Friday, 26 August 2016

09:21 – Barbara is off to the gym and supermarket, where she’s going to pick up a can of black beans, a jar of cumin, and a jar of coriander, the only items we didn’t have in our pantry for making up Jen’s Bean Gloppita recipe. (My name, not hers). Barbara mentioned the other night that she liked black beans and it would be fine with her to have black beans and rice for dinner one night. We’re going to have it for dinner tonight. We’ll follow Jen’s recipe exactly, other than halving it and cooking the rice in the microwave rather than on the stovetop. If it turns out well, I’ll pick up a couple cases of black beans at Costco or Sam’s, along with larger bottles of cumin and coriander, which we don’t normally use.

Speaking of which, we inventoried our supply of herbs and spices (henceforth “sperbs”) in the kitchen and in our downstairs LTS pantry. I need to get that sorted and consolidated so that I can make up a list of which sperbs we need to get on our next Sam’s visit. We’re in pretty good shape on most of those we use routinely, but there are several we’re short of or don’t have in stock at all.

I’m creating POs and ordering stuff that we’re running short of. Today, I need to get several chemicals on order, including ninhydrin crystals and synthetic blood for the forensic kits. I also need to re-order bottles of several types. And I just noticed that my bottle vendor sells 5-gallon pails with screw-on lids for $10 each. That’s a lot of money for a pail, but the real cost is in the screw-on lids, which typically cost $7 to $10 each just for the lid.


62 Comments and discussion on "Friday, 26 August 2016"

  1. dkreck says:

    So the pails I get pool chlorine in are that expensive? I’ve always wished they would actually put a deposit on them so I could take them back to the supply house. Probably toss about four a year in to recycling.

  2. bgrigg says:

    Sperbs is a much better word than Hices, which sounds as if one needs an antibiotic cream!

  3. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Oh, I’m sure they have economies of scale, but if you search for Gamma Seal lids you’ll find that they (or their competitors) run about the price I mentioned. It’s actually a pretty big rip-off, given that they’re simply a cast plastic assembly of the lid itself and a threaded portion that you hammer onto a standard pail.

  4. dkreck says:

    I’m sure there are different types. The chlorine ones are twist on/off with a safety tab of some sort. I’m not sure they are water or air tight since the contents are solid and I’ve seen the powdered stuff get clumpy. Food grade probably are at least until first opening but not sure about resealing.

  5. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    The gamma seal lids and equivalent are food-safe and are intended to remain airtight over many cycles.

  6. Spook says:

    Lowe’s and Home Depot have Gamma Seal lids.
    Check the price…

  7. Spook says:

    I have noticed that 5-gallon bucket lids do not fit all brands and types.
    Same for Luggable Loo and similar toilet seats. Best to test!

  8. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Yeah, Lowes and Home Depot have gamma seal clones for $7.28 to $10.49. Am I missing something?

  9. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Yeah, standard lids aren’t entirely standard, although they’re supposed to be. OTOH, they’re cheap, at a buck or two each and less if you buy a pack. These are the ones that you seat with a rubber mallet. There’s a heavy plastic tear-strip that has to be removed the first time you unseal the pail. After that, you can reseal it with the same lid by using a mallet, but it’s PITA to open or reseal with friction-fit lids very often. I also question how many reseals a friction-fit lid is really good for.

    The gamma seal lids and clones are two-piece assemblies. The outer threaded portion is permanently affixed to the pail using a mallet. The inner lid screws into that outer assembly and can be screwed on and off at least hundreds of times.

  10. Spook says:

    I have one Gamma Seal brand lid from Lowe’s or Home Depot.
    Have not tried it yet. I feel sure it’s a good solution if you need to
    get into a bucket (that it fits!) fairly frequently.
    Some lids have rubber~ gaskets and some have none. Some have
    both the gasket and NO locking strip, I think. They are still hard to
    get open. I got a couple of the wrench / prybar tools for lids (Lowe’s
    or HD, too), but I haven’t tried them yet.
    I have removed the wire bail from some buckets, saving some space
    in the truck or storage. Replace it with paracord. Also drilled a hole
    in the “rib” of some types of lid for a string, to maybe save the lid if
    it comes off in the truck.

