mad-tante

unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 8

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:06:05 -0500

Are reptiles animals? I could never remember the order from eight grade science.

Kingdom> Phylum> Class> Order> Family> Genus> Species

If that's helpful to you, knock yourself out. I hear "Kingdom" and I think lines on a map. Phylum? Obviously, that's a medical term for where they store test results. Class? Regular readers and neighbors know by now that I know nothing about that. Order? We had a Parlimentarian in National Honor Society but I always cut-out thirty minutes early to attend Art Club. Where were we? Family. Ugh...Don't get me started. Genus? That's the Trivial Pursuit box in the closet from 1980-something. And everyone knows Species is a crappy movie with Sir Ben Kingsley. Now, that's done! Back to my topic.

Reptiles, snakes in particular, are animals. Sir K is also an animal but I'm in no way implying he's a snake.

Smooth Green Snake

Black snakes are all over the farm. They eat rats, so I like them. I also liked to catch and "pet" then release poor grass snakes when I was a kid.

This reminds me of a farm-story.

MT was coming back from either the lean-to on the Old Barn or the shop one evening around this time of year. It was that never-never-land kind of darkness that falls after the sun has gone to sleep but the stars have not yet wakened and you're walking under tall cedars in the Ozarks. I caught a wiff of something slightly unpleasant: reptilean by nature. Let me say I have friends who keep reptiles as pets and they tell me that they give off no odor. I posit that people who keep reptiles keep them because they don't pick up on said odor or they have become acclimated and forgetful in their states of adoration and exuberance.

Black [Rat] Snake

Me? I smell reptiles.

I couldn't see very well what-with the shadows and darkness sliding down like an over-turned honeypot -no, not that kind of honeypot (5th paragraph up from the bottom, flat-landers) but an actual pot for honey.

I leaned over and squinted through the darkness, sniffing. I noticed a mass, shall we say, and backed off. I gave it a wide berth (it was a rather large mass, after all) and came at it from an opening, so whatever light the peeping stars gave off could help me better view the snake and/ or largish reptilean-smelling object.

Sure enough, there it was. A big-arsed black snake. Relief passed through me and I headed back toward the house when I saw a slight movement of blackness from the dark.

I whipped my head around to see a second big-arsed black snake coil up around the balled up mass of snake I already decided was okay. To this I yelped. "Yipes!"

Pa Kettle was apparently taking a pee off the deck (who could see?) because a male voice called, "Hwot hya goht?"

"There's two big-arsed black snakes fightin!"

A pause preceeded, "They're not fightin'."

They're not fightin

"Oh." See heading "Reproduction."

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unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 7

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:17:10 -0500

Refrigerators:

The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be. Have you seen my refrigerator's latest phase (erm, call a couple of years "a phase," can't we?). I cleaned, defrosted and let it just plain "sit" for 7 hours. It's still doing it. I want to be prepared for when the old dog gives its last gasp. Horses, dogs...leave me alone. First off, I'm poor, so I can't go with the best or even the middling. What should I base my choice on other than lowest price?

"ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators require about half as much energy as models manufactured before 1993."

Let's start with the obvious:
Energy Star is the government's ratings and recommendations for finding determining an appliance's efficiency.

Look for the yellow tag that hangs from almost everything (now that's unscientific) in an appliance store. Here's their page regarding refrigerators and freezers, a subject close to my heart. My fridge is a hand-me-down, as is almost anything I own, and it's about my age. How rude! I'm 36.

Now

"Did you know there are more than 47 million fridges over ten years old in the U.S.?"

::Gasp:: You mean your fridge is more than a decade old? That's so pre-turn-of-the-century!

Right. And mine's almost 40 years old so... If you've seen my recent recipe for radish-cicles, you'll see that I have genuine concern, this isn't about what's in fashion.

"throwing away $100 a year..."

Future is unclear

The U.S. gov wants us to chuck that old frigidaire and get a new one... maybe with your stimuless check? Be a good American and buy more stuff! They've got some lists that are supposed to help you find a place to recycle (read: dump) your gimped-up icebox. We're not overly-shocked that Missouri doesn't have one listed, right? There are 2 places in the STL area that take your appliances but they just want the scrap metal for free. Who knows what they're doing with freon or you know, whatever the heck is in my old GE?

