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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Paul, first off, welcome back. You have been missed around here!
As for the pic posting issue, we had to prevent all non-paid member accounts from posting any links (which usually includes pics) to help prevent spammers from posting harmful links.
You should still be able to post a pic that you upload via the "add image" icon... which is the one that looks like a tree in a picture frame.
As for the pic posting issue, we had to prevent all non-paid member accounts from posting any links (which usually includes pics) to help prevent spammers from posting harmful links.
You should still be able to post a pic that you upload via the "add image" icon... which is the one that looks like a tree in a picture frame.
Paul B
NJRC Member
I posted this some place else (yes, other places do exist) and since I like to hear myself rant, I figured I would also put it here. Just resist the urge to argue with me about it.
They asked me about my practices
Make believe there is a picture here of a huge tank with baby manta rays, barracuda, turtles and at least 3 Supermodels in it because I can't post pictures so you have to use your imagination.
I may not be the best one to ask about setting up a salt tank as I kind of disagree with a lot of the common wisdom out there. Presently, most people set up tanks the same way because everyone goes on the internet and sees how tanks are set up. Many people are knowledgeable but a lot of the methods and rumors come about from novices that have one tank set up since last Tuesday and they had one tang with ich and they cured it with chicken bones, a cleaner shrimp, Justin Biebers latest hit single ,garlic, Ginger, Maryann, or something that IMO does nothing for the fish, "but" you can't make linguini and clams without garlic.
You can (and will) argue with people all day long about this stuff but in reality
you need a fair amount of experience over a number of years with a number different types of creatures before you should start posting things as fact.
Of course anyone, including my 18 month old Grand Daughter can post her theories (if she stopped sucking her thumb long enough).
That being said, I believe in a much more natural approach to this hobby. An approach where algae and diseases including paracites can be used to our advantage. This is where virtually everyone will disagree with me. Other approaches of course will work. We can keep a person alive on a respirator indefinitely, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if we could have kept that person healthy in the first place or at least allow their own body to repair itself.
That is my approach and it is simple but the theory may be hard to comprehend.
For instance, when, and if you begin this hobby you will read from the internet. Much of what you will read about is ways to eliminate algae, diseases and paracites. You will never read (unless I wrote it) how paracites and algae "may" in "some" circumstances be beneficial. Algae and paracites are found all over the sea on all healthy reefs and it is not something we try to remove from the reefs. If we removed the algae all the urchins, tangs, algae bleenies, slugs, chitens, sea hares and snails would starve as that is what those animals use as a staple. Many people shy away from that fact and see algae as a pest. They will use all sorts of measures to get it out of their tank, but the truth is that if you have no algae at all, something is wrong. There are certainly nutrients in the water that promote algae and it doesn't take much nutrients to grow algae.
You will also learn about paracites although you probably already do being you have fresh water tanks. Again, most people try their hardest to keep every paracite out of their tank and in some instances that is a good practice. It is also a good practice when setting up a new tank because new tanks with all new water, especially if you use artificial salt water (ASW) are not very healthy at all. What I do is keep my fish in spawning condition through live food such as live blackworms and for the tiny fish, new born brine shrimp less than a few hours old. Spawning fish are as healthy as fish can be and in my experience are not "hardly" ever harmed by paracites. I can say that because of the age of my tank and the fish. A lot of people hate me and my tank because of this as it puts a dent in popular opinion that if you don't quarantine, your tank is a time bomb. (They are also jealous of my luxurious hair) My time bomb is the oldest one on here by far and I have not quarantined in decades. I am sure there are so many paracites in my tank that on Friday nights they sit around the torch corals doing the Macarana. I don't care as they are natural and can stay as long as they like. I also like the fact that I can go to any store, pick a fish out of any tank (or even the ocean) and just throw it in my tank (after I acclimate it for a little while) The paracites in my tank whatever they are doing are keeping up the immune systems of my fish. Again, this is just from my experience as I am not a fish or paracite expert. But I have been doing this since last Tuesday.
The key is the fish "Must" be "always" in breeding condition. That is perceived by a lot of people to be hard. Those are the people who feed flakes, pellets, lettuce and some commercially prepared food that is not live.
I also feed frozen foods but my system would probably not work in the long run if I didn't use at least some live food. Then again there are frozen foods and frozen foods. Some foods such as frozen bloodworms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and some others are not a suitable food. A suitable food is a whole animal such as Mysis shrimp, fish eggs, clams or whole, live worms.
That is all I use (along with new born brine shrimp for tiny fish)
That is all you need but I feel the live worms should be fed almost every day.