  11. nick says:

    If you are going to open a lot of 5 gallon buckets, you need a bucket wrench or pail opener.

    My experience is that the tabs get brittle and break off, limiting the number of times you can reuse the lid. Also a lot of the buckets will degrade in sunlight/uv and get brittle.

    I suppose you could order clean new metal cans, with reusable lids, and line them with something foodsafe. While they could rust, they are also vermin proof. Not cheap though.

    https://www.amazon.com/Vestil-PAIL-STL-RI-UN-Handle-gallon-Capacity/dp/B0052P2PEW/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1472223170&sr=1-2&keywords=5+gallon+metal+bucket

    https://www.amazon.com/Vestil-LID-STL-LL-Steel-Lever-gallon/dp/B0052P1QBU/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1472223170&sr=1-3&keywords=5+gallon+metal+bucket

  12. lynn says:

    Barbara is off to the gym and supermarket, where she’s going to pick up a can of black beans, a jar of cumin, and a jar of coriander, the only items we didn’t have in our pantry for making up Jen’s Bean Gloppita recipe
    http://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2016/08/18/thursday-18-august-2016/

    My wife makes an instant variant of this with Wolf Chili Lean Beef as the starter:
    http://www.wolfbrandchili.com/our-products/lean-chili-with-no-beans

    She adds lots of Bush brand black beans, Libby’s green beans, Green Giant Super Sweet corn, and a few other items that she might feel like putting it. No rice, no cheese though.

  13. nick says:

    The Goya black beans have a delicious recipe on the can. Really tasty.

    n

  14. Dave Hardy says:

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231481

    Who’s pulling the strings?

    My guess: the Deep State, or “shadow” gummint, intertwined with various foreign interests and operators. In conjunction with the ginormous bureaucracy which never goes away but just gets bigger by the hour. The Deep State people decide who will be the National Administrator, for example, not us rube “voters” out here. But we might be making them a bit nervous lately, we’ll see.

  15. Carl Sanders says:

    Please try my recipe. All beans will work.

  16. lynn says:

    Sam’s Club does not carry Bush Black Beans anymore. They now carry Goya black beans which are unknown to me.

  17. Dave Hardy says:

    Git a bag of reg’lar black beans and soak ’em overnight. Probably also by Goya. Which has a buncha beans in bags. After that, gitcher bandaids and bullets and Bob’s yer uncle.

  18. nick says:

    Goya is THE major brand for foodstuffs south of the border.

    n

  19. lynn says:

    Bush is THE major brand for foodstuffs in the South.

  20. nick says:

    OK, question for the group,

    Any prepper reason a normal healthy person would want a glucose meter and test strips in his preps?

    Anyone here use One Touch Ultra and need some before I list them on ebay? I’ve got a few hundred in sealed boxes… they’re ~$1 / strip on ebay.

    n

    added , can you use One Touch ultra in Freestyle Insulinx tester?

  21. nick says:

    I like Bush’s, but I’ve also liked all the Goya I’ve tried.

    n

  22. Spook says:

    Some Goya product got a best rating on Cook’s Country /
    America’s Test Kitchen.
    Extrapolate that to Goya being a good outfit ??

  23. nick says:

    Good in the SJW set, doesn’t exploit workers, sustainable farming etc? Don’t know.

    Tasty wholesome product? Everything I’ve tried was good….

    n

  24. ech says:

    All the Goya products I’ve used have been good quality.

  25. MrAtoz says:

    Anyone here use One Touch Ultra and need some before I list them on ebay?

    My Mom uses that meter/strips, covered by Medicare and her supplement. I don’t think they are compatible with other meters, but I’m not really sure.

  26. Dave Hardy says:

    Agreed on both Bush and Goya stuff being A-OK in the OFD Cookbook. Use ’em both all the time.

  27. MrAtoz says:

    Now that a KKK Grand Dragon has endorsed Killary, will she retract her smear of tRump?

    Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has received more than $20,000 in donations contributed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, a prominent member of the hate group announced earlier this year.

  28. Spook says:

    “”Good in the SJW set, doesn’t exploit workers, sustainable farming etc? Don’t know.
    Tasty wholesome product? Everything I’ve tried was good….
    n
    “”

    In the context of food, “good” for me means tasty and wholesome,
    but I would likely try to boycott a company that does bad things.
    In the case of one huge multi-national company, I hated them for
    some inappropriate damage (localized, but an area I care about)
    to water resources… and I try to avoid their water products, at least.

    ” It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even to most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.”

  29. MrAtoz says:

    lol! Obola admin to States: if Obolacare premiums are too much, jack up your State Medicaid to get premiums to drop.

    As one commenter said: “Gov’t fix to Gov’t caused problem, spend more tax dollars.”

  30. Dave says:

    Any prepper reason a normal healthy person would want a glucose meter and test strips in his preps?

    Type two diabetes runs rampant in my wife’s family, but thankfully we aren’t there yet. Call me a selfish son of a lawyer, but I’m more worried about the synthesis of levothyroxine for me. I have accomplished nothing on that front as of yet. I wonder if Bob has any hints on where to start on that front? If I figure that out, I’m still wondering how I’m going to measure 200 micrograms of something.

    Some of my prepping stuff has arrived including a container that will hold a shotgun and is easy for me to open but difficult for a bright five year old to open. Yesterday I got fingerprinted, and later today I will swing by the local police department to finalize my concealed carry permit application. So I will probably be the first member of the NRA who doesn’t own a firearm, has a concealed carry permit and a gun safe locker that is empty. I don’t intend for things to stay that way for long.

  31. nick says:

    @dave, in that case, these guys regularly have giveaways. Sign up for their newsletter. They’ve got some good stuff on sale at the moment too.

    http://grabagun.com/

    or my friends will ship from their online store to any FFL

    http://defenseandarms.com/

    n

  32. nick says:

    “but difficult for a bright five year old to open.”

    Watched my 7yo easily open the “child proof” medicine bottle yesterday.

    They can get into almost anything given luck and persistence. You might want some additional trigger or action locks for anything that isn’t in a ready state.

    n

  33. Dave says:

    Watched my 7 yo easily open the “child proof” medicine bottle yesterday.

    I think the best term for the “child proof” bottle is to call it an adult proof bottle. Although I think the design intent was to make them toddler proof.

    Yes, I’m going to make a point to explain gun safety to her. I’m taking several tiers to the gun safety approach. Hopefully the gun locker will be enough to keep the wife happy.

  34. nick says:

    kathy jackson, who I’ve recommended before has a great deal of info about gun proofing your kids at http://www.corneredcat.com
    nick

  35. Dave Hardy says:

    From Samuel Culper’s sitrep email today:

    “I think this country is reaching a damned if we do, damned if we don’t moment in history, where conservatives face a leftist insurgency if Trump is elected, or leftist fascism during a Clinton administration. And it’s frankly scary to think about because the consequences won’t be read about in a post-apocalyptic prepper novel, but experienced by every day Americans. Unless we see a black swan event that prevents this from happening, this is exactly where I see us heading right now.”

    Yup.

  36. Dave Hardy says:

    From the What A Great Idea Department:

    https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/a-public-service-announcement-3/

    Trump’s got enough dough to run something like this, why the hell not, when the pig is calling him a Klanner?

  37. Dave says:

    Nick,

    Thanks for the link.

  38. lynn says:

    Took the daughter and wife to the Subaru dealership on I-69 to drive a 2017 Subaru Forrester yesterday. The base model Forrester with aluminum wheels MSRP is $26K, they offered it to me for $23K plus TTL. The wife liked it, the daughter hated it. Turns out the daughter wants me to buy a new Expedition, or truck, or whatever, and give my 2005 Expedition to her. Who knew ? I’ve gotta think about this for a while.

