Pottery Chatroom Board

Hello,

I was looking at some old posts yesterday and some old friend lists and saw Max's name. I haven't heard from you or messaged you in a couple years, I think, And got wondering how you are.

Hi Max.

Everyone fine here. How about you and Bob?

Dropped Jerome's car off at the body shop today to have repairs from the accident last month. I will be there 10 days to 2 weeks, so we have a rental.

Hello everyone. It has been a long long time since I looked in on this board, but had an email from an old pottery board friend asking if I knew where everyone went and got thinking about how long since I checked. I spend a lot of time on Facebook groups now and tend to forget this one, although I do check the bookboard regularly. Nice to see so many familiar names.

Let's see, I have had the usual, mice, moles, birds, etc from my cats. But we had a Siamese cat when I was teenager who brought home not one, but 2 live snakes. She also once brought home a complete, whole barbecued chicken (never did find out where she got it) and one day we opened the door and let her in and she had a live squirrel. It took 10 people, 2 hours to get that squirrel out of the house. It was like Keystone Cops farce trying to find and isolate the squirrel while rounding up 3 eager curious cats and a dog so we could shew the squirrel out a door.

What is her name? I have a new black kitty too. His name is Peewee and he is the cat from Hell!

Gayle, I missed that you have a new kitty. Boy or girl? Name? Yes, I would just be happy it was only a bug. Some of my cats have brought me some really unusual "gifts". And not all of them gratefully received.

In my understanding, bed hair and bed head are undesirable and need to be corrected before appearing in public (or hidden under a hat). Bedroom Hair is a look that is actively sought.

Sorry, I have a completely different definition of bedroom hair. It was often used to describe very sexy women, like Brigette Bardot. Here is what one website describes it as and this is my understanding of the term:

you want your hair to be just as naughty for total sex kitten effect. Sexy bedroom hair is a must for occasions when you want to be an ace seductress. Think messy-sexy, but not so messy that he can't run his hands through it. Even the average Jane can make like a minx with these tips for achieving sexy bedroom hair.

Jo, if you check census records for 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, etc, you can maybe find out when that address first appears in the census. That would give you an idea within 10 years of when the house was built. I believe all of those census documents are now available online so it shouldn't take a long time to research it.

CNN Sunday mornign news devotes last 5 minutes to "feel good" news. this mornign it was police officers who saved a man from a burning vehicle at just the last moment before it went up in flames, an 8 year old little boy who confronted a huge man he saw stealing beer (put bottles in his pockets)And making him return them. And a video clip of 4 cats reactions to a stuffed bobcat, that one you need to look at.

Gordon, Our television station has a feature called SUPER SENIORS that is run every Friday, 4 times, morning news, noon news, evening news and night time news. They feature a person over age 80, some have been over 100, who is active and beloved. Guy last week drives an egg truck 6 days a week. He and his wife have had the chicken farm and egg business for over 65 years. She does the collecting, washing packing, he delivers the eggs to stores all over. He is 89 and drives 125 miles a day, carrying huge boxes of eggs into stores. And of course, he has also been on the school board, been town moderator, raised 4 children and is loved and admired by everyone who meets him. No plans to ever retire he says. Every week they feature a senior and they are remarkable . And apparently there is no shortage. They have them selected out over 3 months in advance and many more waiting to be selected.

I rarely post. Not much to say. But I do read this board daily.

HI Reen, Hope you and Gill are well.

Katie, so sorry about your hip. I hope all goes well.

What spamming on the Book Board. I chat there daily and I haven't seen any. Just all the regular posters. Maybe it was removed before I had a chance to???

Liz, I enjoyed listening to him, but didn't care for the soprano. I'll stick to his rock n roll stuff.

Liz, I'll see if I can find any on Youtube and give it a listen.

Liz, I don't have that one. I have just the Queen CDs and several "Best of" compilations,

Gayle, I missed you down there.You're a Queen fan, Too. I knew I liked you! I think we have a lot in common.

