JoyfulC

That's odd. Were their costs of harvest too high? I agree. It's a terrible thing to waste food. And generally we do waste a lot in North America. Another thing I love about a freezer: reduces waste.

I think the big concern is that it would change the market for GMO seeds. End consumers aren't Monsanto's customers. Farmers are Monsanto's customers. Grain processors are farmers' customers. Food processors and distributors are grain processors' customers. And we're the customers of food processors and distributors. To give us the ability to choose not to consume GMOs, food processors and distributors would have to be able to choose not to buy GMO grain products. And in order for them to do that, grain processors would have to be able to choose not to purchase GMO grain from farmers. And that gets back to farmers not choosing to use GMO seed. They claim they're safe, but really, how can they know that? It's the stuff horror films are made of, injecting genetic material from one form of life into an entirely different one. It cannot possibly happen in nature, except once it's released in the wild, where it can contaminate at will. It's unbelievable to me that such a specimen would ever have been allowed out of the controlled conditions of the lab. I read something funny recently! Apparently, back in the 60s or 70s, they came up with (through natural hybridization methods) a tomato with a much better shelf life than the kind you can grow in your garden, and this is what people have been buying in grocery stores ever since. It's beautiful, firm, durable... but it has no flavour. All my life, this is what I thought tomatoes were because store-bought tomatoes were the only raw tomatoes I ever had. So when my husband wanted to grow tomatoes in our garden, I was lukewarm on the idea. Then I tasted my first vine-ripened garden tomato and fell in love! So anyway, I was reading that they recently identified some genes that the aforementioned breeding process turned off while making tomatoes more produce section friendly, and if they can get turn these genes back on, store-bought tomatoes may once again have flavour. I'm all for that kind of genetic tinkering, as long as the genes pretty much belong in the plant. This adding genes from insects or microbes to crops is horrifying. Nature might not be perfect (or maybe it is and we just don't realize it), but it's hubris to think we can do better. Hopefully we would prefer to talk in email or online or something. There are all kinds of communication possible in person that can't be done any other way. ;)

Wonderful idea! And then, when we hit rock bottom, we can demand the government bail us out. I think you don't understand our business. SPs who treat their customers the way most businesses today treat their customers wouldn't be in business long. My biggest lament in life is that I'm treated better when I'm making my money than when I'm spending it. And that's a very sad comment on business today. The thing is, you're mixing apples with oranges. Corporations are entities that exist for one purpose only: to make profits. But SPs are not corporations. We aren't doing this simply to make money, but to make livings. Perhaps you should consider that we know what we're doing.

Oh, was that you?? ;) As for what either the science or government says is safe, it seems to me that Monsanto and other GMO companies are controlling the message. Look at the way this recent 2-year feeding study has been slammed. But we need real independent study. Otherwise, it's like having the fox manage henhouse security. There's plenty of evidence lately that RR use is spawning RR resistant weeds, in addition to other damage it does to the environment and our health. I was reading somewhere recently that when GMO canola was introduced to Canada, it drastically reduced the canola export market because so many countries don't want GMO foods. Looking at things season by season, I can see where maybe RR would make sense, but it doesn't look the same in the long view. My point is, without adequate labelling, how can consumers possibly make "informed" choices? You need information to be informed. They say it will increase costs, but that's tough to believe. There's certainly all kinds of money to splash stuff like "Heart Healthy!" and "Low in Fat" all over stuff in a deceptive fashion, but it's somehow going to dramatically increase our prices to tell us what's really in what we're buying?

