The Realm

Well I was right in yesterday's post. I was out all day. I headed out to Treasure Island again to test out most of my new gear. I got there right after a light storm so there was hardly anyone left on the beach. My new snorkel works fine. Though it's a bit big for my mouth. I can get used to it. Or get a kid's one. The mask has two problem. One: the glass presses on the bridge of my nose and hurts. I won't be able to go deep with it if that's the case as the pressure will make it worse. Two, the nose fills up with water a bit so that even though I'm not breathing in the salt water still stings. I had it fully tight so that's a problem. I may have to keep looking for a better mask but for now it does work and is better than nothing. I did film but my gopro shuts off the screen after a few seconds and there's nothing I can do about it. Not that I know. So I can't tell if I'm recording. I got 90% bad footage. This next video won't have much underwater stuff. I did find some decent shells and had a good time. The only bad thing that happened was that I dropped my nice Simple Modern thermos in the parking lot and it got dented. I love that thing. But I didn't find many shells and as always went to the shell shop that is walking distance from where I park and bought some goodies to make up for the lack of find. I'll make a video shortly. So, I'm thinking Treasure Island sucks for shells. Actually pretty much I think all our beaches do. It's because the current runs north to south and all our barrier islands are north to south. Sanibel gets amazing shells, not just stupid bivalves, because the are the only island running east to west. They also get a sunrise and sunset. We just get sunsets. The pan handle beaches get better shells because they run east west too. I want to try Ft. Desoto in south St Pete because it's a V shaped island that might get some of those northward coming shells. The V points south just like the actual letter. I was surprised when I learned we have cone snails in Florida, but I have never ever seen any in all the times I've been to the coast. Did not find any on this outing.

I got a new Bible the other day. I think I finally found the one for me. It's another purple sword study with all the extra info but most importantly the words of God in red in the old and new testaments. This one is Large Print vs my Giant Print I had. The print is smaller but that's ok. I actually use my travel Bible a lot which has teeny tiny font and I can read it fine. The Giant print one had the problem that the whole Bible was too big and heavy for me. Not something I can carry around for daily reading. So I only have two problems with the Sword Study Bible. For being expensive it has terrible maps in the back. They are made of thin paper and not even colored. Chris's blue Bible has the best maps I've seen in glossy paper, bright colors and even shows the mission travels of Paul and other neat things. And that's a "cheap" Bible. Guess Sword Study ran out of funding at the end. Heh heh. And the other thing is I like headers in the chapters and within chapters when subjects change. Oh and two more ribbons would have been nice. So my perfect Bible would have these things.

* King James Version
* Soft leather or leather like cover. Soft and squishy
* Light or decent weight. Easy to carry.
* Large font without the book becoming huge.
* Red letters on both testaments. This is major. I'm spoiled now that I've had both.
* Subject headers at the start of each chapter and within chapter subject changes
* Several beautiful maps in color on glossy paper
* Different reading plans in the back, index, concordance, etc usual stuff at the back.
* Minimum of three silky colorful ribbons matching the cover color
* Pretty cover colors to choose from: turquoise, neon green, neon pink, light purple, coral, pale yellow, white
* (optional) margins on the side to write or draw. I can do with out this because I know this would negate the large print and make the Bible bigger and heavier. So for this I think there should be an Interleaved version with the points above with medium point font to keep the size small. Interleaved is a blank page after every page making it wider unfortunately. But that would be the artist's Bible for full page art in each chapter almost.
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Happy August everyone. I have some neat photos to share. Yesterday we got the new entertainment set for the bedroom. I have been wanting this for over a year and after all the birthday money and cards I got I finally ordered this. So here are some progress pics.



Here's the old set up. My PS4, Xbox, bluray player and accessories on two fold out tables. This has worked, but it was messy and small. It was time for a change. Especially after Chris got such a nice Entertainment set in his room.

