Gosh, Thanks Dibbit for the warning. It's about a 20 lb boulder, not very porous, and it didn't explode in the wood stove (yikes) so maybe we got lucky. Of concern to me also was placement inside the coop. Did'nt want any body accidentally stepping on it, so we had to put some thought toward that too. The worst may be over - we should be back to the good ole gloom and rain soon. It would have to be a loooong extension cord by the way - thru the snow/wet. No, that rock was cold by morning, but maybe it raised the temp a degree or two for a while. I know in regions where cold weather lasts many months, a larger flock in a nice tight coop will keep each other warm, but we only have two. Maybe I'm worrying too much. My co-workers made fun of me...they don't understand why we would go to such trouble today for a couple of birds we would consider butchering one day in the future.(They really have trouble with that!) I simply told them I preferred my chicken frozen WITHout feathers). Whatever! Thanks all, for the wise words and suggestions. LF(RJ)

>> "No form of vinegar changes body pH or has any effect on toxins. The body's natural processes, mediated largely through the liver and kidneys, eliminate waste products and toxic substances." It's as if you are still rejecting the efficacy of Cinchona bark for treating malaria because the Amazonian Indians haven't discovered the formula for the quinine it contains. Instead, they say that the bark of the Cinchona tree contains the spirit of the God Xohopichulato, which destroys the evil spirit that causes malaria. If you want to rest in your beliefs that there is no Xohopichulato and therefore Cinchona cannot help with malaria, fine. Just don't pretend it is science. It is arrogant ethnocentrism, not scientific empiricism. Your arguments are based on an arbitrary and artificial definition of the word 'toxin'. You are ignoring the fact that ordinary substances can build up to toxic levels under many conditions - for example, glucose can build up to toxic levels when there is insulin resistance. In such a case, anything that reduces insulin resistance or lowers glucose levels would in fact be a 'detoxification' process. Likewise, immune hormones like the interferons and interleukins are necessary under certain conditions, but at higher doses (ie when there is infection or chronic inflammation) they often cause side effects that range from unpleasant to lethal. In SARS, H5N1 bird flu, and other killer influenzas, the body's immune system destroys the body. Immune hormones that might sometimes be beneficial are produced at toxic levels. This is quite different from your idea of metabolic toxins that are normally handled by the kidneys and liver. The short chain fatty acids present in vinegar (acetate, proprionate, butyrate) have been repeatedly shown to lower inflammatory cytokines (which have been implicated as a contributor to migraines). These simple compounds also affect levels of leptin, adiponectin and other compounds that regulate glucose, and there is research implicating this in the pathogenesis of migraines. You have stooped to pseudoscience by refusing to look at the evidence that vinegar can dramatically change certain chemicals in the body. You seem to take comfort in linguistic tautologies about 'toxins' that have little bearing on the underlying facts of the matter. Here is a link that might be useful: Glucose, Adiponectin, Immune Hormones and Migraine.