Cometman, we moved out of Ottawa in 2006 to a small town that has its own butcher/abattoir. They kill local pigs and cows one day a week. I think they get chicken from the next town over. We buy all our meat from them. I can't say that all the meat is 100% organic or grass fed or whatever. In talking with local farmers, it almost seems that they have a frustrated/disgusted attitude about consumers who ask such questions. I believe most use some antibiotics and probably finish feed beef with corn. So I can't claim that we're eating all this almighty organic, grass fed, free-range, whatever stuff that you read so much about. I do, however, know that there aren't any CAFOs around here and our meat doesn't come from some huge industrial meat processing plant. Same thing with veggies. The few times I've asked local farmers about whether they used Round-up or Round-up ready seed, they sort of rolled their eyes and sighed. They don't seem to want to discuss it, so I don't push. But I don't understand. While I can see how it would increase their yield, it also seems like it vastly limits their export market. So ??? As for us, we don't fuss too much about organic or whatever, although we'd really prefer not to eat GMO products. My background is chemistry, and I have enough biology to know that the way GMO products are created is highly unnatural. That, combined with what seems like suspicious and highly inadequate testing, governments that seem bought out by GMO interests and, more than any other factor, the resistance to GMO labelling, has made us decide that we do not want GMO in our household. All we can do is try to avoid processed foods and foods with corn and soy ingredients, or lab made ingredients. Even still, I'm sure we're getting GMOs. What happened to all this free market talk? I thought the free market was about letting the market decide what it wanted? Turns out, it doesn't apply if there's a threat that the free market might reject what big business is selling. That stinks, and our elected Members of Parliament are directly responsible for this travesty. We should have labelling so we can make informed choices. Around here, we make just about everything from scratch. We buy very little in the way of processed foods. We buy stuff like soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce processed. Everything else, we try to buy basic ingredients and make up our own. This takes a lot of man hours, which we're lucky to have. Most families don't. I predict that, in the future, time will be the new currency of wealth and quality of life.

I read this about a week ago, and I'll admit to being a bit suspicious that she received some assistance. There's a lot of maturity in there for a 13-year-old. (The kid comes off sounded downright jaded.) But I think there's a lot of truth in what she says. Consumer perceptions have been influenced by huge corporations that put a lot of money into marketing, while skimping out and selling us (often subsidized, in the US especially) food at rock bottom prices. People have come to have unrealistic expectations. We probably should have been paying more for our food all along. Prices will probably rise in the near future, but for all the wrong reasons, things we should have been working to avoid, like the recent drought in the US and higher gas prices. More and more, it seems that farming is only profitable for big industrial operations. Family farms are getting squeezed out. What's the point of working your farm when one or more members of the family has to work full-time off the farm to pay the bills?

Dark confession: I still love and crave Egg McMuffins. But I haven't eaten them in many years, and hopefully I never will again. I'm off the corporate food habit.

I'm convinced it's the way of the future, and there is a huge market ripe for it. Maybe if I ever get too old to be an SP, I can run a stable of male SPs. Mature, experienced, down-to-earth types. And, of course, I'd pay strict attention to quality control.

Since your replacement costs are so low, can you go with just the minimum insurance required under the law? (I think it's called PLPD or something.) We have that, and they're still dinging us for $600 a year even though we both have immaculate abstracts and the only way they would ever have to pay out is if we ran over some pedestrian or ran into the front window of some business, which is extremely unlikely. It makes me mad because, at $50 a month, our insurance was costing us more than our gas! Up until just recently, we only drove once a week or less to do banking and shopping. Insurance is such a scam.

Thanks everybody! I told Fred he's got a lot to live up to today!!

Actually, he was so early that my husband was still home. I was half-dressed and fit to be tied, so Fred offered to go out and handle the situation. The guy didn't seem at all freaked out by this. Rather he said, "You must be Fred! I've heard a lot about your pizza." Fred suggested that he leave and come back on time. I do note on my FAQ that people should phone ahead if they're going to be early, because it does happen sometimes. I live outside of Ottawa, and if it's someone's first time here, they might overestimate how long it will take them to get here. I suggest, if you're going to be early by more than 5 minutes, phone or text ahead to make sure she's ready and the coast is clear. If she can't receive you right away, go cool your jets at a local coffee shop and come back on time. Similarly, if you're going to be more than, say, 10-15 minutes late, you should probably phone or text to let her know and see if she can manage that, or if she needs to reschedule. I don't know if it's true because I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard that back in the 90s, there was an escort service in Kingston that used to drive its escorts around in a car marked with the agency's name. Can you imagine that pulling up out front!

(Come back to us, Mr. Larson! We need you now more than ever.)

When your rather solidly built old beagle, affectionately nicknamed "cube," wakes you up by standing on your nipple. OUCH!!

I'm sorry if some find this sort of post souring or offputting, but I do realize that there are those who are firmly in the camp of "The Customer Is Always Right." Fortunately, I don't think CERB has ever been that sort of board. It seems to be more of a place where hobbiests and SPs can discuss and learn from one another. And I think even the most experience among us still has much to learn. (Or at least I hope so! This life will become rather dull when there's nothing left to learn.) I agree about this applying just as much to outcalls at the customers' places. it's always important to be discreet, and showing up when expected is part of that.

