Author: iopadmin

  • Hot Soup!

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    My kids blow on soup to cool it down. Sometimes they blow like a tornado and most of the soup exits the spoon rather than entering the child. I always tell them to blow gently—it will cool just as fast. Well, we put the theory to the test. For cleanliness, we simulated a broth soup…

  • Rocket Stove

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in ,

    Maybe you’ve stored 100 pounds of wheat kernels, 75 pounds of beans, barrels of water and you’re all set for whatever municipal unreliability may bring. One question: How will you cook the food you’ve stored? In Food Storage and Refried Beans, back in April 2009,  I determined that to cook 100 pounds of beans would…

  • Masterbuilt Smoker Upgrade–Ribs Hanger

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    I love ribs, and I love the way they come out of my Masterbuilt electric smoker. Actually, it’s my dad’s smoker but I keep it safely at my house. The problem with ribs is the time. The late-night clean up, after cleaning and rubbing the ribs the night before and cooking six hours, is almost…

  • Useful Range of Vivitar Wireless Remote Release

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    Vivitar brands a radio-frequency wireless remote that is available on a budget. The version shown below is configured for a Nikon D300; the pigtail can be changed for other camera designs. The remote has a telescoping antenna that extends to about six inches. The radio receiver is about 1.5 by 2 inches as seen from…

  • Thistle and The Bear on Autumn and Halloween

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    Thistle and the Bear talk about autumn, and especially about Halloween traditions. My seven year old daughter practices her typing with a writing prompt most days. When asked to type about what she likes about Halloween, the wrote this: I like Halloween because we have a funny dinner and we go trick-or-treating in the dark.…

  • Harvest

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    Three years ago I planted grapes on the west side of my house. I planted what I could get, bare sticks from my local nursery. For a green grape, I planted Niagara, which is marked as a green seeded table grape. For a red grape, I planted Catawba, which is labeled as a seeded green…

  • The Light of My Breakfast

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in ,

    Cool thing in my bowl a few weeks ago. A Cheerio with a halo. Like a skinny O, the halo goes all the way around the top of the more saintly O.

  • Container Gardening

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    Container gardening is ideal for the small suburban backyard without much space. It is even better suited to the arid climate because the required water is much less—in my system I water less than twice a week and use less than a gallon. I’m using a container gardening system worked out by others, and it…

  • 3D Printing the Mountains

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in ,

    Hanging on the wall, under the low ceiling in the basement of my childhood home was a map. It was plastic, and it had a 3D texture of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Flying over the range in my imagination I could see the high mountain valleys bowled in by the snowcapped peaks. As an adult…

  • Thistle and The Bear on Writing

    —

    by

    iopadmin
    in

    We talk about writing, and answer listener mail. A few books we reference: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. QED by Richard Feynman, also consider Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman by the same author. The Writing System for Scientists and Engineers by Edmond Weiss is now out of print, but is an excellent…