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Motherhood: The Measuring Stick – Part 1
By nature, I am a student. I love the entire process – the initial curiosity, the exploration, finding answers, applying the answers, and the evaluation. When I finished my PhD back in 2007, I found myself at a loss. I switched to the role of teacher and suddenly the only measurement of my work was if I was kept employed and student feedback. Typically the students that give you feedback are the disgruntled ones. As a mom I feel it’s…
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PPD and Me
For the sake of learning to be more transparent and hopefully so that other new mamas don’t feel alone in their struggle to adjust to a new “normal”, I’m going to keep journaling my experiences with postpartum depression. Newborns don’t give a mama much sleep. I knew this, I’d done it before. I probably could have used some help last time as well, but the difference is that with the second baby, you don’t have the luxury of napping when…
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Waging War on the Ants
Fire Ant Colony 4, building their nest this afternoon before I attacked (The attack was like a really moving Pasodoble on SYTYCD… one that brings Nigel to tears and has the angsty pre-teen audience on their feet screaming when they should be sitting in awestruck silence): The thought crossed my mind this afternoon that it was possible that my entire back yard is one giant fire ant nest and what I thought were separate colonies are really just the various…
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Saffron Rice Stuffed Peppers
Last summer my bell peppers were sad due to the failed “Pillar of Peppers” experiment, but this year they have been growing large and fleshy and great for stuffing. We’ve already have two dinners with plenty leftovers, and it looks like we will get to have them again tonight! Last summer I posted a recipe for Three Cheese Stuffed Peppers which used bread crumbs and mushrooms, but this summer I have been enjoying using Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice. This recipe…
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Elastic Strain, Plastic Strain and Hysteresis
When you add weight to a rubber band, it stretches. When you remove that weight, it returns to its original shape but not along the same path. As you remove the weight incrementally, the band contracts slightly less than it was stretched until the last weight is removed – this property is called hysteresis. If you were to observe a diagram of the stress and strain during the loading and unloading, you’d see a loop – as long as the…
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Okra Seed Saving
Saving okra seeds is as simple as letting an okra pod grow until it has dried on the plant, breaking it open and pouring out the seeds. Seeds that are ready are greenish-black and hard. Seeds that are not ready are soft and white. However, if you are growing more than one kind or have neighbors that are growing a different breed, cross-pollination is very likely. Cross-pollination can lead to pods whose seeds won’t be the same as the parent…