As for algae, yes we don't want it to grow in our displays, but I want the algae to grow in my system, just not on the corals. We use some type of refugium or some place to grow algae other than the tank that has better growing conditions. We want algae, it removes substances from the water naturally without adding chemicals and it does it for free except for some electricity to light it. Algae growing in a controlled place is the best eliminator of algae in the main tank.
There is also the thing about testing. That is another facet in this hobby that people obsess about. The fact is that saltwater is very stable "if" there is some algae in the system and "if" you don't add things that offset the waters natural ability to stay stable. If you change water occasionally like we should do, the water should stay stable with no help from you. The tanks with most of the dosers of various chemicals need testing as they parameters are always off due to the tweeking. It is not bad to know your parameters and in a newer tank we should test to see what is going on, but resist the urge to try to keep the numbers "exactly" where some "expert" feels they should be. Even the temperature has a wide margin as to what it should be. It can be anywhere between about 73 to 87 or so. A little higher or lower doesn't hurt either as mine has gone down into the higher 60s to the mid 90s but that was during power outages and I don't recommend it. But if your fish are in breeding conditions it will be fine for short periods, if they are not, you will be collecting a lot of ich infected fish.
Luckily for me, no one is going to read this except for you and maybe me because as I said, I am perceived to be either a weird nut job who is very lucky or a magician who conjurs spells to keep the tank running as I read in so many places that my methods are next to impossible to re produce
They asked me about my practices
Make believe there is a picture here of a huge tank with baby manta rays, barracuda, turtles and at least 3 Supermodels in it because I can't post pictures so you have to use your imagination.
I may not be the best one to ask about setting up a salt tank as I kind of disagree with a lot of the common wisdom out there. Presently, most people set up tanks the same way because everyone goes on the internet and sees how tanks are set up. Many people are knowledgeable but a lot of the methods and rumors come about from novices that have one tank set up since last Tuesday and they had one tang with ich and they cured it with chicken bones, a cleaner shrimp, Justin Biebers latest hit single ,garlic, Ginger, Maryann, or something that IMO does nothing for the fish, "but" you can't make linguini and clams without garlic.
You can (and will) argue with people all day long about this stuff but in reality
you need a fair amount of experience over a number of years with a number different types of creatures before you should start posting things as fact.
Of course anyone, including my 18 month old Grand Daughter can post her theories (if she stopped sucking her thumb long enough).
That being said, I believe in a much more natural approach to this hobby. An approach where algae and diseases including paracites can be used to our advantage. This is where virtually everyone will disagree with me. Other approaches of course will work. We can keep a person alive on a respirator indefinitely, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if we could have kept that person healthy in the first place or at least allow their own body to repair itself.
That is my approach and it is simple but the theory may be hard to comprehend.
For instance, when, and if you begin this hobby you will read from the internet. Much of what you will read about is ways to eliminate algae, diseases and paracites. You will never read (unless I wrote it) how paracites and algae "may" in "some" circumstances be beneficial. Algae and paracites are found all over the sea on all healthy reefs and it is not something we try to remove from the reefs. If we removed the algae all the urchins, tangs, algae bleenies, slugs, chitens, sea hares and snails would starve as that is what those animals use as a staple. Many people shy away from that fact and see algae as a pest. They will use all sorts of measures to get it out of their tank, but the truth is that if you have no algae at all, something is wrong. There are certainly nutrients in the water that promote algae and it doesn't take much nutrients to grow algae.
You will also learn about paracites although you probably already do being you have fresh water tanks. Again, most people try their hardest to keep every paracite out of their tank and in some instances that is a good practice. It is also a good practice when setting up a new tank because new tanks with all new water, especially if you use artificial salt water (ASW) are not very healthy at all. What I do is keep my fish in spawning condition through live food such as live blackworms and for the tiny fish, new born brine shrimp less than a few hours old. Spawning fish are as healthy as fish can be and in my experience are not "hardly" ever harmed by paracites. I can say that because of the age of my tank and the fish. A lot of people hate me and my tank because of this as it puts a dent in popular opinion that if you don't quarantine, your tank is a time bomb. (They are also jealous of my luxurious hair) My time bomb is the oldest one on here by far and I have not quarantined in decades. I am sure there are so many paracites in my tank that on Friday nights they sit around the torch corals doing the Macarana. I don't care as they are natural and can stay as long as they like. I also like the fact that I can go to any store, pick a fish out of any tank (or even the ocean) and just throw it in my tank (after I acclimate it for a little while) The paracites in my tank whatever they are doing are keeping up the immune systems of my fish. Again, this is just from my experience as I am not a fish or paracite expert. But I have been doing this since last Tuesday.