They also have a link to find local rebates, however the ones in my area ran something like, "Buy 5 or more super-duper expensive appliances and get up to $1000 cash back! -mail in rebate required, receipt, proof of residency required, no applications received on weekends and we're closed Monday - Friday "

Tops

Next obvious consideration: layout. I wondered if bottom, top or side-by-side (freezer with refrigerator) configurations were best -- or no different. I sort of thought maybe side-by-side would be best as it provided a large, cool surface for the fridge from the freezer (compared to exposure by sun or heat from cooking appliances, which is to be avoided to maximize energy retention).

Left Right Left

Grist tells me I'm totally backward on this. Apparently, the side-by-sides are the worst for energy efficiency. Top versus bottom models don't matter other than they're better than side-bys (10 - 20%, if Grist is being honest and for-true. The ACEEE states similar facts. You don't think those hippies would lie to me, do you? Luckily, I'm offended by ice-makers, water-spouts and whatever extra you could put into an icebox, so I'm good there. All those extras you can't live without? They sap energy.

Ouch! My foot

Otherwise, through skimming forums it seems bottom freezers are better for tall people (although one guy said it was a pain). Apparently most people with top freezers have to stoop to rummage through their refrigerators. Being 5'2", I never noticed a problem. I recommend squatting; it does wonders for your quads and glutes, too.

Ouch! My head

One more thing for those interested in bottom freezers, they apparently come as doors or drawers! There seems, as in all things, to be differing opinions but it seems that the drawer model seems to "hold more." I'm thinking that's because they toss everything in willy-nilly ('at's wot I do with our big chest freezer -- sorry fellas, nothing to do with bust-lines) rather than organized on shelves.

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unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 6

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:15:38 -0500

Bee and honeycomb

Posting about tossing things together in different ways in episode 5 got me interested in trying something else new-old. I've baked with honey before and it turned out pretty darned well. That was years ago and I remembered that I had to tweak the amount of moisture and the amount of "sweetener" like 1C sugar doesn't equal 1C of honey, see?

Here's the niftiest page around for the rules you'll need to hold near and dear to your heart if you want to experiment with using honey rather than sugar in your diet.

Honey cake

Thumbprint

I'll make Honey Cake again and some Thumbprint Cookies with honey rather than sugar as well. I've never made Thumbprint Cookies but they're a personal favorite, so it's about time that I got around to it. This time round, though, I baked bread with honey. My report is that honey isn't really sweet enough to take the "bitter" out of whole wheat. I suggest adding 1/4 cup of sugar or other sugar substitute. I tried food processing 12 prunes (dried fruit is high in natural sugars) to add moisture and sweetness. It fed the yeast just fine (to create loft) but the taste was downright bitter. I'm someone who likes "bite" but that bit a little too hard!

Whole wheat

Wikip says

I also used a bread machine for the very first time in my life, borrowing my mother's to avoid heating up the oven in Missouri when it's 90%+ humidity and over 90F! The bread machine was alright except that I followed the directions implicitly and that was a mistake. You should NOT press "on/ off" for 3-4 seconds when it's done before opening. Just open it. If you follow the directions it will spin and drill a hole in your loaf. I asked my mother about it and she said, "Oh, you know how gadgets always have their own personalities? Yeah. Just open it when it's done or it'll tear up your bread." -after the fact

What would you like to try with honey? -be clean, if possible

Something I've heard about forever and always forgotten is how eating honey can reset your response to allergens. Recently, neighbor Val commented about eating honey being one of her happy-to-dos for allergies and it reminded me of what I thought was an old wives' tale. Here's an article I found sensible about buying local honey, as in "how local is local?," which should be anyone's first question after deciding they want to try it. If you haven't yet decided, you may want to consider this tale of why you may not want to try it. As always, I love the lads and ladies at Wise Geek and you may enjoy their article of skepticism, as well. Personally, I like the idea of using honey from our area because a) it keeps money in our rural area b) one local purveyor was my 8th grade science teacher and he was way cool c) did I mention I like to give my business to small business owners along with family farms?

