Dalton

Hey. My mother has one of those fire out tables. The shirt ones with four removable sections in a metal frame and a metal bowl in the center for a small fire.

The sections were made of tile glued to thin metal l, which has rotted. I want to make new sections out of concrete, sink designs of a thin shiny metal into it, and use some concrete stains I found to make it look like aged copper. I'll finish it with something like that clear hard coat you see on restaurant tables an some wood benches to preserve it.

Feel free to add any helpful thoughts. I'll try to reply to them. My question is about the best concrete mix. I figure on using pure Portland cement with hardware cloth in the center for strength, where rebar would be on a larger project. Each piece is roughly 16"x24"x.5-.75" and there is ~1" lip all the way around. The rest of the under side is unsupported. Do I need to add any of the chemicals I see on YouTube? For instance, I saw a guy add something I think he called a plasticizer. Or would I be alright with straight Portland cement and the hardware cloth?

I want some basil this winter. I'm starting a few other indoor seed in one of the soda bottle planters that wicks water from a reservoir. This system works great, but when I was repotting a lemon tree seed that I started in a small one into a bigger one I made, I realized that the roots were hitting the light on outside of the clear plastic an dying off.

The best solution will be to paint the top part the plant is in. I need to be able to keep an eye on the water level. I have to move the top occasionally to refill the reservoir, and I believe paint on the outside will rub and flake off.

So my solution is to paint the inside before putting the dirt or wick in. However, I don't know if generic spray paint will be toxic to the plant or me if I eat the herbs. Anyone know.

I realize it would be easier to by it, but our local stores haven't had it in stock and I don't want to drive way out of the way to get it or order it on line. I'm not in love with it that much, but I've started making my own taco seasoning and I always loved that on my tacos when I bought their boxed dinner burrito kits.

Can anyone tell me where I can find a recipe that does a descent job of approximating it? I know they call theirs Spicy Ranchero, but is that a real sauce, like Mole, or is it their name for a common sauce, or is it their own special thing? Thanks for the help.

Hey all.

I have a question about trimming my apple trees. These are my first ones. I planted 4 a relative gave me. I have two that are about 5' with no limbs. The other two are around 2-2.5' and have one side branch that starts at the base and is almost as tall as the 'trunk'.

These trees have all been completely de-leaved by bugs twice. I'm now using a fruit tree bug poison on them.

My question is, since they only have a handful of leaves on each fork, should I leave that fork to send energy to the roots for winter and take it off in the spring like I planned, or do I lop it off now so it doesn't waste energy on it. My instinct say the first option.

These were planted in March/April and it's now august. I live in SC. Thanks.

Hello all. I'm making a word document to organize my mothers recipes. Feel free to offer other suggestions and I'll consider them, but I really plan to do it the way I'll describe and would like answer to that please.

What I want to do is have a table of contents. Then I'll have my major categories, like: Appetizers, Desserts, etc... I'm using 'Heading 1' on them. I use 'Heading 2' for sub-categories, like 'pie' and 'cake' under 'desserts'. Finally, I'll use 'Heading 3' for the actual name of the recipe.

Right now, I can create all categories and update my table of contents. However, the issue I thought of that I don't know the fix to is alphabetizing them for easy searching. For instance, say that I have Entrees/Meat/etc... I might have many dishes under meat. I could try to find the alphabetically correct spot and add it there, but it would be easy to just stick it at the beginning or end and then alphabetize. Also, she may end up adding recipes later and not be savvy enough to find the right spot. For that matter, we may just decide to split or combine categories at some point and it would be harder to drag them into the correct position. I tried highlighting all my info in a test doc and then clicking the A-Z sort. It brought up the little window asking what I wanted it to sort by, but it only lets me choose paragraph, not heading. So does anyone know how to do this. When I try by paragraph, it alphabetizes them, but does not keep sub-headings, under their main headings

Hey. I'm trying to make lumpia shanghai, I hear the lumpia wrappers are the same as springroll wrappers. They fry up crisp as opposed to egg rolls which are thicker and crunchy. A couple of the local stores sell egg roll wrappers, but not the springrolls.

I see people online saying not to pay rip off prices, just slip on down to your local Asian market. I'm in a small town in the south. We don't have one.

I tried making them from scratch. I got a few good ones, but I'm not skilled at it. They're mostly trash and I basically just burnt my self.

