Sunday, May 15, 2011

More Rocketry At Vaclav's Hovel


Finn got two vinegar and baking soda powered rockets for Christmas. Spring means that at long last we get to play with the fun stuff after a long wait.

This is a short film of one of the better trials. The fat guy launching it is me.



The way it works is simple if not inelegant. You attach fins to a 1-liter soda bottle, then apply an extension of the tube and a nose cone if you like, to make the rocket longer. I thought the extension was hokey and useless - just cosmetic - so I dropped that and adhered the nose cone directly to the bottom of the bottle (which is the top of the rocket).The rest is tricky. You fill the bottle with up to 1 cup of vinegar, then hold it horizontally. Next, you take a tensioned stopper and shove it into one end of a tube that just fits inside the bottle. You fill the tube halfway with sodium bicarbonate, and then carefully stick the tube in, open-end first. Now you tighten the stopper - all the while holding the bottle level and horizontal. Once you have it tightened sufficiently (the amount of tightening takes some experience learned the hard way), you shake the bottle, set the rocket fins down and nose up, then stand back and hope.





Gardening At Vaclav's Hovel

We're mostly ready for the growing season. That nice black dirt is about 75% free. Our town has a community compost pile at the transfer station and each resident is entitled to have some, free, each year. If you are a resident of Beacon, take advantage of it!

The Roundhouse at Beacon

The Roundhouse at Beacon is a major renovation of old factories and other buildings in the east end of Beacon, NY. Here is a video of the construction site as of May, 2011.


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Jump Shots

To help Jennifer promote the hotel, and NYC Tourism in general, I have twice followed Paola and Lauren about with camera capturing their jumps (see more about The Jump Files here).









Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Inn at Twaalfskill

Through Jennifer I met the Norbergs, who run the Inn at Twaalfskill (twelfth stream, in Dutch). This B&B is located in Highland NY and would be a fine place to stay for anyone visiting the area.













Sunday, April 17, 2011

Scenes from Beacon

The Fishkill swollen from recent rains. Finn and I walked under that bridge last August, looking for blue crabs.



Finn and his friend David.


My kite aloft at the Beacon train station. The winds were very strong, and I think this was pulling 30+ lbs.


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Thai Restaurant In the Village of Fishkill

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Jennifer and I stumbled across an excellent restaurant in Fishkill, the Golden Buddha Thai.

Starting with a Thai Iced Tea (for Jennifer; I can't stand the shit):

...on to these delicately spiced "golden bag" dumplings...

...here is Jennifer's entree and then mine (damned if I can remember the names)...

...the assortment of hot spices you can use.

It's in the village of Fishkill across from the CVS.

The service was attentive and unobtrusive. We recommend the place, and we'll probably be going back.