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HENREY DAVID THOREAU'S FAMOUS WORDS ARE AS IMPORTANT TODAY AS THEY WERE WHEN THEY WERE WRITTEN - EVEN MORE-SO

On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau

[1849, original title:  Resistance to Civil Government]

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.  Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people

have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.  Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.

This American government--what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?  It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will.  It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves.  But it is not the less necessary for this; for the people must have some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to satisfy that idea of government which they have.

Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow.  Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.  It does not keep the country free.  It does not settle the West.  It does not educate.  The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.  For government is an expedient, by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most expedient, the governed are most let alone by it.  Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads.

But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at one no government, but at once a better government.  Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest.  But a government in which the majority rule in all cases can not be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.  Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?--in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable?  Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?  Why has every man a conscience then?  I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.  It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.  The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.  It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation on conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.  Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents on injustice.  A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.

They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they?  Men at all?  or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power? Visit the Navy Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts--a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniment, though it may be,

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,

As his corse to the rampart we hurried;

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot

O'er the grave where out hero was buried."

The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.  They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well.

Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders--serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as the rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men--serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.  A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay," and "stop a hole to keep the wind away," but leave that office to his dust at least:

"I am too high born to be propertied,

To be a second at control,

Or useful serving-man and instrument

To any sovereign state throughout the world."

He who gives himself entirely to his fellow men appears to them useless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially to them in pronounced a benefactor and philanthropist.

How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today?  I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.  I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also.

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.  But almost all say that such is not the case now.  But such was the case, they think, in the Revolution of '75.  If one were to tell me that this was a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not make an ado about it, for I can do without them. All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil.  At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it.  But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.

In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army.

Paley, a common authority with many on moral questions, in his chapter on the "Duty of Submission to Civil Government," resolves all civil obligation into expediency; and he proceeds to say that "so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that it, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconvenience y, it is the will of God. . .that the established government be obeyed--and no longer.  This principle being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other."

Of this, he says, every man shall judge for himself. But Paley appears never to have contemplated those cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply, in which a people, as well and an individual, must do justice, cost what it may.  If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself. This, according to Paley, would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life, in such a case, shall lose it. This people must cease to hold slaves, and to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people.

In their practice, nations agree with Paley; but does anyone think that Massachusetts does exactly what is right at the present crisis?

"A drab of stat,

a cloth-o'-silver slut,

To have her train borne up,

and her soul trail in the dirt."

Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at the South, but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity, and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico, cost what it may.  I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, neat at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of, those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless.  We are accustomed to say, that the mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is slow, because the few are not as materially wiser or better than the many.  It is not so important that many should be good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump.

There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free trade, and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both.  What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today?  They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect.  They will wait, well disposed, for other to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret.  At most, they give up only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them.  There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man.  But it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it.

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it.  The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail.  I am willing to leave it to the majority.  Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency.  Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it.  It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote.  They will then be the only slaves.  Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own freedom by his vote.

I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man what decision they may come to?  Shall we not have the advantage of this wisdom and honesty, nevertheless?  Can we not count upon some independent votes?  Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions?  But no:  I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reasons to despair of him.  He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one, thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue.  His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.  O for a man who is a man, and, and my neighbor says, has a bone is his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large.  How many men are there to a square thousand miles in the country? Hardly one.  Does not America offer any inducement for men to settle here?  The American has dwindled into an Odd Fellow--one who may be known by the development of his organ of gregariousness, and a manifest lack of intellect and cheerful self-reliance; whose first and chief concern, on coming into the world, is to see that the almshouses are in good repair; and, before yet he has lawfully donned the virile garb, to collect a fund to the support of the widows and orphans that may be; who, in short, ventures to live only by the aid of the Mutual Insurance company, which has promised to bury him decently.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even to most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support.  If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders.  I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too.  See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. I have heard some of my townsmen say, "I should like to have them order me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to Mexico--see if I would go"; and yet these very men have each, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished a substitute.  The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught; as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment. Thus, under the name of Order and Civil Government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. After the first blush of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quite unnecessary to that life which we have made.

The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it.  The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur.  Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.  Some are petitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President.  Why do they not dissolve it themselves--the union between themselves and the State--and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury?  Do not they stand in same relation to the State that the State does to the Union?  And have not the same reasons prevented the State from resisting the Union which have prevented them from resisting the State?

