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Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Future Ghost Peppers?
by brian @ 22:11:18 - [perma-link]
One of my indoor ghost peppers is flowering again! I started these last year, from my 2024 Ghost’s seeds. One of the outdoor ones grew 3 big peppers. The indoor ones have been kind of stunted.
A couple of them have flowered before, but never set fruit. I put a small heater in the room to keep the temperature warmer than I want the rest of the house. The one plant perked up and started flowering again. We’ll see what happens!

Tuesday, January 13, 2026
3I/Atlas on a Seestar S50
by brian @ 13:00:52 - [perma-link]
The faint diagonal streak near the middle of the image is the 3I/Atlas comet. My Seestar S50 live-stacked 6-7 (heh) hours of 10s subs, starting in the late evening on Jan 12.
It was partly cloudy when I started. I was only expecting to get the scope out and polar align on the new MSM wedge (which is pretty nice!). Around 10pm or so, the sky opened up.
On a whim, I tried looking for the comet. I set up the Seestar to track a star that was near it, according to SkySafari, and started capturing with the Astro filter. After a few minutes, a fuzzy blob became visible, slowly stretching out between two stars!
I let the capture run all night. Eventually the comet went behind some trees and the captures stopped succeeding. It ended up being over 2000 images. I deleted a few from the beginning and end that had branches poking into the corners. There was not enough space left on the Seestar drive to run the stack again, so I'll have to stack it on my computer.
Once I saw the streak growing, I aimed my Dwarf3 and Dwarf mini at it, too. While I was finding the right spot in the app, I saw a "3I/Atlas" label pop up, so I clicked on it. The Dwarves started tracking the comet!
Unfortunately, the Dwarf mini capture was cut short when a house suddenly jumped into frame. The Dwarf3 didn't have darks for higher gain, so I shot it with lower gain, and got a very faint image.
If I get another clear night soon, I'll try this again!

Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Lode Runner Spice Rack
by brian @ 18:09:10 - [perma-link]
I saw this at IKEA (in the kid shelves section) and thought it would be perfect as a spice rack. It wasn’t quite perfect, because the individual shelves weren’t quite tall enough for most of the jars. Spreading the shelves out made a lot of room. The ladders are great, but it should have come with at least 4; there’s no way to climb from the second to third level. I’ll have to 3d print a ladder!
I like it. Now I can see all 12 of my dried pepper flakes, and they aren’t occupying a quarter of the countertop!

Saturday, May 31, 2025
Dishdrawer repaired again
by brian @ 20:00:30 - [perma-link]
I replaced the drain hose that i broke while trying to figure out a problem with the top drawer. Turns out the control box in the upper right of the door has a broken bracket and gets loose. That breaks the selector buttons and eventually the “door open” detection sensor. I repaired it with tape before. Now trying blocks of foam to keep it in place.

Saturday, December 21, 2024
Cookie Press!
by brian @ 16:35:57 - [perma-link]
The OXO cookie press from Costco is so much fun!

Wednesday, April 26, 2023
It’s Right to Repair
by brian @ 09:16:16 - [perma-link]
I’ve had these cat-ear headphones for a long time. I repaired them once before when one of the speakers became dislodged inside the ear cup. Today i fixed the broken solder point on the headphone jack. It broke many years ago, and was loose so they haven’t worked plugged in, unless I torqued the plug just right. Now they work again!

Saturday, January 28, 2023
Gardening Experi-mint!
by brian @ 15:53:46 - [perma-link]
I picked up a mint plant on a whim at Trader Joe’s. I enjoyed growing and propagating basil last year. This should be fun!

I cut these trimmings in the three small pots from the big one, and cut off the main branches (which had a case of mold) once the new shoots appeared. The ones in the bird pot were cut more recently, and were not moldy, so i didn’t trim them back.

The experiment was originally 2 controls getting water vs one with masterblend, but is now water vs masterblend vs accidentally-being-dumped-over-and-haphazardly-scooped-back-into-the-pot-AND-water. Mint is notoriously invasive and persistent, so I’m rooting for the dumped pot. Also, i forget which one got masterblend.

Lol. Science!

Wednesday, January 18, 2023
More flowers
by brian @ 10:25:16 - [perma-link]
The stalks keep growing and flowering. I have a small makeup brush that i have been using to try to pollinate the flowers. A few times per day, I softly touch all of the open flowers with the brush. I’m trying to pick up pollen from the male flowers and leave it on the female flowers. I usually see about 5-8 open at a time during the morning and afternoon.

Friday, January 6, 2023
Avocado Flowers
by brian @ 11:40:43 - [perma-link]
One of my avocado plants is flowering again! This is the second time. The first time was in 2018, with just a couple of bunches of flowers that were mostly in sync. This time, there are two big sets of clusters, and the flowers are not in sync!
Avocado flowers open twice. The first opening is the female form. They then close, make some changes, and reopen as male flowers with pollen.
These first few are the female form. If they close and reopen male while some of the other flowers open as female, the plant can pollinate itself (with help from a small paintbrush) and produce fruit!

Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Second Butt
by brian @ 10:12:18 - [perma-link]
First smoke of the year! This is my second pork butt. On Saturday I smoked one with just salt and pepper as a rub. More of a douse than a rub. It was really good, but the thick salt and pepper crust was a bit much.

I added brown sugar to the mix this time, and didn’t pour it on so heavily. I also got a later start this time, by about an hour. 250F for 3.5 hours, started at 10am!

Jan 6 - it’s delicious! Salt and pepper aren’t overpowering. The “crust” has a nice sweetness without being like candy.

