@Rob, the first pic with the leaves growing inside the pit is upside down, the flat bigger part should be at the bottom submerged in water and the thin part above water 😀. I had great success (4 out of 5 plants) by scoring the bottom of the seed before putting in water toothpick method and leaving it on kitchen window sill. Temperature is 23-24C inside. The seed get sunlight about 4 hours in the morning to midday. I put a bit of turmeric in the water and only change it every 2 weeks at first. When the root grows 2 inches I add a bit of potting soil to the water and change half the water once a week. I transplant the seed when the root is about 4-5” depending on how thick it is. I left them outside during summer. My plants are green and thriving but today a chipmunk digged one of my pot and half the seed of my best avocado plant fell out. Not sure if my plant will survive with only half the seed feeding it 😢. Anyone knows?

I just made the BEST recipe for my book club last week, using chili sauce, for shrimp dip. The book was " Long Journey Home" About a Afrian Boy that found his home land at war at age 12. It is a quick good read. We make recipes around the theme of the book, so I googled African recipes. I found great recipes, but the best was the one I'm going to share with you. The first night I used the sauce as a dip for cold shrimp the next night I made a hot dish sauting the shrimp, aspargus, pineapple and the sauce and severed over rice. It is going to be my new, favorite company dish. 1 pound fresh or frozen jumbo shrimp (16 to 20) 4 stalks celery Red Dip (recipe follows) Pink dip (recipe follows) Red Dip: 2 tablespoons Red Pepper Paste(recipe follows) 1 cup chili sauce Pink Dip: 2 tablespoons Red Pepper Paste (recipe follows) 2/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing 1 tablespoon lemon juice Red Pepper Paste: 1/4 cup dry red wine 1 tsp. cayenne pepper 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground ginger 1/8 tsp. cardamom 1/8 tsp. ground coriander 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp. ground cloves 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp. ground allspice 1/8 tsp. black pepper 1/8 of a medium onion 1 small clove garlic 1/4 cup paprika Directions: 1. Clean shrimp and cook according to package directions; refrigerate. Cut celery into sticks. Refrigerate in cold water. 2. Prepare dips. Serve in bowls with shrimp and celery. Red Dip: Mix all ingredients. Makes about 1 cup. Pink Dip: Mix all ingredients. Makes about 3/4 cup. Red Pepper Paste: 1. Measure 2 tablespoons wine and remaining ingredients except paprika into blender container; cover. Blend until smooth, scraping sides of blender frequently. With remaining wine, wash spices down sides of blender. 2. Heat paprika in saucepan 1 minute. Add spice mixture in small amounts, stirring until smooth. Cook unitl hot, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Red and Pink Dips can be prepared 48 hours in advance. Store covered in refrigerator. I would use food processor instead of blender. It was hard to scrape the sides of the blender! * didn't like the pink sauce as well. Next time I will make this sauce using the chili recipe on this posting.

I also have a big Excaliber 9 tray dehydrator, but have given up on tomato powder, my tomatoes never seem to get dry enough to BE powder, and it turns into a tomato brick, even with the dessicant packs. (sigh) I do dry apples, and use them annually for Elery's Mother's Apple Stack Cake, I've become "keeper of the recipe" and it is required for Christmas. Any not used for that just gets eaten as snacks by the Grandkids, they love them. I always dehydrate zucchini "chips", I bought some Garlic Sriracha seasoning from Costco and sprinkled the slices before drying. Elery loved them and ate them instead of potato or tortilla chips. I always dry some "plain" to put into soups too, and I make "zucchini candy", which is just zucchini, cut into "worms", boiled in a concentrated koolaid/sugar mixture and then dehydrated and tossed in sugar. Not healthy, but the kids love 'em. Leeks are handy dried, all the family members want them, it's easy and convenient to use and I also dehydrate chopped onion in the fall when the onions are ready to go into storage. I dehydrate sliced garlic, I peel the garlic and toss the cloves into the food processor with the slicing blade. They dry well and relatively quickly and can quickly be ground to powder, used as is, or crumbled in the mortar and pestle, depending on your needs. I keep garlic for several months and then when it starts to sprout, it goes into the dehydrator, usually about February. Peppers? Oh yes, always peppers, both hot and sweet. Elery also likes to take the dried hot peppers and grind them to powder which he then puts on EVERYTHING! Mushrooms when they go on sale or when I can forage some morels, but I use far more than I ever have, so mostly mushrooms get purchased at the grocery store. Herbs of all kinds go into the dehydrator, although I freeze basil, I think it loses flavor when dried. So, rosemary, curry plant, sage, oregano, chives, parsley. Thyme is sturdy, I dig that right out of the snow so I don't bother to dry it and I'm still looking for a good spot for some lovage. I have dehydrated jerky, but it seems to lose its flavor quickly and become bland and chewy. It's really good when it's freshly made, though... Oh, and various fruit "leathers" for the grandkids, although I quickly learned not to roll them up in waxed paper no matter what I find on the internet. That stuff will stick to it forever! I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it. I store all my dehydrated stuff in glass canning jars, I have a lot of the old blue ones that were at Dad's, and I don't put them into the canner, they are strictly for dry storage. And, like Sleevendog, I get some dried beans from other sources. I do get the 32 bean soup from North Bay. It really does have 32 kinds of beans, as well as 8 or 9 vegetables, some barley, nice seasonings. I really like it. Annie

According to AI: "In January 1974, President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, which made daylight saving time permanent for two years. The law was intended to help with the national gas crisis by increasing evening light. How it started The law was popular at first, with 79% of Americans supporting it in December 1973. However, public opinion quickly changed due to safety concerns and late sunrises. By the end of January, Florida's governor called for the law's repeal after eight children were killed by cars in the dark. By summer, public support had plummeted. How it ended In October 1974, Congress voted to return to standard time. The US returned to the twice-yearly changing of the clock that we know today. " Seems to me that children being killed by cars in the dark isn't a 'stupid defense'. It also depends on which side of the time zone you are on as there will be an hour difference in sunrise already. For example, Detroit, 7:58 am and 5:02 pm on 12/21/2025 vs. 7:11 am and 4:06 pm for Portland ME ... same time zone. So if DST were permanent, then Detroit sunrise on that day would be around 9 in the morning when most children are already at school.