The key is the fish "Must" be "always" in breeding condition. That is perceived by a lot of people to be hard. Those are the people who feed flakes, pellets, lettuce and some commercially prepared food that is not live.
I also feed frozen foods but my system would probably not work in the long run if I didn't use at least some live food. Then again there are frozen foods and frozen foods. Some foods such as frozen bloodworms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and some others are not a suitable food. A suitable food is a whole animal such as Mysis shrimp, fish eggs, clams or whole, live worms.
That is all I use (along with new born brine shrimp for tiny fish)
That is all you need but I feel the live worms should be fed almost every day.
As for algae, yes we don't want it to grow in our displays, but I want the algae to grow in my system, just not on the corals. We use some type of refugium or some place to grow algae other than the tank that has better growing conditions. We want algae, it removes substances from the water naturally without adding chemicals and it does it for free except for some electricity to light it. Algae growing in a controlled place is the best eliminator of algae in the main tank.
There is also the thing about testing. That is another facet in this hobby that people obsess about. The fact is that saltwater is very stable "if" there is some algae in the system and "if" you don't add things that offset the waters natural ability to stay stable. If you change water occasionally like we should do, the water should stay stable with no help from you. The tanks with most of the dosers of various chemicals need testing as they parameters are always off due to the tweeking. It is not bad to know your parameters and in a newer tank we should test to see what is going on, but resist the urge to try to keep the numbers "exactly" where some "expert" feels they should be. Even the temperature has a wide margin as to what it should be. It can be anywhere between about 73 to 87 or so. A little higher or lower doesn't hurt either as mine has gone down into the higher 60s to the mid 90s but that was during power outages and I don't recommend it. But if your fish are in breeding conditions it will be fine for short periods, if they are not, you will be collecting a lot of ich infected fish.
Luckily for me, no one is going to read this except for you and maybe me because as I said, I am perceived to be either a weird nut job who is very lucky or a magician who conjurs spells to keep the tank running as I read in so many places that my methods are next to impossible to re produce
Hi, This is TanksNStuff using a newly created "test" account to see if in fact a plain old "registered user" can post a picture, if done properly. This account doesn't have any extra privileges or rights that you don't have Paul.
What do you know, it worked!
All I did was clicked on the tree icon, uploaded a pic from my computer (maybe it doesn't work when using a URL?), and there it was.
I'll try another one that I have stored on dropbox, just to see if that works too:
Hey, that worked too! Dance
I have to admit though, I did have some trouble posting images from photobucket and others from dropbox too (due to size).
Paul, what sort of error messages do you get when you try to post yours?
What do you know, it worked!
All I did was clicked on the tree icon, uploaded a pic from my computer (maybe it doesn't work when using a URL?), and there it was.
I'll try another one that I have stored on dropbox, just to see if that works too:
Hey, that worked too! Dance
I have to admit though, I did have some trouble posting images from photobucket and others from dropbox too (due to size).
Paul, what sort of error messages do you get when you try to post yours?
Paul, I'll try to help you get pics added if you want. If we can't get it done due to your accounts rights, you can just send me the pics or links to them and I'll edit your post to add them if you want.
Paul B
NJRC Member
I still can't do it, I just get this: Post denied. New posts are limited by number of URLs it may contain and checked if it doesn't contain forbidden words.
But that's OK, I know what the pictures are supposed to be.
This one is me bench pressing 300lbs
If I have a picture that I am dying to post, I will send it to you.
Thanks
But that's OK, I know what the pictures are supposed to be.
This one is me bench pressing 300lbs
If I have a picture that I am dying to post, I will send it to you.
Thanks
Hi Paul! Welcome back!
Since I can see the RC photos (in which the models look stunning I might add), just thought I would say Happy Birthday Tank, looks great as always
Damn Nikki what do you manage that modeling agency or what???!?? Lol
Paul B
NJRC Member
Thanks Nikki, I didn't really go anywhere, just my computer did.
Well since the last time I was on here I did go to a few places. A riverboat cruise through Germany on the Danube river and 3 Hawaiian Islands. We just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and that is where we went on our honeymoon.
This time we went to Maui, Kawii and Lanai as Lanai was not open the the public the last time we were there and it is secluded. The diving in Hawaii is not very good but I did three dives anyway just because I could.
Early this week I had to go to Florida on business and I flew Spirit Airlines. I usually go on Jet Blue but Spirit had a flight that was a better time. Have you ever flown on Spirit?
It is an experience and there is a reason Jet Blue charges in excess of $300,00 and Spirit charges $17.67, round trip.
