I am very protective of my snakes, Sheila. I married a man who had the knee jerk response to them, and it's taken me many years to get him over it so he would appreciate just how beneficial they are in our environment and how they are disappearing because of fear alone. The folks in my area have a 'copperhead' obsession. Every snake anyone sees is automatically a copperhead. Yes, we have them around, but I have only seen two of them in my life. And even then I just walked away from them.

Thanks for that link, mtn, although I wasn't surprised at the two lists and mostly already follow that guideline for what I buy organic. Years ago I read an article by someone who had visited a strawberry farm and was aghast at the protective suits the farmers wore due to the pesticides they were using. Ever since then I've made sure never to buy berries that aren't organic but it's not always easy to find them here. Whole Foods is hit or miss - some days they have them, some not. Even most of the local,produce stands aren't organic! I want to support my local growers but often can't. We had a great butcher that carried grass fed meats but sadly he closed. I think his high prices prevented him from getting the number of customers necessary to stay open. The area I need most improvement is our meats, eggs and dairy. I don't buy processed foods (rarely ever even go to the regular grocery store), and do well with produce, it's being able to find reasonably priced "healthy" meats, poultry and fish that kills me. Funny conversation at the dinner table last night. Somehow we started talking about tv dinners that were so popular in the 70s. Dh and I were trying to describe them to the kids when one of my kids chimed in, "so kinda like lunchables for adults?". Lol - exactly! Years ago my kids would ask why I never bought lunchables, and of course I explained why. Then one of my kids had the chance to taste one while at a friend's house and said it was awful and was thankful for my homemade lunches!

The temperatures have been in the high 90's here and hit 100°f, today. DW has had a couple of Sungolds and I had 2 Yellow Jellybeans and she brought me a Sweet Chelsea just today. There are two, 3-ounce tomatoes ripening on the kitchen table. (We can share those 2. :o) As is often the case, I'm not sure what those are because the plant has grown over and hidden the plant tag from me ... usually, I have them all figured out before first frost ... I only have a couple determinant plants and they have lots of green fruit but all the plants are still growing and looking good. Yes, the heat may be delaying things - it seems that I should have lots of Sun Gold and Sun Sugar by now ... We had the last of the fresh shell peas with creamed peas and new potatoes. Really, it's the last of the peas but there are shell, snap and snow peas in the freezer. With luck, there will be more snow peas from the seeds recently planted, in September. The second sowing of amaranth and some flowering bok choy were our greens last night. I hope that the heat lessens before the green beans get ahead of us and the forecast looks promising for that. Steve

"Cattle car waits "   How odd.  A Canadian friend and I were visiting Sydney a while back. My friend became ill on a Friday night. I was able to get on line and book an appointment with her at a local clinic near our hotel for the following morning. No line up at all.  And I don't know Sydney particularly well.And it was a busy family clinic in the center of the city. There are clinics which only "bulk bill" (ie charge Medicare rates) and there are clinics which charge higher fees(except to people who are on government pensions or disability).  Medicare pays the base fee and the individual pays the "gap."   Many people, with or without insurance, are quite happy to pay the gap fee and get quick service. The gap fee runs around $30 - $60 for a GP visit depending on the length of the visit. Bulk billing, walk in clinics in major cities may well have line ups (I daresay there are similar lineups in inner city New York or Philadelphia), but the clinics I've used, in 3 states and 4 cities, operate  by appointment, even the ones that do bulk bill.    This notion of cattle car service is about as accurate as the notion that every American has full insurance coverage and immediate access to top flight health care.  And in fact, in the studies I've cited in the past, while countries like Australia and Canada do have waiting lists for public health care, access in general is still better than in the US. I am about done with Elmer and his"Australian friends". I didn't intend this to become another personal debate coloured by inaccuracy and animus. I raised the subject of the bowel screening program as an example of what I think is an effective public health measure that extends screening for colorectal cancer to a broader range of people.  Nothing more. I don't dispute that colonoscopies are the gold standard, but they are simply not accessible to everyone for a whole lot of reasons. Not here, not in the US. Bowel screening is much more accessible and picks up a significant number of cases, often early enough for treatment.  Never forget that the pursuit of excellence is often the enemy of the good.  That adage applies here.