themartianchick

I've been poisoning to get rid of the squirrel population but we are getting a few mice. We probably need to have our basement re-sealed again.

I will continue to keep your sister in my prayers. May God ease her pains and speed her healing.

I believe that this does work. My husband learned to do this because he works in an environment with lots of industrial-type dust He doesn't do it 5 times a day, but he does do it at least twice. He is able to remove a lot of dirt from his nose and I would think that the removal of dirt & germs would promote good health. He gets sick about once every 4 or 5 years.

I bought an extra 2 cases of toilet paper. Of course, I tend to buy tp as a prep for EVERY event! It actually is appropriate for sickness, though!

I will keep her and the rest of your family in my prayers. 'She gets to see Jesus before we do.' I like your mom's outlook.

Tonight's dinner will be alfredo pasta with peas & spicey turkey italian sausage. I top the whole dish with sharp cheddar and bake it until it is lightly browned. I love one dish meals. I have enough purple beans for hubby and myself, so that will probably be the side dish. I also have a loaf of Italian bread... I could turn that into garlic bread but that is a lot of carbs in one meal!

to Mrs. S from one New Yorker to another!

I just heard or read something that indicated that the price of peanut butter would be going up due to a poor crop. If that is true, then cheap peanut butter is a MAJOR SCORE, if you go through a lot of it. Edited to add: This isn't where I heard about it but I just googled up this link: http://southwestfarmpress.com/peanuts/texas-peanut-producers-board-expecting-poor-crop

Darlene has a mean recipe for making italian sausage from ground meat, too! It goes really well with pasta sauce!

If you lived closer, I could share a great deal with you. My mother doesn't know how to kill any plants. They always thrive and then she pawns off all of the unwanted ones on me. This year, I got two huge boxes of canna that I don't want to plant. I gave most of them away to my neighbors. I got the kids in the youth program at my job to plant them around the office building. Then there are the hostas that I need to divide, the trumpet vine that is running rampant, the tiger lilies that have taken over the front flower bed, the bleeding hearts that have now spread to underneath the latticework on the porch and the vinca that just refuses to die and creeps any darn place that it wants to.... ARRRRRGH!!!

I have a really tired onion in the dehydrator along with a few peppers that were also in danger of expiring. I love the ressurection powers of a dehydrator.

There are a lot of good ideas about how to fight the cold here! I keep thinking about the little boy in the movie, A Christmas Story, and how he was unable to put his arms down because he was swaddled in too much winter clothing! We live in a snowbelt where we get lake effect snow. The good thing about lake effect is that while it is characterized by large fluffy flakes, the temps are usually bit warmer due to the cloudcover that produces the snow. While others have focused on the clothing and home weatherization aspects, my post will focus on snow safety. A lot of times, people wait until the snow stops before going out to shovel. This is one of the worst things that you can do. Snow is heavy (especially lake effect). If you wait until it has finished snowing, you may find that you have an insurmountable task ahead. This is one of the reasons that so many people have heart attacks when shoveling. Instead, try to shovel, push or sweep the snow out of the way every couple of hours. This lightens the workload considerably.Put salt down on sidewalks and steps prior to snow fall. It helps to melt the snow before it accumulates. Check to see how much snow is accumulating on flat roofs, like those on porches. Don't go out on the roof! Instead just brush accumulated snow off with a long handled implement like a push broom or a snow/ice rake. This can keep the porches from collapsing. This past winter, my area received 179 inches of snow...Yep, 179 inches! Now, that is a lot of weight to have on a roof. It actually collaped the roof on my parents' barn. Luckily, it was covered by insurance. Check out your snow removal equipment and your vehicle tires in the fall before the first snow hits. Make sure that everything is in good working order on snowblowers and plows. Inspect the screws that attach everything together on your shovels. (Make sure that you can find your shovels and move them to an easily accessible place.) Buy some salt or ice melt before the snow hits. When the first storm hits, all of the shovels and salt will fly off of the shelves. If you burn wood in the winter and store it in an outbuilding, also keep some stacked outside of that building, preferably close to the house. In a bad storm, yu may not have easy access to an outbuilding due to accumulated snow or ice. If you heat with propane or heating oil, make sure that you keep you tank topped off. My prepper mom forgot one year and we had a nasty ice storm after a blizzard had blown through. We ended up stuck at home with dwindling fuel. We had to sleep downstairs and shut off most of the heat runs upstairs to conserve fuel. We also used the oven to keep the lower level warm. Although I didn't realize how dire the situation was at the age of 6 or 7, as an adult, I found it to be really scary! I'd never want to have to worry about my family freezing. Last year, I learned that I am prone to chillblains. In essence, my skin is almost allergic to the cold and forms painful sores on my hands and feet with minimal exposure. For that reason I purchased a case of chemical hand and foot warmers. They are handy to have, even if you don't have chillblains. We keep some in the glove compartment in case of an emergency. We also keep a shovel & some sand in case we get stuck; a blanket, granola bars, extra magic gloves and a couple of candles in jars. Candles in jars can help to keep you warm if you are ever stranded in your vehicle. You don't want to have to rely on the car's heater for warmth due to the carbon monoxide issues. Snow and ice can clog the exhaust pipe and force deadly fumes into the car.With the candle, you should crack a window a tiny bit for the same reason. If you are safe where you are, then stay there! Many people try to get home for the sake of getting home. It isn't worth it. Snow and ice are unpredictable. As a kid, I always knew that my parents might not come home in a bad storm. Dad worked in a military facility that had food, nearby restaurants, cots, etc... Mom worked in a hospital with a cafeteria, food service, vending machines, etc... She could stay in a hospital room or in a lobby, if need be.They had an arrangement with my babysitter that would allow me to stay at her house if they were unable to get home in bad weather. It is a bummer when something like that happens, but you only have one life to live.