How else do you use honey? -be clean, if possible

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unscientific, science-y Tuesday, episode 5

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:07:13 -0500

-Virtually completely unscientific except for the experimental nature of how the recipe came about.

I ate the hell out of something tasty I tossed together last week. It was so damned fine that I’m making it again. Before you think “Ew!,” let me assure you, mine ain’t yo-mama’s:

Tuna Salad-ish

On the other hand, if you say, “I LOVE that!,” you’ll probably snivel at this.

I’m someone who detests mayonnaise, un-American ain’t I? That’s fine. I’m used to hearing it. I don’t like Ranch dressing, cream cheese, sour cream, etc. Most things creamy are just gross, thank you.

Oeufs

I eat a lot of eggs -- as I was raised doing. It’s cheaper than buying meat and while I love fish and seafood (and beef, squirrel, rabbit, etc), I don’t normally buy anything I haven’t raised or at least dressed out myself (”dressed” is a misnomer, referring to ridding a carcass of its skin and innards).

Are the new neighbors gone yet?

I boiled up four eggs, they’re large not in the super-market style “large” but as in “Holy crap! Them came out of a chicken?” Our hens are healthy.

I boiled them in some salt water in a vain attempt at making them easier to peel (fresh eggs are notoriously a PITA to peel; you lose a lot of whites). I used a simple tin of “Kirkland” (store brand) white albacore tuna, some dill gherkins (cornichons) chopped up and additional dill relish (never, ever sweet pickle relish -- ew, that’s for city folk who don't know the merits of dill).

Artichoke hearts

I put in some artichoke hearts and a wee bit of EVOO (my norm in place of mayo) and about 1/2 Cup of hummus. Yo! As I chopped and stirred, I couldn’t help but wish I had some tehini at that moment but as it turned, what I made was so fing good that it didn’t matter. -Normally, I also cut some chives, scallions or chop in white onions, too, but I didn’t want the egg-onion farts that accompany such a dish.

Recap:
tuna, eggs, dill cornichons, dill relish, hummus and more hummus, a teensy bit of EVOO, salt, a few grinds of black pepper and a couple minced artichoke hearts. I spooned it out on top of baby spring greens (salad) and it Totally, Kicked, Arse. EDIT: I totally forgot to mention I put in about 1/4 Cup of fat-free crumbled feta cheese. It was a "Mediterranean" theme.

Try mixing up your own “what’s on hand and what things I like” to find what combination might just kick your own arse.

My regular recipe is still beloved but experimenting with what I had on hand lead to a wonderful experience!

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unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 4

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:15:44 -0500

EDIT: I never turned comments "off." I apologize to the people who wished to comment and even more apologize to Valerae, who told me she couldn't comment and I thought she meant "just she" couldn't comment. I have trouble and cannot leave comments sometimes on Vox; I figured it's my connection speed. :( I wasn't giving people the cold-shoulder. Me so sorry!
**********************************************************************************************

First, thanks to John and his voxer buddy Noddy for helping out on episode 3. This vox post is to chronicle my weekend attempts and shampooing and rinsing with Borax solution and vinegar.

Friday night, when it application-time came, its watery consistency made judging how much to use difficult.

I poured a handful and slopped it on my pre-wetted head in the shower. That didn't seem to cover much (1/6 of my scalp/ hair). I switched to slowly pouring the solution. To "feel" like everything had been treated, I poured twice-over, using about 1.5 cups of solution.

That was probably far more than a person would need but I wanted to cover evenly.

Regarding the citric acid of episode 3: I was very "on" about using it because I read in two places that neither lemon juice nor ACV were strong enough to counter Borax solution. Since I had no citric acid, I used ACV.

photo.jpg

Smooth

That felt fine in the shower (wet) but my hair felt odd afterward. I made sure to completely douse with vinegar, to remove the solution. Perhaps my hair cannot tolerate much of one or the other?

My hair and scalp is "squeaky" clean but uncomfortably tight and tingling in a bad way. My hair is turning into a wiry, mess (it's still about 50% damp at time of photo, left). Naturally, my hair is fine, thin, kinky and ginger. Certainly, every hair-dresser I've met thinks they know my hair and then freak out as they try to manage it! Ah, the winning combination of Jewish and Irish ancestry! :)

BTW I wash my hair daily; it's necessary to use several styling products and blow-style to make smooth (see photo, above right). I'm air-drying with tonight's experiment, since my hair feels too dry and pouffy (and my scalp feels like I have sunburn)!

