I love hemming things. Frayed hems on jeans were de rigueur when I was in Jr. High. Then (probably because we grew quickly) came the era of adding 2" wide decorative trims to the hems of jeans. And then your's truly mutinied and began rolling her jeans up to expose her collection of argyle socks while proudly sporting her blue and white saddle shoes (which I kept polished). What a tool! My favorite alterations to perform are: 1.) shortening sleeves (love tailoring!) 2.) replacing zippers (esp. in trousers) 3.) hemming (coats! that tailoring thing again) 4.) pocket replacements As for the criticism thing, when you work in a trade that requires it you get used to it or you find another line of work. Criticism works best when it's delivered concisely and is restricted to the WORK. When it becomes nit-picky or personal it ceases to be effective. I have a mental switch that I flip "off" when the criticism over how I trim threads or fold the corners on things is brought up. Mostly because after 30+ yrs. I'm confident in my ability to perform those things efficiently and neatly. Some of my earlier employers were rightly withering in their criticism of my work... sloppy doesn't cut it in my trade. Attention to detail is the name of the game. No 70s here yesterday, Kathy. Another 6-8" of snow with a brief interlude of rain and then back to snow. Everything is looking clean and fresh now. And the Huge One had lots of fun snuffling through the powder. Litter pan use is on high and I've been mining at least 3 times/day, no sooner do I finish than another cat comes running to make a deposit in the fresh litter. :) We had a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable medley for "comfort food" yesterday afternoon. I emerged from the Lab. only a few times, once to make the stuffing, and a few others to brush the top of the bird, and lastly to eat. The helpmeet was problem solving: a critical seatbelt buckle malfunction in his car, a careful scrutiny of a bookshelf that had developed the sags over time (now lives in his work area as it's beyond easy and attractive repair), and his first long look at the looming window casing project. I fear my keyboard is giving up the ghost slowly but surely. It will be time to go next door and see if the BIL has one he can spare. The shift keys are increasingly stubborn and the enter key is now on strike. V., I love calligraphy. I've never tried it before but it really looks as though it could be exhasperatingly fun. ;) How many envelopes did you have to address? I have to get rolling, busy day ahead for me full of not-so-meaningful work, including a dreadful seat recover for a customer who has been a complete PIA for nearly a year now. We can't finish the work if he doesn't call back with the final word on the how he plans to reattach the completely rebuilt seat frame for his stupid boat, since attaching the foam and stapling the cover in place means we have to know which set of bolts he plans to use...

Hi Okieladybug! I wanted to share a lettuce tip that hubs and I discovered quite by mistake: a variety called Winter Density. Some years back it came in a French lettuce seed mix. It grew well that spring and summer, but it wasn't our favorite. We ignored it and it went to seed. That winter, and every winter since, we've had Winter Density volunteers to sustain us through the winter. It's still not our top favorite, but that doesn't mean it's not a good lettuce. Kind of like getting a homemade apple pie when you really prefer fudge brownies. There is something quite satisfying about growing your own lettuce nearly all year round. We've never even covered it and the only time we ever lost it was when we had ice on the trees (and lettuce) for two weeks. You could grow it in containers during the winter, moving it in for extremely severe weather. Winter Density also goes by a couple of French names. You can find it at Johnny's Select Seeds. Welcome aboard! Seedmama PS The OSU fact sheets have been extrememly difficult to access lately. I finally broke down and ordered some paper copies this week. The recommended planting dates for head or leaf lettuce, plants or seed, are February 15 to March 10.