I can buy online, but I didn't see any with a descent price. I also don't know how it works when they're supposed to be refrigerated. I hear spring home is a good brand. Ideally, I'd get the big squares so I can double it by cutting them diagonally. I'll take and quality cheap ones I can get. Does anyone know where I can order these from reliably? Thanks.

Hey

I had a few questions about the PS4. The first thing I wanted to ask was about game resale and sharing.

My brother bought a PS4 when they first came out. I waited for various reasons and I'm now looking for a good deal. He bought the system, but no game. So it was basically a paper weight. I bought him a game for it so he could play it, under the condition that he bought me a game when I got mine since he didn't have the extra money at the time. Now that I'm looking to get a system, he wants to just give me that game instead of buying one. That's fine with me, but I wanted to know if the value has been decreased. I'd heard at the time that there would be some issue. First I heard that you couldn't resale a game once you bought it, that it would register and lock down on any other system. Then I heard that they changed that and you could, but their might be only so many times you can. For instance, you can own it and let two other people borrow it. After that, it wouldn't play on any other system. What is the deal with it now. Can you let as many people as you like play it? Has he devalued it by playing it on his system? Will it eventually lock me out if I play it on mine and then play it on multiple friends systems? How does it work?

Secondly, I had a buddy at work tell me he thought they were adding an extra fan to the PS4 to solve an over heating issue. Is this true and if it is, when are they coming out with it.

Lastly, what are the best bundles out or coming out

Hey all. I'm trying to replicate some particular spring rolls and potstickers from a local Asian place that has a unique tasting feeling. I've looked all over for spring roll wrappers since I've been told that they're not the same as egg roll wrappers. I didn't think they were, but that's all I've seen within an hour of my home. I saw a YouTube recipe thy makes it look simple to make the wrappers from scratch.

I also saw a recipe to make the potsticker wrappers from scratch. I'll buy store bought of those an compare taste and price. However, what I want to know is can I make these fresh wrappers and then store them with no ill effect to taste or consistency? If so, for how long? Also, can I premake the whole potsticker and put the in the fridge or freezer so that I can come home from work an cook them or would it be better to make the wrappers and filling up, but keep them seep rate till I néed to cook them.

Thanks for the help and feel free to add anything you thing I need to know. Also, I know it's probably easier to just buy everything, but I'm trying to make them custom and I like to make things the hard way at least once to appreciate the easy way or taste difference. Thanks again.

Hey all,

I work at a metal fab shop and I think I can get a few things made for the cost of the material. Currently, a .25" sheet of 4'x8' regular steel is about $134.00US. I can probably find it for a few bucks cheaper if I had to. I was going to buy a sheet and try to get max utilization out of it. I think that .25" is probably a good thickness to hold up long term firing with up to .45, but mostly 9mm. I'd also like to make a dueling tree.

I'll start with the shooting plates. Is .25" thick enough, or just right. I'd want several to stand up-right to knock down. I'd love to be able to reset them with another plate on the side, but I don't know if a bullet would have the force to reset something that heavy. If I remember correctly, the density of steel is .283, so one 6"x6" square would weigh roughly 5lbs. I don't mind resetting by hand. It'd just be cooler the other way. I think I should also have smaller ones that either replace or go inbetween the bigger targets for .22 shooting, because they may not move the .25" plate. I don't know how thick to go on those, however. Would 16ga (.063") be right or would it get beaten up too quickly. I'd either set them up to knock over, have the dangle below, or a combo of both.

I figured I need to cut a 6'x4" mounting plate. What angle should all of these be set at to insure any richochet goes into the ground. With the dueling tree, the angles are important also, but how do they make them stay to the other side once shot? Thanks.

Hey

I found the America's Test Kitchen - Chicago Deep Dish pizza recipe that I want to try. The problem is that I'll pretty much have to make it on the weekend so that my family on 3rd shift can try it. It takes about 2.5 hours to do the dough. It's a 45-60min rise, then they create flaky layers by rolling it flat, putting on a layer of butter, roll it into a tube, and rolling it flat again to create many layers. They cut it in half, make these into balls, and let them proof in the fridge another 40-50 minutes. With the 20-30min cook time and the 10min cool down, I don't have time to make it once I get home before some of my family leaves for work.