  39. Ray Thompson says:

    Subarus are quite well liked by their owners. Engine and drive train have not changed much in 40 years so it is a solid design that is well tested. Only downside is parts can be expensive but reliability is very high.

  40. nick says:

    I believe ford is doing 5 years same as cash if you finance, and that usually means big discounts if not financing…..

    My wife was dangling a new Expy in front of me, but she would require me to give up the ranger. I don’t want to be pickup-less. (and don’t really want to spend $40k+ on a truck.)

    n

  41. lynn says:

    My wife was dangling a new Expy in front of me, but she would require me to give up the ranger. I don’t want to be pickup-less. (and don’t really want to spend $40k+ on a truck.)

    Where would you get a new Expy for $40k+ ? My pricing says $55K discounted to $50K. Admittedly, that was a couple of months ago.

    And I have to admit, I would like to have a pickup. But I love that factory camper top and the independent rear suspension on the Expy.

  42. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I’d go for a pre-68 3/4-ton pickup if I could get it past Barbara.

  43. ech says:

    I don’t want to be pickup-less. (and don’t really want to spend $40k+ on a truck.)

    Shop outside of “pickup country” for values. From what I have been told, you can save a bunch buying there and driving it back. Same warranty.

  44. lynn says:

    Subarus are quite well liked by their owners. Engine and drive train have not changed much in 40 years so it is a solid design that is well tested. Only downside is parts can be expensive but reliability is very high.

    My last Subaru was a 1973 two door hatchback with a 1.3L ? 1.5L ? engine and a four speed manual. My father-in-law gave me two of them, one had a good engine and the other had a good body. I pulled the engine out of the ’74 and put it in the ’73, junked the ’74. Only had 120K miles on it if I remember. Would go 85 mph in 4th gear at redline and get 30+ mpg. I drove that for six months at 70 miles per day round trip to the plant until I bought a new 1982 Chevy S-10. Returned the Subaru to FIL and he went, “I don’t want that piece of crap”. Turned out he was gave it to us and forgot to mention that part nor turn over the title. If I had known that I would have driven it a while longer.

  45. lynn says:

    I’d go for a pre-68 3/4-ton pickup if I could get it past Barbara.

    I hate seeing the road under me as I go along at 60 mph. I’ve never seen an old pickup that still had floorboards. Or a Jeep. Or a 240Z.

  46. JLP says:

    Hmmmmm I tried to make a post (in response to Dave’s post about levothyroxine) but it never appears. Are there certain phrases or key words they would be blocking me?

  47. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Nothing is in the hold queue.

  48. dkreck says:

    Yep I’d take my old 57 Chevy 1/2 ton any day. Should have repaired it after it got wrecked but got talked into selling it.

  49. Dave Hardy says:

    Subarus are the “Unofficial State Car of Vermont.” Peeps love ’em up here ’cause they great on snow and ice and mud, too. Y’all got any of dat stuff down there???

    “I’d go for a pre-68 3/4-ton pickup if I could get it past Barbara.”

    Oh YEAH. Ditto. Great minds think alike. (and fools seldom differ, haha).

    I want an older diesel 4X pickup truck w/manual tranny. Will be saving the shekels on the sly accordingly and keeping an eye out. And preferably from a Sunbelt state and not having spent its whole life up here in Winter-and-Mud Land.

  50. lynn says:

    snow on road – very rarely
    ice on road – rarely, yearly just north of here though
    mud – all the freaking time, have sunk my Expy twice

  51. lynn says:

    This might be a good pickup, Ford F-150 4×2 XLT white crewcab, 5.0L V8, for $30,783:
    http://helfmanford.com/new/Ford/2016-Ford-F-150-57a51c5c0a0e0ae7308e83ec11fb97f6.htm?searchDepth=7:185

    The wife has forbidden me from getting a 4×4 pickup. Something about the ruts that I left last time getting dragged out of the mud. Next to the septic tank processing facility at the office. I had to get the landscaper who rents my warehouse to smooth out the ruts with his tractor.

