What are you doing today?

[gwand]

It was a severe downpour with flash flooding and a tornado watch last evening. I stood in the pouring rain under an umbrella waiting for my puppy to poop watching buckets of rain overflow my roof gutters. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, “its raining cats and dogs “.

 

[Back in the fold]

Got my corn , zucchini , bush beans and Swiss Chard planted today . Tomatoes have been out for a week now and the potatoes are 6 - 8 inches tall already . Kale and carrots are up and only have squash left to plant . That’s not even counting the herbs I have in containers on my side porch . Cilantro , two kinds of basil , two kinds of parsley and chives .

 

[Alice B]

my job got rained out by heavy rain with hail this morning, but I only got about an inch of rain and the garage roof doesn't leak as bad as it used to. (yes when the slab sinks during a drought it can crack 2x4 rafters and cause leaks, who knew? )
On Dune, well on movies in general. if i am not sewing or crocheting or taking breaks to tend pets, stretch legs and get tea, I fall asleep on anything over an hour. So I will watch the 2024, for free, streaming when I get around to it, probably when I'm using a seam ripper. and then I will put the 1984 version on my to watch list. At some point I want to re-read the book but keeping a roof over my head comes first. Still I am glad to know what they messed up @jaylach

 

[jaylach]

my job got rained out by heavy rain with hail this morning, but I only got about an inch of rain and the garage roof doesn't leak as bad as it used to. (yes when the slab sinks during a drought it can crack 2x4 rafters and cause leaks, who knew? )
On Dune, well on movies in general. if i am not sewing or crocheting or taking breaks to tend pets, stretch legs and get tea, I fall asleep on anything over an hour. So I will watch the 2024, for free, streaming when I get around to it, probably when I'm using a seam ripper. and then I will put the 1984 version on my to watch list. At some point I want to re-read the book but keeping a roof over my head comes first. Still I am glad to know what they messed up @jaylach

There are even books in the series, mostly done by Frank Herbert's son, specific to each major family along with stories associated with 'The Machine Wars' which were way before Dune.

 

[Alice B]

There are even books in the series, mostly done by Frank Herbert's son, specific to each major family along with stories associated with 'The Machine Wars' which were way before Dune.

Maybe when or if I ever get to retire. I used to have the first 5 and read them. First 3 were good, last couple lost me, but I no longer had time.

 

[Oldspartan]

I am a huge SF / Fantasy fan and have several hundred books of genre on my shelves and have given away many more over the years. My two favs are Asimov;s Foundation Series and of course the 5 books of Tolkien's Middle earth.

I found Dune to be too scattered for my taste and the movie to be poorly edited, my opinion.

Many SF / fantasy books just do not translate well into movies although I think Lord of the Rings was an excellent exception.

 

[Oldspartan]

Today I will be taking advantage of a mild day to tidy up the yard edges with a weed whipper as I call the Wacker. Linda will be planting annuals at the edges of her flower beds.

I am hoping my pond plants arrive today and if so they will be floated. I am very concerned about their health because they were shipped on Thursday. The shipper is only a couple hundred miles from me and in hindsihjt I should have taken a day trip and picked them up. I think this is the first time I ever order a living thing on line and am thinking it might be my last.

 

[GaryE]

I've never been able to get into SF and fantasy. I love reading, but wonder whether there's anything we can make up weirder than what has already happened. I'm a history book guy, mainly with social history and all the complicated ways people stayed alive in our nasty past. I liked Lord of the Rings a lot, but the others just haven't caught my eye.
Maybe I need glasses...

Today I hope to video my Enigmatochromis lucanusi dwarf Cichlids. They've excavated a nest and may or may not have eggs. Signs are they do, but we'll see. I won't have a look in their cave, as I want fry. Ideally, two pairs would let me move forward with the species, and enjoy them for longer. In a perfect world, I can video them daily as the process of spawning, guarding eggs, guarding larvae, taking the fry on expeditions outside the nest and raising them up unfolds. I bred the fish years ago, and didn't have the means to film them. I also didn't have the space to raise them, as I do now.

The Cichlid hobby has fallen on hard times, but dwarf Cichlids SHOULD still be popular. They aren't. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back to them, because they really are fascinating to watch.