Liz, I didn't know you were a Queen fan. MY very favorite group! I have everything they every did and most of it in several versions. I have played it for years. When my son was little I used to have it going in the house frequently. I went out into the back yard one afternoon and heard his little voice, top of his lungs, singing " I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike.." as he rode his tricycle up and down the driveway. I will never ever forget it. I laughed so hard.
And my son hated Queen, had a fit when I played it when he was early teens, then suddenly one day when he was 16, I went to put in a CD and couldn't find a single one (I had at least 10 Queen CDs). I wondered if he's had the nerve to throw them out or hide them on me. I went to his room to ask him about them. He said they were all in his truck. Seems Wayne's World had come out and suddenly Queen was very "kewl" again.

And this is my favorite bicycle video and song (for adults only)

Definitely not pop music from Guns N roses. Rock n Roll, hard rock at that.

Perhaps in general use, but the rock group Guns N Roses started in 1983 and I'm sure they were popular even in Australia.

n for and has been used for decades. It predates cell phones by many many years. Just a few I remember Rock n Roll, Mom n Pop, Cash n Carry, Spic n Span, Guns n Roses, mac n cheese, pork n beans.

Gordon, stop talking about Nice and listen to your heart. If you are worried and thinking about it, you have already realized what is right and what needs to be done. You just can't bring yourself to make the decision. And that is selfish. This is the last gift you can give to a pet who has given so selflessly to you for many years. Please, just sit quietly for a few minutes and listen to what your heart has to tell you. And do what is right for Nice, not for you. None of us ever wants to say goodbye and make that tough decision.

The Canadian/US border doesn't start at Niagara Falls, there are hundreds of miles of it east of there. It starts in Maine, across NH, then VT, then Eastern NY, before you get to Niagara Falls. And the border towns in Maine, NH and VT are very very interesting places. Almost everyone on both sides of the border int hat area speak both French and English. And there are several homes, farms & businesses that straddle the border. Up until a few years ago, you could go out the front door and be in US, use the back door and be in Canada. But now with homeland security, they can only have access and egress from one country. You have to go outside and through a border crossing even if you kitchen is in US and your bedroom is in Canada.

oh yes, Lake Champlain is the dividing border for the northern 2/3 of the New York/Vermont Border. And it was a major battle area in the Revolutionary war. I have spent many, many hours boating, fishing and swimming in Lake Champlain. It is a beautiful area.

size and location. It is a little smaller than the smallest of the Great Lakes and a little further away, but certainly could have been the sixth great lake and was considered. I wasn't around when the decision was made, but I'm sure politics had something to do with it.

Although it just missed being one of the great lakes, Lake Champlain also connects to the St Lawrence Seaway at the north end and to the Hudson River via the Champlain Canal at the south end. Recreational boaters wishing to get from NY to Canada are more likely to use the Lake Champlain, than the busy commercial St Lawrence Seaway.
Those pictures of fish jumping up the falls you have seen were not at Niagara Falls but at other man made falls where they were required to construct ”fish ladders” so the fish could go up the falls.

Gordon, novovirus? or norovirus? DH and I had norovirus last year when we were exposed during a massive outbreak at Middlebury College. I've had grippe and flu many times, but this was a very very nasty strain. Thought I'd puke out my guts a few times. Was only sick for 3 days, but took 10 days to get my strength and enthusiasm for anything back.

Gayle, So sorry to hear about Lassie. The last best thing we can do for a pet that has given us unconditional love is to help them leave this world without suffering. My heart aches with yours. So sad to have to say goodbye.

Oh what terrible news about Martha. Such a shame, much too young, so much to live for. I am heartsick thinking about it. They have a rough time ahead and will need all the support they can get. I will say prayers for strength for both Carl and Martha. So, so sad.

Chris, every one of those animal mommas with babies attached by a chain that I ever saw came form Japan in the 1960s. They were a big deal then and could be bought at Woolworth's and Kresge's. Lots of the Japanese companies made them, Napco, Arnart, Inarco, Lefton, Commodore and more. And most came with foil labels so if no label, really hard to find out who made it.

