Preservation

Richard Kaloust on Oct 6th 2011

Preservation is about deciding what’s important, figuring out how to protect it, and passing along an appreciation for what was saved to the next generation. Preservation is hands on.

National Park Service archeologists, architects, curators, historians, and other cultural resource professionals work in America’s nearly 400 national parks to preserve, protect, and share the history of this land and its people. This includes:

Beyond the parks, the National Park Service is part of a national preservation partnership working withAmerican Indian tribesstateslocal governments, nonprofit organizations, historic property owners, and others who believe in the importance of our shared heritage – and its preservation. This includes:

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Pumpkin Preservation

Richard Kaloust on Oct 4th 2011

Do you need to preserve your pumpkin? Here are a few simple techniques will have your pumpkin lasting like Walt Disney. You already have many of the best preservation products lying around the house.

I’ve read a few websites that said you should coat the cut surface with Vaseline or you can use something called “Pumpkin Preserver” that you buy at the halloween store.

I doubt it will surprise you if I told you I don’t do either of those things.

For one thing, I hope to get through my entire life without covering anything with Vaseline. Second, I am not making a special trip to a store for something called Pumpkin Preserver. I don’t have time for that crap.

In 2008, I cut 14 pumpkins exactly the same way and used a different preservative on each one. Why? In the name of science! Actually, I did so because people want to know what works well and honestly, I couldn’t find out without my little experiment.

The Answer? Chlorox Clean-Up Cleaner with Bleach. You could probably use any cleaner with bleach in it, but I used Chlorox Clean-Up in the experiment and it worked really well.

So, I suggest you go into the cleaner cabinet as soon as you are done carving and spray away. I spray all of the cut surfaces as well as the entire insides. Don’t forget to do the underside of your pumpkin’s cap, it doesn’t get a free pass.

This one application seemed to increase the shelf-life of your pumpkin by 100%, all for just one spraying. I suppose you could do even better if you sprayed it every few days, but I didn’t. After all, it’s time on earth is fleeting.

If you want to read the entire results of the study, as if I would falsify the final conclusion, read the next page. It has all of the hard data that the truly nerdy really crave.

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SNAPPY VESPA SCOOTER RECYCLED INTO CHILD’S ROCKING HORSE

Richard Kaloust on Sep 30th 2011

In the last several years, zippy Vespa scooters have become the eco-transportation alternative for not just trendy hipsters and bohemian artsy individuals but also mainstreamers who simply want to navigate the streets with a lighter carbon footprint.

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According to their website and many satisfied customer accounts, Vespas are definitely built to last so I have to wonder how one handy grandpappy ended up retiring his old model and turning it into the rocking horse depicted throughout this post.

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It’s definitely nifty to gaze at and the body seems to be in fine shape, so why grandpappy, whyyyyy?

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I can only presume that his scooter spit out its last breath longgggg ago and instead of sending it to landfill purgatory, he recycled it into a sweet little treasure for his doe-eyed grandson, Diego, complete with fiberglass body, stainless steel wrapped platform, wood trimmed edges and imitation leather seat.

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Craftsmanship like that isn’t very common these days. Nice job, DIY grandpappy — you are a green trailblazer since I don’t believe that anything quite like this has ever been done before!

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