How can a man be satisfied to entertain and opinion merely, and enjoy it?  Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved?  If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see to it that you are never cheated again. Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary, and does not consist wholly with anything which was.  It not only divided States and churches, it divides families; ay, it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from the divine.

Unjust laws exist:  shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?  Men, generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them.  They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil.  But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse.  Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform?  Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt?  Why does it not encourage its citizens to put out its faults, and do better than it would have them?  Why does it always crucify Christ and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?

One would think, that a deliberate and practical denial of its authority was the only offense never contemplated by its government; else, why has it not assigned its definite, its suitable and proportionate, penalty?  If a man who has no property refuses but once to earn nine shillings for the State, he is put in prison for a period unlimited by any law that I know, and determined only by the discretion of those who put him there; but if he should steal ninety times nine shillings from the State, he is soon permitted to go at large again.

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go:  perchance it will wear smooth--certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law.  Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine.  What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.

As for adopting the ways of the State has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways.  They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone.  I have other affairs to attend to.  I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.  A man has not everything to do, but something; and because he cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he should be petitioning the Governor or the Legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if they should not hear my petition, what should I do then? But in this case the State has provided no way:  its very Constitution is the evil.  This may seem to be harsh and stubborn and unconciliatory; but it is to treat with the utmost kindness and consideration the only spirit that can appreciate or deserves it.  So is all change for the better, like birth and death, which convulse the body.

I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts, and not wait till they constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right to prevail through them.  I think that it is enough if they have God on their side, without waiting for that other one. Moreover, any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.

I meet this American government, or its representative, the State government, directly, and face to face, once a year--no more--in the person of its tax-gatherer; this is the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily meets it; and it then says distinctly, Recognize me; and the simplest, the most effectual, and, in the present posture of affairs, the indispensablest mode of treating with it on this head, of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it then.  My civil neighbor, the tax-gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with--for it is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel--and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government.  How shall he ever know well that he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he will treat me, his neighbor, for whom he has respect, as a neighbor and well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace, and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborlines without a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action.  I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name--if ten honest men only--ay, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this co-partnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America.  For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be:  what is once well done is done forever.  But we love better to talk about it:  that we say is our mission.  Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man.  If my esteemed neighbor, the State's ambassador, who will devote his days to the settlement of the question of human rights in the Council Chamber, instead of being threatened with the prisons of Carolina, were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that State which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister--though at present she can discover only an act of inhospitality to be the ground of a quarrel with her--the Legislature would not wholly waive the subject of the following winter.

Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.  The proper place today, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less despondent spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them; on that separate but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her--the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor.  If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person.  Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.

A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight.  If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose.  If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood.  This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.  If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign your office."  When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned from office, then the revolution is accomplished.  But even suppose blood shed when the conscience is wounded?  Through this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death.  I see this blood flowing now.

I have contemplated the imprisonment of the offender, rather than the seizure of his goods--though both will serve the same purpose--because they who assert the purest right, and consequently are most dangerous to a corrupt State, commonly have not spent much time in accumulating property. To such the State renders comparatively small service, and a slight tax is wont to appear exorbitant, particularly if they are obliged to earn it by special labor with their hands.  If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man--not to make any invidious comparison--is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.  Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it.  It puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer; while the only new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one, how to spend it.  Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet. The opportunities of living are diminished in proportion as that are called the "means" are increased.  The best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor.

Christ answered the Herodians according to their condition.  "Show me the tribute-money," said he--and one took a penny out of his pocket--if you use money which has the image of Caesar on it, and which he has made current and valuable, that is, if you are men of the State, and gladly enjoy the advantages of Caesar's government, then pay him back some of his own when he demands it.  "Render therefore to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God those things which are God's"--leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which; for they did not wish to know.

When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that, whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the question, and their regard for the public tranquility, the long and the short of the matter is, that they cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience to it.  For my own part, I should not like to think that I ever rely on the protection of the State.  But, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its tax bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without end.

