The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread 36

[cardgame]

That'd be like her giving the kids she teaches tshirts with my face on it so I'll pass.

Are you saying that's not a good idea?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

True that.
Somehow at college I ended up with a College Republicans t-shirt.
Probably still back in the box-of-many-things from college at my parents house come to think of it.

Question: I'm trying to make oven-roasted pulled pork tomorrow and have the pork shoulder marinating, but I realized I don't have an oven thermometer to check internal temperature. It is about a 4 lb shoulder and the recipe says it should be in the oven for about 6 hours at 300, but my pork shoulder is smaller than the 5-7 lbs recommended. Does 6 hours sound about right, or should I cook it for less time? FWIW my oven tends to run a bit on the cool side.

The great thing about pulled pork is that you want it to fall apart so it's kind of hard to overcook it. I think 6 hours will be fine and I also think Tim's suggestion is good.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Here's a variation you might like for future reference:

Ask the butcher to cut the pork but into 3" slices - the resultant portions should have a bone in the middle a bit like a t-bone. Cook these like you would pulled pork (smother them in seasoning salt and wrapped in aluminum foil and saran wrap) and smother it in warm barbecue sauce when it's done. This is called a pork steak and it's a St Louis bbq specialty.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

For the record, while I stand fully by my suggestion the best way to make pulled pork is in a crockpot because it doesn't get dry no matter how much you cook it. You just leave it on until when you try to pick up the roast on a big spoon the part that isn't directly supported falls off.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Anyone have any ideas what I can do with my mission patches?

I don't want to make a jacket with them. The only other thing I think I can do with them is put them in a frame or hang them individually. Anyone else got any other ideas for a craftsy project I could do with them?

How many do you have? When you get enough, sew them on to fabric squares and have a quilt made. We made such a quit with our daughters old (favorite) T shirt designs. It worked out nicely and was well received. We had hoarded over 30 shirts and pared them down to about 20 for the quilt.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I accidentally left a bottle of shower gel open and it all hardened to the bottom. I tried putting some water in the bottle and shaking it but it just made this weird foamy sludge that I couldn't really use. Aside from remembering to close the bottles, what should I do in the future?

 

[Snerk]

Try a different brand? Not sure why shower gel should go hard. Unless it was left open for a very very long time.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Maybe it was just old. I don't use a whole lot so the bottles last a long time.

 

[Cutlass]

I accidentally left a bottle of shower gel open and it all hardened to the bottom. I tried putting some water in the bottle and shaking it but it just made this weird foamy sludge that I couldn't really use. Aside from remembering to close the bottles, what should I do in the future?

If you leave it like that overnight, does it settle down to something usable?

 

[Michkov]

Fill the bottle with water and leave it for a while, maybe shake it once every day. Or cut the residue out and use it as soap.

 

[Takhisis]

What do USians do with the compost they make (or grow, or whatever the word is) in their back yards? I have read a lot about composting but generally they don't seem to have orchards or allotments as people do in other countries.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

What do USians do with the compost they make (or grow, or whatever the word is) in their back yards? I have read a lot about composting but generally they don't seem to have orchards or allotments as people do in other countries.

Lots of people do have gardens, especially out of the cities. Not sure where you got the impression we don't... Even in the cities, community gardens are a thing, I used to live near one in Torrance.

 

[Dachs]

What do USians do with the compost they make (or grow, or whatever the word is) in their back yards? I have read a lot about composting but generally they don't seem to have orchards or allotments as people do in other countries.

Hobbs is basically right here. Many American suburban homes are fronted by a small garden used for horticultural display. Front gardens are often mandated by homeowners' associations. Gardens for produce are less common and usually at the side or rear of the house.

Composting benefits both of those places, as well as the potted plants that Americans often keep in their homes. Some American neighborhoods also have compost collecting services.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What do USians do with the compost they make (or grow, or whatever the word is) in their back yards? I have read a lot about composting but generally they don't seem to have orchards or allotments as people do in other countries.

We have a big pile of compost in the back of the yard and keep adding to it. It gets used in various flowerbeds.

 

[Takhisis]

Lots of people do have gardens, especially out of the cities. Not sure where you got the impression we don't... Even in the cities, community gardens are a thing, I used to live near one in Torrance.

Hobbs is basically right here. Many American suburban homes are fronted by a small garden used for horticultural display. Front gardens are often mandated by homeowners' associations. Gardens for produce are less common and usually at the side or rear of the house.

