Actually @park.tara, maybe a starter fail is a good sign. It means you're trying something new and learning from it. My first sourdough was a brick but the next one turned out way better because of what went wrong. Sometimes the mess is just part of the process.

Honestly it feels like that final straw moment keeps moving. First it was a fridge full of spoiled food after a storm, then missing a big game during an outage. Now it's just the constant low grade stress of modern life being so fragile. One bad grid day and you're cut off from work, food, even basic info. A generator stops being a luxury and starts feeling like a required part of the house, like a smoke detector.

Wow, our block party was the turning point for our composting effort too.

Ever had one snap mid-use?

Heat guns are a safer choice than a torch, but that chalky residue is a real worry. It sounds like you baked the old grease into a powder and maybe overheated the tube. Aluminum can transfer heat fast and weaken the bond in a weird way. I've seen that chalky stuff before and it often means the surface inside the tube got damaged. Next time, a proper penetrating oil over a longer time works better for me.