I'm back again, giving serious test to Mary's comment about absent idyllers being welcomed back. I'm so happy that this group is always here waiting for me. Marian, I second your comment about liking all of the people here despite many differences. If you and I lived in the same town, chances are great we would never get to know each other. But I enjoy your different perspective and your stories from your life, even if you do think it's not very exciting. Perspective is a funny thing. I had dinner with a group of women last week, and one of them is one of the best-known dairy farmers in the state. She has done tons of work in support of ag in our state, not to mention those 260 dairy cows that need to be milked every once in a while. But she looked at me and another woman who works in the perennial business and told us we had such wonderful jobs that helped make people happy. Hmm, feed the world or make people happy? Isn't it funny how "the grass is always greener"? Honey, I liked the therapist's comment about eggs in the hardware store. Martie, I was talking plants with a customer the other day and she mentioned an herb that she can only get at Logee's - had I ever heard of Logee's? Well, of course, because Martie has raved about it! So have you grown Greek columnar basil? And are you still pushing dibbles in your neighborhood? LOL! Shh! I have four coleus cuttings that are out and out thriving! Funny thing is that I filled three pots with potting soil, stuck the cuttings and then put them all together on my kitchen counter. Two pots (same coleus) did great and the other pot (different variety) shriveled and died. But the two pots are still doing well. This evening, I switched hats and would have done Clik and Clak proud as I diagnosed a car problem over the phone. DD's car has sprung a leak in the cooling system. The complication is that she is supposed to drive home Friday night. DH thinks she should put in some StopLeak and come on home, but I think that there are too many miles of nothing between here and there. There are several exits on the interstate that don't even have gas stations within a couple of miles, and I don't want to worry about her getting stranded. So she will take the car in tomorrow and see how fast it can be fixed. She can get other transportation home, but then she wouldn't have a car to drive over break. Well, that wouldn't be the end of the world! Honey, smart move to call the police. In our old neighborhood, a couple of guys were going door to door ringing bells, and when someone answered they had a goofy reason why they were at the door. Finally someone called the police, and these two were caught trying to break in to a home where no one answered. We were on vacation at the time, and came home to find our sliding patio door slightly off kilter. It was the kind that you could lift off the track from the outside, but we had put screws in the track to prevent that. Those screws did their job! Mary, the teacup and longhouse are simply awesome! Glad to hear we will be discussing Michael Pollan's book. I'm looking forward to revisiting it and discussing it with this crew. I'm in the middle of his latest book, "The Omnivore's Dilemna", right now. Chelone, you talked about becoming a more adventuresome eater. I have always hated olives. Just 11 days ago in Napa, I had this little epiphany and discovered I love little balck olives. Like, I ate every single one I could get my hands on! Anyone hiding any olives around here? Okay, time to let the West Coast crew take over as I head to bed with a warm dog and a good book. V.

Yes, I did. I'm not sure anyone here remembers, but when my daughter was 5 months old, she got pertussis. We had delayed vaccinations because she was sick often, inc., with something that seemed to be seizures. All of my other children were up-to-date. What is worrisome to me is that, in Australia, they no longer believe in "cocooning" Pertussis has been a major health problem there, so they would always advise family members to get vaccinated to protect children who were too young for the shots. They since concluded that there was no evidence it helped. In our case, I think my oldest daughter brought it home from school, but it never affected her more than a little fever for a day or two. The doctor told me that she could definitely have passed it on, even being vaccinated. (And my doctor is pro-vax for sure.) At the same time my daughter had it, my friend and her children got it (same school; was the very end of school so I don't know about anyone else). Her children were up-to-date with shots and not close to needing a booster. A scary reminder that a vax can help but isn't effective for everyone. Here is a link that might be useful: Australia

I got both of them this autumn, the seasonal flu shot in September and the H1N1 in October when I worked at a City Flu shot clinic. No problems with either one. I get a flu shot every year. I work every day with very vulnerable people. Having had the flu before, I NEVER want it again, and I certainly don't want to pass the flu on to someone who might die from it. Yes, there are risks, as there are with anything we do, but the risks from a flu shot, or any other immunization are very, very small, considering the millions of people who get immunizations every year. Several years ago I got both the flu shot and the Pneumovax and 4 days later I had shingles. It might have been too much of a jolt to my immune system (but it might have had nothing to do with the immunizations), but with quick medication, I got through it with minimal discomfort. In the future, I'll continue to get both vaccines, just not at the same time. It's the non-immunized who spread disease - whether it's a preventable childhood disease or influenza. Non-immunized children pass measles, rubella, whooping cough, etc, to children frequently too young to have been immunized. These diseases can still kill children. My SIL was not allowed to get his smallpox vaccination before he left home for his deployment in Iraq because of the risk to both kids. I agree with igloochic, if you are not going to get flu shots, stay away from others if you feel sick, don't assume it's not the flu, the risk is too great to other people.

Immunity is a weird thing. My mom swears I had chicken pox as a young child but I still got it at age 17. Ditto my DD, had it at age five and again at age 15. DS2 (last child before the vaccine came out) had them as a five month old, and developed asthma as a result of the RSV he had at the same time, then had the pox AGAIN as a ten year old. Older kid kept getting strep and had scarlet fever twice--- supposedly not possible. Did a blood titer in the late 1980s and they said he is a strep carrier.... ?? Immunity doesn't always last. And people should have a tetanus booster every ten years. Glad you tested and got your booster, Mtn. There should be a separate state or area of one state (we could call it Coventry, lol) where people / families must live if they don't vaccinate their kids for stupid reasons. They shouldn't be allowed to endanger the public health because of their own ignorance!