( More pics )


https://youtu.be/S9aCcdRi350

Here is a video of my trip to Treasure Island. First time officially shelling. I'd love to go shelling once a week but driving that much in Pinellas county would make me a nervous wreck. Florida drivers are bad but Pinellas is one of the worst areas. Probably third after Miami/Dade and Orlando. It does not help my driving phobia at all and any peace I find on the beach is quickly gone after I get home. Anyway, so I'm thinking maybe do a coastal trip twice a month. Seems more reasonable that way. I got a cool app for tides that is very helpful. Here's the app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=easton.tides
I don't don't use many apps but the one I do get I like to pay for so I won't have any ads. Well let's just talk about apps. One of my all time faves I use a lot now is My Radar Pro.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acmeaom.android.myradarpro

I bought all the add ons for it except the aviation pack. It's my most "expensive" app at $7. Totally worth it. I love this radar and the maps and it is high definition. I have mine set to globe and love to spin the earth. I can also turn on hurricane tracking, earthquakes, fires and even see photos people have uploaded of weather.
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I got a cool cabinet the other day. Been wanting this for ever. It's to organize my bird supplies. It's for a bathroom medicine cabinet but I tend to end up using most things not for their intended purposes. Here is a video showing how I put it together.


https://youtu.be/apjfAAaJa9s

I found out something weird about youtube. If you make a locked post and you're not logged in you don't see the day of the calendar lit up even if that's the only post you made. I don't like that because then it's not accurately logging you posted something even if it's locked.

Yesterday was like another birthday for me. Well this whole month is one big celebration be it birthday or anniversary. Chris worked a half day then came home and we just hung around. His parents had invited us to a birthday meal at Alexander's steak house. Chris and I both love that place. He had to drive me as I still didn't get my new drivers license. This was the year to renew it and though I sent it in two weeks ahead of time it's a government run organization so it took way longer. I finally got that today so I'm legally able to drive again. YAY. But it's ugly. It has a retro look. The old license was so Florida with the sun set on the beach and the green header at the top. This looks like a 70s government document alright. Boring. So we had a really nice meal there and I got two more Amazon cards. I still don't know what I want to get with them or hold on to them until Christmas to get something big. I really want an entertainment set for my game systems and dvd player. Not sure I can hold out that long or for the next sale holiday. We'll see. So after that we came home and saw a lovely storm. That night we watched Danger Bay and talked.

Today some delayed gifts finally came in as well as stuff I treated myself to. I got my first half sider Nautilus. I didn't know there was such a thing. I know about white ones and normal ones but this is the best of both worlds. One side is polished white. This is quickly one of my faves. I'm not a fan of polished or pearlized nautiluses but I've never seen one like this. Even the natural side has a nice gloss that makes it nice to touch. I don't have a good pic of it yet but here it is in the new budgie cabinet.



It looks very nice there but that may not be its permanent home. With all this nautilus collecting I'm doing I want to make some changes to the house. I was having a conversation with jokerforever about making part of the house into a mini natural history museum. I already own neat stuff like a cat skull, shells, feathers, dried pitchers, minerals etc. So yes, having something in that's patterned after a museum and nicely organized would be great. When I was a kid I remember having collected feathers and things and taped them to card board and named them with scientific name and location. I had one side of my room set up and remember thinking I wanted a real display in my house. Well I'll keep that promise to myself. I was the kind of kid that I made serious long term promises like that and people thought it was just my imagination. No I'm making good on those now. So I want to eventually get some nice glass display cases.

Since I'm getting into shell collecting I found this journal showing a room set up this way that's so nice.
http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2014/10/15/the-rambo-seashell-shellaboratory/
Of course mine won't be just for shell. But I love the white and blue thing going on here. I am planning to get those white book shelves and replace the black ones I have.

So I also got John Hammond's cane today.



Here is a close up of what I call "the egg".



And here is the whole thing. Ok the good stuff first. It looks really good. It's the right length and the handle part looks like bones or bamboo. The fly is in great shape. I love the bubbles in it too. All these are unique and no two look alike. It is also a functioning cane. I can put my weight on it, though it will be on display and not to be used. I already have my walking staff for that. Now what I don't like about it.

The worst thing is the egg is slightly scratched. The top is cloudy and the side with the bug's face has some deep scratch marks. Second, the egg is too small I think. Have a look at these scenes from the movie.



And last complaint is the texture. I thought it would be smooth feeling like bamboo or glossy bones. I was expecting it to be like my staff. Nope, it's rough nasty wood fiber feel. Good thing I'm not using it as a real cane. As annoying as these things are I'm not going to ask for an exchange or refund. This is the best cane out there. Better than the official replica that costs way more. Not that this was cheap. Far from it. It is a display piece so I can live with the flaws. Oh also with my bug had all his legs. He only has two instead of six. But the pose is perfect. So it's not an exact replica but darn close.

OK, switching gears now to birds
( Nautica and Minion )
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