I did not realize the grill turns itself to 150F once the probe targets are reached. I’m not sure how much time i lost on “warm”, maybe a half hour. Still it turned out ok. The meat probes kept increasing temp the whole time.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2026
	Future Ghost Peppers? by brian @ 22:11:18 - [perma-link] One of my indoor ghost peppers is flowering again! I started these last year, from my 2024 Ghost’s seeds. One of the outdoor ones grew 3 big peppers. The indoor ones have been kind of stunted. A couple of them have flowered before, but never set fruit. I put a small heater in the room to keep the temperature warmer than I want the rest of the house. The one plant perked up and started flowering again. We’ll see what happens!


Tuesday, January 13, 2026
	3I/Atlas on a Seestar S50 by brian @ 13:00:52 - [perma-link] The faint diagonal streak near the middle of the image is the 3I/Atlas comet. My Seestar S50 live-stacked 6-7 (heh) hours of 10s subs, starting in the late evening on Jan 12. It was partly cloudy when I started. I was only expecting to get the scope out and polar align on the new MSM wedge (which is pretty nice!). Around 10pm or so, the sky opened up. On a whim, I tried looking for the comet. I set up the Seestar to track a star that was near it, according to SkySafari, and started capturing with the Astro filter. After a few minutes, a fuzzy blob became visible, slowly stretching out between two stars! I let the capture run all night. Eventually the comet went behind some trees and the captures stopped succeeding. It ended up being over 2000 images. I deleted a few from the beginning and end that had branches poking into the corners. There was not enough space left on the Seestar drive to run the stack again, so I'll have to stack it on my computer. Once I saw the streak growing, I aimed my Dwarf3 and Dwarf mini at it, too. While I was finding the right spot in the app, I saw a "3I/Atlas" label pop up, so I clicked on it. The Dwarves started tracking the comet! Unfortunately, the Dwarf mini capture was cut short when a house suddenly jumped into frame. The Dwarf3 didn't have darks for higher gain, so I shot it with lower gain, and got a very faint image. If I get another clear night soon, I'll try this again!

Tuesday, January 6, 2026
	Lode Runner Spice Rack by brian @ 18:09:10 - [perma-link] I saw this at IKEA (in the kid shelves section) and thought it would be perfect as a spice rack. It wasn’t quite perfect, because the individual shelves weren’t quite tall enough for most of the jars. Spreading the shelves out made a lot of room. The ladders are great, but it should have come with at least 4; there’s no way to climb from the second to third level. I’ll have to 3d print a ladder! I like it. Now I can see all 12 of my dried pepper flakes, and they aren’t occupying a quarter of the countertop!

Saturday, May 31, 2025
	Dishdrawer repaired again by brian @ 20:00:30 - [perma-link] I replaced the drain hose that i broke while trying to figure out a problem with the top drawer. Turns out the control box in the upper right of the door has a broken bracket and gets loose. That breaks the selector buttons and eventually the “door open” detection sensor. I repaired it with tape before. Now trying blocks of foam to keep it in place.


Saturday, December 21, 2024
	Cookie Press! by brian @ 16:35:57 - [perma-link] The OXO cookie press from Costco is so much fun!

Wednesday, April 26, 2023
	It’s Right to Repair by brian @ 09:16:16 - [perma-link] I’ve had these cat-ear headphones for a long time. I repaired them once before when one of the speakers became dislodged inside the ear cup. Today i fixed the broken solder point on the headphone jack. It broke many years ago, and was loose so they haven’t worked plugged in, unless I torqued the plug just right. Now they work again!

Saturday, January 28, 2023
	Gardening Experi-mint! by brian @ 15:53:46 - [perma-link] I picked up a mint plant on a whim at Trader Joe’s. I enjoyed growing and propagating basil last year. This should be fun! I cut these trimmings in the three small pots from the big one, and cut off the main branches (which had a case of mold) once the new shoots appeared. The ones in the bird pot were cut more recently, and were not moldy, so i didn’t trim them back. The experiment was originally 2 controls getting water vs one with masterblend, but is now water vs masterblend vs accidentally-being-dumped-over-and-haphazardly-scooped-back-into-the-pot-AND-water. Mint is notoriously invasive and persistent, so I’m rooting for the dumped pot. Also, i forget which one got masterblend. Lol. Science!

Wednesday, January 18, 2023
	More flowers by brian @ 10:25:16 - [perma-link] The stalks keep growing and flowering. I have a small makeup brush that i have been using to try to pollinate the flowers. A few times per day, I softly touch all of the open flowers with the brush. I’m trying to pick up pollen from the male flowers and leave it on the female flowers. I usually see about 5-8 open at a time during the morning and afternoon.


Friday, January 6, 2023
	Avocado Flowers by brian @ 11:40:43 - [perma-link] One of my avocado plants is flowering again! This is the second time. The first time was in 2018, with just a couple of bunches of flowers that were mostly in sync. This time, there are two big sets of clusters, and the flowers are not in sync! Avocado flowers open twice. The first opening is the female form. They then close, make some changes, and reopen as male flowers with pollen. These first few are the female form. If they close and reopen male while some of the other flowers open as female, the plant can pollinate itself (with help from a small paintbrush) and produce fruit!


Wednesday, January 4, 2023
	Second Butt by brian @ 10:12:18 - [perma-link] First smoke of the year! This is my second pork butt. On Saturday I smoked one with just salt and pepper as a rub. More of a douse than a rub. It was really good, but the thick salt and pepper crust was a bit much. I added brown sugar to the mix this time, and didn’t pour it on so heavily. I also got a later start this time, by about an hour. 250F for 3.5 hours, started at 10am! Jan 6 - it’s delicious! Salt and pepper aren’t overpowering. The “crust” has a nice sweetness without being like candy. I did not realize the grill turns itself to 150F once the probe targets are reached. I’m not sure how much time i lost on “warm”, maybe a half hour. Still it turned out ok. The meat probes kept increasing temp the whole time.

previous