Just a bit of food for thought, the drug companies that are trying to get a "new" drug approved by the FDA are the same drug companies that are PAYING for that testing process. Quite frankly, I don't trust any of them. Plants were created for a purpose, many of them do have healing properties that those drug companies some people put so much stock in would go to any lengths to keep people from learning about or believing in. Tell me, what would happen if the world was to find out that ACV could help with Acid Reflux and/or chronic indigestion? *Grins* Exactly. They'd stop buying "the purple pill" and start buying ACV. Personally, I trust the products that God made before I'd trust those which are man made. ACV is made from apples. The "mother" mentioned in this thread are simply vital nutrients and minerals our bodies benefit from which are lost in the pasteurization process of the "grocery store" brands. ACV is acidic by nature, but when your body burns it, the ash created by the process of converting it to calories is "Base" in nature, which balances out the body's Ph. There ARE health benefits of ACV, many. But you'll never see a "clinical trial" of ACV. Why? Well think about it. Who pays the bills in a clinical trial? What drug company would want it proven clinically that ACV does the same thing as their "wonder pill?" Not to mention many prescription drugs are based after that which occurs naturally in nature. Personally, I have taken ACV for over 3 years now. I have gone from a jean size 24 to a jean size 8. But you must remember that no "weight loss" product, no exercise, nothing works overnight. It is a gradual process. My advice? If you're going to try ACV, then make a commitment to stay on it for at least 3 months. That's how long it took before I began to see results. The first thing I noticed was that my craving for junk food began to wane. I began to crave healthy food. I began to drink more water, I began to get full faster. I had more energy, I felt better. But I've also not been sick in 3 years. I've had kids with bad colds standing over me while I'm kneeling down at work and coughing right in my face, and not gotten sick. No stuffy noses, no sore throats, no flu. The only time I had a problem was when I stopped taking it for a few months. I didn't realize how much ACV doing for me until then. I was miserable, I just felt like crap. And within that 2 month time frame, I gradually began to go back to eating junk. Within a few weeks of going back on ACV, I felt much, much better. Most of the weight loss I experienced occurred during the first 6 months, mainly during a 2-3 month time frame. Within a few months, I'd noticed that my clothes were a bit big. 6 months after beginning, I went up and tried on clothes to find that I was a size 10. Concerned that there might be another reason for my weight loss I went to the doctor, and was told that I was in perfect...

Hey! One thing to remember about ACV and other home remedies is that they have been effective for thousands of years, and in my book that's a lot of empirical evidence, AKA science. Think of "modern drugs," such as the lowly aspirin based on the biochemistry of Willow Bark, in many cases are pharmacological equivalents of these natural medicines.� As someone pointed out, modern medicines (and their drug company manufacturers) are motivated by profit. Synthesizing natural components allows these folks to use the empirical history of these common folk medicines to produce safe drugs that they can fancy up with a quasi Latin/Greek/Utopian name and call it a breakthrough: Avandia, Lyrika, etc � There's a wonderful book out there titled Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber. He explains the biology of cancer. Simply put, �the body becomes "inflamed" (think arthritis, infections, bad colds), weakening the body. In this environment, wild cancer cells which we all have (and more created all the time by environmental carcinogens as "free radicals") settle down in weak parts of the inflamed body. The microtumors then start to grow, especially helped by high blood sugar.� Servan-Schreiber explains the profound effect of diet in this process, namely that the Western high fat-high carb/sugar/high salt diet produces many of the preconditions of cancer and that eating foods that have anti-inflammatory and free radical-controlling properties can nip cancers in the bud and even reduce tumors' size. He explains the biochemistry of these factors and HOW they work.� My point is that these long-lived "home remedies" can work, including ACV, by balancing the body so that our diseases of excess can be mitigated.� Yes, everyone's results may differ. This goes with any allopathic medication as well.� For me, ACV has already (positively) affected my blood sugar and energy level. My daughter has been using it and it cleared up her acne. I'm hopeful about the weight loss and other benefits, realizing some of tge benefits may take a while.� On another note, the book Sugar Blues documents the transformation of beet/cane sugar from luxury item (1600s through ca. mid-1800s) to increasingly available (industrialization + British imperialism/trade) general food enhancer. In the late 1800s sugar was declared to be a poison, probably because of all those rotten teeth, diabetes, and other side effects. Then - surprise, surprise - the sugar lobby (probably one of the first with all those tropical perqs - cheap labor, rich tropical land, etc.) had thaw law reversed. Soon the Western world was awash in candy, cheap pastries (think: twinkles, those nasty artificial mass produced chocolate chip cookies) and sugar enhanced foods (ketchup, hot dogs, French fries, etc.).� So when in doubt grow your own food and make it yourself. Ever tasted a sun-warmed tomato? �There is absolutely no resemblance to the hard, flavorless things in the grocery store. I just made a (sooooo simple) batch of pickles, nothing like what Safeway has to offer.� The point is if you make it or grow, your food doesn't need all that sugar, salt, and fat to make it taste good. �Trust your own taste buds and don't trust those seductive dietary demons.� Sent from my iPod