Eden Dorothy is almost as cute as Bella:-) Deanne you and Randy have similar views on heat! Im in Dougs camp though. The heat is on but not really kicking in much as weve gone back to fairly mild temperatures yesterday and today. My de-potting exercise was a piece of cake compared to most of you. Barb and I wrestled the elephant ears out of their pots on Monday. Ditto a dark-leafed canna that never bloomed. I cut back the brugs the one with buds never got to the point of actually flowering and weve had some frost on roofs the past week. I took cuttings but Im still not sure if I want to grow them next year. The cut-back plants are in the garage and the cuttings in water on the living room windowsill. I think the test of whether to grow them will be if they survive the winter in the garage or the cuttings root and survive the winter indoors on the windowsill, I will give them a second chance and add them to the driveway pots again next year. The winter prep for the rest of the driveway pots is easy. The blueberry and strawberry pots will go into the garage near the end of November. The one remaining pot of elephant ears baby ones that have been growing on to put on size for next year - has companion acidanthera bulbs which are still blooming like mad. When they finish blooming, Ill de-pot them all for storage in the basement probably next week. The pots of petunias will get dumped in the compost bin once the frost finishes off the petunias. The pots of spiderplants from the planter bench boxes have already met their fate in the compost bin after I collected baby spiders for keeping indoors until they are needed for the bench for next year. The pot with a honeysuckle cutting growing on for planting next year will go into the garage with the blueberry and strawberry pots. And thats it for pots for me. There will be about 14 of the large (3 cubic feet soil capacity) pots in the garage. Its a good thing we have a double garage but only one car! V- congratulations on good cholesterol numbers! I struggle with that too. I made the first dent a couple of years ago when I got fanatical about eliminating trans fats. But then I couldn't seem to make any more progress. But I was reading a lot about Vit. D and how that maybe the Mediterranean diet benefit is as much about sunshine as olive oil and red wine. In combination with reading about the benefits of Omega - whatever in cold water fish, I decided to bump up my Vit. D intake to 1200 IU and take two large wild salmon oil capsules a day. My cholesterol test earlier this month showed the first good improvement since eliminating trans fats! I have a squish test coming up in December - ICK! Now that the brick project is done, I have some garden time to spare so weve been up to the longterm care facility garden a couple of times and have started beating back a summers worth of well entrenched weeds! There are a few small stretches now where there are enough perennials to provide effective competition to the weeds. That gives me some hope of eventually making progress in the rest of the garden if I can get enough plants in there. Wherever possible Ive been dropping seedheads into the sparser areas to hopefully generate free plant coverage. I did that last year as well and am starting to see seedlings in those areas that should bulk-up and flower next year. Randy doesnt often comment on what he likes in the garden but I have learned to pay attention to what he takes pictures of and thereby deduce his preferences! Last week he was taking pictures in the driveway border where there are still a few Queen Elizabeth roses in bloom with blueberry foliage in full autumn color and some old-fashioned type mums that a neighbour gave me a few years ago blooming in white and pink in the same part of the driveway border: Randy is the pumpkin carver here. Weve both been suffering from a flu or something dizziness and queasy stomach so Randy didnt make it to work on Monday. But he did manage to get this years pumpkin carved: Liam (Border Collie) is back for today. He was missing his buddy Misty and was bored and getting into trouble on his own at home last week (strewing kitchen garbage around) so he came for a play-date today. Id better go take them outside as hes woken up from his post morning walkies nap.

Hi Bill. Thanks again. My comment about water proofing meant to be about cmpman's method using regular light bulb as heat source. So I dont want the water to get on the bulbs. I may also visit the drugstore and look for shoulder heating pads, if the stuff is cheaper. I can germinate my peppers first then do the tomato seeds after that. I have a 48" shop light wit two T8 tubes. I might get another one to hang side by side, if needed. Costs about 20 bucks with the tubes. No. I am not into germinating in paper towel and coffee filter in plastic bags. I have tried it before. It works but just too primitive. I want to do it like the REAL pepper growers , like yourself , do it. LOL INTENDED GERMINATION SET UP Another Thought: How about germinating on the top of the shoplight. Got to make a water proof tray that just barely touching the shoplight but not sitting on it. I will do a pilot teast to see how it works. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Added ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I am monitoring the temperature on top of shoplight ( w/ two T8 tubes) Direct contact temperature stabilized around 105F, at them room temperature of 72F. I figure with a tray (almost touching it) cannot get any hotter than 85-90F. I can always cushion it to lower temperature the This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, Oct 25, 13 at 2:17

