All this spring Jupiter has been high in the night sky, appearing just below the constellation Leo. With it being the largest of the planets in our solar system, it’s a lot of fun to observe through a telescope. It’s great to see the cloud bands and especially the Great Red Spot which is a giant… Read More »
The Messier objects are a list of 110 deep space objects, including galaxies, nebula and star clusters, that can all be seen with small telescopes, binoculars and many even with the naked eye in reasonably dark skies. The majority of the list was created by Charles Messier in Paris in the late 1700’s. The largest,… Read More »
I’d finished building my CNC router the year before and had made a number of simple projects projects. Then in early summer of last year my younger son and I were talking about what we could make his girlfriend for Christmas. We had just seen the episode of MythBuster’s where they made a full size TaunTaun… Read More »
A bit more than a year ago, after I had sold my RV-10 project, I was looking for a new hobby, especially one making stuff. I explored 3D printing for a bit, but decided it just wasn’t quite mature enough for me. Then I stumbled upon Joe’s CNC and decided it would be fun to build my… Read More »
Made one of my new favorites last night – Chicken Vesuvio. I especially like how the potatoes taste – best I’ve ever had. I think the wine and the chicken broth adds such a good flavor to the dish. Plus – it’s my favorite use for my new Le Creuset Dutch Oven: Chicken Vesuvio (serves… Read More »
I first had this recipe when I was in a cooking class and couldn’t believe how great it smells and tastes. It’s super-easy with the pressure cooker as well. Makes 10 side portions Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 1 cup chopped onions 2 cups arborio rice 1/2 cup dry white wine 4-5… Read More »
The sky ended up very clear tonight and the temps were still in the mid-30’s so I made my first attempt at taking a widefield photo of the Andromeda galaxy. I set up my homemade barndoor tracker on my deck and tried to align the hinge line with Polaris, but my neighbor’s trees were blocking… Read More »
I’ve sold my RV-9A and also the RV-10 kit I had started and am now spending a lot of my time on my growing collection of hobbies. That list currently includes (in no particular order): CNC woodworking Piano Astrophotography (just starting out) Cooking Golf Video games Reading (ok, I have a pile of books that… Read More »
For anyone wondering how my domain name, mikesrv9a.com, has something to do with all my hobbies, one of my biggest hobby was building and flying my own airplane, a Van’s Aircraft RV-9A. Going back to my school days I always wanted to be a pilot, although I eventually realized that my interest was more in… Read More »