-reported Friday, 9 May 08

Normal shampoo & cond.

The next morning, my mother saw me and remarked about my, as she calls it, "Jew-fro." I told her I had used Borax solution and followed with vinegar rinse. She was aghast (she's a licensed beautician from the early 1960's). Stated above, I wanted to give it one more go but as of noon the day after, my scalp still feels like somebody tossed gasoline on it. I pondered letting my natural oils come back on their own (and skip my usual daily cleansing) but after hour upon hour of discomfort, I returned to Neutrogena "Triple Moisture" shampoo and TJs "Nourish" conditioner. My hair is much more relaxed (added oils) but my scalp feels exactly the same (see photo, bottom left; hair is almost 50% dry).

I've decided to leave well-enough alone by not trying straight Borax solution again. I may cook up a different concoction with Borax in it, but not again diluted Borax-proper. Ouch. I still recommend Borax for your laundry, bug repellent/ bug killer and outside cleaning jobs. I think as a shampoo, it's best for those with different textured hair than mine. I know tons of people use it and that's great, if it works for you!

-follow up, Saturday 10 May 08

After 30 hours of jojoba

As of four days later, my hair is behaving more "normally." Saturday afternoon, I put about one teaspoon of jojoba oil in my hair and massaged it into my scalp. That set for about 30 hours and then I washed with my normal moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. The only other thing to report is I've lost 2 rather scary chunks of hair (as wads) whilst showering. I've had similar happen after surgery and after having pneumonia, so it's not a complete shock. Those must've been the weaker hairs, eh? At any rate, my scalp is recovered after the 30 hour jojoba treatment, too.

-follow up, Tuesday 13 May 08

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unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 3

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:45:28 -0500

Citric acid

Okay, I'll admit thinking, "vitamic C!" but I think, now, that's actually ascorbic acid. And I think I just miss-spelled that. I'll check later. -don't interrupt my train of thought, it's hard enough to keep me on topic

I noticed a bunch of home-made shampoos mentioned using citric acid and water as a rinse. In the first 47 mentions, it all seemed to be used as a conditioner. Finally, after reading pages upon pages -including books; no, I'll not give attribution because they're all so slim in information and they all say exactly the same thing I thought to stop looking at it from the health and beauty side and go at it from the more science/ chemistry side. Please remember, gentle unscientific or science-y friends, I got the Special Test in school and came away "under par," shall we say: I didn't test into Chemistry 101 or anything harder that Botany, which was set aside for the stoners.

Using only the internet, I pounced upon WikiP as everyone does, and promptly came to the realization that it was a bit over my head, too. I think it's designed more as a reminder for post-Chem 101 students. I'm "pre-Chem 101" so, I looked elsewhere and found this. -with a name like wisegeek, how could I go wrong?

In MT-style, here's what I've gleaned: citric acid, even diluted, doesn't sound like something I want to pour over my head. Sure, I get that it's acid and I think we "do" that to reset the ph level after a Borax-based "shampoo" (really Borax with water poured over it then use the water, NOT including Borax at the bottom of the mixing container). I read somewhere that lemon juice nor vinegar is strong enough to reset the ph after your Borax quasi-solution... This makes Borax not sound like something I want to pour over my head.

Granted, both of these substances seem very safe for the environment and that's important if you live on a farm like I do where our water supply is directly affected by our sewage as in "right there."

Scared yet? Oh, bonjour les pompiers! Check out what's in a common bottle of shampoo from the salon. Um, that's like everything. I'm not promoting products from this distributor but they have a super-quick list of common products and some of the ingredients you wouldn't want to use on your body or in your body.

I'm just not ready to try Borax on my head. The thing is, knowing myself, I'll probably try it on a whim and certainly once use isn't going to harm me... I don't like the idea of using citric acid, though. It really seems to me that vinegar would be a suitable rinse, if it's really needed. This is when I really miss not having any chemistry background because I love trying to do things myself.

