What are you doing today?

[WhistlingBadger]

Today I've been shopping for some football shirts I've wanted for a while. Managed to get last season's Feyenoord Home shirt, England 2005-06, RC Lens 2023-24, Malaga 2024-25, Sampdoria 2022-23 and an oddball Banyuwangi Putra 2024-25 shirt (Indonesian 4th division)
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I also found an interesting shirt from a somewhat local team near me - Northwich Victoria
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The shirt honours famous resident Rupert Holmes & his Pina Coladas

Pina colada, hope and glory. What more do you need, really?

 

[GaryE]

I had the dog out this morning, on a cool, showery day with a light wind. The sea though, is wild. Poseidon seems to have woken up angry, and the surf is crashing in. It's usually only this loud when a gale or hurricane is stirring it up. I'm going to walk down and have a look at it in a few minutes. And no, I won't go where the undertow can get me. I like to stay very dry.

As a kid, I loved lakes, as I loved fishing. Sometimes, this bay could almost be a freshwater lake - it can be calm and flat, or with a gentle swell, in spite of it having some of the highest tides in the world. It can be brown blue or grey. If I had the right boat, it could be a highway to a lot of places I'd like to go. I've stood on beaches in Ireland, Scotland, Gabon, Honduras and Jamaica, considering how they could be 'country roads' to take me home to docks just up the street. I could even finish the journey on a city bus.

These fishtanks of ours are water droplets compared to what's out there. I have a friend who wants to take a guided tour in Peru, to look for Corydoras group fishes. On paper, it sounds great, but budget wise, less so. This though is the kind of morning when travel seems necessary. I have itchy walking feet.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I had the dog out this morning, on a cool, showery day with a light wind. The sea though, is wild. Poseidon seems to have woken up angry, and the surf is crashing in. It's usually only this loud when a gale or hurricane is stirring it up. I'm going to walk down and have a look at it in a few minutes. And no, I won't go where the undertow can get me. I like to stay very dry.

As a kid, I loved lakes, as I loved fishing. Sometimes, this bay could almost be a freshwater lake - it can be calm and flat, or with a gentle swell, in spite of it having some of the highest tides in the world. It can be brown blue or grey. If I had the right boat, it could be a highway to a lot of places I'd like to go. I've stood on beaches in Ireland, Scotland, Gabon, Honduras and Jamaica, considering how they could be 'country roads' to take me home to docks just up the street. I could even finish the journey on a city bus.

These fishtanks of ours are water droplets compared to what's out there. I have a friend who wants to take a guided tour in Peru, to look for Corydoras group fishes. On paper, it sounds great, but budget wise, less so. This though is the kind of morning when travel seems necessary. I have itchy walking feet.

Ah, you make me think of Tolkein:

He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.

I tend to think of water in the same way: There is only one body of water; it is all connected. Sure there are isolated lakes and ponds, but if you consider groundwater and the water cycle, even those are connected. This aquarium hobby frequently fuels my wander lust. I would love to go to the places that my tanks attempt to immigrate. This need for groceries and health care is such an annoyance.

 

[Back in the fold]

01 Dodge -- I thought I was the only one to drive a truck till the shoes came off and the feet were but nubs.

That’s how I’ve driven every vehicle I’ve ever had . I use them up . They’re too expensive these days to just buy them on a whim . I know a guy who’s even better , his newest car is a 1996 . He refuses to buy a new car and guess what ? He’s got money .

 

[MaloK]

I finally received my new air pump and I'm glad it's far away, but good pressure is restored on both tanks for less than half the energy price.

They give 2 dogs whistle with it... I'm not sure if companies even try their, stuff but these check valves plays trumpet in the tanks. I trashed them and went back to the old, loll...

A lots of biofilm spewed off the outtakes to the joy of the Shrimps.

 

[jaylach]

Just freaked out a lady neighbor in my apartments. She was talking about how she loved baby critters so I printed out an 8X10 of the following. I was walking of the paths in the nature reserve and almost stepped on this one. Did a quick focus and snapped and got out of the area as I could hear rustling in the surrounding bushes which I imagine was an unhappy mom. If you don't know critters it is a pretty close to new born baby white tail deer.

 

[GaryE]

When you plunk a city guy down in the woods, you generally get someone who likes deer. The locals often hate them, and they do mess up your plans and gardens. But when those fawns begin to wander, they are really something.

