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Your neighbor’s ham radio, to be precise. His signal was very strong because he was transmitting from just down the street.”
    “You see, Ms. Alvarez,” said Drake, “ham radio operators are amateur radio buffs. They transmit and receive radio signals from all over the world. We suspected there was a ham radio operator because of the size of the antenna. To confirm our suspicions, we listened outside your neighbor’s window.”
    “Sure enough,” said Nell. “His was the same voice we heard coming through the oven—”
    “Same laugh,” added Drake.
    “With the same call sign beginning with KA7,” said Nell. “A simple case, really.”
    “A piece of cake, as they say,” said Drake.
    “But,” said Rosa, “what about when the oven said, ‘You’re next, little lady’?”
    “Just his granddaughter, taking her turn at the radio,” answered Nell.
    “Our recommendation?” said Drake. “Fix the oven element. Should take care of the problem.”
    “Well, gracias. ” Rosa sighed, her smile still, sadly, a little droopy. “I just wish I’d had time to bake a tres leche cake. Now it is too late, and everyone is due in ten minutes.”
    Drake cocked an eyebrow. “Ten minutes, you say? Then there’s no time to lose.” He whipped out a walkie-talkie from his lab-coat pocket. “Calling FF, calling FF, this is Muffin Man, over.”
    “You see, Ms. Alvarez,” explained Nell, “a walkie-talkie is a two-way radio. It can transmit as well as receive.”
    The walkie-talkie crackled to life. It was Kate Doyle’s voice. “Fab Foods here. Is it time?”
    “Affirmative,” replied Drake. “Over and out.”
    Five seconds later, the doorbell rang.
    It was Mrs. Doyle. “Yoo-hoo! ¡Hola! Fab Foods calling with a tres leche cake and decorations for a fine fiesta!”
    At that very instant, a scientific miracle occurred. Rosa Alvarez’s smile turned right side up. “You have saved the day!” she cried, suddenly looking quite cheery.
    And as Mrs. Doyle bustled into the kitchen, Rosa turned to Drake and Nell. “¡Gracias, mis amigos! How can I ever repay you?”
    “A piece of cake, perhaps?” said Drake.
    Nell nodded. “A piece of cake, indeed.”
    That night, Drake wrote in his lab notebook:
    Case of the loco oven solved.
    Broken oven + ham radio
    transmissions = talking oven.
    Fiesta a smashing success.
    Danced the salsa and ate tres leche
    cake until I achieved maximum capacity.
    Paid in full.

O ne day while hiking, you stumble across a suspiciously dirty stream. Your mission? Record your observations and collect some water samples for analysis. You reach for your specimen jars, only to realize you don’t have any! Nor do you have a lab notebook! Or a lab, for that matter! Horrors! Next time, be prepared. Here’s how:
    1.   Set up a card table and chair in your basement, your attic, or your bedroom—wherever there’s room. Hang up a sign that reads LABORATORY .
    2.   Stock your lab with odds and ends—clean jars with lids, tape, string, fishing line, batteries, wire, funnels, clean paintbrushes—anything you think might come in handy.

    3.   Of course, every top-notch scientist must wear a lab coat. A white button-down shirt is perfect (ask first!). Using a permanent marker, write your name on the shirt.

    4.   Lastly, where would you be without a lab notebook to scribble in? Spiral or bound notebooks work great. Sharpen your pencil, write your name in your notebook, and voila ! You can now investigate that stream!
    A good lab notebook contains:
    1)    Experiment title
    2)    Method (what you plan to do)
    3)    Hypothesis (what you think will happen)
    4)    Procedure (what you did)
    5)    Observations (what you saw)
    6)    Results (what actually happened)

    Good Science Tip:
    Whenever you collect a water sample from your local stream, river, or lake, label the sample container with the location, date, and time. Then, in your notebook, record any observations. For example,