The first thing you notice on the flight is that there are no TVs, no little hole to plug ear phones or charge electronic devices in, no blankets, pillows, magazines or those little papers that keep the grease off your head from the last guy who sat there.
There is also no free soda, water, peanuts, juice or anything else. as a matter of fact, when you take your ticket and scan it at that little kiosk, it asks you how much you want to pay for your seat. There are $10.00 seats, $20.00 seats and $50.00 seats. I took the $10.00 seat as I assume the $50.00 seat you have to sit on the pilot's lap, but I am not sure. If you don't pick a seat I don't know where they put you as I didn't see anyone lying on the floor and it was night time so I couldn't tell if anyone was strapped to the wings. Carry on bags cost you $50.00 and if you want to take luggage there is a "Bank of America" there where you can take out a home equity loan.
The hostesses were friendly but they didn't have much to do as there was nothing they could give you except a smile when they told you "Sorry" we don't have that or Sorry, you have to pay for water and peanuts.
I noticed a guy near the back of the plane with a bow and arrow, I figured he was the air marshall.
I sat by the emergency door and she instructed me that in an emergency I would have to open the door. I said "fine" I have no problem with that. It was a door knob with two deadbolts. So we are flying and it was a very turbulent flight. I spoke to the hostess for a while as she was standing in front of me ironing. It got very rough. She leaned over and took a book out of the overhead compartment. It was a bible.
I read the Bible a few times in Viet Nam, but that was just before we would go into battle, a hostess on a plane reading a Bible in rough weather is not very soothing to me.
Then I tried to remember all the safety features of the plane. Of course, the safety features were the smoke detectors in the bathrooms, the little plastic card in the seat back that has the emergency instructions on it and those little orange life vests under the seat because whenever a plane traveling at 600 miles an hour hits the sea in a firey crash, we always see all the people in perfect health floating with those little orange vests.
So I looked under my seat to see if there was a credit card slot next to the life jacket just in case I needed it. Then I was thinking, if anything happens I am going to be the safest one on the plane as I will take all the safety devices. The first thing I will do is make my way to the bathroom so I can grab a smoke detector. I will have to be fast as there are only 6 of them. Then I will get that little plastic card from the seat back and swipe my credit card under the seat so I can get the vest and if I have time, I can grab that bible. I may even be able to grab a few more of those plastic cards in the confusion.
I am seated by the emergency door and I know how to open it as I have the key. I am just waiting for something to happen.
Generally if you see the pilot running towards the back of the plane or if the hostess is having no trouble laying on the ceiling of the aircraft, those are sure signs that you can start reading that bible. But none of those things happened. Speaking of the back of the plane, that is the safest place to be as whenever you see pictures of a plane crash you always see that tail in perfect shape sticking up out of a sand dune.
To answer your question there was one model on the plane. As I was sitting and waiting at the gate with 700 other people whos'e flights were also delayed, these boots walked by me.
I looked up, and up and up and saw that she was a Supermodel. Her boots went up about 7' and if I was standing she could probably eat spaghetti off the top of my head. She had a ponytail and she sat a few rows in front of me on the plane. I kept watching because her pony tail almost got stuck in the overhead bins.
Speaking of overhead bins, I was sitting there waiting for the plane to take off and I was bored as I only had that pony tail to look at and the big guy who couldn't fit into the seat. So I take out my book just as the Captain shut off the lights. I wanted to turn on my overhead reading light but I noticed you had to put two, size D batteries in it and I didn't have any. So as I am sitting there in the dark it started to get stuffy and I reached up to turn on those little air things. I turned it and nothing happened. A few seconds later the hostess comes over to me and hands me this little paper envelope.
I open it up and it is one of those little paper fans that they used to give you in cheap Chinese restaurants. You can't make this stuff up.
Anyway the flight was uneventful but it gave me time to think, why don't they just make the entire plane out of the same stuff they make the black box out of? That always survives.
As I left the plane I had to squeeze past the hostess selling time shares as the co pilot was holding one of those cardboard containers with the slot in it for quarters for homeless dogs.
Make believe there is a picture of a plane here, I am standing next to it with a Supermodel who has a ponytail
Well since the last time I was on here I did go to a few places. A riverboat cruise through Germany on the Danube river and 3 Hawaiian Islands. We just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and that is where we went on our honeymoon.
This time we went to Maui, Kawii and Lanai as Lanai was not open the the public the last time we were there and it is secluded. The diving in Hawaii is not very good but I did three dives anyway just because I could.
