Vacuum seals vie with mentos, cola and red tail hawks
Here in Santa Barbara we are doing our part to contain the virus as in-house lockdown enters it’s sixth year…
“Dan!” Nazy interrupts. “It’s not year ..”
“Right! Sixth decade..” I replied. “Sixth century,” I thought.
Luckily, Nazy is not only a talented cook but, more importantly, she enjoys cooking. And I especially like the Persian Rice that she has expertly prepared since before we were even married. It involves rinsing, cooking and steaming. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched steam leak out of a large pan of rice topped with a lid wrapped in a dish towel.
Last week, however: Nazy, bored by success and annoyed by leaking steam, tried a different approach: an approach that banished the dish towel. The results were…
“Dan!” Nazy called. “Will you take the lid off of the rice?”
“Where is the dish towel?”I asked.
“Just take the lid off of the pan, Dan.” Nazy replied, somewhat testily.
“Ouch!” I exclaimed as I grabbed the lid and burned my hands.
“Use a dish towel so you don’t burn your hands.” Nazy suggested.
“Yes, dear.” I replied. “If you had used a dish towel, we wouldn’t have this problem.” I thought. Silently.
The lid would not move. The steaming process had created a vacuum in the large and deep pan. We tried several ad hoc approaches involving cool water, wooden spoons, pointy levers, kinetic energy created by gravitational acceleration, blunt force, low explosives…
“Why not look on the internet?” Nazy asked.
“Great idea,” I replied. “Do you really think anyone else would have done this?” I thought, in err.
We were unable to get the lid free in time for dinner. However, an overnight stay in the freezer did the trick. Nazy was thrilled…
“… and this rice is perfect!” She announced.
“It’s frozen solid.” I replied. “And I don’t eat rice for breakfast,” I thought.
I filed the experience in working memory: “This would be a good experiment for one of Tiger’s science lessons,” I thought.
I’ve helped Tiger with the kindergarten science classes that are taught remotely. He constructed several varieties of spinning top, learning about the need to balance along the circular center. I introduced the concept of symmetry. Then we had a discussion about the virus…
“Can anything kill Corona virus?” Tiger asked.
“Well yes. Soap can kill the virus on our hands..”
“That’s why we wash our hands..”
“Right! And Clorox can kill the Corona virus on counters and boxes.”
“That’s why my Mom wipes everything with a Clorox towel.”
“Yes.”
“So if everyone does that, why do people get sick?”
“Not everyone washes and wipes Tiger.” I replied. “And if the virus gets inside your body, well, then there’s a problem.”
“It’s too bad that you can’t drink some Clorox to kill …”
“That’s right. Drinking Clorox is a very bad idea,” I replied. “Even a kindergartener knows it’s a dumb idea,” I thought, aware that the ‘president’ had come up with the idea: all by himself! I saw Nazy looking aghast.
“Didn’t Donald Tr…”
“Do not say that word in our house, Nazy.” I replied. “The ‘president’ simply says whatever crosses his mind.”
“I know.”
“The journey is always short.” I noted. “Did you know that strong light also kills Corona virus, Tiger?” I asked.
“Not inside your body, Dan,” he replied. “Unless you shine it up your..”
Aligned with the science theme, Nazy and I also demonstrated a reaction between Mentos and Diet Pepsi. Arrow joined Tiger for the experiment.
Tiger and Arrow visit our home several days of the week. Nazy is teaching Farsi and art. And, in addition to Arrow’s relentless interest in volcanos, I’m teaching both him and Tiger math. And Tiger is also …
“… I have to pee,” Tiger interrupts.
“That’s important, Tiger. I’ll wait for you.”
Tiger walked across the hall into the bathroom. And then..
“Dan!” He shouted. “I dropped the toilet paper into the toilet.”
‘Dan!” Nazy shouted. “You should have put the toilet paper onto the dispenser. It’s so easy to drop it..”
“I didn’t drop it,” I retorted.
“You didn’t put it on the roller.” Nazy replied.
“I can’t believe that I’m throwing away our very last brand new, completely unflawed high-quality roll of toilet paper,” I thought as I fished it out of the toilet.
I’ve encouraged Tiger to write letters. He understands the Word Processor and can handle everything. Unaware of potential errors, he discovered the spell check function. He’s exchanging (postal) letters with Mitra. He was particularly excited to get a letter from her. Head over heels, he dashed into my study to read the letter.
Because of the ‘stay at home’ order, we’ve bundled our trips to the pharmacy to pick up routine medication. Nazy renewed her prescription for eye drops and Walgreen kindly sent a txt notification of completeness.
“$2117.89! Are you putting me on?” I exclaimed when the txt arrived. “Do you really need this?” I asked Nazy.
“It says ‘without insurance’, Dan.” Nazy replied. “And it also says 180 days. I will get it with insurance and for 30 days.”
After a very chilly March and early April, it has turned exceptionally warm. Here Melika and Tom have installed a couple of wading pools in their driveway. Tiger, Arrow and Azelle like to splash around under the watchful eye of the resident red tail hawk.
And, in Bellingham, (the astounding) Auriane is crawling and standing… or at least balancing herself. Even better, Christiane’s foot is healing and she is getting more and more mobile. When a ‘new normal’ is in place, Nazy and I will be visiting Washington State. The Bellingham grandchildren are growing up so fast.