Thanks Gayle. I have a lot on my plate right now. DH retired a year ago, and I am his one-person entertainment committee, so that eats a lot of my time, plus I am doing over 300 auctions a month on Ebay now, so that means a lot of listing, answering emails, packing, etc. And I am tutoring for the high school. I have only one student, but work with him 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. And sometimes I have to do some preparation to refresh my memory, such as this morning. The assignment was identifying, naming and adding and subtracting polynomials. Now I know very well how to do that, but sure had been along time since I had to remember the names of the parts of the numeric expression. And like it or not, my house still will not clean itself. And I like clean dishes, clean sheets and clean clothes at the very least. Oh, almost forgot, I have a new cat, well for 5 months now, and he is the cat from hell. It is something with him every day.

Let me bore you with a camera story. We took rolls and rolls of pictures when my son was small. Never went anywhere without a 35mm and a small snapshot camera. In 1982, when son was about 4 1/2, we went to Englishtown NJ Nationals (drag races). Took a few pic and when I got the roll developed, there was this strange picture of the back parking lot with a small section of someone's earlobe in the lower right corner. Odd picture, no value, but I just kept it in the stack. A couple of years later, I was showing the pictures of Englishtown to my niece (a professional photographer and videographer) and when she came to that photo, at first she just broke out laughing. Next she says to me, "Is (DS's Name) left-handed?" I said yes, what makes you ask that. She said that the photo is one she has seen dozens of times. Left-handed children trying to use a camera for the first time almost always turn it around backwards so they viewfinder is non their left eye, and they end up taking a pic of what is behind them with a portion of their ear showing in the pic. I am so glad I didn't throw that photo out. It is now a treasured keepsake. My son't first attempt at picture taking. (but he never told me and I didn't see him touch my camera)

Marty, I see a reference to both sizes of oval serving dish on Replacements. One in the upper portion showing what they have for sale and in the lower section showing pieces made but that they do not have, the smaller one is listed.

♪♫♫♪♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪♫♫♪♪
♪♫♫♪♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪♫♫♪♪
♪♫♫♪♪ Happy Birthday, Dear Gayle ♪♫♫♪♪
♪♫♫♪♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪♫♫♪♪

♪
And Many more................

HI Wes, glad I could help

Wes, Page 183 of my Pictorial Guide to Pottery and Porcelain Marks, shows that mark belonging to Castel, 1980 to 1990

But using that info to google, I came up with this one, still Castel, but different dates.
http://e-limoges.com/makers/limoges-castel-boxes.php

Gordon - So sorry about your loss. I know she was not well and the time had come, but it is so hard to lose your mother. Mine has been gone for over 20 years and still there are so many times I miss her so much. Holidays will never ever be the same.

Thanks Irene. Ebay search is always the first thing I do. I googled, I dogpiled, I even sent email to manufacturer. I have spent many hours, far more time than they are worth. I just hate not being able to find answers.

thanks Marson

No one has posted for a few days, look like. I was looking for some opinions. Several months ago, I bought some porcelain roses. They are white porcelain on green plastic stems with plastic leaves. There are a dozen of them. There is a tag on the stems that says "Royal Albert Bone China". I searched and searched with no luck at all. I finally found an email address for Royal Albert and emailed them. I got an email back saying they had never made porcelain roses for sale, but a few of the staff seemed to remember an employee making a several dozen years ago to be used as display only in picture taking of their vases for a catalog. That just doesn't make sense at all to me. Why would they be labelled if that were the case? And how would they get to the US? What do the pottery people think? And any hints for listing them?

I was never sure if it was man or woman but I still have it saved from years ago.

http://i45.tinypic.com/fmph53.jpg

Multiple forms print out only if the package weighs 4 pounds or more. Under 4 pounds it prints on a single a half sheet.

Nancyg, if you like the legal size flat rate, you will LOVE the padded flat rate. You can fit so much in them. I use about 10 of those a week. Great for jeans, nightgowns, and a lot of other things fit in them so nicely. They can only be ordered online and they can only be used if label is printed online. Cost is $5.05. One thing I sell a lot of is shampoo and conditioner. 2 bottles weigh 1 pound 11 ounces. I can fit up to 4 bottles in the flat rate padded envelope. HUGE savings. And I sometime sell 10 bottles a week, always in pairs.
Others who sell the same, charge $9.00 shipping, I charge $5.00 shipping.