Composting benefits both of those places, as well as the potted plants that Americans often keep in their homes. Some American neighborhoods also have compost collecting services.

The compost collecting services are what I imagined might happen.

I'll explain. I had to translate various documents on composting and what-not including how to keep bears away some years ago -with what limited knowledge one can gather from US media I *know* about flowerbeds and such and I figured that there'd be excess sh compost left over to stink up the place.

So the logical question is: where do the compost collection services take the compost?

(sidenote: a homeowners' association can legally order people to have a flowerbed? In the land of the free?)

We have a big pile of compost in the back of the yard and keep adding to it. It gets used in various flowerbeds.

How do you control the stink?

 

[Birdjaguar]

The compost collecting services are what I imagined might happen.

I'll explain. I had to translate various documents on composting and what-not including how to keep bears away some years ago -with what limited knowledge one can gather from US media I *know* about flowerbeds and such and I figured that there'd be excess sh compost left over to stink up the place.

So the logical question is: where do the compost collection services take the compost?

(sidenote: a homeowners' association can legally order people to have a flowerbed? In the land of the free?)

How do you control the stink?

It doesn't smell unless you get down on you hands and knees and sniff it. Mice live in it and our cats often go hunting there. Every once in a while I go out and mix it with a shovel.

 

[Dachs]

(sidenote: a homeowners' association can legally order people to have a flowerbed? In the land of the free?)

It's not an order.

Transfer deeds to houses built in relatively new developments include restrictions on individual decisions on what to do with the house. Those decisions effectively get placed in the HOA's hands. Failing to abide by their guidelines means that the HOA can fine you.

HOAs effectively have the goal of making sure that a place is a "good neighborhood". Sometimes this takes the form of services provided for residents. (In other jurisdictions, these services are sometimes handled by the local government.) Sometimes it takes the form of limiting what residents can do so that they don't negatively impact the lives or property values of their neighbors. They may have limitations on landscaping, house additions, fencing, house paint, sports paraphernalia, and so on; it's possible to get these limitations revised, but there's usually an approval process for that.

When this crosses the line into Stepfordian behavior is up to the observer.

Some HOAs have real teeth, and others don't. I worked for UPS for some time, and some of the neighborhoods I visited had HOA rules about picking up your own dog's poop. Those rules were...infrequently followed at best, as I soon came to learn. I had to learn how to balance safety, speed, size of package load, and avoiding dog poop. But then there are the HOAs that impose exorbitant fines for, like, an unapproved shade of beige on the house's siding.

 

[Ferocitus]

It doesn't smell unless you get down on you hands and knees and sniff it. Mice live in it and our cats often go hunting there. Every once in a while I go out and mix it with a shovel.

That's more of a bioreactor for toxoplasmosis than a compost heap.
Your cats have discovered the perfect place to farm mice (which because of the toxo don't fear them).

 

[tjs282]

How do you control the stink?

If your compost heap stinks, you aren't doing it right.

Stinkage indicates anaerobic fermentation, which likely means that you've added too much soft nitrogenous 'green' waste to the pile (kitchen scraps, grass clippings, green leafage), and not balanced that with enough carbon-containing 'brown' waste (wood chips, shredded newspaper, dry leaves, etc.). And an anaerobic heap is also bad for the environment, because it means your organic (carbon) waste is being converted to methane instead of carbon dioxide.

But if you keep your pile balanced, and aerated (like BJ says; though because of the way I've subdivided my bin, I find using a garden fork as a 'deep rake' is more efficient than turning using a shovel), and shielded from heavy rain (or at least well-drained), and accessible to worms, then everything should rot down with no stink, and right quick (in the warm season anyway: decomposition will obviously slow down/stop during winter).

Compost tumblers are also an option, or wormeries. They don't smell either.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

What does stink is manure. The Irvine Company (which unsurprisingly, owns a lot of property in Irvine) adds it to all of their landscaping 3 or 4 times a year here and it's pretty terrible. It may be a compost/manure mix instead of straight manure but it stinks to high hell and sort of fouls up the air every time they do it. It's frustrating because I just can't believe that this amount of fertilizer is necessary to keep the plants happy. And if it is necessary then they need to plant hardier species. The building I live in and all the buildings around me are owned by the company and it can be a bit overwhelming when they fertilize everything and takes away from the beauty of the landscaping in my opinion.