I saw a beauty of a black bear the other day. We're well within its possible range, but getting here would be slightly difficult for it. There's a children's park with mazes and such about a km from the door, and with that there, the local bears aren't allowed to hang around. I'm hoping the one I saw stays away, for its sake and for mine. Raccoons are enough trouble. I've looked over at the fishroom window and seen deer staring in watching me, and raccoons have visited under the windows for a peek a number of times. I don't want to look up and see a bear nodding at me and admiring the killifish. If it decides it wants some, as any sane animal that sees killifish should, that could be a problem.

The city has voted to bulldoze the interior of a peninsula just "over there" to me, to build an industrial park. Our economy is de-industrializing, and at best it would be warehousing for the port, if we can diversify our trade to Europe. This region survives on sending raw materials to the US market, but that market has been largely closed, and we're looking around for new outlets. The industrial park, which may end up largely unused, will destroy a 400 year old old growth area. That doesn't seem to be much of a solution.

Hey, but if you go to the lovely little town of Fortune, Newfoundland, you're only 25km from part of France.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Just freaked out a lady neighbor in my apartments. She was talking about how she loved baby critters so I printed out an 8X10 of the following. I was walking of the paths in the nature reserve and almost stepped on this one. Did a quick focus and snapped and got out of the area as I could hear rustling in the surrounding bushes which I imagine was an unhappy mom. If you don't know critters it is a pretty close to new born baby white tail deer.

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I almost stepped on a muley fawn one time when I was wandering around in the bighorns. It was early morning and mom was off feeding somewhere. I sat down a few feet away and started talking to it, and after a while it lifted up its head and cocked its ears at me. Kind of a nice moment. But in retrospect, not the right thing to do. I'm kind of lucky mom didn't show up and kick my butt.

 

[jaylach]

I almost stepped on a muley fawn one time when I was wandering around in the bighorns. It was early morning and mom was off feeding somewhere. I sat down a few feet away and started talking to it, and after a while it lifted up its head and cocked its ears at me. Kind of a nice moment. But in retrospect, not the right thing to do. I'm kind of lucky mom didn't show up and kick my butt.

I like mule dear. I used to have one that would follow me around like a puppy looking for a home.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I have two positive customer service experiences today, one of them with a government-run agency. I might die of shock!

 

[jaylach]

I have two positive customer service experiences today, one of them with a government-run agency. I might die of shock!

LOL! You lie, You LIE! There is no possible way one could have a positive experience with a government agency!

 

[MattW]

Bumped into the lady who runs my local pet shop today. Not seen here in a while. Found out she had contracted fish TB from one of the many tanks at the shop . The Platy tank, to be precise. It got into a small cut on the end of the finger, and even after antibiotics, it spread along the hand to the vein at the top of the arm. Luckily, stronger meds helped reduce the lesions and bumps. She said if those meds hadn't helped, sepsis would have probably been the next symptom. I'm happy that it got treated since she's the only pet shop in the village. It also reminded me to order some more Nitrile Gloves since I'm running low. I wouldn't take any chances with my 90L tank. Half of the fish I bred in there had fish TB..

 

[GaryE]

Ouch - it's a story I've written in other threads, but my bout of fish tb (Celebes rainbows) gave me a hard lesion on my hand and another 3 inches above my wrist. It follows the lymphatic system. 6 months of a multiple antibiotic cocktail was all it took. I would also put hand warmers in my gloves when I went out (the usefulness of long Canadian winters) as the bacteria hates heat. This could have caused an ugly scarring, I was told, but I figured I'll never be a hand model anyway. It didn't happen, and eventually, it helped get rid of that very tough bacterial fortress that had grown on the skin surface.

Now that I live beside the sea, I've learned it's an occupational hazard for industrial scuba divers. I don't know how you'd expose your hands to the cold water down there, but there are many things I don't know. Maybe that I don't want to know.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

The ladybugs have been hatching out all over the place. Hundreds and hundreds of them. It’s an aphid horror movie around here.

Did you know that when ladybugs first come out of the pupa, they are bright, egg yolk yellow? I didn’t. But now I do. And so do you. You’re welcome.

 

[GaryE]

Interesting - I went to show my appreciation for the previous post, and we don't have a simple "thank you" emoji. Ach, the world we live in. We can like or comment, but not simply thank.