This is hard.  This makes it impossible for a man to live honestly, and at the same time comfortably, in outward respects.  It will not be worth the while to accumulate property; that would be sure to go again.  You must hire or squat somewhere, and raise but a small crop, and eat that soon.  You must live within yourself, and depend upon yourself always tucked up and ready for a start, and not have many affairs.  A man may grow rich in Turkey even, if he will be in all respects a good subject of the Turkish government.  Confucius said:  "If a state is governed by the principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a state is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of shame."  No:  until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life.  It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey.  I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.

Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, and commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended, but never I myself.  "Pay," it said, "or be locked up in the jail."  I declined to pay.  But, unfortunately, another man saw fit to pay it.  I did not see why the schoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest, and not the priest the schoolmaster; for I was not the State's schoolmaster, but I supported myself by voluntary subscription.  I did not see why the lyceum should not present its tax bill, and have the State to back its demand, as well as the Church.  However, as the request of the selectmen, I condescended to make some such statement as this in writing:  "Know all men by these presents, that I, Henry Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any society which I have not joined."  This I gave to the town clerk; and he has it.  The State, having thus learned that I did not wish to be regarded as a member of that church, has never made a like demand on me since; though it said that it must adhere to its original presumption that time.  If I had known how to name them, I should then have signed off in detail from all the societies which I never signed on to; but I did not know where to find such a complete list.

I have paid no poll tax for six years.  I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering the walls of solid stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated my as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up.  I wondered that it should have concluded at length that this was the best use it could put me to, and had never thought to avail itself of my services in some way.  I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through before they could get to be as free as I was.  I did nor for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.  I felt as if I alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax.  They plainly did not know how to treat me, but behaved like persons who are underbred.  In every threat and in every compliment there was a blunder; for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of that stone wall.  I could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditations, which followed them out again without let or hindrance, and they were really all that was dangerous. As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body; just as boys, if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog.  I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.

Thus the state never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses.  It is not armed with superior with or honesty, but with superior physical strength.  I was not born to be forced.  I will breathe after my own fashion.  Let us see who is the strongest.  What force has a multitude?  They only can force me who obey a higher law than I.  They force me to become like themselves.  I do not hear of men being forced to live this way or that by masses of men.  What sort of life were that to live?  When I meet a government which says to me, "Your money our your life," why should I be in haste to give it my money?  It may be in a great strait, and not know what to do:  I cannot help that.  It must help itself; do as I do.  It is not worth the while to snivel about it.  I am not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society.  I am not the son of the engineer.  I perceive that, when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side, the one does not remain inert to make way for the other, but both obey their own laws, and spring and grow and flourish as best they can, till one, perchance, overshadows and destroys the other.  If a plant cannot live according to nature, it dies; and so a man.

The night in prison was novel and interesting enough.  The prisoners in their shirtsleeves were enjoying a chat and the evening air in the doorway, when I entered.  But the jailer said, "Come, boys, it is time to lock up"; and so they dispersed, and I heard the sound of their steps returning into the hollow apartments.  My room-mate was introduced to me by the jailer as "a first-rate fellow and clever man."  When the door was locked, he showed me where to hang my hat, and how he managed matters there.  The rooms were whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably neatest apartment in town.  He naturally wanted to know where I came from, and what brought me there; and, when I had told him, I asked him in my turn how he came there, presuming him to be an honest an, of course; and as the world goes, I believe he was.  "Why," said he, "they accuse me of burning a barn; but I never did it."  As near as I could discover, he had probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk, and smoked his pipe there; and so a barn was burnt.  He had the reputation of being a clever man, had been there some three months waiting for his trial to come on, and would have to wait as much longer; but he was quite domesticated and contented, since he got his board for nothing, and thought that he was well treated.

He occupied one window, and I the other; and I saw that if one stayed there long, his principal business would be to look out the window.  I had soon read all the tracts that were left there, and examined where former prisoners had broken out, and where a grate had been sawed off, and heard the history of the various occupants of that room; for I found that even there there was a history and a gossip which never circulated beyond the walls of the jail.  Probably this is the only house in the town where verses are composed, which are afterward printed in a circular form, but not published.  I was shown quite a long list of young men who had been detected in an attempt to escape, who avenged themselves by singing them.

I pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as I could, for fear I should never see him again; but at length he showed me which was my bed, and left me to blow out the lamp.

