Cara Cee

"The strategy that works for me and many of my friends/family is to gift myself some kind of much needed tool then develop skills using the tool to make gifts. For example, one year I bought a set of wet stones (1000 and 3000 grit). I gave gift cards to sharpen kitchen knives. This was a big hit because (I knew from visiting) no one had cared for their knives. The next year, I bought a wet stone grinder. I had learned the previous year that many knives were chipped and needed preliminary preparation on the concrete sidewalk! The grinder really helped shape the worst knives. The third year, I bought some honing compound and rubbed it into an oak floor board. This gave the knives a razor sharp edge.
Each year, I expanded my tools for my own uses then practiced on terribly neglected knives. Everyone went away from the holidays happy."

This is a great idea. I would love to have someone competent sharpen my knives as a gift!

Nutritional yeast is usually more tempting to dogs than Brewer's yeast. Some dogs like a bit of spaghetti sauce, sardines or other fish, and some even like spirulina!

There's an excellent high-caloric supplement from Wysong.net called PDG. It can be sprinkled on top of food, or, instead of that nasty petroleum nutri-cal paste allopathic vets recommend, it can be mixed into a thick paste and fed to keep an animal's strength up.

There is no nutritional requirement for carnivores to have grains or starches.

Any part of that stem will root easily. Just cut a piece with a couple of nodes and lay it in a pot covered buried in  about 2" of soil. You don't need any leaves. You could also tie the whole stem to a larger support in a larger pot if you wanted to keep the tall plant. I used a thick piece of bamboo, but you can use a 4 x 4. Old nylon stockings work well.

Most of my  Monsteras are in the garden, but one is in a pot. The aerial roots travel far and wide!

If you think the biting is psychosomatic, perhaps Bach Rescue Remedy would help.

Lucrecia Anderson wrote:[

Course if people live in the burbs then running a generator to keep your food frozen for weeks on end presents other issues. If it is Florida during hurricane season that is fine as people are used to going weeks without power, but  in many other populated areas a loud generator would be the equivalent of a sign that says "Rob us! We have lots of food and other stuff!".

I have also heard that generator thefts are a problem in some areas. Apparently the thieves will steal/crank up a lawnmower or similar machine and leave it running as they shut off the generator and haul it away. Guess the people inside the house spend a little while checking appliances/cords before going outside since they can hear their "generator" running.

This happened to someone with whom my spouse worked! The victim said he was impressed by the ingenuity of leaving an old lawn mower running after the chain to the generator was cut and the generator taken away!

We are in an area where we needn't worry about dying from cold. We don't use AC, so though we'd miss the whole-house fan and the ceiling fans, we could survive. We have 20 gallons of w=drinking water stored in glass gallon jars and barrells and buckets of non-potable water, as well as some food, with natural gas hot water and stove. If needed, we have compost piles for waste.

For us the only real worry is keeping our freezers and refrigerator going. We have solar and are exploring a batter back-up system- Tesla or similar. My great concerns are the reliance on wi-fi (we don't use it and in any case, if there's a bad hurricane, it would likely go out) as well as the EMF's generated into our living space. Portable battery arrays are quite cumbersome and heavy to move into place, especially as we age.
Our solar installer recommended simply buying a gas-powered generator.

It's a quandary!

I just started using Kramer's Wood Food Oyl on my wooden utensils and I like it very much. By the way, his other products are really exceptional., as I've posted elsewhere ( I have no connecion to the company; I just luse and appreciate their products) https://www.kramerize.com/products.htm

Here's what Kramer writes :

Kramer's Best Wood Food Oyl,  is for use on food service items, such as butcher blocks,salad bowls, cutting boards, etc. — anything that will be in direct contact with food. Keeping these utensils clean and safe requires regular washing with lots of hot soapy water and a scalding rinse. These pieces soon dry out, lose their color and will crack and split over time if left untreated. As with other modern wood care products, the formulations offered for the care of wooden food utensils usually have petroleum derivatives, such as mineral oil, as their base. Repeated use may leave a "gummy" build-up. Only materials natural to the wood are capable of furnishing what is necessary for effective care. Food-grade oils, such as the common vegetable oils may be more desirable, but may turn rancid over time. Our Kramer's Best Wood Food Oyl,  when applied occasionally as needed, reverses the dryness and at the same time maintains the natural appearance and condition of the piece.

Use your treenware, as it was intended, without worry. If the wood seems dry, work some of the Wood Food Oyl into the wood. Continue to use and care for your pieces in your normal way, reapplying the Wood Food Oyl, as necessary, if you begin to see surface dryness return.

I've bought yams at the International grocery store and started them You don't want to put them in water to root. I was told to cut them in pieces, dust the cut parts with ash and then plant them. David the Good has lots of information on growing them https://thesurvivalgardener.com/?s=yams

and I highly recommend his videos.

https://odysee.com/@davidthegood:8/why-are-true-yams-such-an-incredible:3

BARF is an excellent diet.  People are afraid of bones but if you start with softer bones such as chicken necks, you can build up your dog's tolerance. Bones become more brittle when cooked, so raw bones are great and good for the teeth and chewing big ones put dogs into almost a meditative state. Bones are a good way to give them bovine cartilage.

Dogs have no need for carbohydrates. We add a wide variety of blended vegetables for fiber and added nutrients. We also sometimes add apple, avocado, spirulina, kombucha scobies, garlic, turmeric and ionic minerals. Dogs are basically wolves internally and apparently wolves do eat some berries and other plants.They also eat fur that is a fiber . You could add psyllium husk, but vegetables have more nutrients. They're blended to aid digestion in carnivores' short digestive tract. By the way, the same diet, with emphasis on meat is great for cats.

[quote=marie-helene kutek]Helloooo,

A homeopathic vet suggested arsenic, can’t remember the dilution.
Moggy wasn’t having it.

M-H[/quote]

To clarify, that would likely be the homœopathic remedy Arsenicum album, which is in potency, with none of the poisonous substance. Homœopathic remedies are prescribed for the individual patient, not for a specific condition.