Canned Nerd

Bugs are a good source of protein. I just don't like them while they are flying/crawling/biting near me.

Thanks for the offer, but I will pass in favor of someone else that may want/need it more.

For years now I have been using stainless steel stock pots (w/glass lids) from Big!Lots ranging in price from $5 to a max of $20. I paid $18 for one the same size as my 16-qt canner. My smallest will hold 1 quart jar and comes with a wire rack, apparently for cooking Asparagus. Always be on the lookout in the stores and garage sales since you never know when some treasure will show up.

Reminds me of the existing steam canners on the market that are not approved by the National Center for Home Food Preservation since the steam penetration posed a concern. Unfortunately they ran out of funds years ago to do any serious testing on them. Perhaps that will change with Ball's entry. With that information and the $300 price tag is enough for me to keep doing things the recommended ways.

Must be good since its $17.55 for e-book today.

Already been doing that with download to Kindle-PC. Now I just need to learn how to get them moved from my PC to the Kindle.
Waiting right now for the toy to fully charge. Waiting is hard.

BTW, this is the very new Kindle Paper White 3G + WiFi. Just in reading the welcome instructions I find it very easy to read. Much different from my old Sony. Looking forward to getting some of my books loaded into it. It will definitely make dealing with the SHTF much more bearable.

Package suddenly delivered just before Noon, a day late, and with no update on the UPS tracking webpage and no text notification of status changes/delivery even several hours later. Totally weird. Only hint I got that the package was alive was on the Amazon.com website less than 15 minutes before it arrived at my door. The delivery guy didn't act very happy.

At least I have my new e-reader and I'm enjoying it some as it charges up.

The weirdness now starts. The Amazon.com website suddenly shows a 'out for delivery' message as of 8:04 this morning, which is the first and only update, but the UPS website and a different tracking page on Amazon.com still come up empty, so the update is not coming from UPS but from Amazon. I'm anticipating they may have found the missing package since my initial inquiry and have put it out (again) for shipping, but UPS hasn't logged it in yet. <sigh>

Unfortunately I may have to wait until tonight to know for sure since I live less than a mile from the UPS terminal so I'm one of the last deliveries the drivers make as they head for home. I've had a lot of deliveries over the years and it is always the same. Maybe they will give me the mini-van treatment with special delivery.

Why me.

In this case the release date for the new Kindle was Nov 5th so it was not available anywhere else and I did not want to buy one of the older models since it may be the last such purchase in my lifetime. The screwy thing on this order is the Tracking # assigned has not shown acceptance by UPS or been updated for almost 2 days, indicating it has been lost/removed/stolen somehow during that transition moment between warehouse and transport. I just hope it hasn't ended up in someone's pocket, but that's Amazon's worry now.

The only recourse now it seems is to get a full refund on the order and then put in a new order and hope it gets here before the weekend. I'm going to have an interesting credit card statement.

I've been saving up to buy a new E-Reader, ordered it from Amazon.com along with expedited service so I would know when it was delivered and not worry about it sitting on my porch for hours tempting others to acquire it. The day comes and delivery is 'guaranteed' that day before 8pm and I sit by the door all day.

It doesn't arrive. Checked the Tracking # with UPS and I get an error message. No such number in their system. I want to cry. Amazon.com immediately refunds my shipping cost since they didn't meet their guarantee, but I need to wait another day to make sure we aren't dealing with a lazy driver. If nothing arrives I have to cancel the order and re-order fresh. My credit card may not like that since there may be a time delay for refunds and purchases at the same time. Amazon.com says to request 1-day shipping and notify them when I do and they will remove the charge.

Good customer service but the delays and frustration on not getting my early (and only) Christmas present is driving me to drink.

And we still don't know what the Medicare deduction is going to be.

Yup, I'm definitely an OCD.

What is a "Flu Kit"? Other than the Flu shot I can think only of a box of tissue, possibly hand sanitizer, and generally staying away from potential sick people. Some find the Flu shot questionable in view of the strange games the governments and health agencies are playing these years, one doesn't have confidence the vaccine doesn't include something 'extra'.

Unfortunately a Flu shot does not always prevent the Flu, especially if you happen to be exposed 'before' the vaccine takes effect about 2 weeks after the shot, or you get a variety of the Flu that is different from what they anticipated 2 years before would occur. The usual shot is an (un)educated guess of 3 varieties out of lots of them. If they guess wrong or the virus mutates before it gets to you, you should hope you are lucky.

Every year I have a birthday wish for a very healthy immune system, but its hard.

