Most of the above is close enough but please remember that peanuts come in other colors besides red. I grow black peanuts and love the sweet nutty flavor. fyi, you can find them at www.sandhillpreservation.com Peanuts set over a period of time with a limited set early, full crown set next, then nuts set on the expanded branches. Harvest them when most of the crown set is mature for best results in most of the USA. Note that some peanuts will continue growing and won't "die" as mentioned above. One of the recent developments in the peanut world is the high oleic peanut. Fusion

Annette, do you eat beans out of a can? How do they taste? The proper way to roast peanuts is in an oven at 325 degrees. Put a single layer of peanuts on a cookie sheet and put it in the hot oven for about 10 minutes. Check to see if they are properly parched, if not , put them in for another 2 minutes. I also like fried peanuts. Put 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet and get it hot enough to almost burn the butter. Pour in 1 cup of shelled peanuts and stir with a spatula until the peanuts crack and pop. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes to get them to the right temperature. Pour them onto a paper towel to absorb most of the butter and salt ligthly. Homemade peanut brittle is far better than anything you will ever get at a store. Look up a recipe online that uses baking soda to "fizz" the sugar mix.

A couple of years ago I was able to sit outside more and experiment with the jays. I would select peanuts that were to me of similar size and shape. The jays would examine two or three, never four or more, before taking one away to bury it. I would add weight to one peanut of similar appearance and after examination they would take away the heaver one. This I repeated many times. I tried painting Some with a pink felt point. They would take the unpainted peanuts first and come back for the painted ones. Perhaps I can try coloring an almond brown.

I'd love it too! I like to eat all over in Grand Rapids, I've got a list of new places to try and I have old favorites too. There's a relatively new Mexican place downtown called maggie's Kitchen, they even have barbacoa made of beef cheeks, there's a Caribbean place with some kind of goat dish that's only got curbside service, a fish place on Kalamazoo down by the Mediterranean Market, and there are old standbys like Pietro's. I love the Blue Water Grill but that's clear over off Plainfield on East Beltline, and there are a lot of places I haven't even tried downtown near VanAndel and The B.O.B. Any preferences? Sushi? Indian? Fish? Diner? Even chain restaurants if you have a favorite, heck, we've even got a Sonic now, right across the street from Gordon Food Service on Alpine, LOL. You tell me when and we'll find a where! I'm definitely going to have to check D&W for Koeze's, though, and the one on 44th has DeRueze's Gourmet Market right next door. They now have a cut rate gourmet department where they get pallets full of stuff for really cheap, it's fun but you never know what you'll find for a buck... Annie