How far is it to your large compost bin? My garden compost bin is at least 50 feet away from my door and IMO it's really an important part of composting to visit the compost daily. Kinda showing compost love, ya know! ;D It's also good exercise. I collect my kitchen scraps in a 1 gallon plastic container with lid from the dollar store and empty it once a day. I can't stand the smell of decomposing compost in my kitchen so any longer than 1 day (really 8 hours) is too long for me. I also figure that the sooner it's in the pile the sooner it's compost. Not essential to chop things like apples because if you are throwing a whole apple away I hope it's because it got lost in the crisper and had already started rotting. I do chop large fruit rinds altho it's kinda fun to see how long they last when left whole. I currently have a couple of large rinds that I'm not sure what they were but they are staying whole altho have turned black. Also a lot of avocado pits which occasionally roll around and may never decompose. I think my pineapple top has finally succumbed tho as didn't see it last time I turned the pile. Coffee grounds will start to mold so it's better to throw them in the compost regularly. Yes, I'm easily amused by compost but if it's not fun why bother doing it! :D

Depends on what you call camping, and where you are. basic types to me: 1) RV camping, park in lot with other RV folks, generally drive to places, might day hike into a wilderness area, running water and power 2) car camping, big family size tent in campground 3) back packing, everything is carried by you, wherever you go 4) canoe or kayak camping, you portage your boat and gear on your back I am from the Upper Mid-West and I generally do items 3 and 4. That said: Backpacking that I have enjoyed A) Porcupine Mountains in Western UP of Michigan B) Isle Royale in Lake Superior C) Beartooth Absaroka "Beaten Path" northeast of Yellowstone in Montana D) Adirondacks High Peaks region near Mt Marcy E) Sylvan Lake and Harney Peak area of Black Hills F) Idaho side of Grand Tetons (Teton Creek) G) Newport State Park, Door County Wisconsin H) Devils Lake State Park northwest of Madison Wisconsin Canoe Camping that I have enjoyed A) Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota B) Sylvania Wilderness of Northern Michigan near Watersmeet C) Rock Island State Park, Wisconsin Car camping -Minnesota North Shore -Lake Itasca Minnesota -Door County Wisconsin State Parks -Copper Falls State Park Wisconsin

Good Morning: Dee, DH and I saw Gene Pitney a few years back in a small night club in NH. We went with a bunch of family members and had so much fun singing along to all the oldies! He put on a great show. We also have been to a Hot Air Balloon festival several times (in Gilmanton Iron Works, NH, Suzanne are you familiar with it?) and every time but once they were unable to fly either because the wind conditions or whatever were not right. They did fill them up so you could view them on the ground but it was a little disappointing, so I hope yours goes well. It will be fun to be part of it though. Have a great weekend! Martha's Vineyard was great. BJ, so many questions you asked. We only went for the day. It is about a 2 hour ride from here to the ferry in Falmouth, MA and then about a 45 minute ride on the ferry out to the island. We had a great time. Did a little shopping, ate too much food. There is an Italian restaurant there that we love so ofcourse I had fettucini alfredo, (and I blew off WW this morning). The other couple that came with us have not been to MV in about 25 years, so it was fun to be with them. We are making arrangements to take our boats out there next summer for a week. Suzanne, I'm glad that you are doing well. I am sorry about your DH. What is it about people (and I don't want to say it is just men, because women do it too) that feel they need to kick you when you are down? I laughed out loud on your current reading selection. It is not a book that I am familiar with, but I am sure my sister has read it! DS and fiance have found an apartment and will probably be moving in a couple of weeks. I am very happy for them and I think it is a great idea that they live together before the wedding next year, but my emotions are on a roller coaster right now. I just keep thinking that this is it. My son is leaving and I won't see him first thing in the morning or when he comes home from work. He won't be telling me about his day every day. Am I crazy? But I am also happy because I know it is time for him to be independent and to be a man. It gets stressfull at times here because his DF is here alot and there are alot of adults in the house at one time. Raeanne, I am so happy that your situation worked out the way you intended. I hope that she comes back with some good news for you. Who is Jared Coffin? QOD: No plans. The weeks worth of laundry that I have neglected is waiting for me. It is the last weekend of DH vacation and the weather is supposed to be beautiful, so I don't know what we will do. Probably some boating and fishing. DH went tuna fishing today, so I am taking DS and some of his friends to the beach. Have a great day! Love, Besh

Linking to a blog is fine as long as your goal is not to advertise the blog for the sole purpose of advertising the blog. ;) In other words, as long as it's relevant, it's fine. Where it gets sticky is when a new poster might just 'drop in' to post a link, if someone links to their blog on every single post, or if clicking on that link might result in some type of 'referral rewards' for the poster. Hope this helps, but if something needs more clarity, please let me know. Tamara (yes, I did remove some posts from this thread that were unkind and not relevant to the matter at hand, or if they referenced the removed post (because those referencing posts wouldn't quite make sense).