Early this week I had to go to Florida on business and I flew Spirit Airlines. I usually go on Jet Blue but Spirit had a flight that was a better time. Have you ever flown on Spirit?
It is an experience and there is a reason Jet Blue charges in excess of $300,00 and Spirit charges $17.67, round trip.
The first thing you notice on the flight is that there are no TVs, no little hole to plug ear phones or charge electronic devices in, no blankets, pillows, magazines or those little papers that keep the grease off your head from the last guy who sat there.
There is also no free soda, water, peanuts, juice or anything else. as a matter of fact, when you take your ticket and scan it at that little kiosk, it asks you how much you want to pay for your seat. There are $10.00 seats, $20.00 seats and $50.00 seats. I took the $10.00 seat as I assume the $50.00 seat you have to sit on the pilot's lap, but I am not sure. If you don't pick a seat I don't know where they put you as I didn't see anyone lying on the floor and it was night time so I couldn't tell if anyone was strapped to the wings. Carry on bags cost you $50.00 and if you want to take luggage there is a "Bank of America" there where you can take out a home equity loan.
The hostesses were friendly but they didn't have much to do as there was nothing they could give you except a smile when they told you "Sorry" we don't have that or Sorry, you have to pay for water and peanuts.
I noticed a guy near the back of the plane with a bow and arrow, I figured he was the air marshall.
I sat by the emergency door and she instructed me that in an emergency I would have to open the door. I said "fine" I have no problem with that. It was a door knob with two deadbolts. So we are flying and it was a very turbulent flight. I spoke to the hostess for a while as she was standing in front of me ironing. It got very rough. She leaned over and took a book out of the overhead compartment. It was a bible.
I read the Bible a few times in Viet Nam, but that was just before we would go into battle, a hostess on a plane reading a Bible in rough weather is not very soothing to me.
Then I tried to remember all the safety features of the plane. Of course, the safety features were the smoke detectors in the bathrooms, the little plastic card in the seat back that has the emergency instructions on it and those little orange life vests under the seat because whenever a plane traveling at 600 miles an hour hits the sea in a firey crash, we always see all the people in perfect health floating with those little orange vests.
So I looked under my seat to see if there was a credit card slot next to the life jacket just in case I needed it. Then I was thinking, if anything happens I am going to be the safest one on the plane as I will take all the safety devices. The first thing I will do is make my way to the bathroom so I can grab a smoke detector. I will have to be fast as there are only 6 of them. Then I will get that little plastic card from the seat back and swipe my credit card under the seat so I can get the vest and if I have time, I can grab that bible. I may even be able to grab a few more of those plastic cards in the confusion.
I am seated by the emergency door and I know how to open it as I have the key. I am just waiting for something to happen.
Generally if you see the pilot running towards the back of the plane or if the hostess is having no trouble laying on the ceiling of the aircraft, those are sure signs that you can start reading that bible. But none of those things happened. Speaking of the back of the plane, that is the safest place to be as whenever you see pictures of a plane crash you always see that tail in perfect shape sticking up out of a sand dune.
To answer your question there was one model on the plane. As I was sitting and waiting at the gate with 700 other people whos'e flights were also delayed, these boots walked by me.
I looked up, and up and up and saw that she was a Supermodel. Her boots went up about 7' and if I was standing she could probably eat spaghetti off the top of my head. She had a ponytail and she sat a few rows in front of me on the plane. I kept watching because her pony tail almost got stuck in the overhead bins.
Speaking of overhead bins, I was sitting there waiting for the plane to take off and I was bored as I only had that pony tail to look at and the big guy who couldn't fit into the seat. So I take out my book just as the Captain shut off the lights. I wanted to turn on my overhead reading light but I noticed you had to put two, size D batteries in it and I didn't have any. So as I am sitting there in the dark it started to get stuffy and I reached up to turn on those little air things. I turned it and nothing happened. A few seconds later the hostess comes over to me and hands me this little paper envelope.
I open it up and it is one of those little paper fans that they used to give you in cheap Chinese restaurants. You can't make this stuff up.
Anyway the flight was uneventful but it gave me time to think, why don't they just make the entire plane out of the same stuff they make the black box out of? That always survives.
As I left the plane I had to squeeze past the hostess selling time shares as the co pilot was holding one of those cardboard containers with the slot in it for quarters for homeless dogs.
Make believe there is a picture of a plane here, I am standing next to it with a Supermodel who has a ponytail
Ah, now that's the kind of Paul B story I truly missed!
Lol I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you paul but your story had me laughing. Why is it that every member with the name paul on this forum is hilarious lol??
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Ah, now that's the kind of Paul B story I truly missed!
