I'm on a low dose of Dexamethasone now: It "is a potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant drug, used to treat a number of inflammatory, allergic, rheumatic, endocrine, dermatologic, and autoimmune disorders." I only got the poison ivy on my forehead on Mother's Day. Working in DD2's yard. :-/ The second I touched my glove to my head I thought 'I bet you just gave yourself PI." I hadn't seen it, I know what it looks like. By Wednesday, I had just a few lines on my forehead at my hairline. Not bad, not really itchy. I went out of town for 5 days on Thursday. Got home Monday and went to the doctor on Tues or Wed when it started coming up on my arm - head was fine and has been fine. The VERY first time I got PI, it was VERY bad. I've always heard since then 1st case bad = bad allergy to if for life. I've had it so bad before (but not in the last 5 years since we moved!) that my legs would almost be covered in red, itching, oozing yuck! Since I had such a serious case the first time I contracted PI (playing kick the can with my cousins and must have laid down all in it to hide - I was probably 12yo) when I get it now, it gets systemic. So the doctor told me this time that it's not really PI that I am breaking out with. She compared it to hives, but it's not hives. TTYTT, I just wanted anything to get rid of it, because if you saw the "eye lid" thread, you would know I'm having my 50th Bday surgery next week and the nurse at my pre-op said if I came in the day of surgery with the rash on my arms they would NOT do surgery! Well, I've been thinking of doing this for years now and if I cannot have it on the 29th, I have to wait until fall. DD2 is probably getting married in September. It's now or I have to wait. :( The doctor said something about the Tagament for my stomach, but I don't really remember exactly what she said - I know, bad patient. But I trust her. Something about people asking "why are you giving me something for my stomach if I have hives or PI?" She explained, I just didn't absorb. Hard to listen sometimes when you're itching...and worried about surgery being postponed! lol Ok I need to go to bed. It's almost 1am. But I've gotten a lot done today! ;D Hope everyone w/PI or mango rash is feeling better today. I'll get DH to buy some bananas in the morning, when he goes to get me another watermelon.

We are in a similar boat - although in our case we're moving things around in a legal three family house (used as a 2) that we have lived in for 7 years. We don't have to rip out an existing kitchen on the relevant floor - because there isn't one there! In our case we're in an old Brooklyn, NY brownstone with a parlor floor (ex) kitchen that hasn't been renovated probably since WWII (or earlier) - the original metal high cabinets just got pulled off the walls this week. And 1920's/40's type paint design got uncovered when the wall was pulled partly down. But since we're in an 1890 house, the walls aren't ready and pipes need to be moved and walls built out, so we don't have dimensions for the kitchen in order to order cabinets. And I'm struggling with appliance placement. So what we want to do is put in a temporary kitchen. In the next few days I want to buy a fridge, range, dishwasher and possibly sink that will be the "final" appliances, and take a microwave and possibly some cabinets from the tenant's former kitchen on the third floor (since we don't need a kitchen on the third floor, it's moving to the second floor) and mock things up until we can finish a kitchen design and order countertops, backsplash and cabinets. My big fear with our temporary kitchen is, what if we ultimately want to change placement of appliances based on the experience in the temp kitchen?

I have been a student of life and the trades for a number of years and that accounted for learning some valuable things. I have never been content with knowing the answers,I want to understand why. It is in that spirit I hope to learn something new about frost proof facuets. Regarding a facuet that leaks inside the wall when it's turned on but will not leak otherwise. My theory is that a new facuet stops water flow inside wall about 12" away from bib where hose connects. When facuet is turned off water in the 12" conduit between stop and bib runs out leaving conduit dry. Freezing temperatures don't occur at or beyond the stop because it's much warmer there than at hose bib. Additional heat is constantly conducted from earth to stop via water line. The bib and 12" conduit are certainly exposed to and reach ambient outdoor temperature but there is no water in conduit to freeze. If facuet is installed with bib higher than stop,it's obivous that conduit will not drain dry when facuet is turned off. It;s also obivous that having a hose connected prevents conduit draining dry. In either of those cases where water continues standing in conduit,freezing temperatures will freeze the standing water. Water expands as it freezes and cracks the conduit. All is well until stop is opened and cracked conduit fills with water. Kudz,will you please explain how you believe a frostproof facuet works and/or fails?

Linda asked, "Why is home milled wheat sweet?". It's not the milling, it's the tannins in the bran that determine whether the grain is sweet or bitter. There are three genes that determine the bran color in wheat. Most red wheat varieties these days only have one or two of those genes, so they are not as bitter as they were a couple decades ago. The granddaddy of all hard red wheat, Turkey Red, has all three genes and is dark and somewhat bitter. White wheat varieties lack the genes that determine the bran color, leaving the taste of white wheat to be sweeter due to the lack of tannins in the bran. This is a selling point in the market for some commercial food products. It's why some brands of commercial "whole wheat bread" have a mild, sweeter, flavor than those made with red wheat varieties, as well as a very light color. Hard wheat keeps for decades without going rancid due to the bran coating the grain. Once the bran is broken (in the milling process), then the oil located in the germ of the wheat is exposed to oxygen and that's when it oxidizes and begins to go rancid. Other whole grains that are considered "soft grains", or oily grains, can go rancid while whole. In home food storage, we only keep those grains for a few years, at most. Honey in bread is also beneficial if you freeze your bread - helping to keep it moist; and it also aids in preventing mold growth if you aren't going to freeze it. -Grainlady