It was like traveling into a far country, such as I had never expected to behold, to lie there for one night.  It seemed to me that I never had heard the town clock strike before, not the evening sounds of the village; for we slept with the windows open, which were inside the grating.  It was to see my native village in the light of the Middle Ages, and our Concord was turned into a Rhine stream, and visions of knights and castles passed before me.  They were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets.  I was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village inn--a wholly new and rare experience to me.  It was a closer view of my native town.  I was fairly inside of it.  I never had seen its institutions before.  This is one of its peculiar institutions; for it is a shire town.  I began to comprehend what its inhabitants were about.

In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole in the door, in small oblong-square tin pans, made to fit, and holding a pint of chocolate, with brown bread, and an iron spoon.  When they called for the vessels again, I was green enough to return what bread I had left, but my comrade seized it, and said that I should lay that up for lunch or dinner.  Soon after he was let out to work at haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day, and would not be back till noon; so he bade me good day, saying that he doubted if he should see me again.

When I came out of prison--for some one interfered, and paid that tax--I did not perceive that great changes had taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in a youth and emerged a gray-headed man; and yet a change had come to my eyes come over the scene--the town, and State, and country, greater than any that mere time could effect. I saw yet more distinctly the State in which I lived.  I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions, as the Chinamen and Malays are that in their sacrifices to humanity they ran no risks, not even to their property; that after all they were not so noble but they treated the thief as he had treated them, and hoped, by a certain outward observance and a few prayers, and by walking in a particular straight through useless path from time to time, to save their souls. This may be to judge my neighbors harshly; for I believe that many of them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jail in their village.

It was formerly the custom in our village, when a poor debtor came out of jail, for his acquaintances to salute him, looking through their fingers, which were crossed to represent the jail window, "How do ye do?" My neighbors did not this salute me, but first looked at me, and then at one another, as if I had returned from a long journey.  I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mender.  When I was let out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having put on my mended show, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour--for the horse was soon tackled--was in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.

This is the whole history of "My Prisons."

I have never declined paying the highway tax, because I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject; and as for supporting schools, I am doing my part to educate my fellow countrymen now.  It is for no particular item in the tax bill that I refuse to pay it.  I simply wish to refuse allegiance to the State, to withdraw and stand aloof from it effectually.  I do not care to trace the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys a man a musket to shoot one with--the dollar is innocent--but I am concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance.  In fact, I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get what advantages of her I can, as is usual in such cases.

If others pay the tax which is demanded of me, from a sympathy with the State, they do but what they have already done in their own case, or rather they abet injustice to a greater extent than the State requires.  If they pay the tax from a mistaken interest in the individual taxed, to save his property, or prevent his going to jail, it is because they have not considered wisely how far they let their private feelings interfere with the public good.

This, then is my position at present.  But one cannot be too much on his guard in such a case, lest his actions be biased by obstinacy or an undue regard for the opinions of men. Let him see that he does only what belongs to himself and to the hour.

I think sometimes, Why, this people mean well, they are only ignorant; they would do better if they knew how:  why give your neighbors this pain to treat you as they are not inclined to?  But I think again, This is no reason why I should do as they do, or permit others to suffer much greater pain of a different kind.  Again, I sometimes say to myself, When many millions of men, without heat, without ill will, without personal feelings of any kind, demand of you a few shillings only, without the possibility, such is their constitution, of retracting or altering their present demand, and without the possibility, on your side, of appeal to any other millions, why expose yourself to this overwhelming brute force?  You do not resist cold and hunger, the winds and the waves, thus obstinately; you quietly submit to a thousand similar necessities.  You do not put your head into the fire.  But just in proportion as I regard this as not wholly a brute force, but partly a human force, and consider that I have relations to those millions as to so many millions of men, and not of mere brute or inanimate things, I see that appeal is possible, first and instantaneously, from them to the Maker of them, and, secondly, from them to themselves.  But if I put my head deliberately into the fire, there is no appeal to fire or to the Maker for fire, and I have only myself to blame.  If I could convince myself that I have any right to be satisfied with men as they are, and to treat them accordingly, and not according, in some respects, to my requisitions and expectations of what they and I ought to be, then, like a good Mussulman and fatalist, I should endeavor to be satisfied with things as they are, and say it is the will of God.  And, above all, there is this difference between resisting this and a purely brute or natural force, that I can resist this with some effect; but I cannot expect, like Orpheus, to change the nature of the rocks and trees and beasts.