Ebay will NOT automatically refund your FVF fees unless the buyer filed a claim. If you refunded on your own, you need to go in now and do a "cancel transaction" choosing that the item was refunded. If the buyer agrees, you will get your fees back. First class international can be printed through Ebay label printing. I do it all the time. Just shipped two today.

For those who may have known her, Maureen from the BB passed away today.

Char - Non-store owners still get 50 free auctions a month. And even if not free, a $9.990 auction with one extra picture should cost just $.40. I think you should double check. Are you sure you do not have a subtitle (50 cents) or a second category (double fee and double pic fee) or a BIN (20 cents, I think) or scheduled start (10 cents) None of the extras are free, just the insertion fee. And for me, the fees always show as I am doing the auction listing. It is only after I actually post it, that Ebay shows fees with a red line through it and new fee of $0.00, right up to that point it continues to show listing fee.

On my old computer all the passwords were saved and I had a program that entered them automatically. got new computer 2 months ago and still don't know some of my passwords. When you use them all the time, it is one thing, but after years of having them automatically entered, well, it's like the pros and cons of speed dialing on the phone.

Hi All!
I have been reading this board but have not posted for a few weeks because I couldn’t remember my user name. Suddenly today, out of the blue, it came to me. So I decided to post again. And wouldn’t you know it? I went and posted to the Book Board by mistake. Her is what I posted there.

I went to an estate sale yesterday and the prices were so low!! all this nice old pottery that used to sell for a fortune on Ebay years ago but now doesn’t even get bids, but at 25 cents each, I could not resist some of it. And almost everything they had was in pairs. I got a pair of Royal Haeger panthers, a pair of Royal Copley star planters, a pair of American Bisque pig planters, 7 Occupied Japan figurines, a cat figurine, an Lefton Chipmunk, Lefton Miss Priss sugar bowl & creamer, a pair of Russian studio pottery cats, 2 Swift Peanut Butter Wizard of Oz glasses, a Starbucks City Mug, unknown maker double horse planter and a German Oyster plate. All in unused pristine condition. Then I also bought 3 Crissy Dolls, a Stetson Hat, a pair of kids cowboy boots and a Bermuda bag with 9 covers. My total outlay: $14.75. I listed some of it last night and the Bermuda Bag will sell for more than double what I paid for everything

Thanks Liz, we have farm machinery auctions here too. And if I was in the market for a cow, there are a couple of auctions every month.

yeah, I googled Jamestown, way too far for me, about 300 miles. Damn, we never have sales like that around here. I ask about perfumes at estate sales and always get told they were thrown out, along with the nylon stockings.

Shelly - I would love to have each and everyone of those perfumes at $2 each. I can Paypal you the money......... And I will pay the shipping, unless I go to Jamestown my self. Wehre in NY is it?

Shelly - I used to sell a lot of jewelry, but one of those things I really don't care for, so don't look at it much. sometimes, though, I get such a buy on it that I can't resist. And I sold a lot of it about 10 years ago for a friend whose mother passed away leaving about 400 pieces of high end vintage costume jewelry. Antique dealers had offered her about $250.00 for the lot. I sold it for about $4800.00. She got $3600 and I got $1200, so it worked out well.

I'd say garnet on the stones on the earring and probably bone or horn on the elephants. JMHO

"us gals"? I haven't vacuumed )except for a dumped ashtray a month ago) in about a year. My DH does the vacuuming here, and he does a good job.

I know in Victorian times it was common to take pictures of a dead child. Pictures were very expensive and only the most wealthy families had pictures taken, but when a child died, often the family realized they would never see that child again and would incur the expense of a photographer to have the memory of what the child looked like. Obviously no other pictures existed in those cases and it kind of made sense.

