"Yeah, right. Stop making this stuff up." It's right on the back of the bottle! And I wrote Dawn not Joy, you need to work on your reading comprehension. Dawn contains amines while Joy does not. If you want to disinfect cutting boards then use bleach in a spray bottle and let it sit 10 minutes(recommended by the CDC), vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are also good "green" disinfectants. Always use paper towels to clean up raw meat juices/blood, never use your dish rag/sponge because you will spread germs. This post was edited by moviegeek on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 17:05

I don't have any specific dietary advice other than 'choose healthy'. I was widowed very early in life (we were both in our early thirties), and I found that you can divide the world into two groups: those that have an understanding of what you are going through, and those that haven't the foggiest idea. That latter group is going to say some of the dumbest stuff imaginable to you, and you have to keep saying to yourself 'I suppose this person means well, but he/she is such an idiot' and smile politely. I don't have any great advice other than to know that with time the good memories float to the top and the bad days become fewer and fewer. The kitchen, though, is a minefield. I found that stuff in the kitchen triggered tearful memories more than any other items around the house. I actually gave away several of my pots and pans and started anew. Little things like dish towels as well; if you find they bother you, toss them. Finally, you have a societal dispensation right now to mourn in your own way, and most importantly, in your own time frame. Don't listen to those who say 'Well, by now you should be doing such and so'--they're idiots. Well-meaning idiots, perhaps, but idiots nonetheless. This post was edited by arley on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 10:06

Hi Jim: Getting to know neighbors is important. Few summers ago, our side of the street lost electricity for 4 hours, but people across the street still had their power on. So I went to my neighbor across the street to borrow her microwave to defrost a frozen dinner for my kid. Later on our refrigerator broke down, my husband fixed it ... but I had to put my food in the neighbor's refrigerators. One neighbor's washing machine broke down, and they had to travel far to get it washed. One product bad for roses: salt in chemical fertilizer, also salt in sewage sludge (milorganite), and salt in horse manure. Salt drives down potassium. However, salt is VERY USEFUL in lessening a cold. My kid caught a cold Feb. 6. Her cold lasted 1 day: she had fever & took a nap. I gave her Brewer's yeast & buckwheat honey & milk .. and her cold was gone the next day. My husband got it worse: 2 weeks of bloody nose, coughing .. he took daytime cold medicine (with caffeine), plus night-time cold medicine (Acetaminophen which suppress fever). What I learned from my microbiology professor: skip the cold medicine that suppress fever, since fever is nature's way of raising the temp. to kill the virus. She told the class to rinse their throat with very-salty-water at the 1st sign of a cold. Here's an article from New York Times: Gargle with salt water for colds "A sore, itchy throat and respiratory congestion are some of the more common symptoms of a cold, and gargling with salt water seems to help for several reasons. A saline solution can draw excess fluid from inflamed tissues in the throat, making them hurt less, said Dr. Philip T. Hagen, editor in chief of the “Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies,” which is due out in October. Dr. Hagen pointed out that gargling also loosens thick mucus, which can remove irritants like allergens, bacteria and fungi from the throat. In a randomized study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2005, researchers recruited almost 400 healthy volunteers and followed them for 60 days during cold and flu season. Some of the subjects were told to gargle three times a day. At the end of the study period, the group that regularly gargled had a nearly 40 percent decrease in upper respiratory tract infections compared with the control group, and when they did get sick, “gargling tended to attenuate bronchial symptoms,” the researchers wrote. Other studies have also found gargling helpful against sore throats and congestion. According to the Mayo Clinic, for best results, dissolve half a teaspoon of salt in a full glass of warm water and gargle the solution for a few seconds before spitting it out. Adults who want a more palatable remedy against cough and sore throat can try mixing warm water with lemon and honey. No need to spit it out." **** From Straw: I use more salt than the above to make sure it's strong enough to kill a broad-spectrum of bacteria and virus. I felt a sore throat last evening (Feb 21). Still energetic, but I immediately gargle with salty water. I ran a fever during the night, piled up blankets. I woke up at 7 am, gargle with salt, and I'm fine now as I drink brewer's yeast & buckwheat honey & milk. Buckwheat honey has been tested to be more effective than cough medicine. Brewer's yeast has been proven in studies to shorten the duration of cold, plus boosting immune system. This got to be the mildest one-night cold that I had ever experienced, the salt-gargle is VERY EFFECTIVE in stopping prolonged sore throat. WebMD on buckwheat honey What Brewer's yeast does is to help sleep easier, and deep sleep is the best way to boost immune system, unlike day-time cold medicine (with caffeine) which destroys sleep. Brewer's yeast is laxative like magnesium. Once a person is able to "go", thus get rid of toxins, the cold is lessened.

A neighbor has a daphne that is doing well. I think I am scared to fail and have plenty of other things to do right now so I will enjoy hers. Ingrid, we are in Santa Barbara, lower on the foothills where the good top soil ended up centuries ago-it was a marsh at some point. One can see the difference in the soil from one side of the garden to the other, one side being where the street runs and little was done by my dad or me to improve the soil vs the side the fruit trees used to live in. But it helps when counting roses in bloom to have too many roses since it raises the number that could be blooming at any time. I love the daffodils/narcissus patch. Dad must have picked a few up eons ago, over time and with chickens they were spread over the garden in patches. Because I don't want them in the veggie garden, when ever I found bulbs we set them aside and started that lower level. They are far too much on a grid pattern for me right now, but once they spread it should pretty much fill the area with them. They are ones that naturalize because I am far too lazy to dig up and store