All Blacks Silverfern on the car perhaps?

Yuss - the AB's won the rugby world cup 2011- after some 24 years winning it back in 1987 for the first time- oddly enough while we where out of the country (in France) at the time.  Just like last time we played against France - who many felt were lucky to be in the final - but gave a good account of themselves and made for a real cliffhanger final.  End-story - the All Blacks won the match!! yusssss - I am so happy  :)

New Zealand was the host country and to our credit, the Country got right behind the teams and the competition and I have never seen so many flags been flown on cars.. That got me thinking that I can go one better! I did put up two banners in the windows in the house - quite good really at night - the light comes through the fern and shines - brightly - just like a silver fern is s'posed to be and do!! Anyhow to cut a long story short - I wanted to have a image like this on the rear window of my car.  After all - I have seen some glass doors in the Mall's where you can see from one side a perfect image but because they have zillions of tiny circles stamped / cut out - you can actually see through from the other side.  It is just the case of finding someone who can make me one for my rear car screen.  And this is where we are going to bumm out - on two fronts!
Firstly - the "projected cost would be well over NZ $250  A N D  (very sadly) more importantly -- our Government has these regulations that allow your vehicle on the road and it seems that private cars are not allowed to have their windows tinted - or sticker-ed with any signage!!  Major bummer all round!!   Sighs



Thought I toss this in - these are the newly minted Stamps . . . . .    should we post something to some folks in England / France / Australia?????  hmmmm they may not get the joke . . . .




Check this out ---->

Modifications not requiring LVV Certification

Use the following list as a guide to identify modifications that individually are considered to not adversely affect the safety performance of a vehicle, provided they meet the WOF safety criteria:

1. Branded wheels and tyres of a different size, provided:
   1. they do not project beyond the line of the original mudguard, and
   2. they lie within 25mm of the manufacturer's track width, and
   3. the tyre/wheel rolling radius is unchanged
2. Changed road springs and shock absorbers that are direct substitutes for the originals, being mounted in the same way without lowering or raising the vehicle
3. Suspension bushes that are direct substitutes for the originals
4. Any modifications to the original engine model and type for the purpose of increasing its power by no more than 20%
5. After-market steering wheels (not where airbags were originally fitted) providing they do not increase the risk of injury to the vehicle occupants
6. Additional or changed instruments and accessories that are either directly ahead of the steering wheel or do not intrude into an area where they could add or cause injury to a vehicle occupant in a collision
7. Cosmetic changes to the bodywork that are secure and do not reduce driver field of view or increase the risk of injury to pedestrians
8. Glazing - refer to the diagram for examples of aftermarket window tinting by the application of overlays permitted on a variety of common light vehicles.

Diagram key

Visible Light Transmittance (VLT)

• Glazing marked a is required to have an overall VLT of no less than 70%. Overlays are not permitted
• Glazing marked b is permitted to have overlays applied providing the overall VLT is not reduced below 35%
• Glazing marked c is permitted to have overlays of any level of tint, including advertising overlays

Note

• The overall VLT of the glazing is important, not the colour
• Class MA vehicles are not permitted to have glazing with an overall VLT of less than 35%. If there is glazing with an overlay behind the driver's seat, there must be an external rear view mirror fitted on each side of the vehicle
• or vehicles of classes other than MA, but including stretched limousines and body transfer vehicles, any glazing to the rear of the driver's seat may have a VLT of any level providing the vehicle has an external rear view mirror fitted

 

Rocket stove

Ah yes - I made a rocket stove,  after someone mentioned a Jiko stove for efficient cooking ---->   jiko stove

Well one search led to another and before you knew it - I was hooked

rocketstove

www.youtube.com/rocketstove
www.youtube.com/larger rocketstove

 Here is my first model - hmmm actually it is the second - the first model was a crappy quicky --just to prove to myself I had the know how and tools to make it happen.  This "first" proper working model is made from old soup tin's.  It is amazing how little wood it uses and how hot it gets for cooking.  The saving of the Forrest principle was a major selling point in making this - as is the fact that maybe one day I may make one with the Scouts for them to use!!
I didn't leave enough of a air-gap so it still smokes at the entry point.  Other then that it worked brilliantly.  I then got the firebricks to make a bigger more permanent model - just in case and also just for fun!!  I will let you know later how it worked out!!

 

Boiling 3 liters of water!  Tea time!!




















