I have ordered from McMurray, once a few years ago, and then just this spring. I had gotten 25 chicks the first time, they were great birds, the white leghorns lay like crazy! Even years later, if I give them a break during the winter, they start laying like fiends. I don't like the taste as much as the araucana hen eggs though. Those are the best tasting eggs, as far as chicken eggs go, IMO. This year, I got 27 chicks and the homesteaders delight. I learned to never order banties with full size chickens ever again. The 3 Japanese banties I got, one was DOA. Also the weather was very cold when they were shipped, which didn't help. :( The second banty wasn't looking very well, and died the next day. :( Another bird (a golden campine) had been acting funny, the poor thing would walk around in circles, and would twist its neck. The little one didn't eat and died 3 days later. Not sure if it was born with a neurological problem or what. None of the other birds have caught anything, so I'm guessing it was either a genetic defect or a neurological problem? So far I had one duckling die from the Homesteaders delight, not sure why. It had a closed eye when I got it, and it died from unknown causes a few days after I got it. Other than that the other chicks seem okay. I may try another hatchery because I want to try and find some different chickens and muscovy ducks. It's always good to shop around, IMO. Murray McMurray have good shipping prices however. Customer service is okay.

I have and tasted the following fruits from the list: Aronia: Productive, bit too tart to eat fresh. wonderful to add it into juice. Plant is easy to grow. Chinese Haw: Sweet ,but not too sweet. little tart and sour. The source tasted like cranberry source we use in the Christman dinner. Very popular in China, although the fruit size is a lot bigger. Street vendors string a dozens of them on a long wooden or bamboo stick and coat them with sugar to sale to the kids as snack. Goumi: sweet-tart. My has small fruit, about pea size. Can be eaten fresh. The flower is sweet, pleasant. The plants is easy to grow. Japanese Raisin Tree: Tree itself can grow very tallll. The fruit is very sweet, but not pure sweet like sugar. Its sweetness has some other taste in it. I can't descrip the undertone taste . When we talk about the sweetness of the plants, for example, Stevia's leaves is very sweet but many people do not like the undertone taste. I vote mulberry the #1 favorite minor berry. The tree is easy to grow, the fruit is abundant, and fruit is sweet and juicy. It tastes better than raspberry, backberry or, other commercially grow berries. For people who are lucky in the south, Loquat is a good choice too. The tree is about 10-15' tall, the fruit is a bit smaller in a size of pingpong ball. When it is ripe, it is sweet and juicy. I have current grow in my yard. balck, red, and white. They can be eaten fresh but not particular good taste. It is better to juice them and mix them with other sweeter fruit juice. Another minor berry I like to grow is gooseberry. Pick Poorman. The fruit is balanced sweet and tart, very flavorful. It definately can be eaten fresh.

"The service advisor - he told he's never seen it (radiator cracked contaminating tranny) happened in the 10 year he has been with the dealership" A few things about his comment. One it's quite possible he's never seen that for a couple of reasons. One is this happens more often with older vehicles than new ones, and typically older cars tend to frequent the aftermarket shops (independents). Secondly, while ten years of experience in most fields is enough to have seen just about everything, thats not the case with auto repair. I've been fixing cars for thirty years, and I see something new all the time. As far as the multiple visits, I would of had to see what was happening in order to give a fair opinion. One possibility that always comes to mind first is the fact that "flat rate" (thats the pay plan most dealer techs work under) rewards the techs for getting the car in, making (hopefully) correct snap decisions, doing the repair and getting the car out. Jobs that have an uncommon failure often result in the car having to come back because of poor or improper diagnostics. The funny thing is, if a tech takes to much time diagnosing the cars he works on, he wont be as productive as the dealer wants him to be and he ends up looking for another job. A certain degree of failure is inevitable under those situations, and it's always the techs fault. NOT a VBG Thats one of the reasons I quit working at dealerships almost twenty years ago, and went aftermarket. Now I own my shop, and nothing like that occurs here, I'll guarantee it. VBG. BTW The Toyota sludging problem has several causes. Extended oil change intervals being one of the biggest, but it turns out now that a lot more research is being done and they have found that few oil products on the market had the correct additive packages to permit the oils to even attempt to achieve the extended drain intervals people were trying to use. Some are blaming the oil companies for issuing approval ratings for oils that really didn't meet the manufactuers specs. Oh well, once again I'll say, my daughters Rav4 will never sludge up. Between doing 3mo/3000 mile services, and using top dollar conventional oil from IMO the most trusted auto parts corporation NAPA, I've always been using the correct oil for all of my customers vehicles. Yes it cost more, and I have to charge more for the service when I do it for my customers, but NONE of them are having gelling issues. Thats why they come here when it is cheaper somewhere else.

First of all we had a really wonderful and romantic dinner! but regardingthe Kobe steak... I decided to spend my money on the wine instead of the Kobe. I had a half bottle of Opus One. The Last time I had had it (between 15 and 20 years ago) my date ordered a half bottle for the two of us -- for $50. This was a little more than three times that. Pardon the bad lighting and focus, but here's the Opus One... My opinion then was that it was fantastic. My opinion now was that it was really really good - but I can find something else I like just as well for a whole lot less. So... I took the advice of several of you and ordered the Kobe Carpaccio. I've never had Carpaccio so I can't compare it to that, but I can tell you it was thinner than paper. and some of it just smeared the plate. It was very buttery, creamy. I will try a Kobe steak sometime, but not when I'm drinking expensive wine. Unfortunately, because of the way it was served, I got a lot of balsamic taste, and not as much of the beef. For dinner we both had the 16 oz Copper Ridge Prime. Perfectly seared on the outside, perfectly medium rare on the inside. I had mine with Bernaise sauce. YUM!! We also split the au gratin potoatoes and truffle mac and cheese. No pics - as you can see from the two that I posted, it was very very dark, and I had trouble with the flash (I couldn't figure out how to turn it off!) I ended up taking a glass-worth of the Opus One (bless the merlot-to-go laws) and half the steak, half the potatoes and a spoonful of truffle mac home. Guess what's for dinner tonight?? With a little red-leaf lettuce salad I think we're still celebrating. note, interesting the different opinions on Flat Iron. I did look it up, and Wikipedia even mentions Wagyu or Kobe flat iron.