Winter Driving

Here in Halifax, we don't often get winter in the true sense of the word. Here along he coast, most storms has some element of rain or ice pellets, often with very little snow. Still though, it's unpredictable, and winter city driving can be treacherous. Making things more complex, my old van is rear wheel drive, and even though the engine's in the back too, there's not much weight or traction back there. Properly rated winter tires are hard to find so I'm trying to work out a compromise. I have a pair of those mud and snow (M+S) rated tires, but they are not the best. Normally, I just stay put if the roads are bad, but I get concerned about getting stranded out somewhere while the weather turns yucky. So I'm trying something old fashioned: Tire Chains. I picked up some at Princess Auto recently. i saw them there last year, but the $99 price tag made me procrastinate until the other day I saw them marked down to $25.08. Bingo. They are a funny design, with two ratcheting gizmos for self-tightening.

I had yet to install the M+S tires, so I figured I should check the fit...

They fit just fine, so I went ahead and put the tires on...

The chains install quickly and easily, without having to do any jacking or moving. My plan is to keep them in the vehicle, and hopefully if I get caught out in miserable road conditions, they'll help get me home. See below for an installation video from the manufacturer...

Christmas Root Beer 2012

I've rambled on about this before, and normally it's a last minute thing. HomeMade Root Beer needs a full week or so to carbonate properly. In previous years, I often got around to making it just in time. This year I had it ready by December 1st or so. The downside (isn't there always one?) of course is that the first batch is almost all gone. No big problem, I'll make another one.

Fortunately, a good friend gifted me with a nice green milk crate of 16 large reusable bottles. That made the second batch a much easier undertaking since the extra bottles meant I didn't have to wait for the first batch...not that I had to wait long :)

 

I did have a slight issue with the bigger bottles though; see the red circle in the picture above, where the bottle is touching the metal shank of the capper. I was a little hesitant to apply pressure, thinking it might smash said precious bottle. I got around it by using a different capper (it pays to have more than one of most things) that did not have that block of wood attached to the base. I could have removed the block, but that's work :)

 Anyway, the first batch is all but gone, and the second will be ready to drink by the weekend. My prediction is that at the rate it's being inhaled, I'll need a third batch before Christmas day, not a bad problem since I'm one of the guilty parties...belch !!

The old standard was HIRES Brand extract, but that seems to have vanished. For the last few years, all I've been able to find is this ROYAL Brand. However, it seems to taste just as good. This year it's gone up to about 6 dollars a bottle. Add a bag of sugar, yeast, and bottle caps, and the cost is between 10 and 15 dollars.That;s not really "cheap" when decent President's Choice Draft Root Beer can be had for 50 cents a litre. Then again, it's not about the money  :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

 

Red Neck Wood Rack

One of the dirty little annoyances associated with using wood as a primary source of heat is the mess it makes. In my case, I generally store it in one corner of the basement while the stove is in the other corner. During the process of carrying it from there to here, lots of pieces of bark and debris end up along the trail. This is picked up by the various size 12 & 13 socks that frequent the area and tracked everywhere. I needed a tall and narrow transport/storage device, and I'm lazy if not clumsy. All of this combined and resulted in my prototype mobile wood rack. A cheap stand-up dolly, 3 "acquired" milk crates, and some nylon tie-wraps resulted in this:

I need to attach a 1 x 3 or so to the bottom crate to help it sit a bit more level, but so far so good...

Handwarmers 3

This is my third post about these things...kind of an obsession I guess.

See first post here.

See 2nd post here.

Yesterday, I received an envelope from Hong Kong, containing some of the new mini aluminum hand warmers. To express it mildly, I'm impressed. They come packaged like this:

 Inside is the warmer, a little faux fur bag, and a little cup for measuring out the proper amount of lighter fluid:

 These things are tiny:

 The construction is very similar to the Zippo and the other knock-offs, and bonus, the burner fits the bigger models too.

But here's the kicker: with less than an ounce of fuel, my first "test" burned for almost 15 hours. That's less than 25 cents worth of fluid for 15 hours of heat. The aluminum is too hot to the touch so it's necessary to keep it in the bag. Four of these can be acquired for the price of just one of the Zippo units. A better alternative than those hideous disposable things. The lighter fluid is readily available, $4.49 at Princess auto for 12oz:

Quick Dessert, saw it on Facebook

Saw this on a friend's Facebook page today...had to come home and try it out...

Start with a bunch of frozen berries in a 9x13 pan

Cover with a (dry) white cake mix

Carefully pour a can of lemon lime, sprite etc on top.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350F

and it's almost gone...

Except for a few powdery spots where the cake mix didn't dissolve, it turned out great !! 

Hand Warmers Revisited...

A couple of years ago, I had something to say about my appreciation for those old traditional hand warmers, the ones that burn lighter fluid. I have a couple of the ZIPPO ones ($28 at MEC), as well as some knock-offs from Ebay. Frankly, the knock-offs are just as good, and can be had for about 1/4 of the price. Recently, I discovered new mini aluminium versions available on Ebay and of course they are on their way to me as I type. I'll test them and report as soon as I can. Meanwhile see a review HERE. They cost me $7.50 each with free shipping (from Hong Kong). Bring on the biting cold...

They are considerably smaller than the other models. It'll be interesting to see how effective they are.
Incidentally, these take the same burner as the Zippo. Assuming the burner is ok, and considering MEC wants $10 for a replacement burner, it's kind of hard to lose (famous last words)...

Old Netbook, New Life...

Almost 4  years ago, I picked up a new Netbook, the original Acer Aspire One. The small 3-cell battery was adequate, but after the first couple of years, its life began to dwindle. Lately, with diminished usage, it wouldn't take or hold a charge at all. As usual, Ebay to the rescue. For about $25 I picked up a 9-cell beast that triples the original battery life. It's a bit bulky and raises the back of the Netbook up a little, but all well worth it. It gives over 8 hours of juice  :)

Additionally, and as you might expect, a machine this old is also a bit slow. To compensate as best I could, I installed Lubuntu, a lightweight Ubuntu Linux OS. I think I'm getting my $249 worth out of this machine.

A nice clean interface easy on the limited resources...