Ice, Maybe?

Well, now they're saying we're looking at the possibility of ice with this next storm coming through late Wednesday and into Thursday.  

My county is right at the edge between the "Threat" and "Higher Threat" area.  Whether we get ice or not, we still have a 100% chance of rain Thursday, so with that in mind, I began moving my new stack of wood under cover this afternoon -- to where I really wanted it to be in the first place.   I'm going to try to get the rest moved tomorrow and Wednesday, before the storm gets here.   Most of it anyway. 

I picked out some of the more seasoned pieces and started a stack by my back door,  just to have it close at hand.  

I'll need to find something to cover it with, so it doesn't get totally soaked when the rain starts.  Once the storm blows through, it's supposed to get cold again -- and by cold again, I mean in the mid to low 20s.  I'll have plenty of firewood, plus drinking water, and my propane camp stove all ready, just in case. Probably won't need it, but it never hurts to be prepared.   Hopefully, it'll all blow over with minimal ice buildup and no power outages.  

In other news, if you've been reading my blog awhile, you may recall a couple of years ago, I ordered some petri dishes from Amazon and did science.  Because science is cool.  The issue I had with that science is that I couldn't get my petri dishes up to the recommended 85'-100' temps for optimal bacteria growth.  Since then, I have found my heating pad, so I would be able to get my dishes incubating properly.  Now that I have the afore mentioned heating pad located, science is calling to me to try again.  

Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I ordered some more petri dishes, so I can do more science.

I'm probably going to wait until the weekend to start...you know, just in case the electricity goes out.  One of the experiments I'm thinking of doing is comparing the bacteria in the dog's mouth with bacteria in the cat's mouth.  I don't know how that'll turn out, but hey, that's what science is.  Getting an idea and testing it.  

Another thing I want to test is the effectiveness of hand sanitizer vs. regular soap.  I did that one last time, but I've got a better idea on how to get my hands really germy.  It involves potted meat and a large dog's large tongue.  And an appropriate level of grossness.  

I'll be sure to let you know how my little experiments go, and I'll be sure to take my photos on a dark colored, matte surface this time, too, so you can see the results better.  

I've got 10 dishes, so if there's anything you want me to test, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.  

And finally, Cody messaged me today to let me know that he and Brennan are officially engaged. 

Of course, that's no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention.  It's all he's been talking about for nearly 2 years now.  

And hey, I might end up with a grandkid after all...

Feels Like Christmas

There I was at work, just a working away, when my coworker bopped up to me and said, "Becky, do you know we're off Saturday?"

"Yes!" I replied, deciding not to press the issue. 

That's when my other coworker cut in and said, "Becky's the one who brought the paper around!"  

The first coworker said, "I didn't know!  I'm just so excited!  It feels like Christmas!" 

By now, you're probably wondering which issue I decided not to press.  To tell you that, we'll have to back up about 15 minutes...

I was walking past the group leader's desk returning a brazing jig to the rack, when the dispatcher handed me a piece of paper.  And on that piece of paper were the most wonderful words I'd ever seen:  

 ALL PRODUCTION AREAS ARE OFF SATURDAY.

Completely forgetting the jig that was still in my hand, I ran back to the sub brazing area, waving the paper around, calling, "WOOOO!  WOOOO!"  showing all my coworkers before hanging it up on the post beside the computer.  

So, yes, I did know we are off Saturday.  I'm not sure if it's because work may be slowing down -- it is   getting to be late summer after all -- or if someone finally convinced The Big Man Up Front that we need a break.  We've been working long, long hours these last few weeks.  We're all tired.  I can't remember the last time I was this absolutely worn out.  One of my coworkers -- who shall remain nameless -- told me he fell asleep on the toilet last night.  I told him I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that.  He said he'd fallen asleep, then fell off the toilet, and his girlfriend called "Are you all right?" and he said he was just getting into the shower...

Kind of reminds me of the time in Navy boot camp when I fell asleep standing at parade rest.  But that's another story for another post.  

I have no idea what I'm going to do with my day off, other than sleep past 3:30 AM, but I'm sure I'll find something.  Maybe I'll catch up with all the blogging I've been wanting to do but have been too tired to.  Do, I mean.  Blog...whatever. 

A couple of weeks ago, I did some science.  I'd seen a video on Facebook in which a man grew some bacteria cultures in Petri dishes.  I found it fascinating, and said to myself, "Self, I'd like to find me some of them there Petri dishes and try that for my own self."  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  

I got onto Amazon and found some.  Then I did science.  