Tonight, Fred is making his Never Fails Maple Cider Brined Pork Roast again! Last time we had this, it was so good, I was lying awake in the middle of the night, thinking about it. (Makes good sandwiches the next day too... if a burglar doesn't break in and raid our fridge, which does seem to happen around here a lot!)

I had to think about this one, but I guess it was a domain renewal for my private members' site. I buy stuff online maybe a few times a year. I have not been in a single store this year, and the only store I was in all last year was at a local orchard to select a pumpkin. I hate to shop, and I'm very lucky to have a partner who takes care of that unpleasantness for me!

In Canada, generally, yes. SPs bring condoms. But it doesn't hurt to have some backup. In some parts of the US, unbelievably, having condoms on a woman's person can be viewed by some law enforcement as proof of prostitution, and I have heard that some American SPs in some areas don't like to carry condoms for that reason. So if you're travelling in the US, better safe than sorry.

This is one of those series that maybe got better with time? I sampled a few of the first season's episodes on Netflix, and not only wasn't I impressed, I was downright turned off by the idea of a sociopath serial killer being a hero. Ick!

That's always been one of the big problems with sex work activism: few customers want to stand publicly with us. Sadly, even fewer will place sex work issues ahead of other considerations when voting. But I think you're wrong that "decriminalizing" sex work will reduce the desire for secrecy and discretion. I think the choice to use the services of a sex worker is an intensely private thing for most customers (with the exception being those who prefer to take their business to the public streets). No matter how the laws or even public perceptions change, most of my customers would not want the whole world knowing when they're stepping out for sexual services. Many of my customers wouldn't be caught dead in a strip club or a store-front type massage parlour, simply because this is a very private thing for them, and they do no wish to share it with the world.-- Many of my customers are older and married a long time. In many cases, their marital sex lives are over, but they do not view their personal sex lives as being over. They wish to continue to be sexually active, but choose to do so very privately and discreetly, out of consideration for their spouses and families. You have to respect that. (--I don't say this to be judgmental. Only that that's how some of my customers have told me that they feel. My own husband loves strip clubs, and while I don't think he's ever been to a massage parlour, I bet he'd enjoy the experience. He has neither a personal nor professional situation that would be adversely affected by being spotted at either.)

??? Have you been watching the election south of the border? What makes you think there hasn't already BEEN a zombie apocalypse??? Brains! Need braaaaaains!! (Hopefully it's over soon.)

Don't get me started! That's a sad comment. We obviously have some connection probs in the dashboard of our old Jetta. The speedometer rarely works, but lately the tachometer has started dropping too. Last night, this was freaking my husband (who tends to drive by the tach) out, but I don't know why. We've been driving this car for two years. By now he should be able to hear what he needs to know. What's really scary is how many automatic drivers have no clue what L1 and L2 are for, and when to use them. Especially here in The Great White North. It's about that time, and we're in for yet another winter of hearing drivers pointlessly spinning their tires on ice. Drop it into L1, people. Drop it into L1. You'll be so amazed.

We had mac & cheese last night, and I think I finally found a recipe that's a keeper! http://www.food.com/recipe/fannie-farmers-classic-baked-macaroni-and-cheese-135350 I guess you can use all milk, but I had cream on hand and I used it. I served it with homemade applesauce, and because of the company, meatballs. We had a friend drop by last minute, so I made it all, but this recipe easily would halve after mixing the noodles with the cheese sauce, and half go in the freezer for another meal. Tonight, it's my husband's Can't Fail Maple Cider Pork Roast with yams and homemade applesauce. Just the smell of this cooking makes my kitties act like they're high on something. Food & sex!!!!

I'm fairly tall (although age and breaking various bones has shaved off almost an inch and a half). Probably 80% of the sexiest guys I ever met were shorter than me, sometimes by several inches. But I love being tall! One of my favourite people to do duos with is so tiny, I feel like I could put her in my purse and carry her around. But the other is even taller than me, a majestic Amazon-like goddess.

Yeah, I'm going to try it with my husband's Vista notebook. If that doesn't work, I might yet try a different dongle. This one was a bargain, but came with no documentation, and the support isn't very English friendly. Chalk it up to "you get what you pay for!"