A friend of mine makes great refrigerator pickles and lots of canned pickles as well. Have you ever had watermelon rind pickled? It's wonderful (and so much fun eating the fruit so we can happily turn over the rinds to the cook!)

It's warming up to a typical hot September after our nice week of fall temperatures. Two loads of laundry done yesterday were dried on the line, and I didn't fluff the towels on air to soften them. My son complained this morning about the plank he found for drying after his shower. Oh, well. Even if I run it on air only I'm still saving a lot. August was hot, just like July (until the hurricanes came along), but my electric bill was about $30 less for August. I think the loads of laundry dried outside did the trick. The double-whammy of the dryer (dry the clothes and cool the house while the dryer runs) adds up quicker than we realize. An electrical engineer friend did the calculation that I would save between one and two dollars per load. This isn't higher math.

Re: weekend food, I have to cut out the dairy of my diet. I've let it back in after realizing too much contributed to my allergies, but eating some now has allowed the weight to creep back on. I also feel my allergies more. Cheese and yogurt are okay, I think culturing them makes them more digestible, but I need to eliminate the ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. I don't drink milk, I use soy and generally that is only on hot cereal or in cooking.

SRS