My question is, does anyone know if I can let the second rise go from 6-7pm one night to 5pm the next with no issues? If I could get everything set up the previous day and then just come straight home and get to work I wouldn't have any issues. I've heard of overproofing, though I don't know what it is. I thought the main issue might be that it'd deflate and loose all air. If anyone can give me any help, I'd appreciate it. If you want to watch the video to see the recipe I'm using, just go to youtube and search for 'America's test kitchen deep dish pizza'. Thanks for the help.

Also, if you now how I can email America's test kitchen, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Hello

I have a question. I'm writing a novel and I was curious, is there a rough formula for what it takes to sustain a population. Keeping in mind that I'm writing a fantasy novel, so lets just say its a medieval type setting. I just don't want to start creating borders and countries and try to tell the reader to accept that an entire city is surviving on the produce of two small farms.

So how much farming land is it going to take to support "X" amount of population. For instance, is it an acre of land per person or family to support them for a year. I realize that it would be different for vegetables and cattle. I also know that you'll get more out of some vegetables than others like lettuce grows, gets harvested, and is done. Tomatoes produce all season long, though.

I don't need to be super specific, I'd just like a general estimate of the lands required to sustain "X" amount of population so that my writing is more realistic. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello.

I like to write and I'm currently trying to write a fantasy novel. What I'd like to know, preferably from female readers, is how you feel about how women are portrayed in fantasy novels and how you'd write it differently.

There is no pleasing everyone. You get people who are offended that the female characters are feminine and wear dresses and chase after rich or powerful men. Then you get people who get offended because the author wrote a female character who is hardly feminine at all and accuse them of just writing a male character in a female skin.

I'd like to know how women feel about this, since I already have the male perspective covered. Does the situation mean anything when you're judging the accuracy of the portrayal? By that I mean, do you judge the female character on how you perceive a female should be, or do you take into account facts like women in a medieval setting may be forced by social custom to behave in a way that wouldn't be acceptable to a woman in todays society? Or is it just that you don't see a variety, just one stereo type or the other.

I don't mind replies by guys, but it's the female perspective I'm really needing. Thanks for the help gals. I just want to be able to write a story that is as pleasant and entertaining for women as it is for men. I also think that Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series handles men and women very well. The character were believable and each character and gender has their own strengths and weakness'. I also find it funny that the two sexes believe stereo typical behavior about the other, such as 'they gossip all the time' and don't believe that they do that behavior at all. Usually while doing said behavior. Thanks again.

Hey all. I haven't gotten a weekly news letter from Tor in months. It's currently 12/29/2013. Does anyone know if they're still doing them? It's not appearing in my inbox or my spam folder, which I always check before emptying. I've resigned up for the news letter and sent and email to them to ask what's going on, but I haven't gotten a reply. The site is still obviously active, but I haven't gotten the email. Thanks for the help.

Hey, I just ordered an Asus Transformer Prime TF201 from tigerdirect.com. It's OS is Honeycomb 3.2. To be honest, this is my first tablet and I'm getting it because my brother has the Transformer Prime Infinity and it has run excellently. However, I'm mostly a windows man and I don't have a lot of knowledge of the Android operating systems. I would love it if someone could give me a run down on what I should know about them.

My main question, though, is whether or not I can or should upgrade the OS as soon as I receive it. I know from a cursory glance that the latest Android OS is up to Jelly Bean 4.3. I did see something on Wikipedia about how each OS has to be programed for each individual device so it may be slow or it may never come to older devices. I'm just trying to get a start on understanding this. I didn't know whether it would be better to leave the OS alone, whether the device would try to get me to upgrade, or whether I even have the choice to do it. Thanks for all the help.

Hey all

I just wanted to know how your cat feels about catnip. I try to make life interesting for my cat. I live in the country and he's an indoor/outdoor cat. He does a minimum of playing in the house. He just doesn't seem interested. He'll swat something if you dangle it right by him and occasionally has spastic bursts of play with his tinkle balls. You don't see him doing vigorous play like the cats Jackson Galaxy plays with on the show. I figure he's getting all of that out of his system outside where he has about clawed a tree down, and stalks crickets, dogs, and rabbits.

I still try to interact with him when he wants to. As part of that, I bought him a catnip plant when I was planting my veggies this year. He never cared much for the toys that had dried catnip in them. The plant has gone spastic. I've had to prune it back by half about 3 times since I planted it so it doesn't choke out the veggies near it.

