There is a vast amount of research on lightweight concretes. Unfortunately most of it is focussed on materials and techniques that are not readily available to amateurs. Structural lightweight concretes are widely made, typically by replacing some or all of the aggregates and cement with various types of fly ash. These are roughly 2/3 the weight of regular concrete and are about the same strength as regular concrete. This is probably stronger than most of use need for our projects and heavier than we would like. Really lightweight concretes in construction are mostly aerated concretes where some or all of the aggregate is replaced by air bubbles. This provides for densities from about half of regular concrete down to a little heavier than expanded polystyrene. The lighter grades have no structural use, they are only really strong enough to support themselves. The technique is probably beyond anything any of use can do. Simple lightweight aggregates such as perlite, polystyrene, and vermiculite are used in industry mostly for non-structural projects such as poured insulation. Little research has been done on strengthening these products because alternatives are available. It is probably fruitless to try since the aggregates themselves are so weak. There are some simple approaches to creating strong lightweight concretes. Leaving out the sand from a regular concrete mix makes a big difference and you can gain back a lot of the strength using admixes and fibres. Using strong lightweight aggregates such as pumice, slags, or fly ash is another approach that is fairly simple. The problems come with finding and using the aggregates. Fly ash in particular is nasty stuff and slag cement also includes lime which is bad, while pumice is hard to find and expensive. The fundamental hypertufa idea of using peat is bad for strength because the voids it creates are too large and you need to use relatively high-cement mixes to be able to join the coarse aggregates. I find that hypertufa recipes need to include sand to get good strength. Again, there are lighter alternatives such as fibres or a reinforcing interior framework. One thing I would suggest to anyone who is struggling to combine strength and light weight is to learn how to mix and cure your concrete. Too much water, improper dry mixing, and insufficient or incorrect curing will dramatically reduce the strength of your work. Also correct laying of the concrete to exclude air bubbles is important, although not really appropriate to hypertufa. For anyone thinking of experimenting with non-hydraulic cements, here is what slaked lime can do when it eats the skin off your fingers. Oh, the things I do just to provide informative photographs!

Thank you for sharing Marlen's wonderful story. I miss her so much and always stand a little straighter when I see our American flag and hear our National Anthem. And her recipes were the best.

I'm glad the sideways thing worked for you. I'll have to give that a try. I used to be able to take any kind of pills and any amount without drinking anything. I was young then I guess. Smiles. Now they all get stuck so I always take my pills with food. I just take a decent sized bite of food, chew it a few times, shove the pill or pills in and swallow. The pills go right down with the food since you are really used to swallowing something bigger than the pill. I do follow with eating a few more bites since I'm usually in the middle of eating anyway. Been using that method for quite a few years and it's been good so far.

It's amazing that none of us had never heard of the 'turn your head' method of pill-swallowing. (We'll have to get to the bottom of this! Who knows a physical medicine MD?) When you raise your arms above your head you expand the ribcage and allow your lungs to expand more fully. Then you can push more air out of your lungs to better expell whatever is choking you. I inhaled a small green pea at dinner last night. (DH shouldn't make me laugh when I'm eating!). Due to asthma, my lung power is only 70%. With my arms up, I was able to cough out that darn pea, first try.