Yes and yes it starts going downhill rather quickly which is why I gave up my future and career to do what had to be done. Fate had kept me a single man or I would not have been able to do what was needed. We ended up taking a job together so I could provide her the transportation and assistance to continue working up until the end. Towards the end I had to bathe and handle most of her personal needs since she did not have the strength and eating was a challenge since her throat was partially paralyzed. I don't know who it was harder for, her or me, but I think it was worse for her. Nursing homes could not do the work nor the hospitals since post-polio was new to them at the time. What later shocked me was her memorial services that apparently drew over a thousand people. She was special to a lot of people.

Yes, my Mother did a lot of crying and asking "why" after she realized what was happening to her.

And you are correct on the other issues too and it does not seem to be an "if" scenerio but a "when". Too many people out there with ego's of supreme power and control for it not to occur eventually.

A lot of people didn't until the polio survivors started reaching their seniors years. You can Google search the topic now, but here is a narrative from one site:

Post-polio syndrome (PPS) is a condition that affects polio survivors years after recovery from an initial acute attack of the poliomyelitis virus. Most often, polio survivors start to experience gradual new weakening in muscles that were previously affected by the polio infection. The most common symptoms include slowly progressive muscle weakness, fatigue (both generalized and muscular), and a gradual decrease in the size of muscles (muscle atrophy). Pain from joint degeneration and increasing skeletal deformities such as scoliosis (curvature of the spine) is common and may precede the weakness and muscle atrophy. Some individuals experience only minor symptoms while others develop visible muscle weakness and atrophy.

Post-polio syndrome is rarely life-threatening, but the symptoms can significantly interfere with an individual's ability to function independently. Respiratory muscle weakness, for instance, can result in trouble with proper breathing, affecting daytime functions and sleep. Weakness in swallowing muscles can result in aspiration of food and liquids into the lungs and lead to pneumonia.

It should be noted that this is not Polio but the body shutting down from the damage originally done to the body. If you know a person who is a polio survival they should be aware of PPS and be checked regularly.

My feeling is just make sure it is thoroughly cooked and you should be fine. At least it wasn't sitting on the counter all that time. The previously heated oven should have provided a minor safe haven for the bird. Hopefully it is not a stuffed bird.

My mother got polio when she was a young girl but the family was smart enough to do physical exercises/treatments constantly on her and she avoided the necessity for an iron lung and most crippled aspects of her muscles except for her throat (voice, swallowing, etc). She ultimately got her voice back after years of "mouthing" a reed from an Obo instrument in her school band. What a shock to her teacher and fellow students when suddenly a sound came out of the instrument. One of those miracle moments for sure.

She ultimately died of "post polio" symptions when the remaining useable muscles in the body began to fail because of a lifetime of over use. I cared for her for 11 years to keep her happy and functioning, especially when the medical centers and doctors could/would not help her. They basically did not know how to handle post-polio patients. The final time she needed hospitalization the hospital/doctor really blew it and I totally lost it emotionally, especially since I had to pull the plug on her. Not a nice way to go.

Heaven help us if Polio gets a big hold again.

From the National Center for Home Food Preservation comes a nice PDF on:

What To Do When Your Freezer Stops (2 pages)

A true Story from an Irish Sunday School Teacher

I was testing children in my Dublin Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven.

I asked them, ' If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?

''NO!' the children answered.

'If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the garden, and kept everything tidy, would that get me into heaven?

Again, the answer was 'NO!

''If I gave sweets to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into heaven?'

Again, they all answered 'NO!

I was just bursting with pride for them. I continued, 'Then how can I get into heaven?'

A little boy shouted out: 'YUV GOTTA BE FOOKN' DEAD.'

Brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it?

I personally wouldn't do it in a home environment with expectations of storing it at room temperature for any length of time, just as I would not attempt to dehydrate eggs.

To start, just buy the oils or ingredients specifically needed for a recipe you want to make. In my case it was a Healing Salve that used Lavender, Lemon, and Melaleuca Oils, along with Beeswax, Coconut Oil and Vegetable Oil. Some things you have to order off the Internet but I did some searching (and driving) and found local sources and saved a little on shipping costs. Essential oils are not cheap and for me it took awhile to purchase them for different recipes. Just work on one recipe at a time and eventually you will have quite an inventory.

I went crazy for awhile looking for Melaleuca Oil until I stumbled upon its other name, Tea Tree Oil.

I used to speak broken English with a British accent, a Southern drawl, and with a Chinese inflection when I was much younger.

In my pantry if it is dented but not "punctured" it is fine, with the understanding that a dent is evidence of a weakened surface which can fail over time. I don't store them for very long.

I finally experienced a loss of quality with a can of Apricots that I acquired from a Food Bank in 2006 so it may have been a couple years older at that point. Opened the can a couple days ago. It was picking up some of metal flavor at that point, but otherwise okay.

You betcha. Uncle Phaedrus, Finder of Lost Recipes. If my 1950's era memory serves me right, it was a vanilla sauce on the cake that I got served when the relatives got together at my grandparent's. Have you tried to do a Google search for 'Cottage Pudding'?