The first time I gave him any, I broke off a stem with some leaves on it, crushed the leaves a little to release any scent or oils and layed it on the floor. He spent a long time sniffing it and then rolled on it and played with it a little. Now he doesn't seem to care if I bring some in and he doesn't bother the plant in the garden. Am I not utilizing it correctly or does he just not care. I guess he gets all his stimuls outside. It certainly makes it easier for me when play is a choice and not a chore, but I wanted to make sure I was presenting it correctly. I didn't know if it got stronger when dried or what. I figured fresh was better.

I cloned it off for my aunt. She's got a fat pansy of a cat that's 100% indoors. His plant is on the screened in porch and they say he'll spend a lot of time playing with it and swatting at it. They say if they give him a leaf, he'll spend time on his back throwing it into the air and catching it. I don't know if this is because he likes it and is getting his fix or if he's just bored and it's a fun toy. Thanks for the advice.

Hey all

I'm not ready to get one for a while, but I'm looking at option for when my Jack Russell gets older and needs a protege. I've cycled through a few dogs that I liked over the last few years. I thought about getting a German Shepard, an Australian Shepard, a Golden Retriever, a German Short Haired Pointer, or a Lab.

I like the GSD, but I don't think they're the most attractive dog and there is a big shedding issue from what I hear. I think the Australian Shepards can be beautiful with the right color pattern, but it has a higher energy level than I need unless I can find a low energy one and it's honestly probably more grooming than I'd realistically want to put into it. I choose my Jack Russell mainly because that's the energy level I wanted at the time and she has very low grooming needs. She's calm for a Jack Russell. Golden Retrievers are the same deal. Much closer to the energy level I'm looking for, but still a lot of hair that looks raggedy if you don't keep it groomed. I really like the color of the one on the bushes baked beans commercial.

I like labs alot. I've had several growing up and some part labs. They've all be great dogs that are super loyal, easy to train and groom and like to run and play as much as they like to lay around and chill out. I've only had black labs. I have friends and family that had chocolates and not to offend anyone, but I've never met a chocolate that wasn't a big dog that acted like a dumb goofy puppy. They were smart, but acted like puppies when they were way too big to. I know a guy now with a Yellow Lab and I like him a lot. He's not massive, though he's still growing a little, he's a pretty yellow and not the almost white that I'm not that fond of, and he has pretty eyes that are a light color I don't know how to describe. He is a coward, but other than that he's really good. The only reason I want to branch out from labs is to experience something else and also THE SMELL. Lab people know what I'm talking about. : ))

I really like the GSP, though. They're a lot like the lab from what I see, they seem to have a good energy level for me, they'd love running around on the farm and in the woods, they like water and we're at the river every weekend in the summer. I've seen some block headed ones, but I've also seen some really pretty ones. The best looking one I've seen recently was on the Leerburg mailer about a photo contest. They had a 5-6 month old puppy on the beach. It was super cute. It had a solid chocolate head, the same light eyes as the Yellow I was tlaking about and a white and speckled body. I really like that and sometimes the chocolate saddle. Does anyone know what this color pattern is?

What can you tell me about these dogs, generally I mean? Are they healthy or are there any specific things they're prone to? What is their average size and life expectancy? Are they easy or hard to train? What training issues can you run into? Are they water dogs like labs, I thought I heard they really liked water. If they are, do they have the smelly oil? What is shedding like with them? Do they have a problem with cold weather? How can I find a reputable breeder in my state. I don't mind paying a little more for a dog that has been bred to be genetically and tempermentally sound and has had a good start in life.

If there is anything else you think is relevant to this breed, please let me know. I'm just trying to find out what I can about them and get a good idea of what I'd be getting into. Thanks for the help.

Hey all

I just wanted to get other peoples take on E-Readers and what potential issues we could have with them. It's something I've been thinking about for a while now. I've been reading paper books for most of my life and I love the feel of a book in my hand.

However, I've loved my Kindle Keyboard with wifi/3g. I've had it for 2-3 years now and it's great. It's not the same as a book in my hand, but makes up for it in several key way. The biggest benefit I get from it is that instead of lugging a suitcase of books with me every time I travel, it's one lite device. I'm sure people can commiserate with me on that. I once took 7 short books with me on a week long trip to the mountains. It ended up raining for most of the trip, cancelling our plans and i didn't realize how fast I read, since i normally read really big books. I finished those 7 and had 2 days with nothing to read. Not so with the kindle. I can fill it up and buy more as long as I find a half-*** cell signal.

