Furballs

I need to hang a new pigeon net. The landlord cut off the bolts the old one was hung from when the balconies were renovated, and the new balcony barriers will need a longer net as well, so the whole thing has to be replaced.

The weight of the net itself is negligible, but it must be hung from a wire cable. It will hang like a curtain, fastened around the wire with rings from a modified type of staple gun. The cable must be pulled as tight as possible, to remove as much slack as possible from the net.

If it isn't tight enough, the wire will sag and birds can get in over the sag. If the net's too loose, it might get torn by high winds - tenth floor and we get the prevailing winds up here. I also don't want it so loose it might possibly tangle any kind of bird. It's only meant to keep the flying rats off the balcony, not to harm any flying creature.

I'd use turnbuckles to tighten the wire cable. There will be two or three of them, so they can be adjusted as needed, and to ensure I can put back enough slack in the wire to be able to take the net down if necessary. If there is any future maintenance of the balcony, I need a system that won't require the bolts to be cut in order to take down the net.

I was looking at screw eyes. The cable is 1/16th inch, and eye bolts that are made of wire have a small space between the end of the loop and the body of the bolt, but don't seem to have enough room to slide in the cable. Bolts cast in one piece, with a solid ring, would need a slot cut in them. I can do that with my Dremel, but I don't know enough about the metals or the strength of such bolts to know if cutting a slot that would fit the cable would weaken the eye too much.

Also, none of the bolts I could find say how much load they can support. Unfortunately, I don't know precisely how much load will be on the wire, but it's enough to snap several heavy duty cable ties.

So I need some kind of fastener that has sufficient strength to support the tightened wire, will hold the wire horizontally, and allow me to insert or remove the cable as needed after the bolts are installed in the concrete.

It's getting much too expensive to keep replacing the net- this will be the fourth time. But I am sick to death of the mess the blasted birds make and paying a pro to do this is out of the question. Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Living in a little apartment, I have no place to put a work bench, nor bench tools, such as a drill press. Let alone a table saw, or jointer planer. I have some things I badly need to make, things I cannot buy already made. I need someplace to do the work that would have these tools, either to rent by the hour or share in some way. I know how to use some of these tools but some tips on use would be helpful for sure. For example, I've never used a jointer planer before. Does anyone know of a shop space with tools like this, to share or rent ?. I live in Mississauga, so somewhere in this area would be ideal but, really, anywhere not hours away would do. Would need to be secure space, so partially completed projects would be safe until complete. If I could afford to hire someone to build what I want, I would, but not only is it beyond my means, I very much enjoy building things myself.

I've tested several kinds of rock, using acid, to see if they react to it [ bubble up], because I know calcium based rocks can ruin water chemistry. I'm setting up a new tank, 30 gal. Treated water and a planted tank specific wet packed substrate are in, filters running. It will be planted mostly, maybe have some shrimp later. Have several rocks for decor that I know are ok, but I like the look of petrified wood. It reacted slightly to the acid, just a few little bubbles, so would it be enough to wreck the water chemistry ? They are not huge pieces, maybe the size of a doubled fist or so, and I only have two or three I'd like to use. Don't want to give myself any avoidable chemistry issues.

I have a large lump of cullet [ scrap ] glass, weighs maybe ten pounds. It has a few holes in it, but they're only an inch or less deep. I want to break it into two or three pieces, but am not sure how to do it without shattering it to shards. Was used for aquarium decor, but is too large for current tank. I know it could be risky and I would certainly wear protective clothing, gloves and goggles, but what tool or tools are best to use ? I've broken rocks just with a hammer, but I'm guessing that will only get me shattered glass if I hammer the chunk. Any suggestions appreciated.

Came with a hood I'm using for a new planted tank.. no plants yet, just set it up, but I'd like to know if this bulb is anywhere near the 6700 K I would like it to be ?

Also complete suppplement, vitamin/mineral, to add to home made diet ?