I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation.  I do not wish to split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors.  I seek rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land.  I am but too ready to conform to them.  Indeed, I have reason to suspect myself on this head; and each year, as the tax-gatherer comes round, I find myself disposed to review the acts and position of the general and State governments, and the spirit of the people to discover a pretext for conformity.

"We must affect our country as our parents,

And if at any time we alienate

Out love or industry from doing it honor,

We must respect effects and teach the soul

Matter of conscience and religion,

And not desire of rule or benefit."

I believe that the State will soon be able to take all my work of this sort out of my hands, and then I shall be no better patriot than my fellow-countrymen.  Seen from a lower point of view, the Constitution, with all its faults, is very good; the law and the courts are very respectable; even this State and this American government are, in many respects, very admirable, and rare things, to be thankful for, such as a great many have described them; seen from a higher still, and the highest, who shall say what they are, or that they are worth looking at or thinking of at all?

However, the government does not concern me much, and I shall bestow the fewest possible thoughts on it.  It is not many moments that I live under a government, even in this world.  If a man is thought-free, fancy-free, imagination-free, that which is not never for a long time appearing to be to him, unwise rulers or reformers cannot fatally interrupt him.

I know that most men think differently from myself; but those whose lives are by profession devoted to the study of these or kindred subjects content me as little as any.  Statesmen and legislators, standing so completely within the institution, never distinctly and nakedly behold it.  They speak of moving society, but have no resting-place without it.  They may be men of a certain experience and discrimination, and have no doubt invented ingenious and even useful systems, for which we sincerely thank them; but all their wit and usefulness lie within certain not very wide limits.  They are wont to forget that the world is not governed by policy and expediency.  Webster never goes behind government, and so cannot speak with authority about it.

His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no essential reform in the existing government; but for thinkers, and those who legislate for all time, he never once glances at the subject.  I know of those whose serene and wise speculations on this theme would soon reveal the limits of his mind's range and hospitality.  Yet, compared with the cheap professions of most reformers, and the still cheaper wisdom an eloquence of politicians in general, his are almost the only sensible and valuable words, and we thank Heaven for him.  Comparatively, he is always strong, original, and, above all, practical.  Still, his quality is not wisdom, but prudence.  The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.  Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.  He well deserves to be called, as he has been called, the Defender of the Constitution.  There are really no blows to be given him but defensive ones.  He is not a leader, but a follower.  His leaders are the men of '87.  "I have never made an effort," he says, "and never propose to make an effort; I have never countenanced an effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, to disturb the arrangement as originally made, by which various States came into the Union."  Still thinking of the sanction which the Constitution gives to slavery, he says, "Because it was part of the original compact--let it stand."

Notwithstanding his special acuteness and ability, he is unable to take a fact out of its merely political relations, and behold it as it lies absolutely to be disposed of by the intellect--what, for instance, it behooves a man to do here in American today with regard to slavery--but ventures, or is driven, to make some such desperate answer to the following, while professing to speak absolutely, and as a private man--from which what new and singular of social duties might be inferred?  "The manner," says he, "in which the governments of the States where slavery exists are to regulate it is for their own consideration, under the responsibility to their constituents, to the general laws of propriety, humanity, and justice, and to God.  Associations formed elsewhere, springing from a feeling of humanity, or any other cause, have nothing whatever to do with it.  They have never received any encouragement from me and they never will.  [These extracts have been inserted since the lecture was read -HDT].

They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humanity; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead.

No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.  They are rare in the history of the world.  There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day.  We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which t may utter, or any heroism it may inspire.  Our legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of free trade and of freed, of union, and of rectitude, to a nation.  They have no genius or talent for comparatively humble questions of taxation and finance, commerce and manufactures and agriculture.  If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.  For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation.

The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to--for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well--is still an impure one:  to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed.  It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it.  The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.  Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire.  Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?  Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?  There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.  I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow men.  A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.

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EATING FOR LIFE

How does a person eat for life? - It's easier and more enjoyable than you might think

Eat for life? Eat to improve your chances long and healthy life? Yes, you can.

At a time when we seem to be overwhelmed by conflicting diet and health messages, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) have some good news: by making the right food choices, you may reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer.

