Mal's Gherkin Pram: Camera

4.8 years old! wOOt!

💕💐🍾🥳🎂🎁🎉🍭✨

("Born" - September 20, 2021)

20 Sept 2024

11 February 2024

2 years 4 months old!

Katia is now about 15 cm/5.9 inches in length, and Thoon is c. 13 cm/5.1 inches.

Monty Python "Find the Fish"

(View on YouTube)

Katia and Thoon, 4 October 2023

Katia glowing in the sunlight

Thoon & Katia; "Yo! Human! Wassup?!"

14 January 2024

How the heck do you measure the length of an active goldfish? [laffs] Katia is now about 15 cm/5.9 inches in length, and Thoon is c. 13 cm/5.1 inches.

11 October 2023

I bought Thoon and Katia a new tank-cleaning vacuum, and it works like a charm! I just run the emptying hose out the front door, which empties onto the front lawn - no problem! Now cleaning/changing the water in their tank is much easier and simpler for lil' ol' me [yay!]. It even came with its own video, tho my machine is red [which, of course, we all know, just goes faster! lol].

Now their tank looks clear and pristine every day... sure, they don't appreciate the intrusion while the cleaning is taking place, but they do after it's all finished. They've never thanked me tho, either, ungrateful buggers [laffs].

I have to laugh... cleaning the tank mid-summer is better than mid-winter, as their water is BLOODY FREEZING! 🥶

(Watch on YouTube)

"Me happy... fishies happy..."

15 August 2023

I caught myself making an unconscious Spoonerism today - instead of 'Thoon and Katia', it came out as 'Thatia and Koon'... I made myself laugh.

24 April 2023

I gave their fish tank a jolly good cleaning out today, including rinsing out the gravel etc. Poor Katia was NOT happy when she got momentarily stuck in the vacuum hose nozzle (she's fine)... plus neither of them was happy being placed in a small bowl during the cleaning process... it took them a while after it was all done to look me straight in the eye again [laffs]. Sturdy buggers they are.

28 March 2023

I think I saved the life of one of my goldfish today. Katia got a small pebble stuck in her mouth; she (I should not assume the gender of my goldfish, huh? lol. As it is, I have no idea what either of them is!) would have starved to death, as she had been unable to remove it!

I grabbed my small net, and of course, being the feisty Alpha fish she is, she put up a fight while I tried to catch her and try to do something to help. Thankfully, in her moment, the small pebble popped out all OK! Phew! No harm done.

10 July 2023

I know it doesn't sound like much, but I enjoy my two goldfishies. I've been enjoying this pair's company now for 1 year 10 months [grins]. Their "Birthday" is 20 Sept 2021.

Thoon & Katia

28 March 2023

10 March 2023

Katia 10 March 2023

💥 If anyone has any practical tips on how to get a good fishie photo, pls let me know! 💥

Answer: get a bloody better camera [laffs]

My freshwater tank measures

600mm wide x 300mm deep x 400mm high

23.6 in x 11.8 in x 15.7 in

Tank Volume: 70 litres / 18.5 US Gallons

(Originally Posted: 23 Sept 2022)

I attempted to take a picture of one of my two goldfish, "Thoon", because he's a bit of an oddity: he is a normal Comet, but he has three tail fins!

"Thoon's 3rd fin is a superpower, and he doesn't know" - SB

It doesn't negatively affect him at all, thankfully.

(NB. It's not easy taking a photo of a goldfish with a little 'point'n'shoot' camera!)

I kinda like the irony that I have a unique common goldfish! Thanks, Thoon! 🐠

Here's the tank and Katia putting on a show, whilst Thoon is shyly poking his head out from behind a plant (lower centre)

➽► So, why "Thoon"?

Short answer: it's a fun, silly, random name (very me...).

Long answer: In a band many years ago, we used to invent words for sounds (for silly fun)... 'Thoon' was "the sound of a cricket ball bowled just past off-stump..." 🏏

Much later, I discovered that 'Thoon' was the name of a Giant in Homer's "Iliad"! 😄

I know... It's bizarre, random and absurd... perfect!

➽► So, why "Katia"?

Basically, I just really liked that name for many years!

(View on YouTube)

Answer: YES!

It's when they start talking back that... er um... [laffs]

(Not my tank, unfortunately! Thanks to @BrownsFanGurl for the vid!)

Relax with this video of Goldfish

(Not my tank tho!)

(Source)

➽ Also see: 2 New Fishies

Bookmark this Page

Also: Thoon

Peas be with ewe
Mal

My Electronic Devices

💥 My Desk Space (April 2021) - the oil painting is an original from the guitarist (Alexander) in the band "Surprise".

💥 Laptop: MSI Modern 15 F13M (June 2026)

Laptop: Kogan Atlas 15.6" (September 2024)

💥 Smaller Laptop/Tablet: Kogan Atlas D600 10.1" 2-in-1 with Touchscreen (October 2024, $150)

Specs (1) & (2)

💥 Tablet

Lenovo Tab M11 (May 2025)

💥 Keyboard

I bought this one on sale at one of our local retailers in October 2022; my old keyboard was feeling a bit 'clunky' to my "Dizzy Fingers"... this one feels great! I use it in combination with the laptop (rather than using the laptop's keyboard).

