Jennie Little

I'm not new to beans, but new to beans/pressure cookers. I started last year buying/growing beans in bulk and in response to that I cook in bulk and then freeze in 1C quantities. Enough for tacos or to add to something, but not enough that I have to make refries or, or.... Currently I have pintos, black beans, and a white bean in the freezer. I need to do a batch of garbanzos soon. Beans are used here, regularly, but we're not vegetarian and not entirely garden centered, although more so than a few years ago.

Progress of a sort, movement, anyway!

I'd probably put the timing column as a vertical sidebar in the left margin. It's slightly different from the rest of the info provided and I'd want it separated,  but accessible. That would also declutter the remainder a bit. Like others, it feels like there's just too much in the same format here and my poor old brain wants to get lost.

IHTH!

Likes: my husband, when things go as planned, being more efficient or productive, well-written stories, perennial food plants we like to eat, areas which stay clean or at least clean looking, being old and still active.

Dislikes: loud, obnoxious people who insist the world needs to hear about (whatever), when I can't get things to work no matter how long I work at it or how many resources I throw at (whatever), my first drafts (which suck), tenacious weeds, dirt in my home, being old and the sudden loss of energy or aches that come with it.

My husband, in his 20s got told his knee pain was "aging" and he should "learn to live with it." Instead, he went to a sports physical therapist, who gave him exercises to do that alleviated the pain.

50 years later, his "aging" hasn't recurred the same way, nor in the degenerative way he was told would be his normal....

Husband's logic in going to a sports medicine therapist was that they are used to things hurting and finding non-destructive methods to work past or around the pain.

Of course, I don't know if this would work for you, but I suggest it as an alternative....

We still have our old Honda gas mower, it's one of the gas tools slated to be sold to the guy who buys such things when we get all of them where my partner wants them to be, condition-wise. We don't use it.

We do use an electric walk-behind mower and an unpowered reel mower these days.

A large swathe of our "lawn" is moss -- which I love. STays green with no work from me, ditto staying a managable height. I see moss killer sold in garden centers. Why?

I would make the book a set price + shipping/handling. I round up to the nearest dollar for handling, so I never make > .99 . That said, if your $ model depends on the price of shipping being X and it becomes (X + y) any profit you may make can vanish. Changing the slug for a generic postage/handling fee  on a webpage can be pretty easy. Having to figure it out all the time or adjust it can be a PITA.

Also, things I've seen authors do, you may or may not want to: make and distribute their own promo fliers, put out "snacks' at events. Some events, like "craft" shows require you to have a food license even if what you put out is tootsie rolls, I have a friend who writes romances, horror, and SF, and she uses pens and bookmarks at those events for giveaways.

Find out who handles the events page at the local newspaper, online page, etc. Usually "press releases" are free and not seen as advertising. So, you can get promoted by the local news without paying for it. Call them before an event and ask how long it can be and do they want graphics? How much lead time is required? (An event next week may not give them enough time, 2 weeks might work? They only publish such things monthly, so.... ) My local paper, for example, wanted NO graphics and 250 words or less, and 2 weeks leadtime.

Also, forgot, sorry... Ask your local librarian if they put books by local authors in the collection? If they do, make sure the library gets one of those fliers and the librarians know when any promo events you do locally are schedulled.

In reply to everyone... No we had no idea what variety these were when we grabbed them out of a nearby ditch. However, what got us on the idea of taking some was the winey scent of fallen grapes everywhere. It was a HUGE patch, and yes, there were full size grapes there at one point, but if what we grabbed was that sort?

No idea.

I didn't know there were other types either btw. So thanks!

Years ago, we uprooted and replanted successfully some wild grape vines. Every year the vines get baby grapes on them, sand size, and every year, that's it.

Any suggestions? My guess is that the moles, voles, squirrels, mice, rats, or gophers eat the baby fruit. It seems that in early spring I'm delighted to find the sand sized fruit one day and then I get grape leaves/vine and that's it.

TIA!

For years, right after we first were married and we were working in a DoD town, we'd trek down to L.A. for Arlo/Pete concerts. Sometimes in big venues, sometimes in small ones. A person once said to us that we were "doing our penance" for working for the DoD -- for years that's how we talked about it.

When we moved across the country, the venues changed of course. Saw Pete the last time with his grandson I believe, Tao. Kept seeing Arlo as we could afford it, etc.

Also became a John McCutcheon fan.

Years and years ago, in my first bookstore job, someone told me this guy who used to go play/sing down at the pier was a famous person. It was Steve Goodman.

I grew up in SoCal. My dad had been born there before 1900, so the family roots were deep. I got engaged at 16, married at 18 and moved to Europe with a GI hubby. Dad got sick, I went home. On our 1st wedding anniversary, hubby1 was living with a former high school friend and engaged to a 16yo. That was too crowded for me.

I got engaged a lot, but didn't remarry for a while. In the meantime, I moved from L.A. to San Bernardino and lived in the college dorms, then apartments, then I rented a 2 bedroom house. There was a married couple and single guy living in it, everyone was supposed to move out. The couple did, the guy didn't for 3 months. By the time he left, I was hooked on him (we'll have been married 45 years this summer).

He moved to the desert, I moved to the beach -- for work. I followed him to the desert. We got married. Our first house was WWII military housing in a military town, city lot, in the high desert. That job ended. He got work with a big computer company. He moved to GA temporarily, then FL. I sold the CA house and moved to FL. We bought a new house, city lot, lake in the back yard. The company transferred him to NH. Sold the FL house, rented a duplex. After looking 6 months, I found a log home on an acre of land, near a dead ski resort. We bought it. We're still here.

We are looking for a retirement home, New England won't work, too expensive. We can't stay where we are. No family. Nearest supermarket is 9 miles away. We can get groceries delivered, at $25 a shot.

He telecommutes and we don't know how far away we can be from the job.

We're trying to make this place as self-sufficient as we can, without killing the resale value. I've been looking in IL for our retirement home. (We have family there.) Found one last year which would have been perfect: house, garage/workshop, land, pond, chicken coop, veggie garden. The people who bought the house bought just the house.... not the accompanying acreage.