Random pic thread.

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If I remember right you live in Marion. Where are you getting your fish? I have 7 tanks and 3 koi ponds. LOL

Well...

First I bought a Blue Betta Fish from Petsmart in Morganton with a 5 gallon tank set up.
Then I bought 5 Neon Tetras and 5 Rasbora's from Tropical Fish for Sale... they were supposed to be good tank mates for a Betta. (I got them on sale which helped cover the over-nighting fee.) Around $100.
Then within a week, everything died except for the Blue Betta and 1 Neon Tettra.
So I ordered another 6 Neon Tetras, 5 Rasboras, and 2 Julii Cory's to help keep the tank clean. Another $100
Within two days, the Blue Betta was dead.
Within two more days, the 5 Rasboras were dead.
I ordered two female Bettas from Prismbettas.com... which were STUPID expensive. We're talking $38 each and imported from Thighland as show quality Bettas. I ordered females so I could have more than 1. Another $100.
Within 24 hours, both female Bettas were dead.

I'd effing had it at this point.

During all this bullshit, I'd bought a water testing kit, I'd read dozens of articles, tried to remember everything I could about raising fish... and couldn't figure out why nothing was working. Even though at times the 5 gallon was overstocked, the ammonia levels were still negligible because of water changes...

So after the gym one morning, I waited until Walmart opened at 6am, went inside and bought a 10 gallon tank kit(Which was only $34!!!) and some fake plants, some different food, and some other stuff.

Put together the new aquarium, put in the new plant decorations, and moved the 7 surviving and apparently invincible Neon Tetra's into it. And hurled everything else from the old tank into the trashcan in a righteous childish rage.

Two days later, they were still alive.

So this past Friday, driving back from Statesville, I stopped off at the Petsmart in Hickory and bought another Betta. (The one in the picture). This time it was like fish shopping at the pound. Poor things in little containers. Anyways, bought one for $10 with a 14 day guarantee!! (The $32 ones only had a 1 hour guarantee from time they arrive.)

I did everything right, acclimated him, put him in, and he's in there terrorizing the tetras cause it turns out he's pretty aggressive.

So what went wrong?

Simple.

When I bought my first tank set up, I let my daughter pick out the decoration. She picked out this godawful looking coral thingy... and I promptly washed it in the DISHWASHER.

And the dishwasher soap, especially the 'squeaky clean no haze' additives got absorbed into the decoration and had been poisoning all my fish the entire time.

So there's all the places I bought and murdered fishies from.
 
Hung a picture for my wife in the dining room last weekend and thought I had mismeasured... I didn't. The dang light fixture is 4" off center. It's making my eye twitch now.

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Sounds like it’s time for a “decorative j hook” and for that light to hang a little bit higher.
 
Sounds like it’s time for a “decorative j hook” and for that light to hang a little bit higher.
I'm probably going to go with the easiest solution and just ignore that room 🤣 We've been in this house 2 yrs now and I have yet to eat in there.
 
Hung a picture for my wife in the dining room last weekend and thought I had mismeasured... I didn't. The dang light fixture is 4" off center. It's making my eye twitch now.

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One of my biggest pet peaves.
Frequently the center of a stud is the center of a room and then a 3" or 4" box is nailed to the stud. then the fixture centerline is the middle of the box....Cant tell you how many times when I was doing resi work Id siser to a joist to mound a box or fram out a cross beam and an inspector will frequently fail it until you explain it...
 
One of my biggest pet peaves.
Frequently the center of a stud is the center of a room and then a 3" or 4" box is nailed to the stud. then the fixture centerline is the middle of the box....Cant tell you how many times when I was doing resi work Id siser to a joist to mound a box or fram out a cross beam and an inspector will frequently fail it until you explain it...
Yup. I'm 100% sure that is the case here. I'm going to marinate on it to see if it bothers me enough to attempt to fix it.
 
Yesterday was my grandson’s birthday and we went to Hanes Mall (it takes all my will to make myself go to any mall, much less that one) to eat and go to Build-A-Bear. Well he gets a birthday bear for the price of his age, $2, and I see the red dinosaur…..

So Babaw (me) gets him the red dinosaur, with dinosaur roar in the foot and strawberry smell….I named him on the birth certificate “Strawberrysaurus-Rex”….and dressed him in tighty whiteys only. It just seems fitting for my gift to my best buddy.


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His party is this Saturday, have family coming. I am building him a zipline with the winch cable I didn’t use on my Jeep winch. Pics of that later.
 
Had to replace the thermostat today. I bought one of those radiator funnels that uses a radiator cap to attach to the radiator. I’ve never used one before but I thought it would just burp the system while the Jeep ran. Well I guess I over filled it because next thing I know I have a waterfall going EVERYWHERE.