Now, the caveat is, these dishes are designed for kids to do science projects, so the agar is less toxic than the stuff you'd find in a professional medical or scientific lab.  That also means it's less conducive to bacteria growth, but they worked well enough, and it was fun doing it.  

I knew wearing a mask would catch the crap you cough out of your mouth, but I wanted to see if there was a significant difference in the types of masks.  I used three:  a home made mask my friend Mary Ellen sent me, a store bought mask from Walmart, and a surgical mask they gave me at work. 

Then, just because all the Facebook memes are mocking them, I also decided to test a doubled up bandana. 

I put on each type of mask and coughed twice into a petri dish held about 12 inches from my face.  The second caveat is, I don't have an incubator.  I put the dishes on top of Sunny's tank in the snake room, and closed the A/C vent. Even doing that, I couldn't quite get the room up to the 85-100' temp they recommend.  The best I could do on a consistent basis was 78.  I sure didn't want to turn on the space heater.  Not in the middle of a Mississippi summer.  I was afraid I'd roast my snakes.  

After a week, I checked the dishes and there was virtually no bacteria growth in any of them.  

And here we come to the third caveat.  If I'd had more sense, I would have taken the photos on a dark colored, non reflective surface instead of on the snake room floor.  Obviously, I didn't have more sense.

The reflection washes out the surface of the agar, so you can't really see anything.  You'll just have to take my word that there were only one or two very small spots of bacteria growth on them.  By the way, I did do a control, but as I said, the reflection washed out the few small spots of bacteria growth.  It wasn't a lot, but it was significantly more than with any of the masks. 

Since I had a couple of dishes left over, I took the opportunity to do some more tests.  I already showed you the swab I took of Jesse's mouth. None of the rest were very significant, but this one.  I've got some bad news for those of you who like hand sanitizer.    First off, I coughed directly into my hand, and took a swab without any sort of washing or sanitizing as a control.  

Then, I coughed into my hand, and used the hand sanitizer as directed.  This particular brand is 70% alcohol, and I rubbed it into my hands for 30 seconds. 

As you can see, using hand sanitizer is better than nothing, but there is still plenty of bacteria growth.  Now, I wish I'd had another dish to compare sanitizer to washing with regular soap and water.  Maybe I'll order some more and do even more science. 

Later, though.  Right now I'm going to bed. 

Goodnight. 

Blood Moon

I got up in time to see part of the eclipse this morning. I couldn't stay out and watch the whole thing, because I had to get ready for work.  From some strange, odd reason, watching an eclipse is not an excused absence.  What's up with that? 

That isn't my picture, oh, by the way.  My camera doesn't zoom nearly that well.  I copped it from a space website.

Anyway, I walked back out after I'd gotten ready, but by then, a dense fog had rolled in and I couldn't see any more.  I did get to see a little sliver of moon over the cotton field as I was driving to work, but that was all.

I'm not sure why everyone is freaking over the moon turning red.  I mean, every single total eclipse I've ever seen has made the moon turn red.  It has something to do with the refraction of the light through the Earth's atmosphere, or something like that.  I don't remember, but you can research it if you're so inclined.

Whatever, the point is, there is a perfectly logical, reasonable, scientific explanation for it.  It has nothing to do with the world coming to an end or anything.  

Oh, and while we're talking about the moon, I just got one more thing to say: 

'Merica!!

Mythbusting: The Ice Cream That Won't Melt

This morning, a friend posted a link on Facebook regarding a woman who claimed her son left a Great Value Ice Cream Sandwich out in the hot sun for 12 hours without it melting.  She thought that was odd, so she got another one and left it out overnight and it still didn't melt.   Even the so-called reporter claims that he verified this by setting out an ice cream sandwich in the "hot sun" and it failed to melt. 

Being by nature a bit skeptical, I decided to try to replicate this experience myself.  After work, I went to the store and got a box of the same ice cream sandwiches.

For those of you interested, here is the ingredients label. 

When I got home from the store, I put the box of sandwiches in the freezer for approximately an hour, to refreeze them from my trip home.  Once they had hardened back up, I took one sandwich and set it outside.  Notice that the thermometer is showing mid 70s.

Also note that the sky was very overcast.  Yes, the reporter had a sunny day, but this is not a factor I could control.

