I bought a beautiful almond glass cooktop when renovating in Pennsylvania. I hated it in no time. It was too "fragile" and got dirty too easily and needed special cleaning.   Totally not useful. Just another pretty face!

SRS: If I lived in your clime, I would find a way to do canning and the like out of doors - porch or shed. Even a cheap propane stove under a tarpaulin! Even in PA I had the crock pot and distiller on a cheap baker's rack on the back porch. And propane would not be an earthquake hazard. I much prefer cooking with gas. When it is on, it i on and when I turn it off, it is OFF! No foresight needed.

We have no water again today. It was almost up to 40 yesterday and today but I suppose the frost in the ground could have gotten it again. Rob did not have time to phone the city today. The eternal optimist, he hopes it will start again. So the faucet is open and I hope I will hear it start running - SOON! I was planning another detox bath today. Darn!

I have eaten no chocolate in four days. I am having a distressed GI system. Correlation? I know choc is good for us but not at 100-150 gms/day. Detoxing last week seems to have alleviated the craving - correlation uncertain. Actually it is not the amount of choc that concerned me; it is the calories - 400-500 extra per day. I also seem to need less food generally. The warmer weather makes salad more acceptable; find cold food in cold weather unpleasant.

Managed to reset the clocks. NOT happy about DST. As I dragged myself out of bed and off to meeting, I suspected this time change is not healthy. Sure enough, a friend posted a link to an article - more heart attacks and suicides in the month after the change. I would think that enough reason to stop this nonsense.

I went through 11 pages of google on microwave safety and have decided it is, re an article in Ontario provincial health site. I thought if I looked far enough I would find the negatives but found none - yet.

Ready to write to newspaper reporter with the hoped for approach to public education on raccoons, aiming for National Wildlife Week, 2nd week of April. Feeling very supported by the raccoon rehab subculture!

Worm composter is looking good. I found room for it and another storage box in the laundry room (from the LR!). Worked on tidying up the plants in LR and sorting it out a bit. Better place for African Violets' "safe home" - the mouse ate the flowers off another which I had forgotten to put in safe place for the night! Was able to move two boxes from middle of floor - one into "closet" and the other - books, cunningly stashed behind a big chair until I figure out whether or not to keep them - all are on writing. Have I ever really looked at them? No. So I feel as though I need them? No. But - maybe it would be a good thing to do anyway? Out of sight for now.

Found fabric to make two new pockets for a pair of Rob's work pants - a stained dinner napkin in strong fabric; will sew them later today and continue to try to get the old zipper out of other winter coat. It is well attached! And put three buttons on anothe coat and that will be three projects and a chair cleared.

Spent several hours on Fri and Sat outside: roof of shed sagging with weight of water, some of which was raining in through small holes in roof. Floor wet, several boxes wet, two frozen to ground. Cleared roof, scooping out water with a sauce pan, props on inside to maintain pitch. Saved most stuff to dry places. Box of Ceramics Monthly magazines salvaged, I think; another box dead in the water - literally. These are reference materials in which I have used post-its to mark important pages. I am still hoping to get back to potting.

Sun is pouring in the windows!!!!!! On to sewing....