It occurred to me that it would be a whole lot easier to think in terms of Celsius and not do the conversion at all.  So instead of having to do this conversion over and over again, I decided to look at Celsius numbers from their perspective. In order to do this, I needed to compare the two temperatures side by side.

I figured if you were to convert the following temperatures by 5 degree increments, you would get the following:

45 = 113 degF
40 = 104 degF
35 = 95 degF
30 = 86 degF
25 = 77 degF
20 = 68 degF
15 = 59 degF
10 = 50 degF
5 = 41 degF
0 = 32 degF

This is great, but this is too many numbers to think about.  Instead, I found it easier to think in terms of emotional values:

45 = Extremely Hot
40 = Very Hot
35 = Hot
30 = Warm
25 = Nice
20 = Cool
15 = Cold
10 = Very Cold
5 = Extremely Cold
0 = Too Damned Cold

As Americans, we know that 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature that we feel most comfortable during the day.  It’s neither too hot, nor too cold.  It’s “Nice”.

Therefore, I decided to label the 25 degree Celsius value as this “Nice” temperature, since it is the closest to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  All I have to do is remember that 25 is “Nice” and anything below that is cold.  Each iteration of 5 degrees Celsius lower goes from “Cool” to “Cold” to “Very Cold”, and so on. The same can be said for each iteration of 5 degrees Celsius higher, going from “Warm” to “Hot” to “Very Hot”, etc.

So it’s not too difficult after all. Just remember that 25 degress Celsius = “Nice” and you can figure out how it would feel from there. Hope this helps us Americans to think with the same mindset as our neighbors from countries that read Celsius temperature readings.

STEP 1:
The first thing you want to do before setting out on this is to get the proper tools and items.
This includes the following:

1. Large Pumpkin
2. Tiny Pumpkin
3. Washable Marker
4. Large Knife
5. Smaller Steak Knife
6. Large Spoon
7. Small Spoon

STEP 2:
Take your washable marker and draw out the face on the big pumpkin. Make sure to measure the circumfrence of the tiny pumpkin and make the the mouth that you sketch on the big pumpkin large enough to hold that size.


STEP 3:
Grab your large knife and cut a hole in the top of the large pumpkin for the cap. I like to go in a circle, but add one notch so I know which way the cap goes back on later.

STEP 4:
Take the cap off and set it to the side.

STEP 5:
Get your children involved by having them scoop out the insides. Kids love this part. Look at my daughter’s face expression, she is having a blast!

STEP 6:
Once you get all the seeds and innards out, then get your spoon and scrape out the extra stuff that clings to the side.

When you are done, your pumpkin should have a smooth inside all the way around. Nice and clean.

STEP 7:
Take out your large knife and cut a hole inside where the mouth is going to be.

STEP 8:
Get your smaller steak knife and start trimming off pieces, making the hole bigger and bigger as you go. The reason you are doing this is that you will be constantly cutting and then trying to place your tiny pumpkin into the hole so that it will fit snugly inside.

STEP 9:
When you have the hole for the mouth done and you have tested that the tiny pumpkin fits perfectly, then it’s time for the skinning of the teeth.
See where the knife is in the photo below. You want your knife to go into this area between the meat and the skin of the pumpkin. Start shoving your knife in between very carefully as shown.

Begin cutting this way, taking off little pieces of the skin, while leaving the meat of the pumpkin intact. You are basically slowly shaving off pieces of the pumpkin’s skin. This is a delicate process, so take your time. This isn’t like using a computer where you can CTRL+Z (undo) if you make a mistake, so be careful not to trim too much.

Keep skinning the rest of the teeth until you have removed all the skin covering.

STEP 10:
The next part takes patience as well. Go in and begin carving out the teeth. It shouldn’t be too difficult to do, since the texture is wet and easier to cut out than the skin was.

STEP 11:
Now follow the same techniques you just learned for the eyes. You should have the hang of it now.
Create the hole, carve it out to the lines you drew in. For the eyes, skin them like you did the teeth.

STEP 12:
Grab the tiny pumpkin and do the exact same thing as you did with the big pumpkin, except don’t cut a hole in the top. Instead, make the mouth big, so you can scoop out all the insides through the mouth.

FINAL STEP:
Take the tiny pumpkin and put it inside the big pumpkin’s mouth. If there is any pen marks from the initial sketch you made, take a wet paper towel and wipe them off.

You now have your cannibalistic pumpkin carving!

You can add a hat or maybe put some hay underneath it when you set it out for the kids coming by to trick or treat!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

The other day, I was listening to one woman ask another about how to stop the graffiti in her neighborhood. It go me think just how one might go about stopping something like this. After all, don’t you basically have to catch the graffiti artist in the act to be able to tell him to stop. That’s a hard thing to do, because criminals are notorious for doing what they do when nobody is around.

Then I thought, how exactly do we stop criminals from breaking into our home? Well, obviously we have locks, but aside from that, we have alarms and stickers on our window that say we have alarms in the house.

So why not bring this sticker idea to the crime prevention of graffiti? It’s easy. All you would need to do is make a sign that says the following:

THIS AREA IS UNDER VIDEO SURVEILLANCE BY HIDDEN CAMERAS
Evidence of illegal activities will be turned over to the police for investigative purposes.

Now, this is not 100% sure to work, but at least having a sign that says that on or near the structure that is getting graffiti might act as a strong deterent.

The catch is that there really are no cameras. Just a sign. Since it says that the cameras are hidden, the graffiti artist might look, but will never find it, then they will get paranoid and leave.

If you decide to try this out, let me know. I would like to know if it works!