After 5 minutes, you can clearly see the ice cream is starting to soften and melt around the corners.

And the temperature is still showing mid 70s. 

After 10 minutes, melting is clearly occurring.

After 15 minutes, even more melting has occurred.

And the temperature is holding in the low to mid 70s.  I suspect the slight drop is due to the proximity of the frozen treat.

After 20 minutes, there isn't much left.

By 25 minutes, the ice cream has almost completely melted.

And after 30 minutes, it's gone. 

Notice that the temperature has remained stable in the low 70s. 

In addition to wasting a perfectly good ice cream sandwich, I think I can conclusively say that this myth has been busted.  If my sandwich has completely melted in less than half an hour, on an overcast 70 degree day, I don't find it plausible at all that one can remain solid after 12 hours on an 80 degree day, and much less so overnight. 

My guess is it's just somebody looking for their 15 minutes of fame. 

Final Update And Other Stuff

Before we go any further, let me bring you what will be the final update in my little pedicure experiment. 

Two weeks have passed, and as you can see, there is virtually no difference in the toes I treated with vinegar and the ones I didn't.  So we will officially call this myth busted, and I won't be bringing you any more photos of my feet.

I'm sure you'll all be glad of that. 

Now, on to a more interesting subject.  Knitting.

Last week, Beverly gave me this yarn. 

She had picked it up in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby, then decided she just didn't like it.  So, being the other yarn aficionado in the family, she passed it on to me.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it wanted to be a scarf. 

But first, I needed to finish this hat I'd already started.

Basic hat pattern, mystery yarn.  I think it might be some old Knit Picks stuff I had laying around, but I don't really know.  I'd wound it up so long ago that I don't even remember doing it, and have no idea what happened to the ball band.  So, there it is.  Some soldier's head will appreciate it, I'm sure.

Sometime Monday, I cast on the scarf.  At first, I'd thought about doing a linen stitch, but when I wound the yarn, I discovered several breaks in it.  I decided that they would be easier to hide in a different stitch. 

So, I cast on the ubiquitous One Row Scarf from the Yarn Harlot website.

I'm liking the way it is knitting up, but I'm also beginning to understand why it was in the clearance bin.  This is as far as I've gotten and I've already had five, yes five, breaks in the yarn.  It's a good thing I've become quite adept at spit splicing, which doesn't actually involve real spit.  Not when I do it, it doesn't. 

Blech...

I'm sure you will all be relieved to know that I have finally cast on my second Jaywalker sock. 

After having finished the first one way back in June. 

Ummmm, I'm pleading the Fifth. 

The important thing is, it's been cast on and you can all breathe a bit easier now.

Yeah. 

Experiment Update

It's been a week since I started my little experiment.  I reckon it's time for an update.

So far, I've noticed very little difference between the nails swiped with vinegar and the ones not pre-treated.  There is some wear along the edges, but nothing out of the ordinary.  The control foot (the left one) has roughly the same amount and type of wear as the experimental foot. 

I'll update again in a few more days, but so far, it looks like this myth will be busted. 

An Experiment

I saw someone post on Facebook that if you swipe your nails before polishing them, your manicure/pedicure will last longer.  Now, I see a lot of this type of advice online, and most of it is crap.  Seriously.

Like the one that says a baking soda paste will remove the stains from your cookware to make it like new.  That one didn't work at all.  After copious amounts of scrubbing with steel wool, my pans looked marginally better, but nowhere near like the photos showed. 

Or the one that says separating your bananas can make them last twice as long.  Nope.  Maybe a day or two, but not a whole week longer.  Same with wrapping the stems with plastic wrap.  A day.  Not a week or two. 

Which brings us to today.  Someone posted a whole list of stuff like that, including the vinegar before manicuring tip. 

Being the inquisitive minded person that I am-- and since it was way past time to redo my toesies-- I decided to conduct my own little experiment.

First thing was to remove the old polish, then give my tootsies a nice, long soak. 

Then, after trimming and filing my nails, I applied Great Value Distilled White Vinegar

to my right foot, leaving my left foot untreated as a control.  Then I applied two coats of my favorite polish

and let them dry.

I'm going to take a photo every few days, to record how long the polish last and whether it really does last longer on my right foot.  I'll be sure and share the results with you. 

And that was the most happening thing I did today.

Don't envy me my exciting life.