Diane, It is a challenge to figure it out, isn't it! It is safe to say that I could grow zero brussels sprouts and my family would be delighted...so that one is easy to figure out. (I like 'em fresh but no one else cares for them. LOL) Today we were looking at fresh produce at Central Market in Fort Worth (yes, I was in hog heaven, thank you very much) and Tim sampled a tiny cup of black-eyed peas. Now, several thoughts ran through my mind. First of all, do they "have to" give away samples of black-eyed peas to get people to try them? Secondly, doesn't everyone know what blackeyed peas taste like? LOL Finally, when my dear husband looked at the bag of more-or-less freshly hulled black-eyed peas (maybe a pint of fresh peas in that bag) and saw they were $5.99, I practically purred like a kitten, thinking of all the pint bags of freshly-shelled (then frozen) black-eyed peas in our freezer.....all of which grew right here in our good old Oklahoma soil with no chemicals, etc. I felt smug and content (in a good way, NOT in a conceited 'holier-than-thou-because-we-grow-our-own" way) but more than that I felt grateful that we are able to grow our own and process/preserve them to be eaten later on. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world to be feeding your family from your own garden and to know where your food came from and how it was raised. I have a pressure canner but have only done BWB stuff this year along with tons of dehydrating and freezing. I go on canning binges....can a lot some years, less in others. With this year's recurring rains, I've put up more food for the 'off-season' than in many prior drought years, and I am really happy about that. So far, one thing I've learned is that no matter how many beans and peas I plant, we eat them all long before the next gardening season rolls around. So, I am planning on lots more next year. Yesterday I picked Roma beans from the garden...and I don't even remember which variety I have except that they are the bush form and that it was from Franchi Simenti seed, and they are so good that I know I must plant many more of them next year. I can only remember one year in recent memory....and it might have been 2004....where I put up enough beans to get us from one gardening year to the next without running out. Growing the soil is why new beds take me so long to build too. In the long run, it is worth it of course, but turning clay into great garden loam certainly involves a long commitment! And, yet, I don't know how we could have done it any differently. I have found very few (almost no) spots in Love County that have a nice, rich, humusy sandy loam that is naturally occurring. For most people here, there are three choices: very sandy soil that drains too quickly in dry years and is prone to nematodes, heavy, thick red (but highly fertile) clay like we have here, and caliche clay full of rocks. So, with those three to choose from, I'm glad we have the clay, but I also appreciate our one small band of sand that cuts across the yard. I greow pecan and fruit trees in that band of sandy soil and they love it. Got your eye on a specific brand of canner? As for jars, I collect them. hee hee I can't walk past jars or lids without wanting more......"just in case". Even if I have plenty of empty jars sitting in storage waiting to be used, I almost have a panic attack when the stores start putting the jars and lids on clearance in the fall. What if I need jars a month or two from now and can't find any? (This has never happened--I always have jars tucked away in the pantry or in a closet, but "what if?" LOL). I always thought I'd have a smaller garden as time went on and we got older, but now I'm growing enough for 2 families instead of 1, so I'm growing more. (Although, DS and his wife and their daughter don't eat as many veggies as we do, except for french fries and green beans...and salsa.) My all-time favorite dedicated kitchen garden spot was an 8' x 8' raised bed in which I planted a "Salsa Garden". It was just outside the back door and in it I had tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and cilantro. If you had a sudden urge to make salsa, everything was right there. I later planted a few rose bushes in that raised bed and enjoyed that, but I liked it better as a salsa garden. Dawn

I'm glad you had such a good shopping trip. Looking forward to seeing the haul. As soon as the dish Nazi I live with turns his back, I'll get pics and post them. He's starting to get a little suspicious of the " that old thing.. I've had that forever" line :>) lol -- I got busted this morning. DH (also known as the Dish Police) just noticed something I put up last week. "Where did that come from? I've never seen it before." He knows UPS delivered some stuff last week, so I confessed. He just laughed. He also finally noticed that there were *two* lamps just alike in different rooms. He thought that I had just been moving one from room to room. lol Lee

Cathy, thanks for the link. After I posted this, I started googling and found a lot of negative material on this company and this type of sales technique. There are a lot of complaints about the hard sell, the scheduling difficulties, and the poor accommodations (bunk beds! Yikes!). Even if the company is totally above-board and things go smoothly, it doesn't sound like the right kind of vacation for our lifestyle and our finances. Next time, I won't be tempted by the thought of doing something so inappropriate for us just because it's "free." I sent my kids the link to this post. My DD said: "Even if you don't drink cocktails or go to fancy shows, there are hidden charges, and you can bet on paying more than the base amount that's been quoted. Since you're on the boat every night, you will wind up going to the shows, because the state rooms are too small to hole up in. On the plus side, it's a readymade vacation so you don't have to do tons of planning to make it happen, and you deserve a treat for your 40th anniversary. If you wait to plan the perfect itinerary "someday," it might not happen... so there's a certain benefit to grabbing an available opportunity if it's good (even if not absolutely perfect). It's been a lot of years since your last vacation!" And my DS commented: "If you're prepared to spend any money at all for a trip/vacation, what do actually want to do? If not a cruise, then what? Would you rather travel somewhere else? Would you rather embark on some sort of event or activity? Also ... could you find a better deal without the obligations?" Wise kids! Thanks, everybody, for your thoughts! Sue

I'm a 60 year old woman, we have a LARGE, old (read, much heavier than the newer models) snowblower. We have 2 houses. So far this year? I've almost exclusively cleared both houses. The big machine is no problem to operate, and I can almost always start it with one pull. The timing of the snow this year has been overnight, with DH having to go to work the next morning, so once he's gone, I'm up and out, and clearing our shared driveway, the front walks of about 5 houses and a couple of other driveways. THen, as soon as we're able, we've headed to the country house, where I've cleared the huge wrap-around driveway. DH DID drive to the country alone this past Friday after work--and cleared the driveway. But that was only because my aunt had died Thurs evening, and I had to stay home to make the arrangements and to start cleaning out her apts. Interesting question, though--just this past Wed, when the snow stopped, a former neighbor who works for the town drove by. Some of us (women) were out clearing our walks. He wanted to know where our husbands were. It occurred to me, I'd only seen one man out shovelling that morning--but I'd seen at least 6 women. So around here, the guys either sleep in, or go to work, while the women (some are housewives, some are school teachers and get 'snow days') do the clearing.