These diseases take the lives of more North Americans than all other illnesses and causes of death combined. Each day, about three out of every four deaths in the United States will occur as a result of cardiovascular disease or heart disease (like heart attacks and strokes) and cancer. This need not be. Although no diet can ensure you won't get a heart attack, stroke or cancer, what you eat can affect your health. This has been shown by research of the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (two of this country's National Institutes of Health), along with the research of other scientists.

How does a person eat for life? It's easier and more enjoyable than you might think. The practical ideas in this reprot show you how to make healthful, tasty, and appetizing food choices at home and when you're eating out. They are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These seven basic guidelines are:

       * Eat a variety of foods.

       * Maintain desirable weight.

       * Avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

       * Eat foods with adequate starch and fibre.

       * Avoid too much sugar.

       * Avoid too much sodium.

       * If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

The first two guidelines form the framework of a good diet: eat a variety of foods so that you get enough of the essential nutrients you need, and eat only enough calories to maintain desirable weight. The next five guidelines describe special characteristics of a good diet-getting adequate starch and fibre and avoiding too much fat, sugar, sodium, and alcohol.

Although the guidelines are designed for healthy adult Americans, these suggestions are considered especially appropriate for people who may already have some of the risk factors for chronic diseases. These risk factors include a family history of obesity, premature heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or high blood cholesterol levels.

This report focuses on five guidelines that are particularly related to the prevention of heart disease and/or cancer: eat a variety of foods; maintain desirable weight; avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol; eat foods with adequate starch and fibre; and avoid too much sodium.

Keep in mind that staying healthy requires more than just good nutrition. Regular exercise, getting enough rest, learning to cope with stress, and having regular physical checkups are important ways to help ensure good health. Checkups are especially important for early detection of cancer and heart disease.

Another important way to reduce your risks of heart disease and cancer is not to smoke or use tobacco in any form.

Controlling high blood pressure (hypertension) can also greatly reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Remember, three of the major risk factors for heart disease are largely under your control. They are smoking, high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol.

How Do the Foods We Eat Affect Our Chances of Getting Cancer and Heart Disease?

There is much still to be learned about the relationship between the foods we eat and our risk of getting cancer and heart disease. The NHLBI and NCI are conducting a great deal of research to find out more about this relationship. There is, however, a lot that we know now. The relationship of diet to cancer and the relationship of diet to risk factors for heart disease are summarized below:

Obesity

       * We know that obesity is associated with high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, Extreme obesity has also been linked to several cancers. This means         that if you are obese, losing weight may reduce your chances of developing these serious diseases or conditions. If you already suffer from hypertension and are overweight, weight loss alone can often lower your blood pressure to normal levels.

Because fat (both saturated and unsaturated fat) provides more than twice the number of calories provided by equal weights of carbohydrate or protein, decreasing the fat in your diet may help you lose weight as well as help reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. Today, most North Americans get about 37 percent of their daily calories from fat. Many experts suggest that fat should be reduced to 30 percent or less of calories.

Heart Disease

       * We know that high blood cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease, especially as it rises above 200 mg/dl (milligrams of cholesterol per decilitre of blood). The evidence is clear that         elevated cholesterol in the blood, resulting in part from the foods we eat and in part from cholesterol made in the body, contributes to the development of arteriosclerosis, a disorder of arteries that results in their narrowing and in reduced blood circulation. This condition can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

       * We know that blood cholesterol levels are greatly influenced by the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol found in many of the foods we eat. These raise blood cholesterol levels. (Of the two, saturated fat seems to be the major dietary factor which affects blood cholesterol.)

To reduce your blood cholesterol level, it is important to eat less saturated fat and cholesterol. Saturated fat and cholesterol are often found together in foods. Saturated fat in the diet is provided primarily by animal products such as the fat in meat, butter, whole milk, cream, cheese,         and ice cream.

There are a few vegetable fats - coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm kernel and palm oils which are         also high in saturated fat.

Cholesterol is found only in animal products eggs, meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. Plant         foods such as vegetables, grains, cereals, nuts, and seeds do not contain cholesterol. A few         foods are high in cholesterol but relatively low in fat - for example, egg yolks and liver.

