I’ve been seeing some strange bug catching methods on my feeds, so I thought I would share my preferred method for catching and removing critters from the house: a cup and card stock. Put the cup over the insect, slide the card stock under, tada, instant cage. Thin paper can work, but isn’t as secure. Clear plastic cups are awesome, but a glass works too.
This works great for creatures on flat surfaces, and the materials are cheap and readily available.
I geeked out at my chorus this week. We talked briefly about marking our music and some important things to notice when singing 4-part barbershop, and their homework was to go home and delve into their own sheet music (I did give them a cheat sheet). I made a poster. This was an old school poster layout, with a yard stick and rulers, done in pencil, then in ink. It gives examples of the tonic chord (or one (I) chord), rubs (notes next to each other), and octaves. My youngest wanted to help, so she marked the colored sections (bonus, she starts seeing the relationships too). Learning to recognize and hear these aspects helps us along toward making better music.
I admit I don’t use the colors, but I do use the numbers, and I’ve been naming as many chords as I can, not just the tonic. It is good practice.
The test of the new 3D printed spindle went well. I dressed my distaff with a locally obtained wool blend and took my new spindle for a walk. I dropped it twice on the asphalt to no ill effect. Hurray! This is the first time I’ve used this distaff for wool; I figured out how to use it when I needed to control flax roving, and it works just as well for wool. I’ve seen others wrap their wool roving around the distaff, which for me is maddening. As I draft, the fibers pull tight and lock in a spiral. By laying the wool out parallel to the distaff in small sections, and securing it with a handkerchief and cord, the fibers drafted easily off the bottom of the bundle. Nice.
I ran an experiment with my sister. I decorated a card with Frixion pens, markers, and highlighters, then “erased” it by ironing. The way Frixion ink erases is by heat; when you use the little eraser it creates friction with the paper and generates enough heat to deactivate the ink color. Neat. The super cool science geeky part is that if you freeze the paper, the ink reactivates. I tested the card in my own freezer, then heated it again. I’m not sure how many times the ink can be cycled, but I know it is over four (that is how many times I’ve tested it previously before getting distracted). The colors fade slightly in the first cycle, but not much in subsequent activations.
Since the markings don’t erase completely (there are shadows and indents), I did a little misdirection and wrote the instructions on the back of the card. I put it in an envelope and mailed it to my sister. She reported back that it worked! I will have to wait until next summer to send another one; having the card sit in a freezing cold mail box would defeat the trick.
I probably get a bigger kick out of this than is normal for an adult.
Today I present you a picture of a laundry goblin. He crawled through the pile of laundry and stuck out his head so I took his picture.
Critters and Craft 