Hi Everyone, and welcome to all new posters, and old ones as well.

Some odds and ends:

Thanks Annie for the Murphy's Oil soap idea for the leather furniture. It worked beautifully, better than the expensive stuff I bought before.

The puppy chow recipe was great, and we used real butter and it worked just fine.

Thanks for all the great sites everyone has posted, I have enjoyed browsing through them.

I received my first Package X, tax book today. Just browsed through it quickly. Looks like there are a few new things, I will try to update everyone in the next week or so.

We are also getting an old freezer to store our feed in the barn. Someone had mentioned it, and we thought it would be a good idea!

There was one more thing, but I have forgotten it, so I will post more when I remember.

Feel free to add your own updates here. Especially if you have learned something new, or tried someone's idea, let them know how it worked out!!!!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 10, 2001

Answers

Melissa, since you have children, I hope you will be extremely careful about storing feed in an old freezer. They can be a death trap for children playing. We had one in the barn when we bought our last house, and I insisted that it be hauled off right away. Not worth the risk to me with six kiddos. We stored feed in garbage cans.

-- mary (mlg@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

Thanks Mary, I will certainly keep this in mind. I don;t feel it would be a problem, as they are from 8 1/2 to 15 years old. They are not the type of kids that get into things much that they shouldn't. I will certainly have a talk with them about the dangers though.

I think it is like most things around a farm, anything can be dangerous, you just have to have good supervision and explain the dangers. We have a pool, a 4-wheeler, horses, bicycles, and other potentially dangerous objects around here, and we have had a few accidents as well (one broken arm, so far)

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 11, 2001.

Melissa, just one more thought: watch for playmates coming over (especially younger ones) who like to play hide-and-seek. You might want to see if you can "ruin" the latches so that they cannot catch. That's what my dad did to an old upright we had. Maybe also remove the airtight seal so that it is no longer airtight.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), December 11, 2001.

I will talk to Cale about this. We don't have it yet, it is my aunt's and it quit working, so we thought we might get it. I will have to look at the mechanism and see how it latches. Some of them are very light and the lid just sits on there, whereas some of them really latch tight. We do get a lot of company and I wouldn't like any child to get hurt!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 11, 2001.

Odds'n'ends for me ... Yesterday and today were really productive. I got articles or verse written for Forthright, Cloud Couplets, our church bulletin, my Portuguese daily devotional, Morrock News/Magazine, and am nearly finishing up our printed Portuguese magazine.

Went yesterday to the doctor for my foot. You know I had to be bad off to do that. Haven't seen a doctor in 10 years. He was very cold, but did give me a new salve that seems to be helping my rash. I've been in sandals since last Wed. I cancelled my appointment last night and kept my feet up on the couch. Vicki brought me lunch to the office today so I wouldn't have to be out walking.

Well, enough of my minor woes! But maybe they helped me get more things done that last couple of days.

-- Randal (randal@rhyme.cjb.net), December 11, 2001.

Always use the old chest type freezers, they are gravity latch only, any child that weighs more than 25 pounds would be able to push the lid up and get out. Just check to make sure that there is no catch latch on the lid, and gravity holds it down ONLY. Grease the hinges well so it opens easily.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), December 11, 2001.

One contrarian thought on the freezer deal here. Rather than worry about someone getting out after they're in, put a hasp on it and use a padlock too keep them out. I use padlocks all over the place and have them all keyed the same so I'm not carrying around six pounds of keys. I know Master Lock has this option and I'd think others would also. It's an extra 30 seconds to unlock and relock every day for the peace of mind. Also, that way you can even use an upright without worrying about someone getting in and tipping it forward on the door. Getting out of that scenario would take more strength than most kids (and a lot of adults) possess. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

Randal:

Rash on your foot? Try soaking in a warm water and vinegar solution. Often these rashes are related to fungus and this will help (even if it isn't==great for the pH of your skin). Even my husband is amazed that it helped him after years of going to doctor and having reoccurences.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), December 12, 2001.

Getting off the subject of freezers- Melissa, I want to thank you for telling about the great scented soap! I was shopping a couple of days later and found that soap and English lavender in packages three for two dollars. I'm going to my Homemakers party tonight-we get each other a little trinkety thing, and I was racking my brain what to get and I realized the soap would be perfect!

-- Kelly (Ksaderholm@yahoo.com), December 13, 2001.