That must have been a horrible experience for your G'daughter. The last time I have been to an amusement park was chaperoning a group of rowdy teens from a church twenty years ago. I looked at how the designers keep pushing the envelope for abject terror, and think to myself how wires, bolts, pins keep the machinery intact and the riders safe. What a hideous responsibility for maintenance this puts on humans and dependence that whomever manufacturers the component parts did their jobs right. The whole scene has lost its lure for me.

You did not say what your soil consits of. If it is sandy Then go to one of the big box stores and get enough bags of Black Cow compost to mix with in your sand. If it is only 4 or so inches of sandy top soil on a base of hardpan deep clay then consider ordering a truck load of Good garden soil to be delivered from Gem Dirt Company. Their garden soil cost around $15 a cubic yard plus a delivery fee. If you have your own pick-up and want to pick up a 1 cubic yard from them and drive it home yourself; be advised that they are generous and fill your pick-up very full. That means you better make certain your shocks and springs are able to handle that kind of weight. Plus it would be advisable to adjust your tire pressure for that kind of weight. I do not know if this is right or not, but a person at the service desk at Southerlands told me that a half cubic yard of garden soil weighs about one thousand pounds. A regular pick can hold a little over 1 cubic foot of garden soil. If you want to add your own seasoned manure than order the regular top soil which costs around $10 a cubic yard plus the delivery fee. Then use the soil to make a an almost 12" high raised garden bed. or raised mounds with walking paths in between. If you do not want to do that then do some web searches on how to build a layered compost bed. I have never done that but it is interesting. If my memory is accurate this is a little of what I have seen on how to do this kind of bed. People cover the garden area with non corigated carboard like one finds in shoe boxes. If they do not have that they use about 10 layers of opened up newspaper sheets on top of that they put down a few inches of sand or rocks and sand; then, they cover that with about 6 inches of sorghum peat moss, next they pile on and spread around all the oak leaves they can find, which they have mowed over with a bagger attachment on their mower. During the spring and summer, they pile on top of all that all their bagged grass clippings, and any vegetable or plant scraps from their gardening, lanscaping, and kitchen scraps; including coffee grounds. Everything is just piled on in layers, that are watered well before starting the new layer. and by the following spring the garden will be ready for planting. From what I remember reading you do not dig holes or spade these layers. When planting you just cut into the layers, lift and insert your little vegetable or bulbs. If you are interested in that layered compost kind of gardening then do some web searches on Lasagna Gardening to get more precise and accurated instructions.

Good Morning! I opened Sharon's (GMOM)cookbook fun last night!!!!! Love it all Sharon! *Several crochet and handmade pot holders....I think the ones with the birds are pot holders???? I will email you! *Gardening gloves *America's Country Inn Cookbook *Promise Yourself a Good Meal With Optimism Cookbook (Optimist Club) *Fresh Delights Fruits and Vegetables Cookbook *Tropical Blossoms Of The Caribbean...a little book just about specific Caribbean flowers...pics and descriptions! *Sweet and Salty Mix Thanks so very much!!!! Annie

Thanks for those great ideas, Mariann and Vic! We always boil it, which is probably most convenient, as I usually do two dozen or more at a time. But, if we just want one or a few, the microwave way sounds so easy!! And we have talked about doing it on the grill too, but haven't, so I really appreciate the detailed instructions on that!! My kids will eat so much corn!! Lily, my three year old, eats 3 to 4 ears when we have it. And Dylan and William each ate about 7 ears Monday night, I think! We had some left after dinner, and after they did dishes, they asked if they could eat some more. I said, sure, eat as much as you want, just leave some for Dad when he gets home. They each sat down and ate 4-5 more (as they had only had 3 with supper.) You can believe they were both up in the bathroom FIRST THING the next morning!! : ) I froze about 35 lbs. of whole kernal corn over the last two days, and Dave is going to pick more tonight. He was going to last night, but realized I have to can beans and freeze a load of broccoli and cauliflower today, so I think he gave me a bit of a reprieve! Thank goodness! Thursday is market day, so I'll be baking until I go there, but I'll plan on freezing corn again on Friday! I DO love seeing all these things pile up in the freezer and on my pantry shelves, knowing how much food we are stocking for winter!!! Becki