Many of the things mentioned, are from previous safety failures in farm management. He considers his farm clean to process meat. Uninspected, unobserved, the animal and meat handling could be anything! I have seen home butchering done in the barn aisle, carcass dropped onto an old bloody sheet or canvas to cut up for packages. No washing of the butcher person, he is wearing his overalls, old muddy barn boots as he wrestles the half and other portions onto some boards across sawhorses to cut up. Open air, lots of flies on the meat, because it is a warm spring or fall day. Flies come on over from the paddocks of contained animals amd manure in them. Yep, I REALLY want to get my meat from him! Actually, I no longer accepted dinner invites from those folks after helping with some job or just visiting!! You would never know about that "handling method" as you buy those little meat packages. Whining writer could do as others do, sell the portions of animal. Then he will have animal processed at the butcher location, customers pick up the finished product from the Gov't. inspected, licensed facility. It is not going to cost him any more at all. Gov't. Inspected can mean a lot of things, they are not all equal. However the place and methods get looked at now and again, better than nothing. Hiring regulations are to protect the worker. If a farmer or his family members use tools that are elderly, questionable with no safety guards or bad wiring, that is a family choice. Hired help should not be forced to work under those conditions. Power tools, by their design, are not something you let small kids or younger kids use. They come with manuals of safety, handling instructions that no one reads, to protect the user. Do the farm employers take time to do safety training of these employees, to use the various tools? Not often, if at all. Everyone already "knows" how to do farm stuff!! Kids seldom will argue with an elder person if told to do a job. Kids do not have the experience to spot dangers or understand the problems that might occur in doing a job the wrong way. They don't often think, period! Kids want to earn money, are not going to worry about the dangers they place themselves in, while doing that job. Plus kids forget what you said, ignore the directions they were given before, THINK for themselves. Original thought by kids might add to the dangers!! Their "kid brains" just work that way! Part of growing up is brain development, which can't happen before brain is ready to grow that way. Actual body development may hinder kids in trying to do things, they have different visual fields, motor skills. They often can't help how they think and react, just an age thing. Each grows up at their own speed, should not be grouped by age in all cases. Big size or older age, is NOT mature in body or thinking!! Adult farm workers may not read well, or have used this kind of tool or machine before. They SHOULD be shown how to use it, have the guards and safeties in place to protect them. I can't believe how often the safety features are over-ridden or removed to make it easier to get hurt. Yet it happens ALL THE TIME. I guess you have to protect people from themselves because they will hurt and kill themselves if not supervised. I will agree there are many conflicting and peculiarly written laws in farming. Still were always written for a good, original reason. Farming is about the most dangerous occupation in the US. I think deep-sea fishing is number one. So many places and ways to get hurt in any farming operation. Even if just reading the laws makes you think about your lack of meeting the rules, you might CHANGE a couple things to be better/safer, for yourself. As we live in the setting, we lose our discerning eye for danger. No longer see the repaired cords, long extensions run to get power in a location, double plugs on an outlet, jury-rigging to keep a tractor running, instead of REALLY fixing it right. Just keep rounding up the loose animals, not fixing fence. Climbing the ladder with missing or cracked treads. Not turning off the tractor to unhitch the wagon by ourself, on the hill, with brakes we never repaired. Taking constant chances, which so far have not broken the odds of survival. Yet stuff like this IS a source of danger, we have become used to it or ignore the dangers. The Gov't. gets involved because this thinking is so prevailing, bad stuff never is fixed, endagers the hired help. Not acceptable as safety in Industry, or on the "old farm" either. People die with ignoring safety. The original writing is totally a rant, no one gets to do everything his own way, anyplace. Many nations are much more strict than the US. The food chain is very vulnerable anyplace in the length. It does need checking, to keep things somewhat safer than you would ever see with self-governing along the way.

Holey Sox, Marion!! They are all over the place on EBay! I sure wish I would have seen it coming, I would have bought up a bunch. Kate, I do have an extra Chef set, but since we are broke for Christmas, I was planning to send to my good friend in StLou. I bought her the Pilgrims a few years ago and she has been so happy with them. They may have them again since they aren't dated. I'll keep my eyes open for them. Here they are...along with the "Snow People" and "Mr and Mrs Santa". Sorry it's blurry. My camera does not take clear artificial light photos...but you get the idea. From Misc. Stuff Boy, this makes me love my salt n peppers even more. I think I have a collection, now! lol Dennis's daughter sent me trout shakers...1/2 the fish front diving in and the back 1/2 flipping out. I will have to be on the lookout for unique shakers in my travels from now on.

All these desserts sound scrumptious to me! I can just hear Paula Deen saying it's not yo' mama's banana pudding. I get distracted by her accent when watching her program and often end up missing some of the action, LOL. amck, my dd discovered a Buttermilk Brownie Cake recipe about a year ago, and now all the guys in our family want it on their birthdays. It is very moist, utterly delicious. Here's the recipe, in case you are interested: BUTTERMILK BROWNIE CAKE Cake ingredients: 2 c. sugar 2 c. all-purpose flour (dd gets better results w/bread flour) 1/4 c. unsweetened baking cocoa 1 c. water 1/2 c. oil 1/2 c. butter (1 stick) 1/2 c. buttermilk 1 tsp. baking soda 2 eggs, beaten 1 tsp. vanilla extract Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease (we use cooking spray) a 15" x 10" pan. (Dd uses a 9" x 13" glass dish, no problem.) 2. Stir sugar, flour, and cocoa together in a large bowl. 3. In a 2-qt. saucepan, bring water, oil, and butter to a boil. Add to flour mixture and mix well. 4. Add buttermilk, baking soda, beaten eggs, and vanilla, stirring well after each addition. Beat well and pour into prepared pan or dish. 5. Bake 20-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, in pan, on wire rack. Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 c. butter (1 stick) 1/4 c. unsweetened baking cocoa 1/3 c. buttermilk 4 c. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla Directions: Combine butter, cocoa, and buttermilk in a 3-qt. saucepan with a whisk; and bring to boil. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla extract with mixer at low speed. Spread over cake. This is very easy to transport because it stays in its baking dish. (I apologize if these directions seem overly simplistic. Dd is still a novice cook, so I specify things for her that experienced cooks would already know.)

Rhome: Wonderful pic of your family! How lucky you are. DH and I were alone this Thanksgiving. Lots of invites, but we decided to do a quiet day after having just returned from a little vacation. So it was an empty table at our house. DH had to watch his beloved Packers, so we ate on trays in front of the TV. When we do host Thanksgiving dinner, I use all the best linens, best china, the real crystal, good silver, etc. And we all dress appropriately. The grandkids love helping set the table, and it's a little education for them setting a proper place setting. I often do a craft project with them to make place cards and pretty napking rings out of ribbon. Great fun! They grow so fast, it won't be long and they will be rolling their eyes at me. But having everyone at the table is absolutely the best part!