Spiced Chai In the Morning

I'm back to drinking tea in the morning.  Tea in the morning equals being sick.  Coffee in the morning just doesn't appeal when my throat is sore and my chest feels like I have a toto elephant sitting on it and I'd managed four mornings of coffee before today.  Rats.

Between working and illin', not much Maine living or cooking or anything has been happening around here, but I'll report the little that I do know. 

It's still cold (22 this morning at 8:05 am) but the snow crocus did bloom yesterday and the snow continues to recede.  Slowly.  Our local grocery store had 4.2 million credit card numbers stolen. We're left to wonder if ours might be one. 

In my internet travels, I found this cool kindle cake on Engadget yesterday and discovered a new puzzle game to play while I'm on particularly boring conference calls.  I also like to tell myself that games like this help to keep my brain from atrophying.  Then again, the number of times I lose my car keys......

We received an email yesterday with tips for pumping gas. With gas pushing $3.33 a gallon, the information was well timed:
1) Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground
temperature is still cold . Remember that all service stations have their 
storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground  the more dense the
gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon   or
in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum
business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel  and
jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.
2) When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast 
mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low,
middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby 
minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at   the
pump have a vapor return. If you are  pumping on the fast rate, some other
liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up
and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less   worth for
your money.
3) One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL
or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your  tank the
less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can
imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves
as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the
evaporation.

Comments

[t5m]

My gas doesn't have time to evaporate, unfortunately I commute an ungodly amount of miles each week (one of the joys of living in Southern Maine...there is no place to work!)

Thanks for the tips!

Erin

[Melissa]

ayuh, no jobs, but is sure is beautiful. I surely would love to see us improve the economy in this state, but it's such a difficult task. Be safe and watch for those potholes!