 

Roadkill stew

 

 

We decided in a terms program for cooking - much of it outdoors based and also using the Geezers cookbook.  The most fun recipe and activity for me was the Roadkill stew.  Nothing like psyching up the youth with good stories about Russia and dead meat and meat shortages and recycling any dead animal found on the road!  There are many others and some we used successfully - the Coke a cola chicken stands out in particular.  Anyhow below are some images from that day we cooked our roadkill stew - it was fun. 

Getting the water supply ready - basic safety first - in case either the fire spread or we needed to apply first aid.











Where shall we put our fire safety bucket??  Here or there??? - actually - not bad carrying nearly 50 liters of water!!












 I made a rocket stove out of a soup tin-can and a larger 5 liter fruit salad tin-can - insulated it and was keen on test driving this little baby.  It needs very little timber for heat produced and can boil water in a shorter time then a conventional fire - but more on that in another log entry









 Getting the fire ready!!  This time, due to time constraints we showed the scouts a different method - and we  used some of the "Magic Water"!  Basically we used two runners on the bottom and then crisscrossed layers over the top with kindling and some larger pieces.  The two runners leave a good 2 inch of clear air gap from the bottom up - and from both end-sides - thus the air can get underneath and let the fire "breathe".  Then tossed on some "magic water" and added a match - whooooom instant fire.  Once it burned down and was reduced to ashes we cooked on that.


 Having told the scouts to keep their eyes peeled for roadkill - and scrape that of the tarmac and take home - we gave them the option of buying fresh beef or venison - and bring that instead.  Funny how the idea of fresh tenderized meat from the road did not appeal. It did not help at all that during the term leading up to this I dropped some very subtle hints about how I found this meat . . . . .  Anyhow - the basic idea is that you take some fresh meat (and fish or chicken works best) lay that inside a golden syrup tin (500g size) then add flavor (any flavor you want) a handful of vegetable, and a handful of either rice or pasta and top up the tin with water leaving about 15 mm gap to the top rim.  Of course you can be as creative as you want to be.  For instance I boiled up some beef bones the 2 days before hand to get some decent stock and for additional flavour - well - think garlic  / rosemary / curry etc etc.  Then there are musrooms / capsicum . ough ough ough aahuuuuuuuuuuu    Urm better stop here - my water is running round my tastebuds again and I am getting hungry. ^^
Once all filled up you close up the tin with its lid and punch a tiny wee hole in it.  After about 5-10 minute it will release steam - indicating near boiling point and from there it is another 10 minute of cooking. Voila - a cooked meal inside it's own container and easy to eat from!!  Now - A N Y  food grade tin will do and it needs to be metallic - and as it acts like a pressure cooker the punched hole is there for an obvious reason!! 

If you check the picture - on the bottom left the geen tin - you can see the liquid bubbling out!!  Further you will notice that one enterprising scout decided he was VERY hungry and used a larger tin - which naturally took longer to cook.









 I had successfully test driven my rocket stove! Amazing how LITTLE wood you need to use for cooking - in fact I managed to use enough branches from the ground without using any of the prepped wood from home.  Further there was enough left to finish of the large tin from one of our scouts and use the 2nd large tin for boiling water - so that they can wash up their cutlery. 














As I said earlier - I  found the Geezers cook book on the internet some years back and have used it many a times to run a fun night with our youth - indeed once I based a whole terms program on it.
It can be found here ---->  geezercookbook..com

and here  ---->  GeezerCookBook.pdf   (which is easier to download and store on hard drive)

I salute to  Dwayne Pritchett and his children - your resource has provided many a good scout nights!
Yours in Scouting
rip Dwayne

 

A old fashioned alarm clock

Alarm clock

Ah yes - recently we were on a Sunday afternoon drive. We decided to head of to Ashburton - about an hours drive away from Christchurch and go for a leisurely stroll there.  In due course we saw this very old fashioned alarm clock in one of the shops.  I used to own a small version of that and had that sitting on a ceramic saucer (a plate really) - seeing I had to get up at 3 am for work and sometimes sleept through the alarm.  Anyhow - I would have bought this one for my late teenager son - who still manages to sleep till 12 noon every day.  The picture is not doing it any justice - the alarm clock stood a full 30 cm tall!!!   I would have bought it too - but for the fact that the shop was closed.  Bummer   -- I can only imagine what kind of racket this one would make at 6 am!! sighs