Free Bodum Bean Coffee Press

Just thought I'd post this real quick. Starbucksstore.com is offering a free Bodum bean coffee press when you sign up for one of their subscription programs. If you like Starbucks coffee and have considered a delivery program, this might be a great time to try it out. Here are the details: Receive a free coffee press with a Starbucks Subscription

BP Oil Spill....My two cents

Well this has been going on for six weeks or so. It seems apparent to me that no one really knows what to do. That is the most depressing part of this whole mess for me. Its fun to blame the government, but of course deep down I know the government can't micro manage each and every oil well in the country. So that leaves the oil company, British Petroleum.

I seriously doubt anyone there intended to create a mess like this, but they are in fact the one responsible for what happens with their wells. They would gladly have reaped the profits, they should also foot the risk. It may turn out that one of their subcontractors screwed up, if that is in fact case, then BP should have a good case to collect damages from them.

What can't happen, and what I'm getting the sick feeling is about to happen, is that the US taxpayer get stuck with this bill. We simply can't afford that, BP should be made to make everyone as whole as possible, too bad for them. I know that this will crush the company and perhaps hurt British tax payers in their investment portfolio, but its also important to hold proper companies and individuals accountable.

If this is a problem, maybe companies should be made to place an escrow account for each new well they drill, to protect against any future problems. Ok done with my rant.

Storm Prey Audiobook

I got hooked on audio books a couple years ago. I've always been an avid reader, but the busier I get , they less I was reading. I discovered how many books I can listen too, just driving to work. I usually listen to about 2 books a month.

I used to buy CD's off Ebay, then resell them, made the price very affordable. As time went on though, the hassle  of running to the post office began to wear on me. I then discovered Audible.com, I signed up for the platinum plan, which currently provides 2 credits for $22.95. Most books sell for one credit, so in effect I pay $11.50 per book, which I think is fair for a newly written book. I also have the ease of adding the book to an MP3 player, so I can carry it with me other places besides the car and CD player.

Back to the title of this post "Storm Prey". This a book written by John Sanford, with the main character of Lucas Devenport. I'll keep the review short, If you are fan of the "Prey" series of books, I would think you will also like this book. Nothing special about it, but I've been hooked on this series so long that I can't stop now.

Audible has a pretty good special right now, 3 months  for only $7.49/month!, you will receive 1 credit per month, or in effect 1 book per month.

Butterfly Spread

Another of my many hobbies include trading Butterfly Spreads as well as Calendar Spreads. I do maybe one or two trades per month, I enjoy the intellectual challenge of trying to guess the market direction as well as the best way to profit. Most of my trades are for small amounts of money, maybe risking $300-500 dollars, hoping to make $300-500 on the upside. Anyway I entered a trade today and decided to post it here, that way if it goes bad, I guess I will have embarrassed myself in front of all my readers.

I'm self taught and have learned most of what I know about options through the school of hard knocks. Meaning I lost some money. The last few years I have done much better, but anyone who thinks this is a get rich quick scheme should think again. Start small, trade play money or only money you don't mind losing.

In general I use Calendar Spreads when I think market volatility is increasing, I use Butterfly Spreads when I think volatility is going to be flat or dropping. Most of the options I use are based on one of the ETF's based on one of the common stock indices. Below is a chart of DIA, which is an ETF based on the Dow Jones Industrials.


DIA - Daily Candlesticks: "

via StockCharts.com
"

The trade I made will be profitable if the DIA etf price is somewhere between 98-102 near the end of the month. In effect I expect this to be at least a short term bottom, but I also don't expect the market to go up much either. Here is my trade, all based on the options expiring the end of the June quarter(Quarterly). I'm listing this only for information not as a recommendation.

Short 10 DIA June 30 100 calls
Long   5 DIA June 30 103 calls
Long   5 DIA June 30  97  calls

Max money at risk $325
Max possible gain  $1163  ( I usually sell when I double my money so $375)
commissions making all these trades equal about $50

I've never publicly posted a trade before, curious to see if I jinxed myself.




Well I decided to close the spread for a small loss. The market is beginning to look as though its about to move up well above my profit zone. I always try and cut losses as soon as things go bad.

Liquid Fence

Today I reapplied my liquid fence spray. I've been using it for about a month, based on a recommendation of a coworker. I thought it seemed fairly expensive and was likely a gimmick. Nevertheless I happened to see some at my local Walmart, and decided to give it a try. So far it seems to have kept  the deer from doing their normal damage to my landscaping and my vegetables. It is still too soon to say for sure though, it could just be that I've been lucky this year. One sign I do consider encouraging is that the one place I have had deer damage so far, is the one area that I forgot to spray.

 

One thing I forgot to mention. This stuff smells horrible when first applied. After a few hours it is no longer noticeable, though I assume the animals must still smell it.




update 6/15. Seems to be working fine. No damage from deer as of today.

Three Lake Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest

Today I hiked Three Lakes Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest, which is halfway between Bloomington and Martinsville in south central Indiana. I haven't done any serious hiking in about twenty years. I decided I don't care much for going to the gym, so I decided to get back into backpacking for my exercise. As I sit here with my sore feet, I realize I probably should have started with a shorter trail. Three Lakes is marked as 10.4 miles and rugged. I din't really feel it was rugged, but it was good exercise, lots of up and downs in ravines and creek beds. But I lived, and had a good time, so thats all that matters.

I got a chance to try out some of my new gear, no complaints on any of it so far. I didn't carry a full pack, but instead a belt with some accessories as well as a messenger bag.

    

Both are comfortable and both seem well made.

