The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Home Ec

Things around the home & hearth

  • Another Power Outage

    Another Power Outage

    We woke just after midnight to a completely dark and silent house, I padded around shutting of half a dozen UPS units under various desks and benches, and we eventually got back to sleep:

    Rt 376 midnight crash - 2021-07-20 - status
    Rt 376 midnight crash – 2021-07-20 – status

    According to our clocks, power actually returned about four hours later.

    Our grocery ride the next morning went past the crash site:

    Rt 376 midnight crash - 2021-07-20 - A
    Rt 376 midnight crash – 2021-07-20 – A

    Tracks in the grass leading up to the smashed mailbox on our right suggest the driver didn’t quite make the very slight curve leading to the straight section.

    It was garbage collection day and the debris field covered the entire front lawn:

    Rt 376 midnight crash - 2021-07-20 - B
    Rt 376 midnight crash – 2021-07-20 – B

    Both poles have rectangular reflectors, but the one on the smashed pole (on the left) shows the pole is maybe four feet shorter than it used to be.

    We have no idea how a can of white paint got involved in the proceedings:

    Rt 376 midnight crash - 2021-07-20 - C
    Rt 376 midnight crash – 2021-07-20 – C

    [Update: Now we know where the paint came from.]

    Quite some years ago, an errant driver demolished the front corner of that house and, more recently, the whole building burned out, so there may be a jinx on the site.

    Other than that, we had an uneventful ride …

  • Just One More …

    Just One More …

    Spotted behind a mall undergoing renovation:

    Overloaded dumpster
    Overloaded dumpster

    Perhaps they were loading it from the end and didn’t notice the instructions:

    Overloaded dumpster - detail
    Overloaded dumpster – detail

    Protip: Always get the biggest dumpster available!

  • Seedling Shelter Frame Deployment

    Seedling Shelter Frame Deployment

    Mary bound up a mesh cover for the shelter frame and deployed it to protect some yummy seedlings:

    Seedling Mesh Shelter - installed
    Seedling Mesh Shelter – installed

    Those will become the next round of lunchtime sandwiches:

    Turkey Sandwich with Excessive Lettuce
    Turkey Sandwich with Excessive Lettuce

    It’s a quarter-pounder: 4 oz of turkey, 4 oz of lettuce, and a layer of Swiss and good stinky Provolone cheese. Yum!

  • Power Outage

    Power Outage

    A gusty thunderstorm knocked out power across Dutchess County, including half the service to our house. Being glad the refrigerator and freezer were on the live phase, I shut off the affected breakers on the dead phase, as well as all the 240 V breakers, and, with the living room darkened, we skipped our evening storytime.

    By the next morning, a quick lamp test showed the recloser out on the pole had worked its magic, so I flipped all the breakers back on. The living room remained dark, prompting an investigation of the fuse box feeding the original house wiring:

    Blown 20 A glass fuse
    Blown 20 A glass fuse

    Yup, another blown fuse.

    Given what happens while wind and falling branches knock power lines askew, anything is possible. I have no idea where the fault current went, but replacing the fuse brought the living room back to normal.

    None of the various UPS / lamps / phones seem damaged; I admit not peering inside the outlets to check for arc damage.

  • Carolina Wren Construction

    Carolina Wren Construction

    A great musical interlude on the patio announced an airlift of construction materials eventually producing this pile inside the top cover of the propane tank:

    Carolina Wren - nest started atop propane tank
    Carolina Wren – nest started atop propane tank

    The male Carolina Wren switched from the Tweedle of Great Nestbuilding to the less musical Mighty Chirr of Disapproval, presumably because he noticed a mouse (or, perhaps, chipmunk) occupying the lower ring of the tank. Rodents and birds do not coexist well at all; I have no doubt a mouse would climb right up the tank for a supply of breakfast eggs.

    I must blow the crud off the tank before the next fill.

  • Homebrew Mint Extract

    Homebrew Mint Extract

    I clearcut a stand of spearmint and turned it into three jars of what should become mint extract:

    Homebrew mint extract - start 2021-06-17
    Homebrew mint extract – start 2021-06-17

    The left jar has 3 ounces of mint mostly covered with 80 proof vodka and the other two jars each have 5 ounces submerged in 180 proof grain alcohol.

    Nine days later:

    Homebrew mint extract - 2021-06-26
    Homebrew mint extract – 2021-06-26

    The vodka is now on the right and shows a weird layering caused by the leaves extending above the light yellow liquid; I’ve been inverting the jars every few days. The grain alcohol looks more like the previous iteration, with uniformly decolored leaves in dark green liquid.

    A closer look:

    Homebrew mint extract - vodka vs grain alcohol - 2021-06-26
    Homebrew mint extract – vodka vs grain alcohol – 2021-06-26

    What’s happening in the vodka jar does not look like a nominal outcome …

  • A Spider at Breakfast

    A Spider at Breakfast

    The underside of a spinach leaf makes a fine place for a spider to guard her egg sac, right up until the leaf arrives on the kitchen cutting board just before breakfast:

    Spider guarding egg sac
    Spider guarding egg sac

    We deported her (and her incipient family) to the flower garden just outside, wished her well, and continued with breakfast.