A glimpse into the madness [rowing, projects]

I actually had a full-on rowing nightmare last night, which is a little unusual for me. Unusual rowing dreams are par for the course. Basically, I was out in a quad, but it suddenly started to take on water and sink, and two people in the boat drowned, in spite of my every effort to pull them out, and then I was tasked with explaining what happened to some very distraught people while still being really upset, myself. Thanks, subconscious!

I think that it was also so gusty and windy last night that I just couldn't sleep well. I suspect George also found the wind upsetting; at one point after I got up, he was down in the basement, meowing at the unknown, but he seemed to settle down again when the winds temporarily died down.

Anyway, I wound up deciding to not go to rowing practice this morning, because I was feeling a little too overwhelmed and behind on things. Instead I got up and put air in Froinlavin's tires (in hopeful preparation for a bike ride tomorrow), and then headed down to the boatyard.

One of the things I looked at yesterday while I was out shopping, was chain link fence parts:



Some time ago, someone apparently backed their vehicle into one of the boatyard's side access gates, breaking this U-bolt holding the gate hinge on:



I could see from the lower hinge (not pictured) that the fit for these U-bolts isn't ideal for this application, anyway. So I bought a different piece of hardware and put it in there as a replacement:



I had to rummage around to find a sufficiently long carriage bolt and nut, but this is a reasonable fix here.

We don't even actually use this gate at all these days, and even after this repair it still seems rather flimsy overall, so I think I might also add another chain between the two gate halves, towards the top, just to ensure things stay held together.

Also, this project has dramatically increased my respect and admiration for ranunculus and all of the fences and gates that she is repairing and maintaining all the time.

Up until now I really haven't messed at all with the gates or fences, because technically all this stuff is City property (although City employees tell us that they definitely did not install any of the barbed wire that is at the top of sections of the fence, so who knows what the full story is). But in spite of longstanding and repeated requests and pleas, the City has done almost nothing to keep the fence standing. So up next I am eyeing the wheels for the gates we DO use, all the time:





It's unclear to me whether any of these gate wheels actually have any bearings left to speak of, or even had bearings to begin with. The parts are so worn out by now that the retainer tabs that are supposed to keep these wheels on their rails frequently come undone, which can cause these really heavy gates to come crashing down. They are also exceptionally hard to slide open and closed, probably because they don't so much slide as scrape.

A cursory internet search suggests that replacement parts aren't even all that egregiously expensive, although I can't tell if the hits I'm seeing are for the same size as what's on these gates. This does not appear to be a product carried by the local big-box hardware stores, unfortunately, as it would be most ideal to be able to go somewhere and heft these in person before committing to buying them.

So I will probably wind up fixing these, too.

But for now, back to grading again.

Alternatives to...

I think my sister is the person who shared a link to this website:

https://www.bankrupttrump.org/

I've been trying to avoid the Jungle for shopping as much as I can, anyway. I am unsurprised but mad about the recent change where they will no longer sell you a copy of any ebooks you buy through them - ebooks are now rent-only. I didn't care for the Jungle's monopolistic behavior or its greedy owner full of greed prior to that, but these kinds of changes solidify my sentiments.

And similar sentiments extend to a number of other large corporations.

But for some categories of things, it can be really challenging to figure out alternative suppliers anymore. For instance, recently I ordered some things from some plastics manufacturer, and they sent along Jesus propaganda with the order. Ugh, what. And now I'd like to shop for plastic spray bottle nozzles (which seem to always break before the bottle does), but definitely not from that company. It took until this morning for a lightbulb to go off: I can probably get that item from McMaster-Carr instead. Is McMaster-Carr any better, though? (head explodes). I guess at least so far they haven't sent me religious propaganda.

Anyway. If people are serious about this boycotting business, it would probably help to provide ideas for alternative places to shop!

New fish friends [animals]

The big saltwater tank in the main part of the Animal Physiology lab has been rather forlorn for a long while; my colleague fills it with fun invertebrates when teaching the Biology of the Invertebrates, but that class has only been taught on a sporadic schedule the last several years. In-between, the invertebrates die off and it sits dormant and neglected.

So I have put some fish in it. I read about saltwater fish that are relatively easy to take care of, and clownfish are at the top of the list.





The person helping me at the aquarium store also recommended a royal gramma, saying that they are usually shy but are therefore a good fish for a fairly empty tank. So far the royal gramma has been living up to that reputation; the only way I got a glimpse telling me it's still alive is by sneaking up on the aquarium in the dark.

I have a feeling that students are going to share my reaction to the clownfish: instantly in love.

Watch on YouTube

I also upgraded the female betta tank with a light:



After hearing about the state of my setups, the fish store guy recommended holding off on adding more fish in with the bettas, for now; I need to test the betta water to look at ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and see where things stand in terms of the tank's nitrogen cycling. I suspect their tank is fairly far along, but I take his point.

Most likely I will NOT look to add any more new animals anytime in the near future. Well, other than the crayfish, but those come and go quickly. Other than that, the Zoo is Full.

In case you wondered, it is WAY more fun to watch fish than to grade lab reports. But I only have 2 reports left. And a stack of exams to grade. And another writing assignment to grade. *sigh*