I would say you have a 50/50 chance of it being safe! I usually wait until after May 10 to be sure! This has been a very cool spring so far. A gardener on the noon tv news said everything will be two weeks late this year. GD

mine worked fine. :-)

I voted this afternoon and was number 235. In and out in no time. I did have to fill out a form and sign it stating I am who I am. I don't remember doing that before but the poll workers told me it has always been that way. I think I must have voted absentee last time. One thing I really like about Iowa ballots is that up at the top of the ballot you can opt to vote a straight party ticket just by filling out one bubble. I still remember the wise words of my dad the first time I voted almost 50 years ago. He advised me to vote a straight party ticket and that is what I advised my DS to do when he started voting.

Megan, Only pressure canners are safe for use as pressure canners. Pressure cookers are not safe for pressure canning. Instapots (regardless of what the manufacturer may claim in their marketing material) are not safe for use as pressure canners. People have to be extremely careful with pressure canning because any mistake can result in botulism---and there are no telltale signs to alert you that your food is contaminated---it won't look spoiled, it won't smell bad, but if you eat that contaminated food, it can kill you---and in a very painful, slow manner with much suffering involved. When and if the NCHFP tests Instapots and finds them safe for pressure canning, they will say so in writing on their website. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen. The NCHFP is painstakingly cautious and careful, and for good reason---proper food preservation is serious business. The kind of testing they do is very thorough and can take years and years, and with big budget cuts over the last decade or more, they have to be careful about where they choose to invest their time and their research dollars. I've been canning my entire life because my dad loved canning, and I am ultra cautious and never take unnecessary risks because that is what I was taught (and correctly taught). Jennifer, I hate having to go to a party when I'd rather stay home, and I almost never commit to go anywhere if it involves leaving our neighborhood. The older I get, the more of a hermit I become....and I don't care. I spent a lot of my life doing what I was taught a good daughter, wife, mother, employee, neighbor, friend, etc. "should" do, and I'm at the point now where I'm going to do what I want to do. Time is precious, and I try to use mine wisely, which for me means choosing to do the things I like to do and want to do, and not just things I feel obligated to do. I hope you didn't find attending your friend's BD party to be too tortuous. Congrats on the sprouting plants---they always make late winter feel more like early spring. Nancy, Our first evening with a full house was pretty calm. The adult kids were moving stuff in, unpacking, etc. while I made dinner with the 9 year old in and out of the kitchen checking on its progress (I believe she was hungry!), and somehow Tim arrived home about a half-hour early so he was able to eat with the rest of us. I think he slipped out of work a little early after a very trying day---he may have worked through lunch. We ate dinner together and then everyone headed off in different directions to do things. It was just a whirlwind of activity for a few hours. While I've gotten used to quieter evenings, I didn't mind the whirlwind at all. Rebecca, Audrey is at such a perfect age. Pumpkin still is pretty playful and youthful, but I think he is 4 now and is starting to be slightly less kittenish. He likes to start things with the other cats, so he isn't a calm old man yet, though. I'm long past the seed acquisition stage. If I don't have it ordered and on hand by now, I'll live without it. At some point we have to stop buying more seeds (grin) and just plant the ones we have. I'm dreading the wind on Saturday, and we won't even get the worst of it, which is expected to remain a few counties west of us (where a High Wind Warning is in effect). I think our max wind gusts expected here are only in the upper 40s, but that's bad enough. I have no garden-specific plans today, other than just watering the seedlings. This is the longest. slowest start to the gardening season in ages, and the weather isn't looking much better for the foreseeable future either. Dawn