They also love to eat Rue, an old medicinal type herb, with lovely blue-green, lacy foliage. Precure Nursery sells it, as well as very nice Fennel and Dill plants. I know they don't spray the Dill and Fennel because they are considered food plants, but they may spray the Rue on occasion. If the Rue is sitting on the tables with the Fennel and Dill, it is relatively safe to say it has not been sprayed. If, however, it is located on a table some distance from the Dill and Fennel, it has been sprayed. I know one summer they had a problem with mealy bugs on the Rue, so they moved it to the Perennial plant section and sprayed them. Someone purchased the Rue plants unsuspectingly, and when the cats consumed the Rue, they died. That said, I highly recommend Precure because they sell a lot of butterfly host and nectar plants. I have purchased other host plants such as Blue Crown Passion Vine (for the Gulf Fritillarys), Pussytoes (Antennaria, for the American Ladies), Pearly Everlasting (American Ladies), and other things. Their herb plants are usually pretty good sized. I have to go there today to get more Rue and Fennel, so I can let you know the status of their Rue if you would like. The thing I like about Rue is that it is also the food plant for the Giant Swallowtails, so you would have 2 different butterflies using them for larval food. The Black Swallowtail is Oklahoma's state butterfly, too! If you want to, you could hand-raise a couple of the caterpillars so your daughter can see the life cycle up close. Just use a plastic container, with airholes punched in the lid, small enough the larvae cannot get thru them. I put a paper towel in the bottom (change daily cuz caterpillars poop a lot), and add fresh Dill leaves in the morning and evening, removing whatever is left of the old. I use the plastic containers and cut out the inside portion of the top, put a paper towel over the container and put the lid back on (you will have just the rim of the lid left) or you can cover the entire container with a paper towel secured with a rubber band. When they reach the last instar of growth, they will began to wander around the container and empty their guts. If your container is tall enough, you can put some sticks or something wooden, stand them up or lean them against the sides, and they will pupate either on these or on the sides, top of container. When the cat has found a place to pupate, it will spin a "harness" and position itself securely against the stick or side of the container where it will remain motionless. Eventually, they shed their skin for the last time and in its place is a chrysalis, either brown or green. Inside its interior is turning to liquid and then reconstituting as a butterfly. In about 7-10 days, you will see the chrysalis begin to darken. Within a day or so, the butterfly will slide out of the chrysalis and hang to dry. The wings are all crumpled up and damp looking. Don't disturb it. The butterfly will begin to pump fluid into the wings, the wings will extend and dry. After a few hours, the butterfly will be ready to fly. This may sound difficult, but it is not at all. I have used containers like large, plastic pretzel containers from Sam's Club, mesh cages purchased from Educational Science online, butter/margarine containers, etc. I cover them with paper towels held in place with rubber bands. The most important things are keeping the containers clean, and providing fresh food daily, twice daily when they get big. You will notice them growing and eating more and more. Congrats on your big, beautiful caterpillars! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Black Swallowtail Life Cycle

Meat can be made into meatloaf or pate, or cooked as a braise or stew, which require little chewing. Salads require a lot of chewing. Try soups, terrines, hummus, smoothies, etc. Remember that you need to chew some to stimulate the saliva interaction that's an important part of digestion. Just use the softer stuff when you're really in pain. Quinoa needs to be "fluffy" to be nice to eat. The Kitchn has instructions which emphasize the fluffy. I haven't cooked through this one, but it looks right. The rubbing and rinsing step is important. What are you doing for the TMJ? If it hurts that much to chew, you might try an anti-inflammatory, and since you're talking about changing your diet, you could go towards an anti-inflammatory diet as well. Do you have a "wet" heating pad? (Not literally wet, but draws moisture from the air as it heats.) It's excellent for loosening up the muscles. Do you get any kind of physical therapy? Your insurance should pay for it. Besides traditional PT, chiropractors and Feldenkreis therapists have strategies for helping TMJ. If you're feeling tight, this really helps: Sit up or stand. Holding your head still, look up by moving your eyes to look up. Look down the same way while slowly dropping your jaw. Look up again while slowly raising your jaw closed. Repeat a few times. Now look up while slowly lowering your jaw, and look down while raising it. Repeat a few times. Now do the same side to side: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the right, then look left while moving your jaw to the left. Repeat several times. Reverse: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the left, then look left while moving your jaw to the right. Repeat. This sends the muscles into WTF mode and they get confused about how to overtighten and give up for awhile. Take care of yourself. Work the problem, not the symptoms.

KSWL, Yes, so you know the Wall Street mentality. It is understandable though when 95% of your pay is "bonus" and usually the bonuses are pretty subjective at the individual level. In any given year they can be zero or a heck of a lot. Yes, it keeps you tethered (as does the form of the payout, a good bit of it stock). SueB, What serendipity! Thats more fun than one more Christmas present, no? Tell 'em to hide some more! Running, DH got me studs for mother's day a few years ago, and it occurs to me they may be (may be?) the one thing that truly never goes out of style! Sounds like you deserve 'em! Outside, Too funny! A shotgun! But sweet that he knew exactly what you wanted. : ) Tina, I love to send and recieve flowers, but I am very particular about quality/design. ONe year at work I received three different bouquets of roses. ONe was from Dad and two were from love interests. That caused a stir, and I never said a word, LOL. I like your reply. I retired a few years ago, for about a year. Then an exboss recruited me to his new firm. I say I work "one day a week" now; i go into our office 1 day, but I also do some work from home. Once in a while I travel. It is perfect for me. I have to say, I do not recommend flat out retirement at all,and I hope to do this forever.

Chloebud, stop by any time! However, the berries will be ready about June, plan ahead, LOL. Some cherries might still be left then too! heatheron, that's a very neat idea for your pie crust, I'll have to remember that. Your son is right, though, crisps are easier than pie, and equally delicious. Carol, organic produce is expensive here too, so I grow as much of my own as I can. I'm trying to figure out how to keep the birds out of the cherry trees, the chipmunks out of the strawberries, the turkeys out of the corn patch, the deer out of the garden and the groundhogs out of everything! One of my sweet cherry trees is the creamy colored Royal Ann, which is supposed to fool the birds and they think it isn't ripe. We'll see, I guess... I have made cherry jam from the sour cherries but I seem to be the only person that likes it, and I made cherry BBQ sauce too, but it wasn't a big hit. I did make an awesome cherry sorbet from them, though, and I'll make that again. Annie