Category: science kits

09:55 – We awoke this morning to a white front yard, 25F (-4C) temperature, and winds gusting to 50 MPH (80 KPH). Colin ran out, tore around the front yard celebrating the snow, did a quick pee, and ran back up to the front door to be let in. In the field our back yard backs up to, there were three or four dozen cows visible at the top of the field, several hundred meters out. They weren’t moving, which leads me to believe they may have frozen solid.

I got most of the year-end orders in yesterday. On one of them, the guy asked if we could receive pallets, because the order would comprise a dozen or so large boxes. I told him we didn’t have a dock or a forklift, but if they could drop the pallet in the driveway and LTL was cheaper to go ahead and go for it. He replied that he’d check both methods, but UPS Ground would probably be cheaper because LTL usually charged $150 extra if they had to deliver with a lift gate.

We got a lot of chemical bottles for science kits filled yesterday, and will get a lot more filled and labeled today. My order of 10,000 caps showed up yesterday, so we’re in good shape on those. I have another order for several thousand bottles and caps of a different size that’s to arrive Tuesday, so we can go ahead and use up what we have remaining without worrying about the inventory level dropping too far.

I’ve pretty much stopped reading news sites of all types. Most of what passes for news is actually just opinion pieces–what will Trump do, will there be riots at the inauguration, etc.–and what little actual news is reported is pretty trivial. I may just start following the US news on the dailymail.co.uk site. It’s a liberal/left/prog site, but at least they report some actual news mixed in with all the features.

10:02 – More kit stuff today, along with year-end business stuff, including orders. I just dropped an $1,800 PO with one of our suppliers, with more to come.

A blizzard is in the forecast for us starting this afternoon and through the night. Temperatures well below freezing with strong winds and gusts up to 50 MPH (80 KPH). We’re to get at least a dusting of snow, with possibly an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm) of accumulation. It’ll be a good day to stay inside and fill more chemical bottles.

10:34 – Barbara is at the gym this morning and will be volunteering all afternoon at the Friends of the Library bookstore. When I took Colin out this morning, it was 20F (11C) colder than it was yesterday morning.

We got several hundred chemical bottles filled yesterday, with more to do tomorrow. The bottles are already labeled and waiting, but I need to make up half a dozen chemical solutions for them this afternoon. We’re short of 15/415 caps for the 15 mL bottles, but I have a case of 10,000 of those arriving tomorrow.

I also need to do year-end stuff, including orders for things I want to get purchased so they count as current-year expenses.

09:17 – Things are pretty quiet around here. We have friends arriving later in the week to spend Christmas with us. Until then, we’ll be working on building more science kits.

We awoke this morning to heavy freezing fog, a heavy frost, and 23F (-5C). It doesn’t feel particularly cold because there’s no wind at all this morning.

10:36 – Barbara has friends coming up to spend the day. The weather is better than expected. It’s chilly, but no precipitation and little wind. I’m sure they’ll have a good time walking through downtown Sparta visiting shops and stalls.

Ah, the joys of living in a small town. I had a follow-up appointment scheduled with the dentist for 10:30 this morning. At 7:27 a.m. my phone rang. It was the dentist office calling to cancel the appointment because Dr. Flowers is taking a sick day today. She’s something like seven months pregnant, so that’s not surprising. What did surprise me is that the receptionist apologized for the inconvenience and said that they’d be crediting my account for $25 because Dr. Flowers missed the appointment. I’m used to doctors and dentists charging patients a penalty if they miss an appointment without calling to cancel it 24 or 48 hours in advance, but that’s the first time I’ve heard of a doctor or dentist charing themselves a penalty for missing an appointment.

Starting tomorrow, we need to get more science kits built. We’ll start by building another dozen or so biology kits, which we’re shortest of at the moment, and then another dozen or two chemistry kits, which we still have to fill chemical bottles and build chemical bags for. After that, we’ll do another dozen or so forensics kits.

We’ve been buying Costco AA and AAA alkalines for 10 or 15 years, and it’s time to start focusing more on rechargeables. I made an initial foray into rechargeables 10 or 15 years ago, back when NiMH rechargeables were just coming into common use. The problem with those early-generation NiMH was that they didn’t hold a charge very long, so they were mainly useful only in things like cordless phone handsets that could be put on a charger every night. Their rapid self-discharge made them entirely unsuitable for stuff like flashlights, remote controls, and so on. Also, many of them promised 500 to 1,000 charge cycles, but in my experience they often died after 100 cycles or even fewer, even when charged on an expensive “smart” charger. Finally, their mAH capacities were so much lower than alkalines that they weren’t particularly useful for anything that required a lot of current, unless it was something like a camera where they could be recharged easily and immediately.

But now the technology has improved immensely, and the cost has fallen pretty dramatically as well. Low self-discharge (LSD) models keep a high percentage of their charge even sitting on the shelf for a year or more, so they’re now usable in things like remote controls and flashlights. There’s still a three-way trade-off. High mAH capacity; usable recharge cycles; and LSD. Pick any two. And, of course, you can add in price as a fourth factor.

NiMH AA and AAA cells currently sell for $1 to $4 each, depending on specifications, name brand, and so on. That means they pay for themselves after anything from three or four up to ten recharge cycles.

09:49 – Barbara is cleaning house this morning. She has friends coming up tomorrow to spend the day visiting the craft stores and similar places in Sparta. The weather won’t be ideal for that. When I took Colin out first time this morning, we were already at the high for the day, about 54F (12C). It’s to get colder and colder throughout the day, with a low of 23F (-5C) with gusty winds later today and possibly freezing rain. Tomorrow’s high is to be only 39F (4C), but at least most of the frozen stuff should be gone.

Kit stuff today and continuing through this coming week, as we have time to spare from Christmas preparations.