Victorian times? I nearly fell over in my chair when I was dating DH and went with him to his aunt's funeral. They held the wake in the "parlor" of their home and after calling hours for the public were over, each family member went up, one or 2 at a time and had their picture taken with the deceased int he casket. I had never ever heard of such a thing and was just beside myself. DH explained they always did that and they showed me an album that had funeral pictures of at least 10 different relatives. Creepy to me. I think that side of his family still takes funeral pictures.

Gordon, Look at the pic again. That type license plate wasn't used until the 1970s

Thanks Nancy. WE are supposed to get snow tonight. The kind you can shovel. Or in my case, the kind I might FINALLY be able to use the snowblower I bought the day after Thanksgiving. I began to think it would be put away until next winter without ever having had gas put in it. We will know tomorrow. they say 3”-6” during the day, starting mid morning. This time last year the snow was over 4 feet high and over 7 feet on the sides of the driveway. I think we had to shovel out 11 times last year, plus 4 or 5 times we had snow but could drive through it. We have had nothing to shovel this year

Nancy - I'd bet she's the one in the red. She does not have a "blonde personality".

Yes, Shelly, she lost her husband 3 years ago. He died suddenly and unexpectedly about 8 months after their 50th anniversary. Gordon (he new husband) lost his wife of 43 years at the same time, but she was quite sick the last years of their marriage. Both had been widowed for about 10 months when they were introduced to each other. They both though it was too soon and agreed to just be friends, but love finds a way. It was meant to be.

Just returned home on Thursday from a week in Florida. My oldest sister got married and the wedding was lovely. They are such a happy couple. So very thankful and amazed at their good fortune in finding each other. All shared their joy at a wonderful Valentine's Day wedding.

Gayle - I did not know that about ATMs. How very lucky for you that someone engineered it that way. Ah technology!

Shelly - Kiwanis and Masons have no relationship to each other Completely different organizations.

Paypal and Ebay are both really big on ambiguity in their policies.

Gordon, That only applies if an item is counterfeit. If you sell counterfeit goods, they are not returned to you. All other items are refunded only AFTER return if that is what the seller requests.

Amber- Nina didn't tell you that she is a Vermonter.

Gayle, odd you had a package returned yesterday, since I did too. I think only the second time that has happened in 14 years. I shipped item on 11/07/11. Sticker on it says it was "unclaimed". I've never heard a thing from the buyer about it. Not a terribly expensive item. Buyer paid 26.50 plus $7.80 shipping.

These are the bed jackets I am able to get. Very easy to get the 4th one. Lots of those available. The other 4 I can get from time to time.

Bed Jackets

Amber - I don't have any bed jackets right now, but I am able to get them. Tell me what size and I'll get a couple in my February shipment.

Gordon - In Vermont we call the Salvation Army thrift stores "Sally Anns" but not the church itself or any of its other entities, like food shelf, disaster relief stations, etc.

http://img1.funscrape.com/en/happynewyear/33.gif

Gayle, I just get a big blank white area on the page when I click on that link.

I got a new iphone 4s for Christmas and it is amazing what it can do. And what you can do to it using your PC. If you lose the phone, you can send a message to it which will be the first thing that someone who finds it will see on the screen. you can says something like "I see you have my phone. It is of no use to you, it will be completely disabled if you use it for anything, however, if you call 555-555-5555, I will be happy to pay you $50 for your efforts to return the phone to me. Thank you. You can then disable it so it cannot be sued. And if you do not find it or are sure you will not find it, you can erase all info from the phone remotely. And the "finding" system on the new iphone 4s, Bob, will pinpoint its location within 3' and allow you to cause it to emit a long 2 minute alarm from an ipad, even if the phone is shut off. I suppose you could do that every few minutes until the person who had it got fed up with it and gave it back or through it away.
The advances being made in technology are astounding. I understand the new iphone 5 will use a hydorgen battery which will supply power for a full month between chargings.

Hello all! Sounds like everyone is busy readying for the holiday. We went and cut down our tree yesterday, but my living room is such a mess, I don't want to put it up until I get a chance to clean it thoroughly. Hopefully that will occur tomorrow morning and it will get up and decorated tomorrow evening. But.... I said that on Thursday and I said that on Friday and.... Well, you get the picture.

