A little girl in an Eastern Bloc country went to school one day and told her teacher, "Our cat has new kittens! And you know what, they're perfect Communists." The teacher loved the story, and several weeks later, when the local Communist Party leader was visiting the school, she asked the...

He's adorable!! Congratulations on the progress.

Mareless wrote: I like warm water & lemon juice, with a spoonful of honey stirred in.

This is my remedy too - plus a wee splash of bourbon if the sun is over the yardarm.

Thanks for the follow-up, Volte - as I mentioned, that's something that I would never have thought to investigate, but it's now one of the first items on my checklist!

Thanks, Volte - that's an EXCELLENT tip and an issue I wouldn't have thought of. I feel bad for your parents, but reallly appreciate your passing it along. I would have assumed that with hospitals in the area, regular health care would be readily available as well as emergency health care. Time to d...

Thanks all for your replies! The PNW is lovely in the summer, no disagreement. There are few places I've been that are prettier on a glorious summer day. I feel the same way about Vermont and NH - great in the spring, summer and fall, but a little more problematic in the winter, don't know if I coul...

So, Mr. Dee and I are seriously considering retiring some time next year. We know that we don't want to stay where we are (Seattle metro area), and I'm coming to the realization that I probably don't want to stay in the PNW at all. The summers are nice, but the long dreary dark winters are really ha...

I love that look she's giving you out of the corner of her eye - "Can you not see I'm trying to relax here on my pillow? I think you may be disturbing me. Why are you disturbing me? I will let you know when I'm ready to get up and watch Rehab Addict, please Tivo it for me." By the way, whe...

They're beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I'd love to learn to spin, have been thinking about it for awhile. I recently took up quilting, and will be learning to weave when I get the loom from my MIL. I guess I'm into the textile arts - there's just something about the colors and the textu...

Too cute!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU_c8aabw2Y

Oh, so sorry to hear that, poor chook. But it sounds like she was still acting in a fairly normal fashion, so by the time she exhibited symptoms it may have been too far along in any event - please don't beat yourself up over it.

Sorry, I don't have any advice - but check out the Backyard Chickens forum, you might get some help there. Hope it's something fixable and she's better soon!

We don't really do store-bought Christmas gifts any more either - all the kids in the family are grown, and the adults don't need *things*. Every summer I make and can jam, which I love to do, and so that's what we send. Each of the family units gets 4 or 5 jars of various varieites of homemade jam,...

Oh, I want chickens too . . . not possible where we are right now, but I'm hoping to be able to have them at our next place (a/k/a the retirement house). How do you all manage to keep your chooks safe? I know that everything loves chicken, and it seems like you need a Fort Knox of a henhouse to safe...

You can also try putting it in a thick plastic garbage bag with a half cup or so of ammonia - seal it up and let it sit outside overnight. You don't have to submerge it in the liquid, the fumes from the ammonia are what do the trick.

Those yarns are all gorgeous - such lovely colors and textures. I don't knit or crochet, but I'm drawn to them anyway! I could totally see myself learning to spin. My MIL has a big floor-standing jack loom that was her mother's, that I will inherit some day. I could probably have it now, as she does...

I was Deedee on the old board – I wanted to be MissDee there too, but I had trouble signing up and I thought it was the user name I was trying to pick so I kept changing it . . . turns out it was my email address it didn’t like. But by the time I figured that out I was already Deedee, and it was too...