George, that's not story...it's a tome! Please straighten out PaulB's picture issues.....I can't take all the writing! And they say a picture is worth a thousand words....hopefully that will cut down on the length of these posts.
Glad to see you re-found us Paul. Is your sock monkey still around?
Paul B
NJRC Member
I know, so being I can't post a picture, I wrote a thousand words. Dance Wow, how come that dancing smiley thing worked?
Wait a minute, let me try something:.....................................................................
I thought the picture thing worked because the smiley thing worked. OK picture me here in a Speedo wrestling an alligator,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I don't know, whats my sock monkey?
Paul B
NJRC Member
I know I have not been on here for a little while so I don't remember if I shared my wasp, or Bee story. This was almost two years ago and If I already posted it just go and watch re runs of Oprah. I think she is giving away Chevrolet's today.
This really happened to me and I just thought I would share it today, because I can. It has no pictures but it is a thousand words, I am not sure if that counts. I didn't have time to take any pictures anyway.
Ok usually bees, wasps, snakes, scorpions, or Paris Hilton don't bother me but today I went upstairs in my house, a place where no one lives but there is an apartment there. I go up there occasionally to clean or fix the exhaust fan.
Before I went up we learned that our phone, which is attached to the wall, doesn't work. It rings but you can't talk.
Anyway, I see this dead bee on the floor (or wasp) so I get the vacuum to pick it up, then I see another, then another and so on. So I look around and on the wall air conditioner I see part of a wasp hive that looked old and dead.
Wrong.
I take the vacuum and suck up what I thought was a very small hive.
Wrong.
2,863 wasps come flying out and they were not happy, Most of them had a scowl on their face, if looks could kill?
Some of them were so big that they had to stay in the hive because their antlers wouldn't fit through the gate. Yes, this hive was so big, it had a gate.
So I stick the vacuum on the hole in the wall (which was really a gap in the Air conditioner side panel)
And I am sucking up wasps.
No problem.
Wrong.
The 2,863 wasps that had already come out are stinging me.
They got me good and those suckers really hurt, especially like now, 30 minutes later. My elbow is swelled up. I wouldn't mind if they stung me in my biceps, then at least I would look like I had muscles.
So as I am getting stung and holding the vacuum on the hole, sucking up bees, I take out my cell phone to call my wife downstairs.
Yep, the phone don't work. So I am screaming but she has the AC on and I have the vacuum on. I didn't want to put the vacuum down, but I was getting stung and I think these were the friendly wasps, the nasty ones, the ones with the leather jackets on were stuck in the hose of the vacuum, that antler thing again.
So finally my wife hears me and of course she takes her time coming upstairs, then screams. I looked like one of those guys that win contests for having bees all over them. So I drop the vacuum, still sucking and we run outside.
I found a can of that bug bomb stuff that you set in the room and leave. The stuff was over 33 years old because I bought it when I bought my house but never used it.
So I push the button and throw it in. It is supposed to emit a mist, but i guess it is no good after 33 years so it just sputtered. I wonder what that did to the carpet?
Anyway, a few minutes later I go up and find many of the little suckers are writhing on the floor but you could still faintly hear, "We will get you"
"We know where you live" But it was very weak and I am sure it was an idol threat.
So I made a larger hole in the wall and after soaking the insulation with bee killer I sucked out the remaining dead wasps. Before I opened the vacuum, I sprayed wasp killer into it just to make sure. Then I dumped out the bag which was filled with hundreds of dead and dying bees.
So now I have no more bees, just a big hole in the wall and a house that smells like Napalm.
OK, I thought this was over. Today I go upstairs to patch that hole in the wall. So I bring my big shop vac, a ladder, wasp spray (just to be sure) some calking for the outside, some tools and plaster. So I remove the wasp spray soaked paper towels that I had stuffed in the hole to keep any new creatures from coming in and at the same time I am holding the shop vac hose up to the hole so I can catch any loose plaster.
This is not one of those Sissy shop vacs that is good for picking up belly button lint, this one will suck the brains out of your head through your nose from across the street.
So I take out the paper and I couldn't believe it, there seemed to be more wasps than there was two days ago when I killed hundreds of them.
They were wading through the puddle of wasp spray like it was "Glade air freshener"
(I wonder where they got those tiny boots?)
No really, you can't make this stuff up. But this time I was prepared, this vacuum was sucking them out from 6" away. They didn't know what was happening. The only problem was that the hole to the outside was still open and as soon as I sucked them in, more came in from outside. So I was alternating spraying wasp spray and sucking at the same time, spray, suck, spray, suck etc.
