Ambergris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI5Py96KJ54

There are two kinds of crud going around here, both called "flu." One is the gut-cleaning kind. The kind I had/have is gunk in the lungs. I've been drinking all the water I can stomach, and going through both guaifenesin and Sambuccol.

I got caught in the wrong crowd once, when it was just getting ugly. I looked around for the biggest baddest ugliest dude in the immediate vicinity, walked up to him, and asked for an escort out of this mess. He and his buddies clamshelled around me and got me out of there fast. (There are some places a sixteen year old in a bikini does not need to be.)

If very cool means 40 degrees, it's perfectly fine. If very cool means under 70 and it was that warm for only a very few hours after thawing and before you put it on to cook, I'd eat it. Otherwise, I'd have a very happy dog. I have eaten worse, but only after boiling the holy living tar out of it.

You might could put a work surface under the windowsill.

My boys' dad gave me his old Kindle Fire when he upgraded. When he assigned it to me, my books downloaded to it and I have no access to his books.

Early on, they noted it was easily transmitted in healthcare environments. So yes, human to human transmission is going on.

What's the surprise?

The 40% counts only those who get good enough medical attention to be identified.

http://news.yahoo.com/mers-virus-found-camels-qatar-linked-human-spread-124303583.html They may have found one major vector. So far, MERS has killed almost 40 percent of the around 170 infected.

Thanks!

I just looked at the prices of stoves. Who hid the smelling salts?

I'm just at the info-gathering stage, but sometimes in the next several months I would like to start the process of replacing my kitchen. The plywood cabinets I had before the fire were great, the rebuilders snuck in these crappy replacements (while I was out of town, naturally!) and they are falling apart. Only one drawer hasn't broken, and it's the really useful one that bumps into the side of the stove when opened more than a few inches. The top cupboards are so dinky I cannot put plates in them and still shut the doors. Besides, they;re so high I can't reach more than halfway into the bottom shelf and can't reach into the top shelf without the stepstool. So...new cabinets. What do I look for? I don't care if they're hickory or gloss white, but I want an easily cleaned surface. Deep drawers are handy, but shelves are easier to keep clean, and I put a premium on that factor. The particle-wood construction I'm looking at now has me very anti-particle. What do I need to be looking at, and looking out for? The stove is also a gem left by the builders after I said "Don't do that." It's less than two inches from the fridge on one side and about six from the cabinet wall on the other side. Two of the eyes work. The vent is nonfuntional--it goes into a cabinet, which has no exit. I'm concerned with the wiring, or I would move the stove to the opposite wall, tucking it under the small window there. One of my ideas is to replace this standard-sized stove with a two-burner cooktop and a small baking oven, so I will have room to put a corner cabinet at that end of the cabinet wall. Much of the cooking gets done outside, except in winter. I would love to use gas, and still might. I would have been cooking with gas in this house long ago, had DX not been terrified of it. The convenience of a tank out behind the house that just needs to be filled twice a year is enticing. Money is a factor, of course. What am I not thinking of, that I need to be thinking of?

Leftover pork roast with tomatoes, summer squash, and barley.

I like Carla's plan!

Happy day!

Yaupon is very common in the area. I'd just need to identify the resources, now that I know they have a function.

Andrea, NOBODY would like the result. Thanks, CGA!

I started to say "tea," but that topic is so very broad. I have a tea camelia, but am not fond of the tea I get from it. So the news I might use yaupon holly really caught my attention. How do you prepare this? What's in it?

Over the past two weeks I've taken the flu shot and started a collection. Got Pine-Sol, Lysol, Sambuccol, a bottle of guaifenesin pills, an acetamoniphen/benadryl mix, plain acetaminophen, plain Benadryl, pseudoephedrine, ginger/honey tea crystals, bottled lemon juice, some noxiously strong cough drops, and a load of mild cough drops. Need to inventory the soups for easy-eat food. I want to get a spare box of gloves (we use them for a lot of housekeeping jobs when someone is sick, to keep germs from spreading as easily), Listerine, new toothbrushes for everyone, crystal ginger, bottled water, extra TP, VapoRub, and some stuff I hope I'll remember when I'm juggling coupons etc. at CVS.

That's crossing the line between stupid and hateful.

Jubilation!

Polio is alive and well in Syria now. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDEQqQIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2F2013%2F10%2F29%2Fus-syria-crisis-polio-idUSBRE99S0FI20131029&ei=8nJwUvPiGcbKsQTE64DADg&usg=AFQjCNGFAPCv01tZt6vy9dTg1LQHPyRlAA&sig2=-hOxC4eh5iw1MrhHDQACfw&bvm=bv.55617003,d.cWc Twenty-two children in Deir al-Zor province bordering Iraq became paralyzed on October 17

On the laundry line post.