Annie, I remember last year you said you could get a bushel of apples for $6. My friends make a giant kettle of apple butter, maybe 55 gallons, and they paid $13/bushel last year even with the large quantity they needed. Problem is, those cheap orchards aren't online. Maybe I'll find out where they got theirs. It's over an hour drive to their house, but there's a peach orchard nearby so if I time it right in the season I can do your "peach jam for a cold morning" the same weekend. Wish I could do peach-raspberry jam, but the berry farm with fall raspberries is over an hour in the opposite direction! That 55 gallons of apple butter is something to see. They grind the apples a few days in advance & let them start to ferment, then add tons of sugar in a huge copper kettle over an outdoor fire. Last year toward the end they decided it wasn't quite sweet enough & added another 50-lb bag of sugar! The thing is, they open-kettle can it, zillions of quarts. One year they stacked the jars back in the boxes while hot, and a bunch hadn't sealed by the second day, so they started moving the boxes to check the ones on the bottom. Lo & behold, once they started cooling, they started pinging like crazy. I know fruit butters are pretty low-risk, but I was a little surprised at how nonchalant they were about it. Maybe I fret too much over my canning, but what about a happy, safe medium? Melissa

My mom's Lab had a mass in her abdomen that was benign. She had it literally for YEARS, like 5 or more. It wasn't until it started to press on her stomach so that Ms. Mike couldn't get a full tummy that she finally had to be put to sleep. As far and the liver enzymes go- WAIT! With her symptoms- panting, urinating a lot, and her breed and that liver enzyme count it sounds like Cushings disease, which is treatable or at least managable. Maybe you wouldn't want to do that- the treatment can be hard on dogs and it can get expensive, but even so there are alternatives. Lysodren/mitotane is the usual treatment, but you can use ketoconazole (an antifungal drug) to help control symptoms and it's not as hard on them, plus cheaper. The testing for Cushings can be expensive too. Obviously it's your choice about Annie, if you feel she is up to more testing and treatments, etc. You know her and how she responds to things, and she is getting up there in age. And expense is a real concern. How much you want to put into her is a very personal and difficult decision, and depends on a lot of things. But I have certainly seen dogs with ALKP over 10,000 that had cushings, got treated, and did wonderfully for years. The mass is of course a complicating factor, but it could be benign.

Agnes -- Yes, the Hardy Boys are still around. I think they go through a periodic overhaul to ensure that they don't seem TOO dated. The original Hardy Boys series was written in the '20s and '30s and they were overhauled in the 50s or so. I think they received another makeover in the 80s and, from what I can see, they're in the middle of another one. I think they're actually producing NEW stories. I found the Hardy Boys series to be quite engaging when I was about 12 years old. Nowadays, I find them interesting as they reflect the times in which they were written. You can really see the results of the overhaul from the 50s, what with Chet's jalopy and sock hop dances. Nowadays, if I'm not mistaken, Chet (or was it one of the brothers?) is now a computer hacker of sorts.

Autumn is my very favorite time of year. I don't think I could bear to live anywhere but New England simply because of the fall colors and the inexplicable quality of the autumn air. These are two poems that have been posted here in past years that I liked very much. October by Paul Laurence Dunbar OCTOBER is the treasurer of the year, And all the months pay bounty to her store: The fields and orchards still their tribute bear, And fill her brimming coffers more and more. But she, with youthful lavishness, Spends all her wealth in gaudy dress, And decks herself in garments bold Of scarlet, purple, red, and gold. She heedeth not how swift the hours fly, But smiles and sings her happy life along; She only sees above a shining sky; She only hears the breezes' voice in song. Her garments trail the woodland through, And gather pearls of early dew That sparkle till the roguish Sun Creeps up and steals them every one. But what cares she that jewels should be lost, When all of Nature's bounteous wealth is hers? Though princely fortunes may have been their cost, Not one regret her calm demeanor stirs. Whole-hearted, happy, careless, free, She lives her life out joyously, Nor cares when Frost stalks o'er her way And turns her auburn locks to gray. "God's World" Edna St. Vincent Millay O WORLD, I cannot hold thee close enough! Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! Thy mists, that roll and rise! Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff! World, World, I cannot get thee close enough! Long have I known a glory in it all, But never knew I this; Here such a passion is As stretcheth me apart,ÂLord, I do fear ThouÂst made the world too beautiful this year; My soul is all but out of me,Âlet fall No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.