Morels

Mr. Claus is an avid mushroom picker. He can find morels where nobody else can. We've had some mighty tasty meals in our married life. He's always wished they grew in our yard like fairy rings do, so every time we clean them we dump the water and trimmings in the grass. I think something finally took:

Here it is in a better perspective, next to my 5 and 6 year old grandsons' hands:

This one will NOT be picked but left in the hope that it has babies.

Someone Else Eating

We have diners that come every morning to feast in our back yard. They way they fight over the suet, you'd think we had four star dining!

Flickers

My "Snake Oil" Journey

I'm a fan of alternative medicine, and my oldest son calls it all snake oil. Of course he's wrong, even if he is my wonderful son!

A couple of months ago, an elderly friend started talking about taking her "dirt." She was thrilled with her results-joint pain going away, and digestive disorders gone. She couldn't remember what it was really called-one of her grandkids orders it for her. When she started talking about killing ants with it, I knew exactly what it was-diatomaceous earth, otherwise known as "fossil shell flour." I did the Google thing and found a reliable site to order it from and got it ordered this morning. My friend Diane and I are going to split a bag just to test it out. It's very inexpensive and you get a lot in a shipment.

The alternative circles believe that allergies are mostly caused by "leaky gut syndrome," and this stuff, if it works right, would help to get rid of that. Leaky gut syndrome is said to be caused by an overgrowth of Candida in the intestines, caused by overuse of antibiotics. Well, that is me for sure-I've been on a preventative dose of antibiotic for about twenty years now to try to avoid the chronic urinary tract infections I've been plagued with since my wonderful son was born 40 years ago. I do many things to keep the Candida down, but Candida is very stubborn and virulent. It also returns because I'm still taking the antibiotic, so that dose of Diflucan only helps for a while. My goal is to get off the antibiotic.

I'm going to try to chronicle my progress with this stuff. I'll be totally honest-if it doesn't work I'll tell you, but if it does work I'll shout it from the housetops. Western medicine has done very little to help me with my cough and allergies-even to the point of refusing to test me for food allergies at one point (not my present doctor-a fancy specialist wouldn't)-so I've left it in God's hands and I am praying that something natural will take care of it. At any rate, according to my research, it doesn't hurt anything, so it's worth a try.

I'll keep you posted.