Oh yeah, I have to vacuum too. The dog is shedding tumbleweeds.

 

[Back in the fold]

@GaryE Why do you say that the cichlid hobby has fallen on hard times ? Is it your own efforts or the greater cichlid hobby as a whole ? My own observations in local shops are that I never see anything other than Oscars and Convicts among the mid to large size cichlids where I used to see Port Cichlids , Firemouths and Festivum , among others , years ago . I haven’t seen any Kribensis in a long time and even the ever present Mikrogeophagus ramerizi seems to be disappearing . It certainly takes large aquariums and space to keep these fish successfully and that practice is diminishing it seems . The only cichlids I see with any frequency are African Rift Lake varieties but only the common ones . Haven’t seen any marlieri in ages .

 

[Essjay]

I was diagnosed with ocular hypertension about 15 years ago and was prescribed eye drops to keep the pressure down which I've been using ever since. Until 2020 I had a hospital check up every year. Last time I saw my optician she asked was I still being seen every year at the hospital. No, I said, my last visit at the hospital eye department was 2020 when the doctor, a locum, said I didn't need to go back, just get my optician to check the pressure and refer me back if it went up. She was most unhappy at this as she's not qualified to monitor ocular hypertension, so she said she'd see if there was anyone in the area who was. Then I got a letter from her saying there was no-one so ask my GP to refer me back to the hospital.
My appointment was this afternoon, and the first thing the doctor said was to apologise for them having lost me in the system. When I said what had happened he was not impressed. He said high street opticians are not qualified to monitor anyone using eye drops. At the end of the consultation, the doctor stressed that he'd see me next year. The pressure is still in the normal range and the scan showed my eyes are fine.

So much for that locum saying I didn't need to go back!

 

[gwand]

This is a wonderful development.

First-of-its-kind medical school in Cherokee Nation graduates inaugural class of doctors — PBS NewsHour

Oklahoma State University partnered with the Cherokee Nation to open the College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2020 to help erase the shortage of Indigenous doctors nationwide.

apple.news

 

[GaryE]

@GaryE Why do you say that the cichlid hobby has fallen on hard times ? Is it your own efforts or the greater cichlid hobby as a whole ? My own observations in local shops are that I never see anything other than Oscars and Convicts among the mid to large size cichlids where I used to see Port Cichlids , Firemouths and Festivum , among others , years ago . I haven’t seen any Kribensis in a long time and even the ever present Mikrogeophagus ramerizi seems to be disappearing . It certainly takes large aquariums and space to keep these fish successfully and that practice is diminishing it seems . The only cichlids I see with any frequency are African Rift Lake varieties but only the common ones . Haven’t seen any marlieri in ages .

I see a drop in groups like the American Cichlid Association, a drop in Cichlid News circulation, and larger than that - what you see. Oscars are cool, but too large for most people. Convicts are cheap, but destructive. Where is all the diversity I would see in local shops? My local in Montreal had 8 banks of 18 tanks. There were 2 full banks devoted to Cichlids - one to mbuna and Tangas, and one to South American and the odd African river ones. Usually, there were many varieties of domestic angels and a few Apistos mixed in the tetra section.
The last time I dropped by, a few weeks ago when I was on the road, they had 3/4 of a bank of Rift Cichlids, and barely any SA Cichlids. The space was taken by interesting Asian imports.
The store here in my new town doesn't sell any SA Cichlids, and has one mixed tank of mbuna. It isn't a bad store - the fish are healthy and the Asian, nano-fish are cool. This isn't a knock on Asian fish, which can be fascinating and often thrive in smaller tanks.
People often can't afford the space for dwarf Cichlids. Housing costs have skyrocketed, and wages haven't. Small tanks rule, and fish that need space are cut out. Oscars, severum and the lab-rat parrots are everywhere, but you really have to look for the less known stuff. I know importers who have stopped bringing in non predatory Cichlids, because no one buys them, and they are a loss. That's a shame - at a time when species are being discovered at a great rate, they aren't entering the hobby because there isn't enough curiosity, and there aren't enough resources to keep even the easy ones.

