I have my mother's jars, my grandmother's jars, probably my great-grandmother's jars! I have my (now deceased) mother-in-law's jars, and some new jars and jars that were given to me by elderly ladies in my church who no longer can but happily swap those empty jars for home-canned goods or freshly baked bread. I occasionally find jars at yard sales or second hand stores, but not so much any more. Robert, it's too bad you threw away those zinc lids, they are worth more than the jars! I do use the old blue jars and zinc lids to store dried beans, rice, lentils, dehydrated onions and garlic, etc. Many have chipped edges so I can't use them for canning, but they remain useful for storage. Cast iron is coming back with a vengeance. I've cracked a coule of relatively good pans by placing cold pans into coals, or once by taking a pan from the fire and putting it into a bucket of water so the children playing around the campfire didn't burn themselves. It was irreparable. I recently bought several pieces of Le Crueset enameled cast iron for less than $30 a piece at a local on-line auction. I just bought a Squeezo for $24.00 there too, and have picked up a couple of old Griswold's for less than $20, but they are few and far between. I usually only find them because the listing sellers misspell the names. Annie

Everyone has such pretty decorations. MrsMarv, you have a great view from your table. I can't show my apothecary jars, but will tell what is in them. The largest is usually filled with faux fruit of the season. Right now it has apples, limes, oranges and lemons. Usually at Christmas it is filled with black, red and silver ornaments and beads, and sits on the kitchen table. The middle size is filled with rose petals from flowers I've received the last couple of years. It sits in my bedroom. Usually I put the "from" card in there, too. Right now the other one is empty. Lee

I think that using fresh fruit is not a good idea. The fruit contains water and this will go bad; along the same idea of putting fresh garlic in olive oil.

Deeby, mules eat the same as horses but better a lower protein...like about 10% and less sugar....because too much sweet feed (molasses added to oats and corn, etc.) can make them hyper. I also have 3 donkeys and they eat about the same as the mule...lots of good quality hay and they are all on pasture as well. Mules are different than other equines. The old saying goes (something like)....you tell a horse, ask a donkey and negotiate with a mule. Mules are very smart and they can be easily ruined if badly handled. You really do need to form a bond with a mule....if they like you, they will do so much more for you. Mules are male or female, just like horses...except a boy mule is called a john and a female is called a molly. It is preferable to geld a john mule when they are very young (geld means castrate...neuter, if you prefer). They are a hybrid of a horse and a donkey and they are sterile. Only very, very rarely has one reproduced. Interestingly enough, there is a farm in Florida that raises Gypsy Vanner horses, which are a large breed, supposedly the ones that Gypsies used to pull their caravans. Often paints, sort of like a draft horse....anyway, they do embryo transplants from Gypsy Vanner mares into female mules. The mules carry the little Gypsy Vanners and raise them and are said to make superior mothers. The reason they do that is because Gypsy Vanners are very expensive and they can produce many more foals that way....by having the mare mules carry the babies. Male donkeys are called Jacks and females are Jennies. My donkeys are named Amos, Moses and Hobo. Cherry Fizz, I collect dice too....I have four big jars of dice and also those flat craft marbles....two big jars of those. I have all kinds of things in jars....cookie cutters, scoops, polished stones, little ornaments, weird odds and ends....little bones, teeth. I'm sort of a cross between a pet coon and a magpie.