Lesson learned I guess

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Drove it around since I replaced the thermostat. It's crazy how much better it drives at normal operating temperature! I would have never thought an engine running too cold would affect how it behaves so much. Not too mention my cab get's oven hot now with the blazer motor swap
 
Yesterday was my grandson’s birthday and we went to Hanes Mall (it takes all my will to make myself go to any mall, much less that one) to eat and go to Build-A-Bear. Well he gets a birthday bear for the price of his age, $2, and I see the red dinosaur…..

So Babaw (me) gets him the red dinosaur, with dinosaur roar in the foot and strawberry smell….I named him on the birth certificate “Strawberrysaurus-Rex”….and dressed him in tighty whiteys only. It just seems fitting for my gift to my best buddy.


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His party is this Saturday, have family coming. I am building him a zipline with the winch cable I didn’t use on my Jeep winch. Pics of that later.
That thing is huge. Your grandkid will love it, your kids are not. But I fully support the direction this is going.

Also, I've got a few winch cable Zipline too. I forget where I buy the trolleys from, but got some stainless parts up there that I leave on year round. Pro tip you can use a winch snatch block in a pinch and there's enough resistance in it that it keeps the zip adventure a bit more tame for the first week or so.
 
My boy turns 2 today ❤️
Grandkids Rule!


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My parents keep saying how much more they like their grandkids than their actual children. I find this hard to believe because I live with two of their grandkids and they can be real turds.
 
Had my grandfather's old corn sheller refinished. Turned out pretty nice imo.
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That thing is huge. Your grandkid will love it, your kids are not. But I fully support the direction this is going.

Also, I've got a few winch cable Zipline too. I forget where I buy the trolleys from, but got some stainless parts up there that I leave on year round. Pro tip you can use a winch snatch block in a pinch and there's enough resistance in it that it keeps the zip adventure a bit more tame for the first week or so.
Most of the hardware came from TSC and I got the zipline catch spring from Amazon. You put it on the cable on the low end to avoid tree to the face.


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This past Thursday my wife and I attended my final Military Ball. It is the Saint Barbara’s Ball. Named for the Patron Saint of the Field Artillery. We had a blast and took the opportunity to get a nice photo of us all dressed up in our fancy duds.

Yes, my wife is a Heathen.
 

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This past Thursday my wife and I attended my final Military Ball. It is the Saint Barbara’s Ball. Named for the Patron Saint of the Field Artillery. We had a blast and took the opportunity to get a nice photo of us all dressed up in our fancy duds.

Yes, my wife is a Heathen.
Badass! If you ever get in a tight spot, I picture her riding in on the back of a large wolf and saving your ass!
 
Most of the hardware came from TSC and I got the zipline catch spring from Amazon. You put it on the cable on the low end to avoid tree to the face.


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I just put on another cable clamp to stop. It's a hard stop for the trolley, but I've got a good bit of rope to a board the kids sit or stand on. Trolley hits the clamp and they swing towards the tree, but don't hit it.

Your going to want a two wheel trolley pretty soon. The single wheel will rack sideways and drag the frame on the cable scrubbing speed and wearing parts. I pay around $100 for mine, but I want to make sure I can leave it up year long and not worry about it corroding.

Ziplines are one of those things my kids still enjoy and use. Sometimes we move them around for a new experience. Got plans for one over the marsh grass by the water. This one they have to exit the the tree house at about 15' up then span the swamp at an elevation of 25' before getting to high ground on the other side. They're going to have to harness up for that one though. And I haven't figured out how they get the trolley back to the tree house yet. Maybe use an old fishing reel with some 30lb test on it so if it gets hung up it will just break the line and not create a sudden stop.

Hillbilly backyard fun for the win!!! No screen time at my house...
 
I just put on another cable clamp to stop. It's a hard stop for the trolley, but I've got a good bit of rope to a board the kids sit or stand on. Trolley hits the clamp and they swing towards the tree, but don't hit it.

Your going to want a two wheel trolley pretty soon. The single wheel will rack sideways and drag the frame on the cable scrubbing speed and wearing parts. I pay around $100 for mine, but I want to make sure I can leave it up year long and not worry about it corroding.

Ziplines are one of those things my kids still enjoy and use. Sometimes we move them around for a new experience. Got plans for one over the marsh grass by the water. This one they have to exit the the tree house at about 15' up then span the swamp at an elevation of 25' before getting to high ground on the other side. They're going to have to harness up for that one though. And I haven't figured out how they get the trolley back to the tree house yet. Maybe use an old fishing reel with some 30lb test on it so if it gets hung up it will just break the line and not create a sudden stop.

Hillbilly backyard fun for the win!!! No screen time at my house...
Thanksgiving festivities for all the kids, and Grandma...
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