Paula, DS's co-worker's name is Roy and I've never met him, but he must have gardening family members because he is so appreciative when I send peppers and tomatoes to the guys at the station. I've noticed the folks who are most appreciative when receiving fresh produce or home-preserved foods are those who know just how much work it takes to raise and/or can those home-grown veggies. When Roy sent me the case of jars via Chris, I immediately packed up a case of 12 jars of assorted home-canned goodies for Roy and his family and sent them back to him via DS on their next work day. (One good turn deserves another.) In that assortment was my last jar of Blueberry-Lime Jam. A few days later, DS said that 'my' Blueberry-Lime Jam reminded Roy of his grandmother's Blueberry-Lime jam and that they loved it. So, I assume the Blueberry-Lime Jam recipe has been in the BBB forever and that his grandmother likely made exactly the same recipe 'back then' that we still make today. Just a reminder that there's nothing really new under the sun. I think that we have to talk about something or we'll go crazy...and canning/dehydrating/storing the harvest is an important part of being a gardener too. After all, if your garden is producing well, there's no way you can eat all the produce fresh, assuming the garden is large like yours and mine. I was harvesting okra yesterday evening and noticed I have about a gazillion peppers to harvest. Gggrrrrr. I haven't even used up all the peppers I harvested last week. Uh oh. I simply cannot let the peppers start piling up like this because you remember what happened to me last year. I've been working hard to can peppers every week so I don't get behind like that again, but there's a million things on my 'to do' list everyday, and sometimes I don't have time to can. I guess today I could smoke some and freeze them to go with the 2 or 3 or 4 gallons of peppers already in the freezer. Tim hurt his back yesterday when he and DS were moving the big deep freeze from the garage into the house. I had read that motors on deep freezes kept in outbuildings often burn out in 2 or 3 years because they have to work so hard to keep the freezer cold enough, so I've been asking (alright, nagging) Tim for months to move the freezer into the dining-room-turned-TV-room-turned food storage room/Mom's hobby room. Finally, DS and DH were both here at the same time and thought they'd move it yesterday. You probably have to be a woman to appreciate this next bit because it so perfectly illustrates that macho man type attitude that hurts men...... I was in the once-formal dining room in which we rarely dined (except for holidays we eat in the breakfast room so to me the dining room is wasted space if all you use it for is holiday dining), moving things around to make room for the freezer and Tim comes in, grimacing, and telling me we'd "have to" empty the freezer in order to move it because it was too heavy to lift fully filled. Really? I was practically speechless and all I could say was "What were you thinking? Tell me you didn't try to lift it fully loaded? Of course we have to unload it. I knew that. What were you thinking? What were you thinking? What were you thinking?" Sheesh, men! Who in the world would try to move an almost-full 18 c.f. chest-style deep freeze without taking the food out of it?????? So, he made a trip to the chiropractor yesterday and will make another one tomorrow because he apparently either strained or sprained his back. When he called his boss and told him he wouldn't be at work yesterday because he hurt his back trying to lift a full deep freeze, the boss asked him what he was thinking and said something like 'you do know how old you are, right'? lol I don't know if a hurt back from moving a freezer qualifies as a garden-related injury but it should because almost everything in that freezer came from our garden. Finally, who are we to say someone can't have bread and butter pickles for dinner or supper or even breakfast? When we have jalapeno poppers left over from lunch or dinner, I like to eat them for breakfast the next day. Well, they are wrapped in bacon, so that's a breakfast food, right? Dawn

No Mail today! Forgot about today being a "Postal Holiday". For March we should all be on board and sending to our regular person. This will be the order for the flight path. Poochella, to Suzannie O, to Deni (abitodd) to Liz (rewards1) to Sarah (euphoria) to Theresa to Susan G to Ruth P to beth b to Jody, Nature Farmer to Poochella to compleat the circle. You don't need to send the exact same Mags as you recieved. You can trade off and keep some of them for a while if you want to. just mail at least four. If you are ready and able to mail the first week AND, if your PO will cooperate, you can use the Bound printed materail rate. If you will be later than that please use the flat rate priority envelopes so your reciever is not waiting for most of the month with "nothing to read" Feel free to send older magazines. If we send only new ones we will be all sending the same ones as there are NOT that many ouy there to buy. Anybody want to add any ideas to this... please chime in.

Hi Ladies (and gent!) I hope that everyone is enjoying the Holiday Season as much as I am! I am exhausted today but thankfully, I have the day off. DeeMarie, I am glad that you did not find yourself in a dental emergency for the Holidays. DS informed me last night that his other 2 wisdom teth are causing him trouble and he thinks that he has a new cavity. Raeanne, I feel for you! You have been operating on 'way too little sleep and it is bound to catch up with you. I hope you get at least a little rest today... So you did a little "stress munching" while your MIL was around, who could blame you? Hi Gretchen! Hi Besh! Maddie, I hope that YOU were able to get some rest later in the day! I also hope that you fulfilled some nice holiday dreams when you got home.. Donna, I hope that your day went off as planned. I fell asleep on the couch late Christmas Eve and slept right through our Midnight church service! Hey, Bj. Are you freezing your tookas off up there? Only you would vacation in Alaska in the winter Lol! I am glad that you are enjoying your family time. DS' GF came down from San Francisco for Christmas Eve. She stayed w/ her sis but spent the evening with us. She gave me a lovely black bag that she brought back from India.I gave both she and my son matching dvds of Pete n' Pete that they can watch together over the phone ( long distance relationship) I also gave her a nice pewter frame and then took a Christmas portrait of the 2 of them in front of the tree. Christmas day was AWESOME! Everyone arrived mid afternoon and we had our dinner buffet style (not enough room here) and opened gifts. My kids got me a DVD/VHS player and 6 movies! As time goes on. DD and I are becoming closer and closer. We have always been close, but I sense a deepening of our relationship. Has anyone else noticed this with adult children? And my DS was awesome, too. I echo Raeanne,; everyone have a stress free, fun day! ( this means you too Raeanne!!!) Tikanas

Hey man, I know exactly where you are coming from. It is the thought that counts, at least you got something, yada yada. And we feel bad for feeling slighted because we KNOW we are not supposed to feel that way and should be honoured to get anything at all. Yet when we unwrap, oh let's say a pair of pajamas that have shopping cart skidmarks on them and are size 3x - and told repeatedly that if they are too small we can get a larger size even thought 1x is a good fit thank you - it does hurt a little. When we are told "Due to a busy year we aren't doing presents this year, just for the kids" then sit there while present after present is handed out "Oh, I meant we are only buying for FAMILY" when the other in-laws were included...well, we aren't allowed to say our feelings are hurt because it makes us look selfish and petty. No, it is not about the presents. A heartfelt present that misses the mark is an entirely different thing, and yes I have had that happen to me as well, when I gave something I thought was perfect and could see in the eyes of the recipient that I had been way off. Usually though I explain my thought process and we all have a good laugh. I have relatives that give oddball presents with no ill-intent and we have a light-hearted laugh about that as well, and the items are cherished all the more. Anybody want a tableau of chocolate dipped tropical fruit, including the two items I am most allergic to and did I mention that I am diabetic? But it was the thought that counts. (((Hugs))) to all of us that sometimes need to just pout and be reminded that we all have moments when we are less than perfect and need somebody to say "Yep, that was a bad present". Dances.