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unscientific science-y Tuesday, episode 2

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:45:52 -0500

20 Mule Team

Growing up, we always kept Borax. -"Twenty mule-team strong" or something was their motto We used it as an additive to our laundry and for general cleaning, particularly on outside stuff like concrete, barbecue pit and utensils and the occasional picnic tabletop. We also made wee Hadrian's Walls to keep out bugs. -you leave a line almost like levees; bugs rarely cross it and many die trying... I'm not sure why and I don't really want to know

I think it's boric acid but I don't know what that is because my learning disability rendered

Soda

that part of my brain retarded and I couldn't get the maths scores to get into chemistry -- even in high school. Hence, "unscientific science-y Tuesdays."

What I have wondered about is how I alternately use baking soda in household cleaning but never for bug-warding. They're both white dry stuff, Borax being grainer and baking soda being more powdery. They can both dissolve in hot water, too.

Some web-site had a link with summary of making your own cleanser and I clicked it just to see if it was like what I grew up using, not because we're Hippies but because we're from the Ozarks. Sure enough, many "eco-friendly"/ "green"/ environmentally-safe type DIY articles let loose these long-guarded (in plain sight) family recipes.

Super!

What threw me off was the term washing soda. Was that the same as Borax or baking soda and we just never called it the right thing? -you mean like "Grandma ____ peas" are crowders to everyone else in the world?

This morning I tried to look at some more recipes and compare when they use one versus the others. It looks to me like Borax is totally its own thing and washing soda is the more caustic cousin of baking soda. I read one "chemistry for dummies-style" article that told how sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is derived from sodium carbonate. All-in-all, washing soda is going to be a bigger-bang for cleaning but you must wear rubber gloves if you're going to expose your skin to it. Contrarily, baking soda is more refined and won't flay you alive. -my terms, which are exaggerated but please don't go playing in washing soda

Now, if you're adding washing soda to your laundry, it's purported to boost efficacy as much as 40%. That's super but just adding the safer-to-your-skin baking soda helps, too. Don't forget the Borax boosts efficacy, too.

The thing for me to remember, as in how I'd use these things as I always have but maybe even more is Borax still works great as a mini-Hadrian's Wall, it still cleans outside stuff and boosts your laundry detergent. Baking soda is still great for many household cleaning uses including the toilet; I was taught that after cleaning it, dump some extra and force-flush the commode because the baking soda is also good for our natural waste management. We don't have an aerator or connect with the outside world; it's all usn's on the farm, baby.

Since I didn't grow up using washing soda, I don't know if I'll like it or not. On one hand, it seems scary-strong so, it might be really good at those outdoor cleaning tasks for which I grew up using Borax. On the other hand, it seems scary-strong.

I'd love anyone's contributions or reviews of using one over another!

Rind

Buy the off-brand, it's cheaper

You can google "DIY household cleaners" and spend all day reading recipes so, I won't post any here. I will add that white vinegar and lemon rinds are hugely popular in my family for cleaning. White vinegar is perhaps the best friend you've got!

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unscientific sciencey Tuesday

nobody@vox.com(mad-tante) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:06:54 -0500

Prissy_a_man!

So’s I ran into this guy last night and hung out to chat for about an hour.

We got on the subject of drive times and mileage and mpg and he was floored that my home-work-home daily commute is 60 miles with NOTHING extra.

“You gots to get you on some greasel.”

Beaker and Prof. Honeydew

He went on to talk about how easy it was go make:

•get some free/ throw-away grease from a take-out resto
•add a small vial of enzymes (or something) that raises the grease to diesel’s flash-point
•occasionally add a very small amount of regular petrol-diesel (he was unclear on this part)

What’s funny is that he seemed like he knew what he was on about so much that he almost had me sold!

I googled and skimmed some message boards from motor-heads and found:
a) um, dude...you need to start with a DIESEL car -duh

b) greasel uses pretty much raw, nasty grease with only rudimentary filtering -think extra-crispy batter on the side at Long John Silver’s but you need to do some modifications on your engine. Kits are available but be careful, several people got theirs and seemed to need more parts

c) biodiesel costs more to make but its plus is not having to alter your engine

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