, salinity is .020 and the nitrate is the same as my tank. 10.

I only collected 20 gallons and I will add 20 gallons of fake sea water because I know there is a lot of fertilizer in our seawater here and I already have enough algae.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

SO-- Did you find & fix the rattle?

 

[Paul B]

It is much better. I installed a universal exhaust pipe hanger to keep it away from the frame. Now I have another rattle because my back window on the car broke and the Jiboni broke the clips and clip retainers that hold on the back plastic piece that is on the inside of the back of the Jeep. I had to put in stainless steel screws to hold it on with no rattles as it would be a real pain to repair. I painted the screws black and you hardly see them. When you open the back, they are over your head anyway.

Again, I don't want to waste my time bringing it back or they would probably make it worse and I don't want to live in a repair shop. If you want something done correctly, you have to do it yourself.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

 

[Paul B]

It's 4:25 AM now and I am taking one of my neighbors to the hospital to get a new hip. She is about my age and has no one to take her. I was up anyway as sleep eludes me. I wish it didn't.

When someone needs to be someplace early, they ask me because I am never late.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Marks that down! You do airport runs????

 

[Paul B]

Not if I could help it.

 

[Paul B]

This morning, I went to Calverton National Cemetery to place American Flags on the graves of Veterans who have passed away.
This is the largest Military Cemetery in the US and every grave will have a flag on it. (I think)

This was last year but I was with the same people so I didn't take a picture so just make believe I took this today.

 

[griss]

Awesome Paul

 

[Paul B]

You really need to do these things because almost no one has any Patriotism any more and the farther we get away from any wars, the less Patriotism people will have. I don't know what the answer is and I certainly don't want to see us in any war. I doubt they even teach it in school like they did when I went to school 100 years ago.

 

[Paul B]

I found the rattle in my Jeep. A few months ago it was recalled for the catalytic converter. To remove that they had to do it from underneath and Jeeps have a rock guard that protects the oil pan. It has about 7 bolts holding it on and is a heavy piece of steel about 2' wide.

The Jiboni's in Jeep left off at least 4 bolts and broke one in the hole so it has to be drilled out.
They are a weird metric size almost a 7/16th SAE bolt but not quite. I have a lot of Metric bolts but not that one and being it's Memorial Day, Jeep isn't open.

Tomorrow I will go back to Jeep to get some of those bolts. I don't want them to "fix" it because I don't trust them.
If they give me a hard time and want me to leave the vehicle with them, I will just go to a hardware store and buy the stupid bolts. This is a pain to fix because besides leaving off 4 bolts, the thing is on slightly crooked so some of the holes don't line up so I have to loosten all the bolts and drill out the broken one and use an "easy out" on it. I am to old for this nonsense but broke one of my rules by letting them work on my car.

The thing was recalled so it was free but nothing in life is free and if you want something done correctly, you need to do it yourself.

 

[Paul B]

This was the sunset last night.

On my morning walk it was foggy but I was able to check out this tidepool. Nothing exciting in it.

I was able to rescue this small conch or as us Italians call them Scungeel.
I got there before the sea gulls had him for lunch.

 

[Paul B]

I went to my favorite LFS today and picked up a couple of tiny neon gobies. Those fish used to be very common in the hobby but I rarely see them any more. $25.00 for both of them.

I am trying to put up a picture but I am having trouble doing this on my new computer and I normally just E Mail them to myself but that doesn't work in my Man Cave as I don't have cell service here.

 

[Paul B]

Today it is having an issue. It's a new computer and I am old so these things never work the same every day.

My new Jeep is also acting up. It went from Miles an hour to Kilometers, so I thought I was going 120 MPH.

I got out the book and changed it. Then our phones wouldn't pair with the car. I finally got my wife's phone to pair so if I need to contact anyone I will just write them a letter.

Of course my new car like all new cars allows me to talk to it. There is like a 200 page manual to explain how to do that but I don't think my car read it as it just argues with me. I asked it to change from KPH to MPH and it told me things like "You can ask me all sorts of things like George Washingtons social security number, Doctors appointments or the year they built the Brooklyn Bridge but anything else will be a problem".

I would like a car with just 4 wheels, a radio and engine. I have friends and don't need to have a conversation with a senile vehicle that I paid quite a lot for. My wife will talk my ear off for free.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Me too--computer keeps dropping Wi-Fi & is slower than a snail waiting for 5 o'clock to punch out!