This morning, I made a sweet potato hash with bacon and eggs, loosely based on the recipe below. Not only did I scale the recipe down to serve 2, I used bacon instead of sausage, and I made major changes in the cooking methods. My changes: Caramelize the onions on a low-ish heat with butter. Then dice the potatoes and mix them with the ingredients called for in the original recipe. However, instead of baking in the oven, put the sweet potatoes in the skillet with the onions, cooking the sweet potatoes on medium low heat until they are soft and lightly browned. Cut the cooked bacon into 1 inch pieces and add to the skillet with the sweet potatoes and onions. Make wells in the hash. Crack an egg into each well. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs are set to your liking (we like ours totally done, so I baked for 15 minutes). I did not add the cheese, only because I forgot. This is definitely a keeper! Sweet Potato Hash with Caramelized Onions, Sausage & Eggs serves 8 2 pounds onions, about 2 large 1 tablespoon unsalted butter Table salt 1 pound fresh Italian sausage or chorizo 3 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3 large potatoes, ideally organic 6 large garlic cloves 4 long stalks rosemary, about 1/4 cup of leaves 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste if necessary Freshly ground black pepper To serve: Large eggs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Parmesan cheese, to serve To make the hash: Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Peel the onions and cut them in half lengthwise, then cut them into thin half-moons. Cut the half-moons in half. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it foams up add the onions and sprinkle lightly with salt. (Don't worry if they are crammed into the pan; they will rapidly cook down.) Lower the heat slightly and cook the onions for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, and lowering the heat if they seem to be burning. Cook them until they are very dark brown. Meanwhile, put the sausage in another skillet and brown over medium-high heat, chopping it up into fine crumbles with a spatula. Cook the sausage for at least 15 minutes, or until it is cooked through and quite crispy. Drain away any excess fat. While the onions and sausage are cooking, chop the unpeeled sweet potatoes into cubes that are about 1/2-inch to a side. Finely mince the garlic and rosemary leaves, and toss them in a large bowl with the sweet potatoes. Toss with the olive oil, kosher salt, and a generous helping of black pepper. When the onions are dark brown and the sausage is crispy, stir these into the sweet potatoes as well. Line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, and spread out the sweet potatoes evenly. Roast the sweet potatoes for 30 to 45 minutes (roasting time depends on the size and uniformity of the sweet potato chunks, as well as the variety of sweet potato you buy) or until they are soft and browned. Refrigerate the cooled hash for up to 5 days. To serve: Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spread a relatively thin layer of the (already cooked) sweet potato hash in a baking dish, such as a cast iron skillet or a 9x13-inch baking dish. You can also bake in individual ramekins. Make small wells in the sweet potatoes and crack in large eggs. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are hot and the eggs are baked through. (Test the eggs by prodding them with a fork to check the firmness of the white and the yolk; baked eggs are deceptive in that the white often looks much less cooked than it really is.) Serve immediately, with shavings or sprinkles of Parmesan cheese, if desired. Faith Durand December 14, 2011 05:30PM Here is a link that might be useful: The Kitchen Sweet Potato Hash with Sausage and Eggs

Straus milk is lovely and comes in glass bottles. I'm okay with the cartons, but I won't buy milk in #2 plastic. I can taste the jug! I think Straus have milkmen in the Southland, but I don't use enough milk for that. When I was little the milkman asked my mother if she wouldn't rather he just bring the cow. :) I loved our milkman, and the glass bottles! If you can't get Straus, you might want to try White Mountain Bulgarian style yoghurt. It comes in a big mayonnaise style glass jar with the sloped sides. It keeps very well. The company is based in Texas, so might be more available to some of you. It's cultured, IIRC, rather than having a specific culture injected. Full fat or non-fat. It's my favorite by a long shot.