My kombucha plastic-eating experiment dried out while we were gone; I added water to it, but it seems to be dead. I'll maybe give it a few days to resuscitate, and if it fails, do a post-mortem.
I finished my solar "oven" with the giant Fresnel lens a couple of days ago, and have been testing it, but it cooks stuff really slowly. It does, however, get leaves smoking almost instantly when placed in its focal point. I'm going to try and find some cast iron pan at a thrift store, blackened nicely, that can absorb and hold the heat, and see if that helps.
Rode out to G&G marketplace today for the first time. Nice part of town I hadn't seen before. Took Washington to Vallejo, tried to get to the bike path and found I was in a private yard. Went out through the gate, crossed Payran, and then I was on the path. At McDowell I took Professional to Maria to Madison and came out on Sonoma Mountain Parkway. Didn't know which way G&G was from there; headed southeast till I got to Washington, nope. Went back and found it, did my shopping and went back a different route I found on MapQuest at the Starbucks in that same shopping center: down Riesling, to Inverness, to Lancaster, to Maria; Sunrise Parkway to McDowell; then back down the bike path to Payran, southeast to D street, and back through downtown.
A lot of people like my recumbent; I get lots of friendly comments. I like it too. Found out the other day I can just stand it on the seat end for minor maintenance. It balances very well on the triangular base formed by the seat back and rear of the frame.
Recharged my Cateye 5-cell pack today, using my folding solar panel. It jumped from 4.8 volts to well over 6 in such a short time, I thought something was wrong with the NiMH batteries, but they're working OK. For now.
last updated 2010-07-10 02:30:15. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com