Alcohol is hygroscopic, meaning it will draw moisture out of the atmosphere. It's contaminants like water that make fuel go "off." Some will argue that petrol can go bad in a matter of weeks. Personally, I view fuel older than six months as suspect.... Stabilizer and a properly-sealed container can help, but there's still alcohol in the fuel Why alcohol is there in the first place is debatable, especially as it 'costs' more in energy to create than it produces - the only thing it really does is enrich a few very large corporations - but I digress. I have a 35 year old Stihl chainsaw that started running poorly a while back, so much so that I bought another as a replacement. A friend who has a real skill with Stihls rebuilt it and got it running a sweetly as new - better than the "new" saw. Stihl recommends their brand of fuel without alcohol, packaged and pre-mixed in one litre cans. They claim the sealed can has a near-infinite shelf life if unopened and pretty lengthy even after opening. Others make similar canned fuel. It all depends upon your usage. If cutting a lot, then your fuel won't be sitting around long enough to go stale. If you need a saw only occasionally, it might make more sense to buy the canned stuff. In any event, you don't want fuel sitting in the saw, mower or generator for any significant length of time - like the five gallons sitting in the generator from the last hurricane season. (I installed a fuel drain line on my 8,000 watt generator.) Drain, start and let run until it stalls.

Thank you, Audrey. Snidely (sorry, I'm having a problem transitioning to Elmer), even if I were to find an affordable, tick-free location (highly unlikely), I wouldn't do it. I'd be leaving my kids and my friends, and left with . . . what? A chronic health problem, for one thing. Yes, the prospect of never being reinfected is a pleasant thought, but stress is unhealthy, and for this homebody it would be stressful to leave everyone and the old farm where I raised my children and spent my happiest years. Yaya, it sounds like you and I are in the same boat. Thanks for responding. I spent some time reading Buhner's Lyme book today, and also discovered his website. It's worth checking out. So many authors' websites are stingy with information because they want you to buy the book, but Buhner is extravagantly generous. I'm glad I have the books though; his research is extensive, and he provides a great deal of information about each of the herbs he recommends. I want to know as much as I can before I take something.

thank you for bringing such joy to this forum and others (here's the link to your reusable toilet paper story)

I've become very good at bringing my reusable bags to the grocery store by just leaving them sitting on my front passenger seat. I never go into the grocery store without them now. However I rarely take them into the drugstore or other non-grocery store because I'm just not in the habit. I need to do better at that. I also think I need a couple smaller plastic bag equivalent size to use for those purchases of smaller items when you have too many to just carry out without a bag. I do however reuse the plastic ones (that don't fall apart with first use) as a receptacle for sifted cat litter - placed in a covered pail and used until full then they get tied up and put in the garbage. It is just too gross smelling to not put your cat box stuff in a sealed plastic bag. If I didn't get a few from the store I'd be buying plastic waste can liners for this purpose.