What is freezer slaw, Dee?

I've been making up batches of waffles and pancakes in advance and then freezing them. I don't like to spend the time making them for first thing in the morning. Everybody can grab 2 and pop them into the toaster oven for a few minutes. Mmmmm...Instant hot breakfast and mom isn't having a breakdown in the kitchen at 6am!

Oooh... I hadn't thought about the moonshine aspect!

I am in a similar situation...My city touts itself as being a green city but doesn't quite allow chickens (murky ordinances) or goats, etc... I find that extremely funny because my house has a carriage house and is a reminder of the fact that all of these Victorian homeowners once had horses or mules for transportation. I can't keep bees here because hubby is allergic, but I have high hopes that one day I'll be able to do it if we have enough acreage and if he steers clear of the hive.

6 pints of strawberry blueberry banana jam two days ago.

Welcome, Janieha! It is so nice of you to join us!

Don't feel so bad, Paradox. I've spent the past couple of days reading your stories. Believe me when I say that very little work has happened in my house!

This is the Zucchini Bread recipe that I use. It is a modification of Paula Deen's: Zucchini Bread Servings: 2 loaves Cook Time: 1 hour Ingredients 2 cup grated zucchini 1/4 cup water 5 eggs, beaten 1 cup vegetable oil 3 cup sugar 2 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 teaspoon lemon juice 1 cup chopped walnuts Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, vanilla, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

I remember those! I also like the salt and pepper shakers that look like Ball canning jars with handles.

Now, that is a valuable tip! Thanks!!!

Our house has a "hiding" place. It is in my daughter's closet. It is sort of a closet within a closet and when adult sized clothes are hanging in there you cannot see the door. I've never gotten a good explanation for what it was for. The house is a big old Victorian, that still has a carriage step out front and has a carriage house in the back, so we believe that the house dates back to at least 1850. This area was a hotbed of Underground Railroad activity, so it makes us wonder about the things that this house may have witnessed. We also own a rental property that has a similar setup of a closet within a closet, but the space is much smaller. The problem with the Underground Railroad theory is that the second house was likely constructed in the 1920's or 1930's, long after there would be a need for an Underground Railroad hiding place. I guess we'll never know! My kids enjoyed playing and hiding in the closet. Our grandkids live in the rental house and they seem to enjoy theirs , as well! Over the years, I imagine that generations of kids have enjoyed spaces like these ones...

My contribution is 3 blackening bananas... That is about all I've had time for. I'm hoping to have time to actually make and freeze some banana bread.

Thanks, Deerslayer! I might just try them! This morning I was going to try a new recipe, but decided to try some of the ones that I'd frozen yesterday. They were pretty good. They weren't limp since I heated them up in the toaster oven. I will definitely use this recipe again, but I'd like to find the perfect" recipe for me and my family.