Watch out for items in the grocery store that are labelled “no cholesterol” or, “contains no animal fat." They may still contain a large amount of fat or saturated fat. Examples are peanut butter, solid vegetable shortening, nondairy creamer, and baked products like cookies, cakes, and         crackers. For people trying to lose blood cholesterol level, these foods should be chosen less often.

       * We know that substituting unsaturated fatty acids (which are usually liquid and usually come from plant sources) for saturated fats can help reduce high blood cholesterol. Safflower, corn, soybean, olive, and canola oils are major sources of unsaturated fats. The omega-3 fatty acids         which are found in fish and seafood, may have a favourable effect on blood fat and reduce the risk of heart disease. No one is sure yet.

       * We know that there is an association between too much sodium in the diet and high blood pressure in some individuals. Sodium is a mineral that occurs naturally in some foods and is added to many foods and beverages as salt or other additives. Most sodium in the American diet comes from salt. One teaspoon of salt contains about 2 grams of sodium. In countries where people eat only small amounts of sodium, high blood pressure is rare.

We also know that when some people with high blood pressure greatly reduce their sodium intake, their blood pressure will fall. Because North Americans generally eat much more sodium than they need, it is probably best for most people to reduce the amount of sodium they eat. According to the National Academy of Sciences, a safe and adequate amount of sodium in the diet of the average adult is between 1 and 3.3 grams daily. Some recent         studies indiated that the substitution of mono-saturated fats, such as those saturated fats may lower blood cholesterol.

Cancer

       * The National Cancer Institute estimates that about 80 percent of all cancers may be related to smoking, diet, and the environment.

       * The National Cancer Institute estimates that about one-third of all cancer deaths may be         related to the foods we eat. Studies at the National Cancer Institute suggest that eating foods high in fibre may reduce risks of cancers of the colon and rectum. Adult Americans now eat about         11 grams of fibre daily according to NCI studies.

NCI recommends that North Americans         increase the daily amount of fibre they eat to between 20 and 30 grams, with an upper limit of 35 grams. The NCI also emphasizes the importance of choosing fibre rich foods, not supplements.

       Good sources of fibre are whole grain breads and bran cereals, vegetables, cooked dry peas and beans, and fruits.

* We know that diets high in fats of all kinds have been linked to certain cancers, particularly those of the breast, colon, lining of the uterus, and prostate gland. Some studies have suggested that fat may act as a cancer promoter (an agent that speeds up the development of cancer).

       * There is some evidence that diets rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and beta-carotene (the plant form of vitamin A) may help reduce the risk of certain cancers. The evidence we have about         vitamins A and C comes from studies of these vitamins as they are found in foods.

That is why NCI recommends that you eat a variety of foods rich in vitamins rather than relying         on vitamin supplements. Good sources of vitamin A include yellow-orange vegetables such as carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes and pumpkin, and yellow-orange fruits such as peaches, cantaloupes and mangoes.

Sources of vitamin C include dark-green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, and watercress, broccoli and asparagus, tomatoes. Some fruit sources of vitamin C are oranges, lemons, grapefruit, peaches, berries, and cantaloupe.

       * There is some evidence that vegetables in the cabbage family may help protect against cancer         of the colon. These vegetables are also good sources of fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Cabbage family vegetables include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collards, kale, turnips, mustard greens, turnip greens, kohlrabi, watercress and radishes.

Reducing Your Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer

Based on what we know, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute have joined together to suggest some ways you may reduce your risks of heart disease and cancer. These suggestions emphasize the need to eat a variety of foods each day. They also include some "mealtime strategies" that you can use to plan meals that avoid too much fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and that help you to get adequate starch and fibre.

These strategies are consistent with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These strategies should encourage you to think about the foods you eat, how to prepare them, and what food choices you can make when you go grocery shopping or eat away from home.

The key is following a Choose More Often approach. It doesn't mean giving up your favourite foods. It means taking steps to choose more often foods that are low in fat and high in fibre For example, if you enjoy eating steak, choose a low-fat cut such as round steak, trim off the excess fat, broil it, and drain off the drippings. Pizza?

To try a low-fat version that is rich in fibre, use a whole-grain English muffin or pita bread topped with part-skim mozzarella, fresh vegetables, and tomato sauce. And cookies or other desserts?

In many recipes you can reduce the fat, and substitute vegetable oils or margarine for butter. To increase fibre, use whole wheat flour in place of white flour.

