Carla Burke

For unsweetened jams & jellies, you could try using Pomona pectin. I use it with a little honey, because I like the flavor it adds, and to help it set up a little more firmly, but it's not necessary.

If memory is an issue, because the cloud patterns change before you can paint them, you *could* take a photo, and use that to keep your memory fresher. Maybe only looking at it if you really can't remember, extending the time between glances, as much as possible, might help strengthen your memory. Maybe. Just...a thought.

Not a damn, a dam
But, I have neither to give
Not today, my friend

A follow up on ours - in Spring of '21, we found the one local most recommended person to come inspect & clean ours. He's a Mennonite, whose family home has tragically burned down when he was a kid. He took a look, and told us to never light another fire in it. It was structurally unfit to burn in. The liner had separated, and the log wall behind it was charred. The chimney was 24" too short. And the stuff they used as mortar around the liner was made of combustible material. He said it was a miracle that the house hadn't burnt to the ground, especially since we were using to actually try to heat the house, throughout the winters.

That December, the week before Christmas, with the temps dropping well below freezing, we had a crew come cut a hole in our roof, and install a stupidly expensive woodstove with a 17ft chimney. It's a hungry beast, and we are burning 4.5 cords of hardwood per winter. It's tasted for 2,500sft. Our house is 2,100sft - with cathedral ceilings both downstairs and upstairs. On the upside, the house is reliably warm, and I often cook on it, saving on electricity.

When I eventually have to sell this place, the next one will have a Walker kitchen stove, and in the living room there will be a lovely little baby brick dragon.

Congratulations to our winners! And thank you so much, Kate and Nancy!!

I've been thinking about this one and... it depends. I can narrow it down to my favorites. My favorites include pico de gallo, 'Cowboy Caviar', mango, peach, salsa verde, and black bean& corn. It all depends on what I'm eating it with and what mood I'm in.

My go-to is a simple, sourdough sandwich loaf. It's just the most versatile, and easiest one, plus it's on 'perma-request' from some of the folks I bake for, so it ends up being the one I lean on, most.

Yeh, mud it's not my idea of 'yum', by any stretch of the imagination, lol

This is a conversation John (my hubby) and I have had quite a few times. He could never understand how I could love catfish. So, I asked what was it he didn't like about it, and he said it always tasted like dirt or dirty river water. Well, YUCK! No wonder he didn't like it. So, I told him that was not what it was supposed to taste like, and asked where he had eaten it - a few restaurants. So, I made him some, the way my grandmas and mom always made it for our families, and that I've always made it - complete with cole slaw, hush puppies, thick sliced tomatoes (fresh from the garden), 'fried taters', and buttery corn on the cob. Now, he understands why I love it, and have used catfish as my litmus test for southern style cooking & at restaurants.

Very hard water can also take a serious toll on your skin, hair, clothing, shower heads, faucet aerators, and appliances.