I also found out what that means on the side of the wasp spray can where it says Kills on Contact" I thought that meant, it kills the wasps when it contacts them, but I think it really means that it kills the wasps after the wasp contacts you. They don't really die that fast, Dying the next day is not exactly the time frame I had in mind.
So I finally eliminate most of the creatures and I make the hole in the wall larger so I have good sheetrock to patch. I kept cutting bigger and bigger because I found their hive. They didn't just have a hive in my wall, they were turning my house into a hive. This thing was huge and it was filled with babies. So I kept sucking them out until I got to good insulation. I wonder what they did with all the insulation that used to be in the wall?
Then I stuck in new insulation that I also soaked with wasp spray
(although I think they were using it for cologne) and I calked the outside.
I had to hold the vacuum with me outside because they kept coming back trying to get back into the nest from outside.
So I am done, at least I thought so and I start to go downstairs but I figure let me go and check on my tomato plants on the upstairs deck which is off the bedroom on the opposite side of the house from the wasps.
On the way out I notice that the wall next to that air conditioner is wet. Great. I don't go up there much and everytime I go, it is a surprise. So I go outside to see where the hole is that is letting the water in and guess what I find?
Yep, wasps. I mean, are they freekin kidding me. This time they are "in" the air conditioner that has not been turned on in over 3 years.
Luckily for me, I have the wasp spray in my hand because I was bringing it downstairs. So I spray the coil in the AC and it happened. I got flashbacks from the other day. Wasps are all around me and I think they heard what happened to their cousins and I didn't have the vacuumin my hand so I had to run. A few minutes later I put on my sneakers so they wouldn't hear me and I snuck out armed with more wasp spray, the kind they sell to Sissies because it shoots like 2 football fields away. My deck isn't that big so I was fairly close and like I said this stuff kills on contact, after they contact me so i had to bob and weave but I didn't get stung.
They were mad before but now they just wanted revenge.
I ran inside and quickly shut the screen door. They were crashing into the screen making a horrible noise so I closed the glass door, then I turned on the air conditioner and as soon as I did, I could hear "Ping, ping, bing ding" Yes they were flying into the fan and getting thrown all over the inside of the AC unit. There were wings, abdomins, tiny chains, little broken bottles, flying all over the place, these guys were preparing for war.
But they didn't know who they were dealing with. This reefer Geezer now has wasp experience.
The next time I go up there I will probably find snakes, but I do have to go again to remove the wet sheetrock and calk the AC
This really happened to me and I just thought I would share it today, because I can. It has no pictures but it is a thousand words, I am not sure if that counts. I didn't have time to take any pictures anyway.
Ok usually bees, wasps, snakes, scorpions, or Paris Hilton don't bother me but today I went upstairs in my house, a place where no one lives but there is an apartment there. I go up there occasionally to clean or fix the exhaust fan.
Before I went up we learned that our phone, which is attached to the wall, doesn't work. It rings but you can't talk.
Anyway, I see this dead bee on the floor (or wasp) so I get the vacuum to pick it up, then I see another, then another and so on. So I look around and on the wall air conditioner I see part of a wasp hive that looked old and dead.
Wrong.
I take the vacuum and suck up what I thought was a very small hive.
Wrong.
2,863 wasps come flying out and they were not happy, Most of them had a scowl on their face, if looks could kill?
Some of them were so big that they had to stay in the hive because their antlers wouldn't fit through the gate. Yes, this hive was so big, it had a gate.
So I stick the vacuum on the hole in the wall (which was really a gap in the Air conditioner side panel)
And I am sucking up wasps.
No problem.
Wrong.
The 2,863 wasps that had already come out are stinging me.
They got me good and those suckers really hurt, especially like now, 30 minutes later. My elbow is swelled up. I wouldn't mind if they stung me in my biceps, then at least I would look like I had muscles.
So as I am getting stung and holding the vacuum on the hole, sucking up bees, I take out my cell phone to call my wife downstairs.
Yep, the phone don't work. So I am screaming but she has the AC on and I have the vacuum on. I didn't want to put the vacuum down, but I was getting stung and I think these were the friendly wasps, the nasty ones, the ones with the leather jackets on were stuck in the hose of the vacuum, that antler thing again.
So finally my wife hears me and of course she takes her time coming upstairs, then screams. I looked like one of those guys that win contests for having bees all over them. So I drop the vacuum, still sucking and we run outside.
I found a can of that bug bomb stuff that you set in the room and leave. The stuff was over 33 years old because I bought it when I bought my house but never used it.