This thing with the posts forwarded to Dan's boss just boggles my mind. Why would anyone do anything like that? Putting 2 & 2 together, gives me a likely suspect & I know she can be nasty, but that is more than I would have expected even from her. I hope I am wrong, trying not to judge without all the facts, but it sure looks suspicious, too much of a coincidence. Dan, I am so sorry you are havign to deal with this. It is not right or fair.

Gayle - I was giggling at your "predicament and solution". Reminded me of my only lockout. My son was 3 weeks old and I was still at home recuperating after his birth and my Cesarean. I normally just opened the door, reached out and picked up the newspaper, but this day, the paper was about 4 feet from the door, late November, about 20 degrees out and snow on the ground. I was in my nightgown with just socks on my feet, but stepped out to pick up the paper. The door closed behind me. LOCKED out. Brand new baby in the house, no coat, no shoes, not a lot of options available. I found a rock near the steps and broke the window in the door, reached in and unlocked it. Unfortunately, it was a long skinny window, about 38" X 6" and cost me $45 to repair (1977 prices).

Good for you, Katie. I have been attending auctions, going to thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets for over 40 years and have still never run across a single Schmoo, not even an overpriced one at an antique store.

Gordon - here are 30 recipes. And some of the names sound mighty good!

http://www.ivillage.com/20-easy-one-pot-meals/3-a-57563

Gayle - We have had snow twice this year. About 8 inches in early Novemeber, gone in less than 2 days and about 5 inches last week, gone in 3 days or so. I think we may get a couple inches of the white stuff this weekend.

Marty - If you scroll down on this page, you will see the Homco logos. The first one listed is the one you have on your piece

http://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/usa/carrollton_1/00.php

Marty - That is definitely the current HOMCO backstamp. Arnart uses one very similar, but the Arnart one has 3 feathers and the HOMCO has 4 , as yours does.

Here is char's link

http://tinypic.com/r/34q4v4i/5.jpg

Nancy - I saw a news blurb the end of August that said this year's pumpkin crop was horrible and pumpkin would be going up quite high by Thanksgiving and Christmas. I bought 6 cans wehn I went shopping that week because I make pumpkin cookies quite often. I paid 89 cents a can and checked about a month later to see the same can had gone to $1.99. And since I have not made any cookies yet, I still have 6 cans. And 2 weeks ago they warned that peanut butter is going to be very high this winter. I have stocked up on that as well. Our local news has a segment every week about food and food prices and it is a big help to know ahead.

Shelly - I do the same, but I copy, paste, edit and repost BEFORE I delete the one with errors, just to be sure I don't lose the post. As soon as I see the second corrected one is there, I delete the first one.

No, my cough is an asthmatic cough, that is triggered anytime I get sick. It might start as a cold, could be flu, etc. Almost anytime I get sick and my defenses are weakened, my asthma rears its head in the form of a horrible cough. Been like that since I was a teenager. I try very hard to avoid getting, ill, but it happens.

Gordon - Prednisone is a steroid. It is used for severe asthma attacks. I have to take it about every 2 years or so when I get and horrible cough that nothing else will touch. It works by reducing inflammation of the bronchial tubes.

Gordon - I worked all day (teaching) so just now saw your question about the imploding window in my sunroof. It was a glass pane, that auto type glass that breaks into a million tiny pieces. No idea what caused it. I was sitting in the van, listening to the news on the radio and the next thing I knew, there was a loud "POP" and glass started raining down on me. Nothing hit it, temps weren't abnormally high, it just imploded! If I hadn't been there when it happened, I probably would have blamed vandalism, but no one around anywhere.

It is all so subjective when it is left up to the primary care doc. Some will simply refer any patient who asks for a referral and some of them get their noses bent out of shape if you ask to see someone else, like you are insulting them or not trusting their medical knowledge. I had one of those once. If I asked to see a specialist, he got angry about it. I changed docs quickly. I wasn't about to take a third type of antibiotic for a cough that was caused by asthma and by then required a steroid. I'd been coughing nostop for 5 weeks while he gave me stupid antibiotics. 10 days after seeing the pulmonary specialist and getting the steroids I needed, the cough was goen. Not fair to make me suffer like that. Never again. I know when I need a specialist.

