Mandarin Juice!

Weird how being unemployed I seem to have all this time for low-cost projects... We have a big mandarin orange tree behind our house. I can't tell if the oranges are under ripe, or are just going to stay tart and green forever. So I picked about 40 of them (maybe 1/4 of what is on the tree) and juiced em! It's real tasty, but tart. Not bitter like grapefruits, but not as sweet as I would expect from ripe mandarins. I guess they aren't quite ready yet...

Polishing Rocks

Got a bit behind on the blog... Here are a couple of updates! Polishing rocks! These are some septarian nodules (50-70 million year old cracked mud balls with calcite crystals grown into the cracks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion#Septarian_concretions) that I found in canada in college on a trip with the geology club. I had them cut on site, but never got around to polishing them to make them really look nice. before: after: side-by-side: surface prep disk, rubbing compound, and polishing compound, all applied with a little air powered die grinder. Finished with 3 coats nice polymer car "wax and shine" stuff. I'm quite happy with how they came out. They're not perfect, but for a couple hours of work with stuff I had on hand, I think they look great.

Dirtbike rebuild

So, some time while I was in college, I bought an 80cc dirtbike. It was basically a race bike for young teenagers. I just wanted something to noodle around and be an idiot on without smashing up the more expensive and dangerous sportbike I had at the time. It saw a lot of rough use, and eventually ended up under a barn at a friend's parents' house in Keene for several years. Looking for a winter project, I went and picked it up last spring. It was a bit beat up, but generally in better condition than I expected. Over the winter I tore it down to the frame, cleaned it up, replaced some broken parts, and put it all back together: Starting ponit:

Breaking it down (lots of minor rust and TONS of caked on dirt. I really didn't take very good care of it!):

All broken down, waiting for a lot of elbow grease and simple green:

A lot cleaner...

Starting to go back together:

Mostly there:

Now it's just waiting for some stickers, and somewhere to ride!