💥 Voice-to-Text

15 March 2023

Well, I feel like a complete idiot. I have just figured out how to use voice-to-text and I'm using it right now to write this. It works brilliantly on both my laptop and my mobile phone and my tablet. No more worries about my MS "Dizzy Fingers". Why didn't I do this ages ago? It's so easy. Now I don't have to mess around with a USB mouse and a USB keyboard to send a text message on my mobile phone (cf. below). People told me about this years ago, but it wasn't until just now that I actually thought, "Hmmm... let's do it!"

Stupid males! lolol

💥 Bluetooth Keyboard

Works and feels great! Saves me from having to try and fail to use my Android Touch Screen stuff! The story (click).

But: cf the 'Stylus Writing Pen' (below).

💥 Bluetooth Mouse

Works and feels great! Saves me from having to try and fail to use my Android Touch Screen stuff! The story: (click)

But: cf the 'Stylus Writing Pen' (below).

💥 Bluetooth Soundbar Speaker

So clear and crisp and doesn't have to be loud at all (just 9 watts); sits atop my laptop on my desk

💥 Portable Wireless (ie. Bluetooth) Speaker, which I use in the kitchen, connected to the laptop. Lovin' the fun colours.

💥 Mobile Phone: Samsung Galaxy A13 (July 2023): an early 59th birthday present to myself.

Read my story about it here.

(Specs)

💥 Tripod and Mount for the Mobile phone camera

No more shaky pics. 😉

💥 Stylus Writing Pens: Why hadn't I got one of these bloody things before now? I guess I completely forgot about it, as it'd fallen off my 'Bucket List'. As it is, the one I got myself is really bloody easy for me to use on the mobile's touchscreen with my stoopid numb MS hands/fingers - yay!

💥 Wacom One Drawing Pad: (31 October 2023) When connected to my laptop [etc], this is drawing made easy! I bought one very cheaply through eBay, and it works like a dream. Now comes the bit where I have to figure out how to use it! Plus it'll only be good for me to sketch/draw etc when my MS Hands/Dizzy Fingers want to cooperate. But it's there ready to go and so easy to use. Weeee! NB. This is an absolute decadent luxury for me.

21 July 2023

I bought myself one of these things inexpensively on eBay (an early Birthday present?) just so I can use my phone and tablet whilst I'm sitting up in bed (aah, the joys of being an old fart! lol)

💥 July 2023: My brother gave me their old unused Akai 7-Inch Portable DVD player: I can sit in bed and watch my DVD's now! Tis such a decadent luxury for me 😁 THANK YOU! 💗

💥 MP3 Player: I've had this for years, and had completely forgotten about it; works just fine. I just remembered that I can listen to its music while I'm out for my daily walks (silly me!)

I keep all the associated charging leads and unit in a small canvas bag, to keep it all together. Of course, when I took the assorted old headphones out that I never use in late November 2022... I laughed!

I use these headphones normally, tho

Crystal clear definition, great bottom end, and really light

No need for high volume at all

💥 OLD PHONE: Optus X Spirit with Android

A glorified answering machine, basically. I use a pre-paid setup. I need to use the Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse (above) (and now Stylus Writing Pen [below]) to be able to send text messages properly.

Specs: (01) Camera: 8MP 4:3

The story: (click).

💥 My Previous Laptop:

September 2024

Lenovo Ideapad 320

The incredible story: (click).

Specs: (01)

💥 (Old)Tablet: QPS "YQ10S" 10.1-inch Tablet (with Android 13.0).

10 November 2023

(Specs).

My old Tablet (cf. below) decided to stop charging. Not bad, considering it is c.10 years old.

I managed to find a brand new one very inexpensively via eBay, which was quickly delivered to my door. This one works like a charm, thankfully. Along with all the various Apps, writing pens etc etc, this is a complete decedent luxury for me (along with the Drawing tablet (cf. below)!

💥 My Previous Tablet: Lenovo Tab 10 TB-X103F with Android

Update: 10 November 2023

This has finally stopped wanting to charge... it dieded!!! So I have been able to replace it (see above).

Some wonderful friends bought this for me a few years ago now. Unfortunately, I can't use it very much at all, due to its incredible slowness, and my 'dizzy fingers' make the touch screen very difficult for me to use. I've tried attaching the Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse with it, but they do not often work/connect. I most certainly do not want to appear ungrateful for this machine.

Specs: (01) & (02)

Camera: 5MP 4:3

March 2023

During my last 'overnighter', I has a totally random thought.. as I don't use the thing much any more, why don't I just totally 'restore to factory default' the thing, like wipe everything off the tablet and just start from scratch (I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before!) Anything I had of importance on there I'd already backed-up etc.

Well: it worked! Now it's like new and fast again! Must have been totally bloated with unnecessary crap, I guess. It'll be a good simple backup now, with a much larger screen than my mobile, so I can use the keyboard on it easily.

Silly moi [laffs at self].

💥 Camera: I occasionally use my little Kodak 'point-and-shoot' camera. Had it for years, and still works like a charm. I use my phone's camera mostly now.

Specs: (01) Camera: 3.3MP 4:3

The story: (click)