Nancy - Not all HMOs run the same way. Ours used to run like yours, but as of 2 years ago, we no longer need to get authorization to see a specialist as long as he/she is in our network. I pay a $15 copay if I see my primary care physician, $30 if I see a specialist. I know when I need a specialist just as well or better than my primary care doc does. Our insurance carrier finally agreed and realized that by requiring a patient to see the primary doc first to get referral, they ended up paying for TWO office visits instead of one. And they were right, after 2 years of doing it this way, it is not costing any more than it did the other way.

Gordon, when I had to use the plexiglss was when our van sunroof imploded one day. The replacement glass was not something anyone would have on hand and had to be specially ordered. It took over 6 weeks to get here and it rained many many days during that six weeks. And we needed the light in the van, even more so on rainy days, so a solid cover made no sense. I think it cost me about $8.00 for the plexiglas which the supply store cut to my dimensions for me at no charge and probably $2.00 for the foam tape. And not a drop of water entered the van during that time, I did, however, miss the ventilation the open roof provided.

Gordon - instead of a piece of wood for temporary, go to a home supply store and have them cut a piece of clear plexiglass. Then get some of that double sided foam tape and put it all around and it should hold quite nicely, let you still have your light, and no rain will come in (Can you tell I have suffered a similar mishap in the past?)

Shelly – Lots of dogs around here wear boots. Not so much because of the cold but the chemicals in the newer snow melting crystals, they can be really bad for dogs. The boots I have seen are all held on with velcro that wraps around the dog’s leg.

I use spam to make Westerns. I love the new single serving foil packets. They contain one slice of spam and it is just perfect for making two Western sandwiches, no waste, always fresh. Just dice it, add to 2 eggs with a tablespoon or so of diced onion, diced green peppers if I have them, fry it up in two servings and serve each between 2 slices of toast. DS like a slice of cheese on his. I usually keep diced peppers and onions in the freezer in small portions, so easy peasy.

Marson _ I don't have migraines anymore either. Unless I eat chocolate. Smoke filled rooms used to cause them too, but now with smoking outlawed in public buildings for past 6 years in Vermont, that is no longer a problem for me.

Janice - I have the same allergy to chocolate. Ocassionally I can eat a very very small piece and suffer no consequences, but in general, if I eat anything chocolate, I wake up with an intense migraine the following morning. And the headache is always the following day, when I wake up. I used to try and get away with a little piece now and then, but when I was successful, I would get daring and then, "headache". Now chocolate doesn't even appeal to me most of the time. I look at it and see pain in my future.

Mim and Amber, This is the one I use.

http://www.maplegrove.com/product_detail.asp?pid=22

You will see the other fat free flavors on the side. I like the Vidalia Onion one and the lime basil, but the balsamic vinagrette is the tastiest and most versatile IMO

Mim - My favorite salad dressing is Maple Grove Farms Fat Free Balsamic Vinagrette. Very nice flavor, and only 8 calories per 2 tablespoons! I not only use on salads but use as a marinade for chicken and beef and love it on hot steamed veggies.

Around here, there are several convenience stores which cater to truckers that have coin operated showers. Usually a room sandwiched between the ladies and mens restrooms. Anything like that near you?

Gordon, we had one of those 5 gallon black plastic shower containers that we hung in the sun and by about 4 in the afternoon would have plenty of hot water for a shower, we had a hula hoop with a shower curtain attached which we hung from trees or the open van back door to provide privacy, but I was so vain, I would not allow anyone to see me in the morning with dirty hair so always washed my hair first thing. And the water was not warm in the morning. It needed the day's warmth to warm it.

Gordon - We lived for the weekends. The only thing that bothered me at all was washing my hair in cold water!

Gordon, your velcro is fine, it's the glue on the back. Just buy some double stick tape and use it to put up the velcro you have.