Roberto and Marie, me too... Many a time I told myself I will never venture for single petal dr anymore, somehow when I saw a beautiful flower with unique colour the niche in me is so irresistable and tempting and I will hate myself to miss it out.

The berries are poisonous to people. Birds love them and they flock to these bushes at the time the berries are just right for them. They seem to know the best time to get the berries (to get the kick). You will see birds sitting in the trees...all of a sudden they will swoop down in numbers and feed and then they swoop back up into the trees. This happens when deciduous trees have no leaves, so you can see all these birds hanging out. Then they swoop again. You could describe it as "wheeling in". It is quite a sight. The berries do make them drunk and they sometimes fly into windows. Molly Ivins christened Perry "Governor Good Hair". Ha ha.

Induction newbies with no idea of how many times this topic has been discussed here over the years, along with the source studies, might see Gary's response as an unnecessarily rude and cavalier dismissal. Don't take it that way. Follow the link to the page on the induction site. Gary knows whereof he speaks. Frankly, I'm pretty sure that anybody with health concerns can find an equal amount of interesting, well-founded information as well as alarmist and wackadoodle internet material about the health hazards of cooking with gas. There are plenty of reasons for some people to avoid gas appliances and one of them is a discomfort with the risks of the fuel. As has been noted here several times, the famous James Beard hated having gas gas appliances in his home and had a very strong personal preference for electrical ones. Apparently, with his very sensitive nose, he hated the smell and didn't like the open flames in his own kitchen. There is a distinct element of personal preference in all this, and that has to be accepted. But for the OP, the existence of internet fears and paranoia, and ignorance of how induction works, could be considered a downside to getting induction. The problem is with a potential buyer maybe having heard from "somebody" or read "somewhere" that "doctors in Europe" warn against pregnant women using induction. If it on the interenet, then it must be true, and then, OMG, induction is like cooking with an uncontained microwave radiation! And, you know, I've read on the internet from reputable sites who "really ought to know," that you can electrocute yourself by using metal spoons to stir a pot on an induction burner! (That whopper, IIRC, was from a site called Living Large.) You get the idea. Without investment of time, it gets very hard to sort out the science from the fears, the fears from paranoia, and the paranoia from utter wackadoodle. On the internet, everything is plausible, and everything is true. You can conclude, as some do, that if any scientist anywhere ever raises a question for research, then the worst case scenario has to be assumed to be true and we should ban every suspect device until we can be convinced that it is 100% safe. In some ways, this is like the fear that aluminum pans caused Alzheimer's or that low-frequency ELF from high-voltage power transmission lines caused leukemic cancers in children. The reality is that there are a ton of variables that affect cancer rates and some scientists apparently hoped that they could prove a link to living near the high-tension power lines and thereby protect health. The problem with the early research on this was that it simply associated home location to power lines as though no other variables need to be explored. As some subsequent studies showed, people living in close proximity to high-tension lines tend to be poorer that the most of the population, poorer people in industrialized societies tend to have higher cancer rates, and when you control for income levels, it seems that there were not statistically significant differences between the cancer rates for the lower income who lived near power lines and those who did not. The subject continues to be studied but the numbers of variables are so large that study results continue to be inconclusive as to measurable effects. When you need absolute reassurance and cannot find it, then you are relying on your personal risk assessment. Take the 1500 or 1600 dishwashers that catch fire in American ktichens every year. Some people see that statistic and think that is outrageously high and nobody should put a dishwasher in residences. Others look at the same statistic and think: there must be 75 million homes with dishwashers in this country and the risk of a fire is so tiny and trivial that I don't care about it. Back to the "doctors in Europe" question, many internet posters assume (incorrectly) that the newer "pregnant women" studies from "Europe" come from the European Commission Directorate-General of Health and Consumer Protection's Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment. That is not the case. As far as I could tell from the last time I tried to check out this "European doctors say . . . " report was that the concerns actually come from a non-profit organization calling itself the "International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection" and some studies funded by them (from Slovenia, I think.) This group starts with the premise that we are all exposed to too many electromagnetic fields (EMF). Induction ranges produce EMF --- but, then, so do a ton of other devices from cell phones, iPods, and televisions to everything with electric motors, such as blenders, and on out to microwave ovens. The self-named Commission has established standards and believe that they have found some evidence that some induction cookers produce EMF levels at 30 cm (1 foot) that exceed what they say the strength should be at that distance for what they regard as safe for an in utero fetus. Can you find some doctors in Europe who would adopt this? Sure. Probably here as well. Is it generally accepted medical practice in Europe or here? Nope. WIll the mere existence of questions scare some people who come in to look at the OP's house when she and her husband eventually put it up for sale? Yup. Some people will be put off and want a different stove. But the thing is, some people will be put off by presence of gas appliances, as well. There's what somebody here once called the the "kaboom" factor. As a practical matter, the actual risk of a gas appliance exploding and causing a house fire is small. Something like maybe 12% of kitchen fires caused by gas stoves were due to gas leaks, IIRC from the last time I checked the National Fire Protection Association statistics. Overall, the biggest reason for home-fires caused by appliances (45% of the fires) was unattended cooking and burners accidentally left on after cooking. Overall, gas cooking appliances were not as likely to cause a fire as the electric ones simply because gas stove owners were only half as likely as electric stove owners to leave an unattended pot cooking on a stove or leave a burner on after cooking. But, in this regard, you might note that induction would be even safer than both gas or radiant electric because: (a) induction burners don't have the waste heat output that can ignite sleeves, towels, etc. that a gas or radiant electric burner can ignit; (b) if you slop or spill oil when frying, there isn't a very hot burner or flame to ignite the spilled oil; (c) most induction cooktops and ranges have safety shut-offs -- that is, if an empty pan overheats, sensors (on many induction ranges and cooktops) will shut off the burner and keep the pan from burning your house down; and (d), if you forget to turn off a burner after you finish with a pot, nothing can happen once the pot is removed from an induction burner. For every potential health problem you can cite for induction, there seem to be more for gas ranges. There are ongoing studies on the potential adverse health effects of combustion by-products from using gas ranges and cooktops in residential and commercial kitchens. Search the internet and you can find postings with titles like "Gas cooking emissions can stifle infant development ..." A year ago, there was a US DOE and EPA study on the need for vent hoods when using gas ranges and cooktops which got some discussion here. IIRC. there are a couple of NY Times articles that sparked that discussion and you can find them here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/garden/01fix.html?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/the-kitchen-as-a-pollution-hazard/ The link to the gardenweb discussion is here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0715091316878.html So, can you make the family gas proponents read that stuff? Maybe they will all decide that you all need to eat raw food and just stay away from all cooking devices. ;>) This post was edited by JWVideo on Wed, Aug 20, 14 at 14:51

