Annie, sorry to hear about your Aunt. I'll raise a glass and clink to her right now. My sympathy to you and all of the family. Sounds like she was a great and fun lady that did it her way. You know, dynamite comes in small packages. Congrats on the new bull soon to be a steer. A small town just northeast of me host the largest calf fry festival in the country. The Will Rogers Memorial Rodeo takes place at the the same time. Yes, I've tried them but they are not at the top of my favorite list. : ) My life in general has been one wild ride since last fall. So yes, it comes in spurts but this last ride has been more like a main water line break. Lots of cooking, traveling, and company. I'm ready for normal... whatever that might be. : ) David

The Food Safety Classes I've taken suggest 2-hours at room temperature and if the ambient temperature is 90°F or warmer, then 1-hour. "Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold" and the the danger zone for hot and cold foods - 40°F to 140°F. Naturally, there are foods that aren't as perishable as others and they all need the right conditions for a microorganism, that is present in food, to form a toxin. There are four categories of foodborne illness agents or contaminants: 1. Bacteria 2. Viruses 3. Parasites 4. Food Toxins The right foods under the right conditions Roulette... Clostridium botulinum can develop into a toxin in foil-wrapped baked potatoes - something people wouldn't consider as perishable and prone to bacterial growth as other foods. This can happen in your refrigerator. Because the symptoms of botulism may develop anywhere between eight hours to eight days after ingesting the toxin (most commonly within 12-48-hours), it's symptoms can often be mistaken for flu - long after the food was consumed. You may find some supporting information in the Fact Sheets at the link below. If that doesn't work, make an appointment with someone from your local health department for more information. For all of us who has ever suffered "food poisoning", you REALLY never want to chance it again, so I'm a food safety freak. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Fact Sheets

OMG, I've been ROFLMAO reading through all these posts . . . they're priceless! My worst decorating disaster was way back in my very first apartment down in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The landlords liked me and so they ok'd me painting one (huge) wall in my bedroom as long as I agreed to put it back to (stark) white before I moved. My boyfriend at the time was an artist, who also had no previous wall painting experience! I let him talk me into painting the wall a dark forest green and then he got the great(stupid!) idea of making a mosaic design with mirrors on it. I let him (stupidly) glue (with some heavy duty auto glue) twenty-plus 12"x12" mirrors to the wall in a huge flying bird design. I know, we must've lost our minds! Well, six months later, as I was ready to move to my new duplex, I tried getting those mirrors off the wall. OMG, what a nightmare!!! When I finished, it looked like some cannon company had used my dark green wall for target practice! I was in tears and petrified that I was never going to get that wall back to normal again. My grandfather and I worked for days patching Thank goodness my retired grandpa was brilliant when it came to that kind of stuff (heck, he was brilliant at everything!), but he was ready to toss me off my balcony when he first got a look at that wall! I was on Gramp's poop list for a couple of weeks after that, but I did learn several big lessons on what NOT to do to a wall! Did I mention that the boyfriend was not allowed back at Gram & Gramps house after that? I broke up with him a couple of weeks after that anyway. I needed a boyfriend that was smart, like my Gramp. Lynn

I'm guessing that when one of the bulbs burned out, the filament shorted across the line, opening the breaker (I have seen this before). Or, due to apparant wiring problems which you cited, a short occured in the wiring, opening the breaker. Unscrew all the bulbs on the circuit, and reflip the breaker. The only thing that would make bulbs burn out quickly is higher than normal voltage (unlikely), vibration (like garage door opener, doors slamming, or fan), heat build up (recessed cans in a sealed top soffit is bad), or very poor quality bulbs (unlikely, but possible). Better yet, call a electrician if you are unsure about any of this since shorts can cause fires regardless of breakers (which can fail).