Cabbage Worms

Well, when I got home today and checked on my garden, I noticed small holes in my Broccoli and Cauliflower leaves. It didn't take a lot of research to get a guess what the cause is. I checked and found several small green caterpillars and discovered they are in fact cabbage worms.

Now, how to get rid of them organically. The two most consistent ideas I've seen are: 1) Pick the worms off by hand(Done). 2) A product based on BT(Bacillus Thuringiensis). I'm gonna run out tomorrow and see if I can find some at one of the local big box stores, or the local garden center. Plan B is I will order from Amazon, here are a few they offer.
    

Update: I didn't find any of the above locally, at least not yet. I did find some Safer Brand 5162 Caterpillar Killer with B.T. Garden Dust 8 Ounces at the local Menards. I'll let you know how it works.





6/15 update: The Garden Dust works great. No more worms. A few days after I applied the dust I saw several of those white moths come around and lay more eggs. As a precaution I applied more garden dust. As of today my cauliflower looks much better and I have no issues at all with holes in my leaves.

Worm Factory Worm Composter

As part of my gardening bug, I decided to buy a worm composter. After looking around locally and reading lots of different reviews I decided to buy this one:

Worm Factory DS5GT 5-Tray Worm Composter - Green

I truthfully think it would have been fairly easy to make one, I found a few different ideas on the web, but in the end, I decided to buy an off the shelf unit, since I had no real idea what I was doing. The set up was quick and easy, I've had it operating for six weeks now, no issues whatsoever. It will probably be at least 3 more months until I get some actual usable vermicompost, so I won't know for sure until then.

The two biggest concerns I had as I set it up. Would it make my basement stink(its a finished basement)? And where to get the worms to start. First, I've noticed absolutely no odor with the composter and none of the worms have gotten loose(my wifes concern).

As far as getting the worms, that was a bit more difficult than I expected. The best source is to find someone else with a worm bin, see if you can get some of theirs. Unfortunately I didn't know anyone local. I did a search on craigslist, the closest I could find was an hour drive for me one way. I checked local retailers, the price  seemed excessive. In the end I took a risk on an Ebay seller, I got lucky and found a good one, they shipped the worms quickly and in good condition. Anyone interested here is a link to the seller. Red Wigglers. For those who wonder why I didn't get them from my yard, regular earthworms don't work well in worm bins, Red Wigglers are the preferred type.


Update as of 6/4: For the first time I noticed a very slight odor coming from the bin. I think I got a little carried away last week putting scraps in it. I took a look inside and the worms are working on the scraps so I think I'll just wait a week or so before I add anymore food scraps. The odor isn't horrible(at least not yet), but it is noticeable for the first time.

GrowCamp Modular Greenhouse

 As promised, I know I jump around a lot. Today I'm thinking about Greenhouse's, I'd like something I can put on my deck, and also something that looks ok in a suburban neighborhood. I stumbled across this one in my research, I'm not buying today, more reading to do. But it does look like something that might be perfect. Since I don't need it for a few months anyway, I have time to research.

Here is a picture of GrowCamp 4'x4' Modular Vegetable Growing System.

The best price I found is $430 with free shipping from Amazon. Does anybody out there have one, or something like it that I can compare with?

Update: Thanks for the question. I decided to buy a raised cedar bed, I will add a greenhouse to the top next year I think. But the cedar bed is working great in the summer. Here is where I bought it.

Backpacking Stove

I plan to start doing some backpacking this summer. I plan to go fairly short distances, maybe 20 miles on the high side, maybe sleep over 1 night. I've used alcohol stoves in the past, and may decide to do so again, but I've been researching small fuel stoves that would be easy to carry. I think I'm going to buy the Coleman 1-Burner Dual Fuel Sporter II Liquid Fuel Stove, it seems to offer the best value as far as weight, price and versatility. Here is a picture of it.



The other two similar stoves are also offered by Coleman. One is lighter(the Coleman Exponent Feather 442 Dual Fuel Stove), the other(the Coleman Exponent Multi-Fuel Stove) burns kerosene as well as the white gas and unleaded the other two burn. I will probably burn mostly white gas anyway, but it is nice to have options. Both cost about $30 more than sporter two does. Here they are:

    

My final idea is the MSR Whisperlite International Liquid-Fuel Stove, It is most expensive, and I just don't like the design as much, just my personal preference.

If anyone has some advice I'd love to hear it.

K Cups Coffee Makers

I've owned two of these things. I spent a ton of time researching them, and kept reading how great the coffee is. After actually using them I do have to admit, the coffee is awesome. When using the Amazon Subscribe And Save Program, you can get the coffee for about 40 cents per cup. Not real cheap, but also a lot better than buying coffee at Starbucks or another restaurant.

Now for the bad, the first one I bought, a Breville BKC600XL, kept making partial cups of coffee, or overflowing water. On the plus side, the company was very responsive and sent me a replacement, unfortunately, the replacement worked the same as the original. I finally figured out that it only seemed to happen with Decaf K-cups, or Tea K-cups. So the trick was to reprime the water each time we made Decaf, kind of a pain, but  it worked.

Here is the BKC600XL



I got a chance to get a Keurig B70 for a big discount, so I decided to see if it worked better. The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't nearly as loud when it ran, so that was a big plus. Unfortunately, that one also seems to have trouble with Decaf pods, I don't know why, but it shuts itself off every time we make Decaf, again if I reprime the tank each time it works ok, and the coffee definitely tastes great, just kind of a pain.

Here is the one I have now.


If I was going to buy a single serve system again, I think I would go with the cheaper and simpler solution, something like the Aeropress Coffee and Espresso Maker. I use the word simpler, I guess I really mean a more low tech solution, I'm sure that there are some things I need to know about this one as well. If anyone has tried one of these I'd love to hear about it.