I love the Keys, I have been going down there since we worked as bartender hoppers one spring back in 76', well at least 20 years ago I did. I hadn't been down through there for about 15 years and took a road trip from our place in Charlotte Harbor about 5 years and was very disappointed. Back in the early 90's as soon as you went below Key Largo it was like getting off the airplane on the islands. No chain restaurants, really not commercialized at all. It was actually hard to believe we were in North America. Since then McDonald's and everything that goes with it. Sad to see. I wish everyone that visits for the first time could have experienced the Conch Republic how it was meant to be enjoyed. The place Jimmy sang about doesn't resemble the place you are going to visit. Don't get me wrong it is still beautiful just different now. If you don't enjoy seafood save yourselves the trip. You must get off the beaten path. Key West is the tourist trap. Be prepared to pay for it as well. Look at prices online. A small room for $300.00 a night downtown is normal. We stay in Little Deer Key for an efficiency and one bed, pool, for $275.00 a night 5 years ago, it is actually a fishing camp, a 5 minute walk to a canal and one can catch fish all day or cast from the boat dock. But you must beware of gators and poisonous snakes, this is there home, we are visitors. As for fishing you don't just get in a boat and go fishing, this is serious water for serious boaters, there are seadoo and small boat rentals but I would recommend small boating on the Gulf side vs. The Atlantic unless on a small bay. Licenses are required for fishing and regulations are strictly enforced. You must know what is in season as well as the sizes you may keep or not. Equipment and bait is available on charters which is your best bet and can be had for half day outings. You don't just throw off your shoes and socks and wade into the water to fish like we do up north here. Stepping on a Stingray can have serious and sometimes fatal results. The best deep sea fishing is in Islamorada, it is the best in the entire world including Cabo in Mexico. Some of the best beaches are in KW. You must go to the KW aquarium where you can pick up a baby nurse shark, if you would enjoy that type of thing. I was going to recommend a oyster place that has been there for 80 years but I read no oysters. They have 2 things on the menu oysters and cold beer. This is the place that Hemingway would have spent more time in than the house they say was his. Everyone says their hotel is where he ate, slept, drank, wrote so they can charge you for it. On the way down don't be afraid to get off to the small keys. I have been to so many over the years that you can't see them all in one month, so I'll keep it to one can't miss place. Little Deer Key and Deer key. There is a restaurant hole in the wall kind of place we love. It was a stop over spot for fishing boats to load up on ice at the turn of the century. A favorite place of Dwight D. Eisenhower I believe. Ask for the place with the dollar bill wallpaper. The best burger I have had in the states. On Little Key there is a State Park that has walkways into the mangroves where you can observe big gators in the wild, keep a close eye on them if they are anywhere near an egret. And have your camera ready, the teens will think it's a blast. The best beach is Bahia Honda State park. As for Key West being a destination for gays, yes it is. That shouldn't deter any mature person. I love Provincetown as well, very educational when your 18 years old to say the least. As for going down to the Keys in the summer, you had better enjoy wet heat. Yes forget makeup and bring a hat. I have been to Cuba for work in July, and Finland in December. I wouldn't go to either place during those extreme climates unless paid to do so, and paid well I must add. My goodness I just wrote a travel blog, time to give it a rest. Enjoy, I just wish everyone could have enjoyed the way it was meant to be without the Walgreens and Wallmart, and in January. This post was edited by SouthernCanuck on Sat, May 4, 13 at 4:08