So I push the button and throw it in. It is supposed to emit a mist, but i guess it is no good after 33 years so it just sputtered. I wonder what that did to the carpet?
Anyway, a few minutes later I go up and find many of the little suckers are writhing on the floor but you could still faintly hear, "We will get you"
"We know where you live" But it was very weak and I am sure it was an idol threat.
So I made a larger hole in the wall and after soaking the insulation with bee killer I sucked out the remaining dead wasps. Before I opened the vacuum, I sprayed wasp killer into it just to make sure. Then I dumped out the bag which was filled with hundreds of dead and dying bees.
So now I have no more bees, just a big hole in the wall and a house that smells like Napalm.
OK, I thought this was over. Today I go upstairs to patch that hole in the wall. So I bring my big shop vac, a ladder, wasp spray (just to be sure) some calking for the outside, some tools and plaster. So I remove the wasp spray soaked paper towels that I had stuffed in the hole to keep any new creatures from coming in and at the same time I am holding the shop vac hose up to the hole so I can catch any loose plaster.
This is not one of those Sissy shop vacs that is good for picking up belly button lint, this one will suck the brains out of your head through your nose from across the street.
So I take out the paper and I couldn't believe it, there seemed to be more wasps than there was two days ago when I killed hundreds of them.
They were wading through the puddle of wasp spray like it was "Glade air freshener"
(I wonder where they got those tiny boots?)
No really, you can't make this stuff up. But this time I was prepared, this vacuum was sucking them out from 6" away. They didn't know what was happening. The only problem was that the hole to the outside was still open and as soon as I sucked them in, more came in from outside. So I was alternating spraying wasp spray and sucking at the same time, spray, suck, spray, suck etc.
I also found out what that means on the side of the wasp spray can where it says Kills on Contact" I thought that meant, it kills the wasps when it contacts them, but I think it really means that it kills the wasps after the wasp contacts you. They don't really die that fast, Dying the next day is not exactly the time frame I had in mind.
So I finally eliminate most of the creatures and I make the hole in the wall larger so I have good sheetrock to patch. I kept cutting bigger and bigger because I found their hive. They didn't just have a hive in my wall, they were turning my house into a hive. This thing was huge and it was filled with babies. So I kept sucking them out until I got to good insulation. I wonder what they did with all the insulation that used to be in the wall?
Then I stuck in new insulation that I also soaked with wasp spray
(although I think they were using it for cologne) and I calked the outside.
I had to hold the vacuum with me outside because they kept coming back trying to get back into the nest from outside.
So I am done, at least I thought so and I start to go downstairs but I figure let me go and check on my tomato plants on the upstairs deck which is off the bedroom on the opposite side of the house from the wasps.
On the way out I notice that the wall next to that air conditioner is wet. Great. I don't go up there much and everytime I go, it is a surprise. So I go outside to see where the hole is that is letting the water in and guess what I find?
Yep, wasps. I mean, are they freekin kidding me. This time they are "in" the air conditioner that has not been turned on in over 3 years.
Luckily for me, I have the wasp spray in my hand because I was bringing it downstairs. So I spray the coil in the AC and it happened. I got flashbacks from the other day. Wasps are all around me and I think they heard what happened to their cousins and I didn't have the vacuumin my hand so I had to run. A few minutes later I put on my sneakers so they wouldn't hear me and I snuck out armed with more wasp spray, the kind they sell to Sissies because it shoots like 2 football fields away. My deck isn't that big so I was fairly close and like I said this stuff kills on contact, after they contact me so i had to bob and weave but I didn't get stung.
They were mad before but now they just wanted revenge.
I ran inside and quickly shut the screen door. They were crashing into the screen making a horrible noise so I closed the glass door, then I turned on the air conditioner and as soon as I did, I could hear "Ping, ping, bing ding" Yes they were flying into the fan and getting thrown all over the inside of the AC unit. There were wings, abdomins, tiny chains, little broken bottles, flying all over the place, these guys were preparing for war.
But they didn't know who they were dealing with. This reefer Geezer now has wasp experience.
The next time I go up there I will probably find snakes, but I do have to go again to remove the wet sheetrock and calk the AC
Paul, I tried to find the original posts about your sock monkey, but eventually realized this was back in 2010. Let’s say that this website crashed around June 1, 2011, where all post going back about 1 ½ years were lost. So the posts about your sock monkey were lost.
Anyway, maybe this will jog your memory. This is the one photo I pinched from you so that I could label it to show that in fact it was a sock monkey, and not the crab you claimed it to be. If I remember correctly, a crab you found in the sound.
Looks like a sock monkey to me!