Wally Kennedy: Pineda Market, Scales N Tails open on Range Line - Joplin Globe

Posted: 19 Dec 2020 03:00 PM PST

Pineda Market, a new Hispanic market, has opened in Crown Plaza, 1202 S. Range Line Road.

The market opened a little more than a week ago in the northernmost suite of the shopping center. It features brands that you would not normally see on the shelves of your local market. The market has fresh dairy products and some produce. I have found these Hispanic markets are good places to buy fresh cilantro and quality avocados. There's a wide assortment of tortillas, both crisp and soft. Also featured are hot sauces and salsa as well as staples of the Hispanic diet.

There are racks of seasonings, including dried chilis and spices, that are essential ingredients in Hispanic foods. I would probably have to have a cooking class or two before I could properly use some of these ingredients.

The market also features a selection of baked goods. Fresh breads and rolls are brought to the market from a bakery in Neosho on a regular basis.

I had seen some of these brands on trips to Mexico, but some of them were unfamiliar. I asked the manager whether this market would appeal to shoppers of mostly Mexican descent.

She said, "It's not just Mexican. We have things for people from El Salvador or Honduras or Guatemala. It's Hispanic.''

Hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

New fish shop

I'm an aquarist, a person who keeps an aquarium. I got hooked on the hobby when I was quite young after a trip to my great aunt's house near Kokomo, Indiana. She had a tank full of guppies. It started when she let me bring some fish back to Joplin.

For years and years, I was a regular customer at Churchwell's Tropiquarium at 2711 N. Range Line Road. The fish shop was in the basement of an historic home. You entered through a narrow and steep set of concrete stairs to find a world inside that was unlike any other. The walls were lined with fluorescent aquariums that were filled with all kinds of fish. You could see a lung fish there.

It was operated by Juanita Churchwell, who was clearly among the most knowledgeable people I have ever met on the subject of tropical fish. Much of what I know today about tropical fish I Iearned from her.

Over the years, there have been a bunch of fish stores in Joplin. Sometimes as many as five or six were operating at one time. Walmart was a big player in the hobby until a few years ago, when it stopped selling fish. Today, there are only a couple of aquarium shops that sell fish in Joplin.

You can imagine how surprised I was last week when I learned that a new aquarium shop with fresh- and saltwater fish had opened in Bayberry Square, 110 N. Range Line Road. This shopping center is west of Northpark Mall.

Scales N Tails, owned by Derrick and Candice Harper, has a broad selection of tropical fish and plants. Right now, the shop has about 37 tanks dedicated to fish and plants. You can find goldfish, koi, angelfish, guppies — you name it. The Harpers told me that the number of tanks will continue to grow as the shop fills out and that the shop will eventually offer reptiles.

Derrick said, "We have been doing this for a while at home and decided that Joplin needed a place where fish hobbyists could go where the prices were not so high. We will meet or beat anyone's prices.''

The shop also offers fish food, supplies and used equipment. If you have a question about your aquarium, Harper is likely to have an answer.

One of the store's coolest features is a display tank for freshwater plants. I have never seen anything like it. The plants are displayed under bright lights in a shallow tank that is quite large. Harper, who believes that aquariums should contain plants and be as natural as possible for their inhabitants, said, "We have all of the plants people would want.''

The Harpers use a novel approach to tank filtration. They place a philodendron-type plant in the water filter. The plant roots in the filter, removing nutrients from the water to help purify it. It's ingenious.

If you are looking for a last-minute gift for someone who might be an aquarist, the shop offers gift certificates.

Shop hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

It's hard to explain, but there's something about watching fish move that rests the mind. It is an antidote to stress. There's a reason you often see them in the offices of doctors and dentists.

Hawaii Dodged The Dual Threat Of A Pandemic And Hurricane This Season - Honolulu Civil Beat

Posted: 25 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PST

With just two tropical cyclones passing through the central Pacific during the 2020 season, Hawaii narrowly avoided the feared dual-threat scenario of a hurricane coupled with a pandemic.

But it was close.

One of those storms, Douglas, passed within 30 miles of the island chain as a Category 1 on July 26. Forecasters called the track "uncomfortably and dangerously close," where even the slightest zig toward land could have caused severe and widespread damage. Instead, the storm passed safely to the north, and Hawaii dodged a bullet.

The other storm, Boris, entered the Central Pacific basin a month earlier on June 27 as a tropical depression and swiftly dissipated, according to the National Weather Service. Its Central Pacific Hurricane Center released a summary of the region's 2020 hurricane season earlier this week.

A satellite image of Hurricane Douglas as it churned by Hawaii in July.

Courtesy: NWS

The two recorded storms were below seasonal average for the central Pacific, which usually sees four to five tropical cyclones from June 1 to Nov. 30, according to the summary.

It's a relief for Hawaii, where local communities and residents were already overwhelmed this year as they coped with the effects of COVID-19.

Prior to this year's season, local officials said that they would have needed about ten times the normal emergency shelter space if a storm struck so that evacuees could maintain safe social distance. Those officials further encouraged residents to add masks and sanitizer to their household hurricane kits.

They acknowledged, however, that it would be difficult for many local families to afford those supplies amid the widespread unemployment and financial strain caused by the pandemic.

It's not clear whether Karl Fagaragan, the Kalihi fisherman who went viral on social media as Douglas approached Oahu, ever caught that one, fat fish:

Karl from Kalihi like catch one fat fish and flex on um. #HurricaneDouglasHawaii @KITV4 pic.twitter.com/hLfgzBnAq9

— Diane Ako (@dianeako) July 27, 2020

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