09:59 – Barbara is cleaning house this morning, while I do laundry. We just started seasoning the new wok she bought down in Winston. I’ve seasoned cast iron cookware, but this is the first time I’ve done steel. It’s ugly, which is more obvious on the gray surface of the steel than it is on the black cast iron. Barbara has never cooked in seasoned pans before. I think once she tries it she’ll like it. Ten second cleanup and the food just seems to taste better. And I like the idea of using 3000 year old nonstick technology.
UPS showed up about 7 p.m. yesterday, just after we’d finished dinner and cleaning up, and left five large boxes on the porch. Colin never even woofed. Those boxes contained about 3,000 30mL bottles and caps, a case of funnels, and two cases of test tube racks, which we were completely out of. Later today, we’ll finish building a dozen chemistry kits, which were awaiting test tube racks, and then return to labeling and filling chemical bottles and building subassemblies.
And in more bizarre news, it seems that four years or so ago a Pennsylvania Amish couple more-or-less sold their 14-year-old daughter to a 51-year-old pervert, by whom she has borne two children. What really surprised me was that the father of the girl said he thought it was legal based on research he’d done on-line. Since when do the Amish use the Internet?
Email from Jen, whose husband has a new hobby. Two or three weeks ago, they attempted to start their generator and it wouldn’t fire up. So David hauled the generator over to a guy he knows who works on small engines. He sat and watched as the guy tore down and cleaned the carb, making notes of tools and supplies he’d need to do it himself. Jen says David has now downloaded service manuals for all their tools that use small gasoline engines, both four- and two-cycle. Last weekend, he tore down, cleaned, and rebuilt their leaf blower and chainsaw. This weekend, he’s going after their lawn tractor, which Jen fears will never be the same. But she does admit that both the leaf blower and chainsaw are running fine.