Category: General

A year ago, the price of large molds were around $2each. This year, the best I could find was a 12pk for $11.99.

Nevertheless, until I get to a point where I’m baking panettone en-masse, I’ll continue making my own.

Here’s how I do it.

Continue reading “Homemade DIY panettone paper molds”

This is going to be pretty abrupt, but I’m just throwing it out into e-ville in case anyone else can use the information.

Q. How do you replace the speed control board on an old stand mixer when you can’t get a direct replacement?
A. Buy the modern equivalent, but only connect to three of the posts. Continue reading “Hobart Kitchenaid – K5-A Stand Mixer”

I cannot begin to count the number of posts that I’ve read on the topic of dip pen nibs.
My personal interest (as with so many people) falls into the Spencerian/copperplate/ornamental basket.
I simply adore the variation of line thickness and how it combines with and compliments such a flowing script.

Of course, not every pen can facilitate the reproduction of such writing. Those that can often fetch quite the premium online (look up sale prices on Waterman Ideal and Mabie Todd Swan pens, for starters).
So what’s a person to do if they have a modest budget? What are alternatives to spending over $50?

Here’s a list that I compiled from a few different resources to get you started.
I hope to add more as I find out about them.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wWj_APDjz7q1N76WZSv4KsDIdapD38mL1Exy704ayyY/edit?usp=sharing

 

In the event that the posting at http://community.wd.com/t5/Other-Externals/Problems-with-having-more-than-one-USB-2-0-WD-2-TB-Elements/m-p/285728#M4260 ceases to exist, here are the instructions that allowed me to plug two 3TB WD Hard drives into my HP TX2.

Continue reading “Computer only recognizing one of two external harddrives.”

So much has happened and yet so much hasn’t happened that I wanted to happen, that I hardly know where to begin.

As I write this, I’m sat in the kitchen. You know, this one:

Unfortunately, however, there are piles of dishes around me, seeds drying on the side, other seeds in packets waiting to be planted, rhubarb in the sink waiting for cutting and freezing or canning, Eliza on my lap – somewhat cranky after a nap … you get the picture … and if you don’t, no, I’m not going to post one!! Continue reading “3.5 months later …”

Finally, after 11pm last night, it started to sink in that I wouldn’t be driving to work in the morning. Ever. (Well at least not in the foreseeable future.) It’s taken a month for the realization to really sink in.

I worked like crazy to get as much housework done as possible over the weekend

I started in on the timetable for Eliza’s education this morning: We started by singing some nursery rhymes, then went on to addition of one (up to =20), reading, science (how plants grow from seed to flower), and piano practice.

I’ll be starting on lunch shortly, and then she’ll have a play before her nap.
The only ‘timetabled’ activity for this afternoon will be painting.

Her attention span was around 10 minutes, which was perfect.
I had allotted 20 minutes, but was going to be happy with 5 or 10.

So there you have it… my morning. Continue reading “The first month at home”

I was going to write a bunch of background information here, but let’s just cut to the chase.

I have an HP TouchSmart tx2 running Windows 7 64-bit.

By default, HP have designed this model to switch to Secondary Landscape when you turn it into Tablet mode.
The base of the problem is two-fold:

1) The value in the registry is set to turn the screen into Landscape orientation (see Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\Schemes\Default\8526)

Tablet_Docked_DisplayMode 1
Tablet_Docked_DisplayOrientation 2
Tablet_UnDocked_DisplayMode 0
Tablet_UnDocked_DisplayOrientation 3 **

** This needs to be changed to ‘1’ for Primary Portrait (annoyingly the power outlet will be at the bottom, so it’s not so great if you’re plugged in … but it means that the vent will be at the top (not burning your stomach), and if you’re left-handed like me, you’ll not have the battery pressing into the crook of your arm)… or ‘3’ for Secondary Portrait.

2) The dll file in the HP Quick Launch folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons) contains instructions to ignore the settings in the registry.

Once you’ve changed the above settings to whatever your preference is, you’ll need to download the MCSVActn.dll from an older version of HP Quick Launch which does NOT ignore the registry.

Please, as a precaution, rename the dll file presently on your system to “MCSVActn.OLDdll” or something similar so that you can revert back to it if you have any issues.

You’ll need to restart your system before the changes take effect.

 

That should do it for you. It did it for me.

Built somewhere around 1965
Continue reading “Photographs of my Rodgers Trio Theatre organ.”