The 66/33 candle (D from the previous post) self-extinguished overnight, as it had in the past.

The others all looked fine this morning, but by now, not quite twenty-four hours in, the 80/20 candle (C) is starting to labor: all the same symptoms as D had on its way out, only coming on much more slowly: smaller/dimmer/redder flame with some soot from incompletely burned fuel collecting on the glass, so I suspect it will self-extinguish before it exhausts all available fuel. Therefore, latzoni, I wouldn't recommend this to you. 8-)

The 90/10 candle (B) looks completely normal, until you compare it to its neighbor, the 100% beeswax (A). Then, and only then, can one observe a slightly smaller and dimmer flame, but it's not laboring or smoking like C.

A and Z are zipping along cheerfully--both flames have large, bright tongues and show every indication of normal fuel consumption. As yet, neither glass has shown any signs of breakage. However, the paraffin I broke in the past didn't crack until it was well past halfway through its burn; that's likely when the beeswax will break its glass, if it does.

Dangit, I wish someone made borosilicate glass in an acceptable cylinder--then it would be full beeswax ahead, and Maxwell's daemon take the hindmost!

-- Lorrie

All righty, folks, as in the previous post, I'm getting rid of all my old gaming books, free to good homes. While that post dealt with White Wolf materials, this has Everything Else: Fading Suns, Legend of the Five Rings, Deadlands, and Dungeons and Dragons 3.0.

Same rules apply as in the previous post:

• Everything unclaimed by Monday, 1 February 2010, goes to norsebiker43.


• Comments are initially screened.


• The books are leaving my house Monday 1 February 2010, period-space-the-end. Priority Mail, Media Mail, your doorstep, whatever it takes.


• I abhor PayPal, but I'll take it if I must through countgeiger. I want nothing for the books; you only pay postage.


• All decisions are by My Imperial Fiat, yet also subject to My Divine Whimsy.


• If I accidentally borrowed a listed book from you, and you want it back, I will send it immediately: my cost, my apologies, the only questions asked are those that trigger my faulty memory.

Okay? Let's go!

( A Cut for Those Who Couldn't Care Less )

---

Thanks for helping me find good homes for good books!

-- Lorrie

Right, so, among my New Year's Firm Plans, I wrote, "Brew at least three meads this year, at least one of which is dedicated to a god."

I admit, that was kind of a low-ball resolution (there are ones on there that will, in fact, be quite hard for me). But let's chat that up a moment and throw some plans around...

( First, start another simple mead... )( Thor )( Then there's Odin. )( Frigg has a plum melomel already, but it may need a do-over. )( And now another suggestion for the queue... )And that's my current brewery ramblings. Discuss.

-- Lorrie

A year and a half ago, two days before Greyhaven's midsummer Charlie Party, my favorite cat, George, went from being merely hyperthyroid to active, acute, renal failure.

We chose to euthanize, and the morning of the Charlie Party, I buried him in dpaxson's front yard.

Tomorrow is the Odin Party.

Yesterday, Sigdrifa spent eighteen hours hiding in a closet. When we finally found her and hauled her out, she was lethargic, staggering, with little control of her hindquarters. She hadn't been eating (we realized when we compared notes) and last night refused water as well.

Today, a diagnosis: diabetes mellitus, with a secondary complication of hepatic lipidosis. Absent the Greek and Latin, that means that if we chose to treat, it's several days of hospitalization, followed by several weeks of a feeding tube, force-feeding her through a tube until her liver came back online, which will be at least three weeks. After that, twice-daily insulin injections for the rest of her life, to a being to whom I cannot explain why we haul her out of hidey holes and jab her with pointy things.

We have chosen to euthanize. Today, or tomorrow, I plant another cat in dpaxson's front yard.

Wibble, on her part, littermate to George, is elderly (16 1/2) but spry: hyperthyroid is under control with twice-daily oral meds that she doesn't like, but does tolerate. The raw diet we put both cats on a few months ago, plus the hormone therapy, is doing wonders: she's gained weight back and has a lovely silky coat.

purplevenus is on her way, we're gonna blubber on each other for awhile, and then do what countgeiger and I have to believe is the right thing by Sigdrifa.

Using six-year-olds' logic, Greyhaven parties are bad for my cats.

-- Lorrie

Tonight's the Seidhjallr meeting, and traditionally whoever hosts provides an entree, and everyone else brings sides.

It's frickin' freezing here in Normally Sunny California, all the more so because a lot of houses have inadequate heating, e.g. my apartment. So--soup of the evening! Beautiful soup! Soup that can boil awhile and warm my apartment despite its inadequate heating!

Tonight, the Soup of the Evening is Pea Soup, modified slightly off that served at the long-time cult favorite road trip restaurant, Split Pea Andersen's. Served alongside will be the third of the two loaves of Finnish sourdough rye I made Saturday.

Yes, third of two.

Oh, and some German mustard and Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese.

This recipe yields rather a lot--the usual recipe involves two quarts of water and one pound of peas; me, I'm feeding five and intend to schlurp on the leftovers until I leave town on Thursday, so I went pound-and-a-half. Happily, a local Good Grocery Store has bounteous bulk bins...

Ingredients

1.5	c	green split peas, sorted and rinsed
3	qt	low-sodium vegetable broth*
1		medium onion, coarsely chopped
2		medium carrots, coarsely chopped
2		ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1		ham shank, including the bone, cut into 4-6 large pieces†
2	pinches	cayenne pepper
1/2	t	dried thyme
3	md	bay leaves
		salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Sort and rinse peas. Add all ingredients to large Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Boil for twenty minutes, or until peas are cooked through, then reduce to a simmer. Fish out bay leaves and discard. Fish out ham shank, discard bone and dice meat.

Purée soup by any means necessary: food mill, sieve, blender, or so on. I like stick blender, myself, and I don't run my soup to baby food, either.

Serve immediately with diced ham, rye bread, rye crackers, cheese, and, apparently, mustard.

^* - In the original, this is water.
^† - The original soup is vegan.

Enjoy!

-- Lorrie

Having studied the sourdough methods of both the Exploratorium and that of Rose Levy Beranbaum (who graciously allowed Epicurious to use her methods in their bread primer), I wondered:

How could this be rye? I mean, a strong rye flavor. I'm talking "plowman of the Polish prairies" kind of thing.

( Read more... )

...it's like dr_beowulf tells his students in his day job in Darkest Arkansas:

"If there IS an Intelligent Designer, he's a complete pervert."

Warning: Animal sexual congress described with words that are not necessarily Safe for Work, but there are no graphical depictions of naughtybits anywhere.

Bonus points for: Mentioning Captain Jack Harkness as one of the very few things more "sexually versatile" than dolphins.

Thanks, tanrinia!

-- Lorrie

Once back from my trip, I threw a "medium" cricket into Milo's larger box.

Not only did he not eat it, but the cricket molted before weakly hopping about a few days more.

I've put Milo back in the smaller box, with small crickets. However, as he hasn't eaten these yet, either, perhaps this was premature, and he is refusing food as a preparation to molt--again! Yay!

We'll see what happens...

-- Lorrie