What are you doing today?

[Essjay]

Our downstairs toilet won't empty when flushed, so I checked the drain outside. Yes that's the cause, the drain was full of water. This happened 3 years ago and the blockage was under the road so we didn't have to pay. This time we don't know where the blockage is yet, if it's under our garden we'll have to pay to get it cleared. The water company will have someone round before 6.30 pm to take a look.

The water company seems to think this particular drain is shared with next door. If it is a shared drain we won't have pay as the water company pays for shared drains.

 

[emeraldking]

My husband and I have just had ours, we qualify on age grounds.

In two weks I'll have a renewed covid-19 vaccination...

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Interesting. Not a bad idea. I would try a full black one. Do you use the patterned one you sent?

I use the patterned one. It's very subtle; you have to really look to see it, but I like it. The solid ones are easier to attach.

 

[Essjay]

In two weks I'll have a renewed covid-19 vaccination...

And we have ours next Wednesday

We declined the option to have flu and covid vaccines at the same time.

 

[Essjay]

Our drain has been sorted for now. The water company has to respond to a blocked drain within 4 hours and the man was here 2 1/2 hours after I phoned. He had much more sophisticated equipment than last time this happened 3 1/2 years ago so he was able to work out exactly where the problem lay. After he finished clearing the drain he explained the way the drains run.

There is a drain which runs across the front of our house towards the neighbour's house, and they have a drain across the front of theirs which runs towards us. The drains meet at a T junction under their drive, then it runs towards the back of our houses under their garage to where it meets the drain which runs across the back of both houses then into the main sewer; a road runs up the side of their house and that's where our drain meets the main sewer.

The neighbours built this garage as an extension to their house and it's on top of the drain. Either the builders damaged the drain or the weight of the garage caused the damage but a junction in the pipes has slipped down on one side by half the diameter of the drain. There's now a tiny space for the waste to fit down. What the man couldn't say is if the slippage is in their back garden or under the garage because the neighbours are away for a few days and he couldn't go into their garden to investigate. So he pushed a card through their letterbox asking them to ring a number when they get back and arrange a time for someone to come and see where the slippage is. And if it happens again before they're back, they'll come out again within 4 hours to clear it.


The good news is that because it's a shared drain, the water company has to pay

 

[JackGulley]

Have you ever tried window vinyl? This is what I use on all my tanks:

Amazon.com

That’s what I use too! If you spritz the glass with soap water before applying, you can get all the water out with a credit card and have almost no bubbles.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

That’s what I use too! If you spritz the glass with soap water before applying, you can get all the water out with a credit card and have almost no bubbles.

I keep it even simpler than that--plain water works just fine.

 

[connorlindeman]

A severe Geomagnetic storm has caused the northern lights to be visible in nj. My first time seeing the northern lights.

 

[connorlindeman]

 

[jaylach]

Beautiful images! I've seen the Northern Lights with more colors including greens but that was WAY north in Canada around the Hudson Bay area. Still to get ANY colors as far south as NJ is amazing!

Sort of freaky cool the effect isn't it? The 'lights' are actually caused by our Earth's protection that keep us alive. The Earth's magnetic field draws the Sun's cosmic rays to the northern pole and the interaction causes the lights. Without this protection our mother Earth would likely be a sterile wasteland as the Sun's radiation would likely cook us all.

Sadly we tend to think that the Earth is ours to do with as we please but, in reality, this is not so. The Earth is a vibrant living entity. I'm not saying that it is an intelligent entity as we know intelligence but it is still a living organism. Take away life in the oceans and land life dies. LOL! We gripe about algae in our tanks but the algae in the oceans give us most of the oxygen in our air. Actually Algae supplies ~70% of the oxygen that we breathe.

Sorry but I'm kind of ranting a bit... Forget the popular extinction level events such as a big asteroid or comet hitting the Earth that are put out. Sure, such an event could happen but the bigger danger is our own actions. We are actively killing what gives us life. Our Mother Earth gives us a place to live and thrive but we are breaking the lease and she could kick us off the planet with a minor sneeze.

Unless we start to grow a brain cell as a species, and start to relate to our planet, we will cause our own extinction without any need for a big asteroid impact.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've only seen the northern lights once, and it was just some pale whitish waves moving slowly across the sky. No colors like that. Beautiful!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Boiling elk leg bones and jaws. I removed the hooves for bow tip overlays and such, and the jaws will be made into knife handles. I already removed the sinew for backing bows and tying together arrows.

 

[Lanpenn]

For now, nothing new. My brine shrimp culture almost collapsed, but the culture is once again recovering.

Today I took more pictures from the Magnificent (nickname I give to my Betta splendens). This one was the one I liked most:

 

[Alice B]

I've only seen the northern lights once, and it was just some pale whitish waves moving slowly across the sky. No colors like that. Beautiful!

I've never seen them. Supposed to be visible somewhere in Texas but unlikely to penetrate city light pollution

 

[Rocky998]

I just watched the first hour of "when the Levees broke". That was so so sad. I wish I could finish the rest now but I can't.