Karen Thomas (u/karent75)

Posts

My air fryer chicken came out dry until I read a USDA fact sheet.

I was trying to make crispy chicken thighs in my Ninja air fryer but they kept turning out tough. I looked up the USDA safe cooking temp for poultry and saw it's 165 degrees F, not the 180 I was using. Do you guys use a meat thermometer every time or just go by the air fryer timer?

3 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

karent75•4d ago

Rant: A whole week of nothing but quarter panel rust repair

Got a 2005 Civic, a 2010 Focus, and a 1998 Ranger all in the shop at once, each with the same exact rear quarter panel rust issue. Spent five straight days just cutting, welding in patches, and grinding. The worst part was the Ranger, where I found way more rot under the bondo than the owner said was there. Anyone have a go-to trick for making those curved patch panels fit a little faster before tacking?

3 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

karent75•5d ago

PSA: My pork shoulder stalled for 6 hours during a competition in Kansas City last July.

I kept the fire steady and didn't peek, and it finally pushed through for a perfect turn-in. Has anyone else had a stall last that long and still pulled it off?

2 comments

c/fountain-pen-ink-alchemists•

karent75•5d ago

Warning: I keep seeing people mix inks without checking the pH first.

I was trying to make a nice purple by mixing a blue and a red, and it turned into this weird sludge after a day. The blue was a basic ink and the red was super acidic, and they just did not get along. I lost about 15ml of good ink because I didn't test them. Has anyone else had a batch go bad from a chemical clash like that?

2 comments

c/garden-seed-exchange•

karent75•8d ago

Remembering the year the frost came early and wiped out my seed collection

It was the first week of October, about five years back, when a hard freeze hit our area two weeks early. I lost every single seed packet I'd left in the shed, which was over forty varieties I'd saved from that summer. What made it stand out was how my neighbors in the seed exchange group rallied, mailing me little envelopes with replacements from their own stashes within days. I got a package from a woman in Boise with six kinds of tomato seeds and a note that said 'pay it forward next year'. That kind of sharing is what this is all about, you know? Has anyone else had a garden disaster turn into a really good reminder of why we do this?

2 comments

c/film-photo-newbies•

karent75•10d ago

My friend said to always bracket shots on film and I thought it was a waste

For my first few rolls, I just trusted my light meter and shot each picture once. My friend kept telling me to bracket, which means taking the same picture at different settings, but I thought it was silly with film costing so much. Then I shot a whole roll of my niece's birthday party in Portland last month, and the indoor light was really tricky. The whole roll came back too dark because my meter was fooled. If I had bracketed even just a few key shots, I would have had something to keep. Now I bracket any shot I really care about, usually taking one at what the meter says, one a stop brighter, and one a stop darker. It uses a bit more film, but it saves the shot. Do you all bracket often, or do you have another way to deal with tricky light?

3 comments

c/fence-erectors•

karent75•16d ago

Hot take: I thought those plastic post caps were just for looks

Honestly, I always skipped them on chain link jobs in Phoenix to save a few bucks. Last summer, I had a client insist on them for their whole 150-foot run, and after a year, the top rail looks brand new while my usual jobs are already showing rust. Has anyone else seen a real difference with them, or did I just get lucky with that batch?

2 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

karent75•1mo ago

The time my pork shoulder stalled for 8 hours at a competition in Austin

It was at the Lone Star BBQ Fest, and my 12-pound butt just sat at 160 degrees from noon until almost 8 PM. I had to wrap it in foil with some apple juice and crank the heat on my offset, which felt like cheating. Anyone else ever have a stall that just wouldn't quit?

3 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

karent75•1mo ago

Pro tip: my instructor's old trick for coax pin crimps

My first boss, a guy named Carl who worked on Gulfstreams for 20 years, always told me to 'feel for the double click' on those tiny RG400 coax connectors. I thought it was just his weird thing, but on a recent job with a stubborn VHF comm antenna line, I finally paid attention. Sure enough, the good crimp had a distinct second click after the first squeeze. It saved me from having to re-run the whole cable run. Anyone have other little tricks for those finicky RF connections?

3 comments