“Dan!” Nazy interrupts. “It’s not year ..”
“Right! Sixth decade..” I replied. “Sixth century,” I thought.
Luckily, Nazy is not only a talented cook but, more importantly, she enjoys cooking. And I especially like the Persian Rice that she has expertly prepared since before we were even married. It involves rinsing, cooking and steaming. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched steam leak out of a large pan of rice topped with a lid wrapped in a dish towel.
Last week, however: Nazy, bored by success and annoyed by leaking steam, tried a different approach: an approach that banished the dish towel. The results were…
“Dan!” Nazy called. “Will you take the lid off of the rice?”
“Where is the dish towel?”I asked.
“Just take the lid off of the pan, Dan.” Nazy replied, somewhat testily.
“Ouch!” I exclaimed as I grabbed the lid and burned my hands.
“Use a dish towel so you don’t burn your hands.” Nazy suggested.
“Yes, dear.” I replied. “If you had used a dish towel, we wouldn’t have this problem.” I thought. Silently.
The lid would not move. The steaming process had created a vacuum in the large and deep pan. We tried several ad hoc approaches involving cool water, wooden spoons, pointy levers, kinetic energy created by gravitational acceleration, blunt force, low explosives…
“Why not look on the internet?” Nazy asked.
“Great idea,” I replied. “Do you really think anyone else would have done this?” I thought, in err.
We were unable to get the lid free in time for dinner. However, an overnight stay in the freezer did the trick. Nazy was thrilled…
“… and this rice is perfect!” She announced.
“It’s frozen solid.” I replied. “And I don’t eat rice for breakfast,” I thought.
I filed the experience in working memory: “This would be a good experiment for one of Tiger’s science lessons,” I thought.
I’ve helped Tiger with the kindergarten science classes that are taught remotely. He constructed several varieties of spinning top, learning about the need to balance along the circular center. I introduced the concept of symmetry. Then we had a discussion about the virus…
“Can anything kill Corona virus?” Tiger asked.
“Well yes. Soap can kill the virus on our hands..”
“That’s why we wash our hands..”
“Right! And Clorox can kill the Corona virus on counters and boxes.”
“That’s why my Mom wipes everything with a Clorox towel.”
“Yes.”
“So if everyone does that, why do people get sick?”
“Not everyone washes and wipes Tiger.” I replied. “And if the virus gets inside your body, well, then there’s a problem.”
“It’s too bad that you can’t drink some Clorox to kill …”
“That’s right. Drinking Clorox is a very bad idea,” I replied. “Even a kindergartener knows it’s a dumb idea,” I thought, aware that the ‘president’ had come up with the idea: all by himself! I saw Nazy looking aghast.
“Didn’t Donald Tr…”
“Do not say that word in our house, Nazy.” I replied. “The ‘president’ simply says whatever crosses his mind.”
“I know.”
“The journey is always short.” I noted. “Did you know that strong light also kills Corona virus, Tiger?” I asked.
“Not inside your body, Dan,” he replied. “Unless you shine it up your..”
Aligned with the science theme, Nazy and I also demonstrated a reaction between Mentos and Diet Pepsi. Arrow joined Tiger for the experiment.
Tiger and Arrow visit our home several days of the week. Nazy is teaching Farsi and art. And, in addition to Arrow’s relentless interest in volcanos, I’m teaching both him and Tiger math. And Tiger is also …
“… I have to pee,” Tiger interrupts.
“That’s important, Tiger. I’ll wait for you.”
Tiger walked across the hall into the bathroom. And then..
“Dan!” He shouted. “I dropped the toilet paper into the toilet.”
‘Dan!” Nazy shouted. “You should have put the toilet paper onto the dispenser. It’s so easy to drop it..”
“I didn’t drop it,” I retorted.
“You didn’t put it on the roller.” Nazy replied.
“I can’t believe that I’m throwing away our very last brand new, completely unflawed high-quality roll of toilet paper,” I thought as I fished it out of the toilet.
I’ve encouraged Tiger to write letters. He understands the Word Processor and can handle everything. Unaware of potential errors, he discovered the spell check function. He’s exchanging (postal) letters with Mitra. He was particularly excited to get a letter from her. Head over heels, he dashed into my study to read the letter.
Because of the ‘stay at home’ order, we’ve bundled our trips to the pharmacy to pick up routine medication. Nazy renewed her prescription for eye drops and Walgreen kindly sent a txt notification of completeness.
“$2117.89! Are you putting me on?” I exclaimed when the txt arrived. “Do you really need this?” I asked Nazy.
“It says ‘without insurance’, Dan.” Nazy replied. “And it also says 180 days. I will get it with insurance and for 30 days.”
After a very chilly March and early April, it has turned exceptionally warm. Here Melika and Tom have installed a couple of wading pools in their driveway. Tiger, Arrow and Azelle like to splash around under the watchful eye of the resident red tail hawk.
And, in Bellingham, (the astounding) Auriane is crawling and standing… or at least balancing herself. Even better, Christiane’s foot is healing and she is getting more and more mobile. When a ‘new normal’ is in place, Nazy and I will be visiting Washington State. The Bellingham grandchildren are growing up so fast.
For last week's letter, please click here
Darius and (standing) Auriane
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