Cara Cee

Where we are there are only a few kids that come around, even though it's a regular neighborhood with houses close together. Everyone seems to do "Trunk or Treat" which seems sad, to me. Just driving somewhere, parking, and getting candy sounds boring. We just give out candy, but not in wrappers–individual pieces. The razor blade fear is based on a hoax, I've heard.

Mark Brunnr wrote:I  add that 2% spandex to the fabric so they maintain a proper pocket shape for more than 15 minutes like current cargo pants fail to do. .

Interesting, because I won't buy clothes that aren't 100% natural fiber – mostly because of microplastics, but also because I find they get stretched out and stay that way, even when washed!

Nancy Reading wrote:I wish I had more sawdust/wood shavings! Another thing I do with mine is put a little in the bottom of my compost caddys. Like Sarah Joubert's loo it soaks up some liquid, but also makes it super easy to empty when the bin fills up.

When I needed shavings, I contacted the local wood-turning club and they hooked me up with someone nearby. I got bags and bags for years, but then he closed his shop.  There's a carpentry shop/lumber store nearby that sometimes fills their dumpster with shavings and we now scoop those out into bins to bring home. We use it in the humanure system (just a bowl in the toilet that we keep shavings in, covering until full and them putting in the compost pile).

We also use StallMaster pellets as litter for our cats (they do not like shavings and they are messy, as mentioned above) and it breaks down into sawdust that we scatter around. I'm glad to read about adding coffee grounds, because we get grounds from our local Salvation Army shelter in exchange for produce the organization we volunteer with cannot use.

Very cool.
I'd have just worn the kimono as it was. I wouldn't have had the heart to undo it.
I had a fancy party and an artist turned up wearing a beautiful kimono. She looked great and no one else had anything to compare.

Most people don't bother to respond o invitations in a timely manner, or bail at the last minute. They don't bother to thank you after your entertaining them.

I find peppermint oil deters them beautifully. I just wipe it across their paths and, if I can locate it, at their exit/entrance. I've not found the diatomaceous earth effective, unfortunately.

I scrape pepper seeds into the dish water we collect in the kitchen and use to water the garden. I get a few volunteer hot peppers coming up here and there, not so much bell peppers. I just take the seeds from a pepper that's started to go bad on the plant and mash them into a pot. I get excellent germination. It is hot here.

We have, unfortunately, no room for ground panels and many trees around, so this is an excellent suggestion but not in our case.

You're lucky it wasn't a saddle back caterpillar. Gary had the unfortunate experiences of twice being stung when he brushed against Cannas in a pot on out patio. He thought it was weird being stung by a bee without seeing or hearing a bee, and then when it happened at night (which would not have happened with a bee, we thought), we investigated the next day and found the vicious-looking crawlers.
I had never seen or heard of these before!

They really hurt, and they like Cannas

I like adding cauliflower florets to our mac & cheese.