Bicycling in Snow

My first bicycling to work in snow on Thursday, December 29, last day of work this year.  A good pair of snow boots helped keep my feet warm.  Generally, I have not bicycled in the month of January due to cold and snow.  Perhaps I will start in 2017.

Bicycle Lights

As I was riding to work this morning, about 6:30 while it was still dark, I saw ahead of me the faint silhouette of a bicyclist crossing 3 lanes.  WOW.  They had no lights.  This was an area where cars speed by at 50 mph.
I have added lights over the years, first to be seen, then to be able to see the road ahead of me.
I now have a red rechargeable blinking light on the back of my helmet, and a rechargeable light on the top of my helmet strong enough to light up the road ahead of me.  I also have lights on the front, varying from two to three, battery powered,  And one light on the back of my seat, a red blinker, battery powered.
When I just had a single light for the rear, I did find at least once that the battery had died and I had ridden home with no shining light to warn people behind me.

Solar Cooking Update

Cooking Biscuits

Using Jiffy baking mix, one cup with 1/3cup milk.  It made  6 biscuits that I put n the two cookers.  The cat found a warm spot n the sun .  Our high temperature was in the 60's today.  

We also picked some gourds from our jungle of vines in the back 

A Second Cooker

I wanted to make a more portable cooker.  This time I used plywood, plexiglass, and foam board from our local Valu Home Center.  The black paint is Rustoleum high heat black spray paint.
This has been an ongoing project.  Today I tried cooking in two cookers.
I tried reflectors out of foam board, but the heat softened the tape holding it together, and the ever present breeze blew it off the cooker.
So my highest temperature, 200 deg. F., occurs for an hour each side of solar noon.  My goal is still to improve the temperature.
I cooked a serving of instant oatmeal from 9 am t 11:30 am, and then some instant cream of wheat in the afternoon.  Also a baked apple.

Ratatouille In the solar oven.

I made some modifications to the solar oven, reinforcing the top of the cardboard with some wood.  While shopping this morning, we picked up ingredients for ratatouille:  zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant,  onion, tomato purée, spices.  Then into the oven at noon.  After 4 hours, things were pretty well done, but some things were a little al dente.  I finished them off in the microwave.  We had the vegetables with rice.  I also rounded up material for my solar oven II.

Solar Oven Brownies

My first brownies.  My first attempt had too much brownie mix and came out soggy.  The next day I used half the amount and when I came home at night it was done.

July 2, more solar cooking

This weekend I started with some frozen hot dogs from our freezer and put them in the solar oven no. 1 from last week.  They went in at 10 am, by noon they were ready to eat. I also thawed and warmed the frozen rolls in an unplugged crockpot in the sun.  Both to see how that would work, and to keep the buns from the squirrels, who showed some interest when I just set them on the table to thaw.

The oven generally had a temperature a little above 150 deg.F.  However, after I took two of the hotdogs out and we approached solar noon, the temperature did reach 200 deg. F.

My wife Ginny and I had a hot dog lunch, after browning (finishing off) the hot dogs in a frying pan. The oven did not brown the hot dogs.  I did enjoy my second hot dog directly from the solar oven, brown or not.

After lunch, I made my second solar cooker.  I used the box that my bicycling helmet from Nutcase came in, and covered it with aluminum foil and Saran Wrap.  I reoriented both cookers towards the early afternoon sun and put an English muffin in each to see if the muffins will toast.

The quickly made nutcase cooker quickly warmed to 200 deg.  However, because it is a windy day, I needed to anchor the cooker upright after it blew over.

My first solar cooker

I have been meaning to make a solar cooker for several years, and have been looking at designs and YouTube presentations of different styles.  Encouraged by an ad recently designating Father's Day weekend as solar cooking day, I started putting some things together.
My idea was to use an old charcoal grill and a Dutch oven somehow.

I made some sketches, and took some measurements, and this weekend, a week late for solar cooking day, I cooked my first items.
I decided to use the box within a box with insulation.  Having some cardboard around the house, I fashioned a 14" square, 12" high, around a 10" diameter Dutch oven.  I used a 14" square picture frame with glass for the lid.

Insulation tucked in around the outside of the box is some fiberglass insulation I had in the basement.
I found a picture frame, 14"x14" with glass, that went on top of the box.

My first attempt was to bake two apples, cored, for one hour.  That was not enough time.  We were out that afternoon, and my second attempt with a sliced cored apple was mildly successful.
Oven Temperature remained 150 deg.F throughout.
My next phase of cooking will to be improve the efficiency of this oven.  I read that I should be able to get 250 to 300 degrees in the oven.
Some improvements to make:
     -use a top with a more sealed connection to the box.  There are gaps in the present configuration.
     -Try to track the sun more.  The best heating was when the sun was high in the sky.

Lessons Learned:  Solar oven cooking has a different time frame, on the order of hours.
I have a lot to learn, and hopefully will be able to improve the product and/or build alternative designs every weekend from now until the end of the summer, on the weekends.

Ash Trees in Syracuse New York

The first Emerald Ash Borers were found in Syracuse in 2013.  Ash Trees around town have been been dying since.  This summer they are dying in our neighborhood, Lyncourt.  So far, I have not seen any cut down here, but as the summer goes on, we will see trees replaced with new young trees.

I read that in the 50s and 60's, as Elm trees died from Dutch Elm Disease, they were replaced extensively by Ash. 

A New Bicycle Season, a new Helmet

My wife and I both purchased a Nutcase Artist Series helmet.  The helmet designs are by artists, based out of their headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Our helmets are in the Artist series, a design called "Fathom This", and has a nautical theme.
I like the nob at the rear of the helmet that can adjust the fit while it is strapped on your head.  The magnetic clasp for the chin strap takes some getting used to, but works well.  We love showing off art on our helmets.