Makeshift Automotive Panel Tool

After pulling an interior panel on my Honda Odyssey there were several panel studs left behind.  There is a tool available to remove these, I had one at one time and can't find it; probably lent it to someone ages ago.  I was in the middle of installing trailer wiring and I didn't want to go out and buy one.  Here's how I made my own.

1.  Sneak in the house and find an old fork -- wife should not be aware of this
.

2.  Spread the center two tines apart.  I tried to "puncture" them with an old screw and my vice, and wasn't real successful.

Next I mounted the screw in the vice and tried to force the tines apart.  This worked much better.

The best method was just to use a skinny pair of vice grips.

3.  The result worked pretty well for popping these guys out without damage.

Maple Syrup 2012

At the moment I've got almost 6 gallons of 29% sugar.  So this has to reduce by about half, giving me a total of about 3 gallons of finished syrup...  I am still amazed that three trees can produce so much sap!

From Trader Joe's last year, here is what maple syrup costs -- about $18/quart.

So my finished syrup will have a street value of roughly $216.  Electricity cost was about $25.  Reducing it on the stove now:

Maple Syrup Kaizen -- Heatstick Timer

Last year, my electric heatstick evaporated the sap until it was exposed to air, which quickly destroyed the element. 

This year I intend to mitigate the risk of that happening again by installing a simple timer as shown here.