The dew point is merely the temperature to which the air would have to cool (at a constant pressure and constant water vapor content) in order to reach saturation. Then, when saturation occurs, depending on other factors and how they come together, you can get fog, clouds, precipitation, dew or frost. Your dew point can be lower than your air temperature but it is never greater than your air temperature. When your air temperature and dewpoint are very close or the same, the air generally has a high relative humidity value. The dewpoint can affect how comfortable or uncomfortable we humans (and other animals) feel. When dewpoints are lower than 65 degrees, we generally feel relatively comfortable. When dewpoints are 65 degrees or higher, we start to feel sticky and uncomfortable. Dewpoint is not the same as Relative Humidity. RH values indicate how close the air is to being saturated. Frost is caused by radiational cooling, which happens as the earth loses heat (generally because the sun has set) and temperatures drop below the freezing point at ground level. There are different degrees of frost and you can see anything from light damage to no damage to heavy damage. A freeze is caused by advective cooling. Normally this occurs when a mass of cold air moves into the area (via the passage of a cold front, for example, with cold Arctic air) Freezes and frosts damage plants in different ways. Oh, and the use of the term hard freeze generally means temperatures are expected to fall below 28 degrees for along enough period to do harm. I haven't read up on this in a few years, but the NWS has guidelines for the issuance of each different type of freeze, hard freeze or frost warning. They only use them during the growing season. A Frost Advisory is issued when the predicted temperature is expected to fall to 36 degrees or lower in the next 3 to 30 hours. Please understand that you can have frost even at temperatures up to 40 degrees. I often see patchy frost at 37 or 38 degrees, but only rarely at 39 and I am not sure if I've ever seen it at 40 degrees. A Freeze Warning is issued if there is forecast to be an 80% or higher chance that the air temperatures are expected to fall to 32 degrees or low in the next 3 to 30 hours. A Hard Freeze Warning is similar to a Freeze Warning, but with the temperature threshold being 28 degrees. Sometimes the actual air temperatures do not behave as forecast (last night is an example of this) and the NWS has to hurriedly issue a Frost Advisory, Freeze Warning or Hard Freeze Warning with no notice, putting it into effect immediately.

Lars' Algerian Chicken is easy, delicious and just as good cold or at room temperature as it is hot. It's good reheated or made into sandwiches or chicken salad too. I like it a lot. However, here in the sticks I can't often pick up the more unusual ingredients, and I never have fenugreek so I leave it out. You pretty much HAVE to have the sumac, though, so I got some from Penzey's and it lasts for several chickens. I don't always have whole chickens either, and I've just used chicken pieces successfully. And, of course, I never grill, so I do mine in the oven at 350F, works just fine although it would probably be much better on the grill. Algerian Roasted Chicken Lars--based on recipe by Chef Farid Zadi 1 whole chicken 4 cloves of garlic 1-1/2 tbsp Kosher salt 1 teaspoon of sumac 1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds 1/2 tsp coriander seeds 1/2 tsp fenugreek 3/4 tsp cumin 3 tablespoons of butter, room temperature 1 tbsp minced Thai basil (or 1/2 tsp fennel) 2 lemons 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper extra herbs, 1 tsp each minced fresh oregano and basil, optional 4-5 sprigs of thyme Start charcoal for outdoor barbeque, using large chunks of mesquite wood and charcoal. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with a rack. Slide your fingers under the breasts to separate the skin from the meat, turn the chicken over and do the same with the thighs. Mash the garlic with 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt in a mortar and pestle or finely chop the garlic and incorporate the salt into it with the side of your knife or back of a spoon. Add the sumac, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, and cumin and mix to pulverize the seeds. Add butter and basil and combine to mix. Tuck pieces of the butter into the "pockets" under the skin. Squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the chicken, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle freshly ground black pepper. Season the cavity with pepper, tuck in the lemon halves and more herbs into the cavity if desired. Place the chicken on the barbeque and cover, leaving vents fully open to maintain heat. Baste the chicken every 15 minutes alternating water and pan drippings. Midway through cooking turn the chicken 90 degrees. Continue frequent basting. The cooking time for a 3-1/2 pound bird is about 1-1/2 hours, depending on how hot your fire is. Cook to an internal temperature of 160°, measured in the thigh. Let rest covered about 30 minutes before carving. Squeeze fresh lemon juice into the roasting juices, and pour into a gravy boat. Add salt, if needed. Annie