  52. JLP says:

    Dave “measure 200 micrograms”

    Dissolve 1 gram of thyroxine in 1 liter to make a stock. 1 gram of that stock diluted in 5 tablespoons will give you 200 micrograms per tablespoon.

    1 gram is easy to measure on a reloaders scale (1 gram = 15.4 grains).

    (I had a longer more detailed post but word press will not accept it)

  53. MrAtoz says:

    Took the daughter and wife to the Subaru dealership on I-69 to drive a 2017 Subaru Forrester yesterday

    Mr. Chuck posted a long list of problems with the Subaru he purchased (last year). Overall he like it, though. His biggest problem was signing the agreement on “tracking” black boxes. No sign, no vehicle.

  54. Ray Thompson says:

    Every once in awhile a real lemon comes along. My family had been driving VW’s for as long as remember. Reliable vehicles with few problems that I was aware. I had owned two of them with few problems other than maintenance.

    Then I purchased a 1975 VW Super Beetle. That thing was an absolute piece of crap. Five speedometers, two fuel gauges, three clocks, broken A/C bracket, alternator bearing. That was in the first year. Then the vehicle developed a leak so that when it rained you had water in the flow with one time having almost two inches. Never did find the leak and just drilled a hole in the floor to let the water run out.

    Fuel hose that rotted causing me to consume 3 gallons of gas on a 30 mile trip. Found and replaced the hose. Traded it in on a ’79 Honda and the new owner (sold to by the dealer) had the car torch itself within two weeks. Obviously another part of the fuel line failed. Thus I will never again buy a VW or take one as a gift.

    Niece had a VW until someone sideswiped her on the I-15 in CA. She really liked that vehicle with zero problems. It was one of the diesels with the emission problems but the wreck occurred before VW came up with owner compensation. Insurance from the other driver paid significantly less than what the vehicle would have been worth before the scandal. Thus the niece lost a lot of money. VW will not compensate her as she no longer owns the vehicle. Want to bet the insurance company got something from VW?

    Wife had a ’74 Pinto. Aside from the fuel tank problem the car was fairly reliable. There were some design flaws such as the receiver dryer being in the right front wheel well. On a trip from SA to Dallas on a very hot an humid day the receive dryer accumulated enough ice to partially block the steering when turning right. This was in the days when the A/C compressor ran constantly and temperature was regulated by the expansion valve. Biggest thing I did not like was that you sat so low to the ground in the vehicle but spousal unit liked it and purchased before we married so I had no say in the matter.

    Other problem was that most of the car was SAE bolts but the engine was metric. Working on that engine for normal maintenance was a pain as you did not really know what was metric and what was SAE.

  55. nick says:

    Nice looking Expedition. Wonder which auction that thing will end up in??

    n

  56. Greg Norton says:

    I will add my recommendation for Goya. Also Badia spices.

    Both brands are easy to find in South Florida, especially at Latin grocers. YMMV the further you get from Miami.

  57. lynn says:

    https://hackaday.com/2016/08/26/police-baffled-send-for-the-radio-amateurs/

    Nice looking Expedition. Wonder which auction that thing will end up in??

    One wonders how many miscreants have thrown up, peed, pooped, or bled out in the rear seat …

  58. nick says:

    @lynn, oh, supervisors don’t have that. Depends on if there is a cage. Lots of perfumed princes never do a prisoner transport….

    n

  59. brad says:

    It’s a funny thing, psychologically: One bad experience can counter a dozen good ones. The Super Beetles really were pretty crappy. I owned a lot of different VWs back in the day, and was happy with the rest. The Super Beetle wasn’t as bad as yours; it just had irritating problems. So I still like VW 🙂

  60. Dave Hardy says:

    “ARRL on the case!”

    The “noise” problem for radio geeks is steadily getting worse; it’s a sub-field now, of identifying where a noise source that’s screwing up your radio reception is coming from. Esp. when we all have computers, tablets, fablets, netbooks, laptops, cell phones, and a host of other electronic devices in our houses and vehicles.

    And I’d guess that most established and licensed radio amateurs in this country have a working relationship with law enforcement, among all the other emergency services.

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