Category: Outdoors

How To Choose Your First Motorcycle

So you have fallen in love with motorcycle riding, taken all safety courses, practiced your skills, and now you need to do the most important task of them all. Now you have to buy your first motorcycle. But how do you choose? Simple, follow the checklist below before you make your purchase:

1. First bikeGraduate from a lighter bike to a heavier one.
2. Recognize your need for a motorcycle.
3. Know what is available.
4. Choose a bike that suits your body
5. Decide if you want a new or used bike.
6. Consider long-term finances when you
7. Make an informed decision.
8. Make sure you also choose passionately.

More details here

 

Watermelon Keg

From the ministryofalcohol: Essentially you slice off a thin layer from the bottom end, slice open the top, scoop out the meat (or liquefy with booze), and jam a spigot in the front. Presto! Your watermelon keg is born.

Intrusctions for Watermelon Keg

Watermelon Keg

Materials

  • 1 medium-large oval or oblong watermelon (seeded or seedless)
  • Kitchen knife
  • Cutting board
  • Green dry erase marker or ¾”-1” thick painter’s trim tape
  • Channel knife (can use top of a vegetable peeler as alternative)
  • Large bowl & spoon or scoop
  • Apple corer
  • Spigot (from beer making supply company)
  • Twine & straight pins
  • Watermelon juice or punch recipe

Instructions

  • Wash the watermelon under cool running water and pat dry.
  • On a cutting board, place the watermelon on its side and cut off 1/4”-1/2” from both ends, being careful not to cut too deep into the white part of the rind. One side will provide a sturdy base.
  • Use dry erase marker or painters tape to make a thick band on the upper 1/3 and lower third of the watermelon that will represent the metal bands around a barrel or keg and use the channel knife to trim away a thin line to represent those metal bands.
  • Hollow out the watermelon with a spoon or scoop, reserving the watermelon pieces to make your favorite punch or juice. Be sure to leave about 2” of watermelon flesh towards the bottom of the watermelon so the spigot can be placed.
  • Use an apple corer to cut a circle for your spigot to fit through the watermelon rind, placing it about 2-3 inches above the bottom of the watermelon. Screw your spigot into place.
  • For added detail, carefully pin twine in your lines you’ve made to represent the metal bands around the barrel/keg. Be careful that the pins do not poke through into the barrel/keg.
  • Place the barrel/keg on a saucer or plate and fill with your favorite chilled punch or juice recipe.

Start Your Own Bee Hive

 

You’ll need:

Top Feeder – A gallon can with small holes in the cap that fits into a hole drilled into the hive’s cover, into which syrup (2 parts water and 1 part sugar) is poured. The syrup gives them the energy to build the wax honeycomb.

 

Spray bottle – Fill it with syrup. Do not reuse an older spray bottle if it has been used with other chemicals. Bees are very sensitive.

 

Queen Catcher – This makes catching the queen a lot gentler on her. No one wants a ticked off queen bee, especially a bee keeper. And I have to say, living in San Francisco, the term “queen catcher” conjures up many different images.

 

Bee Hives – Now the one place you don’t want to skimp on is hive boxes. Get a few, at least three, because you never know when you are going to need an extra one. But when you do, you need it immediately and not a moment later. So having a few on hand will save you a lot of grief in those moments.

 

Bottom board – wooden stand on which the hive rests. Set bottom board on bricks or concrete blocks to keep it off the ground.

 

Extractor – It would be nice to have one of these but they are quite pricy. I suggest you go in on one with other beekeepers in your area or see if you can rent one.

 

Queen Muff – Yes, I said muff. After catching the queen, put her in the muff and as to not worry about her flying off.

 

Bees – Obtaining bees is not necessarily easy but it is a lot easier than you think it will be. You can get them off of Craigslist or just check for bee forums in your area. Lot’s of beekeeping enthusiasts come across swarms they are always trying to unload. Of course, this requires some planning and a bit of serendipity as the perfect time for starting a hive is in the spring.

 

A common type and amount of bees to order is a 3 pound package with an Italian queen. For a few dollars extra, you can have your queen marked. It is a good idea to have your queen marked. Since they will come in the mail (yes, in the mail) you will want to notify your local post office about them.

 

There are three types of bees: the queen, the worker and the drone.

 

Queen bees – The queen’s sole purpose is to lay eggs, that is all she does. Heck, she doesn’t even feed herself. She is like some self-indulging Roman emperor, just lying around being fed grapes all day long by the worker bees. I mean, they do all the work! They even get rid of her waste (eww!). During the height of laying season, the queen can produce around 1000 eggs a day.

 

Worker bees – Worker bees are sterile female bees. And all they do, as their name implies, is work.

 

Drone bees – Guys, be thankful you are not a bee. Like most guys, all these bees do is eat and think about sex. Their job is to get jiggy with the queen, that is it. But it isn’t as sexy as it sounds. If a drone is lucky enough to mate, the queen bee rips out his sexual organs during coitus and stores the sperm for future use. He then falls to the ground and dies. If he isn’t fortunate to find a queen to mate with, the worker bees will force him out of the hive come winter, as he is no longer deemed useful.

 

 Check out this very informative website for more info and instructions.

Tree Circle Ornaments

For those who get a real tree at Christmas-time.

A chip off the old block, these wooden ornaments preserve the piney memories of Christmases past.

Materials
* Handsaw
* Pine disk
* Copper wire
* Ribbon trim or cord
* Glue
* Artificial greenery and berries optional
* Marker or craft paint

Instructions
1. Saw a cross section from the bottom of your Christmas tree trunk before putting it into its stand for decorating (a parent’s job). Alternately, you can saw a smaller piece from the middle after the holidays are over. This is your pine disk.

2. Wrap a length of thin wire around the pine disk and twist it into a loop at the top for hanging. Tie on a ribbon, glue on some trim, or add greenery, berries, or other decorations.

3. Write the year across the front with a marker or craft paint. If the wood surface is too rough, sand it down a bit before writing.

4. For an extra remembrance, glue on a fun Christmas-morning snapshot before you store the ornaments away for next year.

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