Something else I enjoy is that it's light weight. I'm sure every serious reader here knows about the hand cramps you can get after hours of holding open any book, god forbid a new one that's trying to spring closed. Also, there is no more worry about cracking the spine and damaging a new hardback or the dreaded first dirty finger print on a new copy.

Those are all things I love about the my kindle. Some people may say you don't have to charge a book, but barring a zombie apocalypse, with the month long battery life it's not really an issue, and come on, I'll have zombies to worry about and no time to read. They claim a 1 month battery life with normal use which the categorize as somewhere around 30min-1hr reading a day. I laugh at that, but it seriously does last me 2-3 weeks with heavy reading and the wireless turned off. I do like some of the other e-readers and wouldn't mind one in color, but I specifically got this device for reading books, I didn't want the eye strain you get with LCD. So I do think things like the kindle fire are a wanna be tablet that doesn't do either thing well to my satisfaction. The only pro I see is reading manga or magazines in color.

However, something I've thought about recently is what is the future going to look like with my e-reader. I've started buying all my books on the e-reader from amazon as well as transferring some of my favorites over so I'd have dual copies. I plan to keep reading till I die, though. That could be 80 years from now for all I know. What happens if Amazon goes down in that time, gets bought out, or something else. I'm going to have all that money tied up into books on my kindle and then loose all support? I figure that worst case scenario, I'll have a kindle with all my books on it that I can use till the device dies. I should also be able to transfer copies to my pc as long as I have the kindle software to read them. I just won't be able to get any new books from them.

I'm overall happy with amazon. Something I don't really understand and I don't like is that they treat your book purchases like indefinite rentals. You can't lend them to a friend for more than 14 days if at all or sale them if you don't like them enough to keep them. I think that has to change, though I realize that they're worried you'll just pass around a copy of that one book to all your friends and you can copy digital things much easier than physical things. I mean who is going to sit down and copy out the whole "Harry Potter" series for their buddy? It's a legitimate concern, but I don't think they're handling it correctly.

I just wanted to get your guy's opinion on the issues. I know that there are site out there that sell you a copy of books you can do anything you want with. You can lend it, put it on multiple devices, read it on whatever. I'm most likely going to stick with amazon just for the convenience and ease of dealing with my kindle. It's all packaged there together. I do think that as of now, the kindle is the best e-reader out there. I even choose it over nook, knowing that I have a BAM right near me and I've been a discount card holder there for over a decade. The kindle is just superior based on reviews, specs, and holding both in my hand in my opinion. I'm not knocking it for someone else, just telling you where I'm coming from.

You guys let me know what you think e-readers and what issues we should look at in the future. What problems could arise.

PS - I still love cracking open a new hardback. :)) Awesome!

Hey

I've got a hand towel in the bath room. It's white, but has a colored pattern on it. I like the towel and it's in good condition, but where people have been drying their hands on it for several years now, it's gotten dingy looking. I wash it pretty often and it'll come out looking clean, but not white like when I bought it. After a few hand dryings, it looks super dingy again. Is there any way to get the white parts white without damaging the colored pattern? That kind of knock bleach out. Thanks.

Hey all

I've got deer in my freeze and I don't want to waste any. I feel its wrong to. Anyway, I took a buck to the processor and I didn't really know what to get. My buddy suggested cube steak and hamburger as the cheapest and best way to go. I ended up with about 14 packs of cube steak and about 30 something packs of burger. I'm guessing they're about a pound a piece.

I'm looking for cooking ideas, because I don't want to eat the same thing over and over. I only know one thing to do with cube steak. I brown it and throw it in a crock pot with a gravy. With the burger, I've done taco kits, meat loaf, meat balls in sawmill gravy, and hamburgers where I mixed in a pack of hot sausage to two packs of burger. My meatloaf was tasty, but it actually ended up tough. I was cooking it in a thinner form and it looked done after about 30 minutes. I normally make meatloaf in a deep casserole dish and it take 1hr+ I split the difference and did 45min. It was tasty, but again, tough. Should have gone with my gut and taken it out at 30min.

So what are some good dishes I could make with it? I'm thinking of a spicy chili and cheese dip if anyone has a good recipe. Also, does anyone know if they'd charge me extra next time to pull off cuts of meat like the loin? It seems to me that with it being less processed and time consuming than the burger or cube steak, which have to processed more, that it would be cheaper to get. However, we all know that's not always the case. They could say it was a higher quality of meat and should cost more. If it is cheap, which cuts should I get? Thanks for the help.