Khalid: I didn't see your message until I came back to this thread. Thank you for what you wrote: " I regularly use black tea with ginger and cinnamon. Honey (with black pepper if I have a source throat), cardamom (small and large), garlic (as part of all our curries), onions (an integral part of our curry), as well as a few more herbs, spices etc." All those have anti-viral and anti-bacterial .. I agree with using food as preventive medicine, rather than dangerous flu-shot (combining virus). Carol: Glad to hear that you are back on schedule .. I am delighted to hear of your progress & success. It feels SO GOOD to have looser pants, and I wish everyone have that experience with daily exercise. Sam: does your Achilles tendon hurt to wear shoes with heels? I don't like shoes with heels: one of my foot is shorter than the other. I actually do more exercise on the treadmill than outside ... I can wear my husband Walmart open-heel plastic clog, I insert a memory foam inside ... and wear that on the treadmill. I wear size 7 woman, but I need a BIG shoe to insert the thick $5 memory foam. The plastic clog has bigger toe-box than running shoe, plus no need for lacing.

Several years ago I reduced the number of roses that I grow from around 1000 to around 60. Since then I have not purchased nor hybridized any new roses. I still follow the threads on roses houzz, but I have not contributed to many.

Rabbits ate my Munstead Wood last fall when it was dry. This fall I have tons of green tomatoes plus decent rain so rabbits leave Munstead Wood alone. Munstead Wood thorns are small compared to HUGE thorns of older Austins like Radio Times, Christopher Marlowe, Evelyn, Queen Nerfertiti, Lilian Austin, L.D. Braithwaite, Tamora which rabbits & squirrels don't come near. Scepter'd Isle has long thorns that repel rabbits, see below: Eyes for you is very prickly plus drought-tolerant, see below: Strike it rich has sharp needle like thorn, I put it right next to my window, along with Munstead wood and thorny Orchid Romance to prevent break-in. See below Strike it rich thorn: The worst is Fisherman's Friend, an older Austin, which a friend root and it went through her gloves, see below: Queen Nefertiti is worse than Radio Times in my garden, see below: Below L.D. Braithwaite has THE DENSEST thorns, more so than Radio Times: Below are Gertrude Jekyll thorns, not bad compared Evelyn's much longer thorns, rabbits and squirrels don't bother both: Below is Evelyn's long and reddish thorns, which makes it rabbits-safe compared to less thorns Abraham Darby (have to put chicken wire around Abe). I spend time cutting off ALL of Evelyn thorns before rooting so I don't get poked. Below is from a new shoot, so the thorns are much smaller. On older Evelyn branches, the thorns are brown and many times longer.

Minimize carrying and using large pots of (boiling) water on the stovetop Steam instead of boil to cook vegetables or hard boiled eggs https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/04/steamed-hard-boiled-eggs-recipe.html Make pasta, rice or stews & stock in an Instant Pot (or pressure cooker) https://www.hippressurecooking.com/easy-pressure-cooker-steamed-rice/ https://www.hippressurecooking.com/spicy-pressure-cooked-pasta-butterflies-the-secret-to-al-dente-pressure-cooker-pasta/ https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/why-pressure-cookers-are-better-than-slow-cookers.html Pressure cookers also make excellent custards and cheesecake - no bain marie https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-creme-brulee/ Microwave sweet corn or potatoes https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/the_easiest_way_to_microwave_corn_on_the_cob/