I will never be primarily a Cichlid guy, but they are among the most fascinating fish to watch. I have seen amazing Cichlid behaviour, more than any other fish group. It appears economics and the times have really undercut the Cichlid Hobby though. It has become something of the past in many regions.

I'm no different. I now have breeder pairs of 4 dwarf Cichlids, one lone male Nanacara adoketa, and that's it. I once had 15 Apistogramma species here, but since I use some species to pay for my costs, Cichlid info doesn't sell anymore and those resources go elsewhere.

 

[jaylach]

I see a drop in groups like the American Cichlid Association, a drop in Cichlid News circulation, and larger than that - what you see. Oscars are cool, but too large for most people. Convicts are cheap, but destructive. Where is all the diversity I would see in local shops? My local in Montreal had 8 banks of 18 tanks. There were 2 full banks devoted to Cichlids - one to mbuna and Tangas, and one to South American and the odd African river ones. Usually, there were many varieties of domestic angels and a few Apistos mixed in the tetra section.
The last time I dropped by, a few weeks ago when I was on the road, they had 3/4 of a bank of Rift Cichlids, and barely any SA Cichlids. The space was taken by interesting Asian imports.
The store here in my new town doesn't sell any SA Cichlids, and has one mixed tank of mbuna. It isn't a bad store - the fish are healthy and the Asian, nano-fish are cool. This isn't a knock on Asian fish, which can be fascinating and often thrive in smaller tanks.
People often can't afford the space for dwarf Cichlids. Housing costs have skyrocketed, and wages haven't. Small tanks rule, and fish that need space are cut out. Oscars, severum and the lab-rat parrots are everywhere, but you really have to look for the less known stuff. I know importers who have stopped bringing in non predatory Cichlids, because no one buys them, and they are a loss. That's a shame - at a time when species are being discovered at a great rate, they aren't entering the hobby because there isn't enough curiosity, and there aren't enough resources to keep even the easy ones.

I will never be primarily a Cichlid guy, but they are among the most fascinating fish to watch. I have seen amazing Cichlid behaviour, more than any other fish group. It appears economics and the times have really undercut the Cichlid Hobby though. It has become something of the past in many regions.

I'm no different. I now have breeder pairs of 4 dwarf Cichlids, one lone male Nanacara adoketa, and that's it. I once had 15 Apistogramma species here, but since I use some species to pay for my costs, Cichlid info doesn't sell anymore and those resources go elsewhere.

I think another factor is the chain stores going with what is the 'fad of the time' for the general public; not talking about experienced keepers. They are going to sell what they can get the cheapest and sell for the most which seems to be glowfish at the moment. Take my local Petco as an example. Their stock of glowfish matches or exceeds their stock of all other types of fish combined. I won't buy fish from Petco, especially with Dan's Fish right next to my apartments, but I look a bit when picking up meal works for my rope.

Other than the cost/profit aspect these chain stores are not going to keep the number of tanks needed to do cichlids. With few exceptions they would need separate tanks for each cichlid species. Having all these tanks just isn't cost effective for them.

Now let's take the suppliers... what are they going to stock? What sells quickly or fish that need, at least, a bit of knowledge? Sadly the days of REALLY good privately owned stores seem to be gone. I'm not saying that there are no good private stores but they are rare compared to what was around in the 1980's and 90's.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Finished flooring the upstairs bath and hallway, and the Badgerling's room. All that remains is our bedroom, which shouldn't be too hard as it's just a big square with only one bumpout. The bathroom was awful--the bumpouts have bumpouts, the toilet wasn't properly installed which caused extra work, there's a deep but narrow closet, and overhanging counter tops, all in a narrow, rather cramped space. Once that room was done? The rest of it is a relative piece of cake. But all this crouching reminds me that I'm not 25 anymore.

 

[Fishmanic]

Finished flooring the upstairs bath and hallway, and the Badgerling's room. All that remains is our bedroom, which shouldn't be too hard as it's just a big square with only one bumpout. The bathroom was awful--the bumpouts have bumpouts, the toilet wasn't properly installed which caused extra work, there's a deep but narrow closet, and overhanging counter tops, all in a narrow, rather cramped space. Once that room was done? The rest of it is a relative piece of cake. But all this crouching reminds me that I'm not 25 anymore.

Just curious.. what type of flooring are you laying down