Here's how the Choose More Often approach works:

Choose More Often:

***Low-fat meat, poultry, fish***

Lean cuts of meat trimmed of fat (round tip roast, pork tenderloin, loin lamb chop), poultry without skin, and fish, cooked without breading or fat added.

***Low-fat dairy products***

1 percent or skim milk, buttermilk; low-fat or nonfat yogurt; lower fat cheeses (part-skim ricotta, pot, and farmer); ice milk, sherbet.

***Dry beans and peas***

All beans, peas and lentils - the dry forms are high in protein.

***Whole grain products***

Breads, bagels, and English muffins made from whole wheat, rye, bran, and corn flour or meal; whole grain or bran cereals; whole wheat pasta; brown rice; bulgur.

***Fruits and vegetables***

All fruits and vegetables (except avocados, which are high in fat, but that fat is primarily unsaturated). For example, apples, pears, cantaloupe, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, peaches, bananas, carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, cauliflower, and turnips, and others.

***Fats and oils high in unsaturates***

Unsaturated vegetable oils, such as canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, olive oil, and soybean oil, and margarine; reduced-calorie mayonnaise and salad dressings.

**********

To assure an adequate diet, choose a variety of foods daily including selections of vegetables; fruits; whole-grain breads and cereals; low-fat dairy products; poultry, fish, and lean meat, dry beans and peas. Here are some tips for following the Choose More Often approach in three important areas: grocery shopping, food preparation, and eating out.

Grocery Shopping

Focus on variety. Choose a wide selection of low-fat foods rich in fibre Include whole grain breads and cereals, vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and poultry, fish, and lean meat. Although the goal is to reduce fat to 30 percent or less of calories, when choosing foods that do contain fat, try to choose ones that contain primarily unsaturated fats. For example, choose an unsaturated-rich margarine instead of butter; choose vegetable oils.

Read food labels. To help you find foods that are low in fat and cholesterol and high in fibre, get into the label-reading habit. Many nutritional labels on packaged foods show the amount of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids and the amount of cholesterol and fibre they contain.

Check the type of fat on the ingredients list. Is it an animal fat, coconut or palm kernel oil high in saturated fat? Or, is it corn or soybean oil high in polyunsaturated fat? Choose a product with the lowest proportion of saturated fat.

The label also tells you something else about a product. Ingredients are listed in order of amount from most to least by weight. So, when you buy a breakfast cereal, for example, choose one that has a whole grain listed first (such as whole wheat or oatmeal).

Pay attention to sodium. Many processed, canned, and frozen foods are high in sodium. Cured or processed meats, cheeses, and condiments (soy sauce, mustard, tartar sauce) are also high in sodium. Check for salt, onion or garlic salt, and any ingredient with "sodium" on the label. If the sodium content is given on the nutritional label, compare products and choose the ones with lower levels.

Food Preparation

Use small amounts of fat and fatty foods. There are lots of ways to use less fat. For example, when you sauté or stir-fry, use only 1/2 teaspoon of fat per serving.

When you use margarine, mayonnaise, or salad dressing, use half as much as usual. And, decrease portion sizes of other high fat foods - rich desserts, untrimmed and fatty meats, poultry with skin, and fried foods, especially breaded foods.

Use less saturated fat. While reducing your total fat intake, substitute unsaturated fat and oils for saturated fat in food preparation. For example, instead of butter, use margarine or vegetable oil. One teaspoon of butter can be replaced with equal portions (or less) of margarine or 3/4 teaspoon of vegetable oil in many recipes without affecting the quality.

Saturated fat may be reduced even more if you want to experiment with recipes. Poultry without skin and fish are good choices because they are often lower in fat and saturated fat than many meats.

Use low-fat alternatives. Substitute 1 percent, skim, or reconstituted nonfat dry milk for whole milk. Use low-fat yogurt, buttermilk, or evaporated skim milk in place of cream or sour cream. Try reduced-calorie mayonnaise and salad dressing in place of regular.

Choose lean meat. When you buy meat, choose lean cuts such as beef round, pork tenderloin, and loin lamb chops. Be sure to trim all visible fat from meat and poultry and remove poultry skin.

Use low-fat cooking methods. Bake, steam, broil, microwave, or boil foods rafter than frying. Skim fat from soups and gravies.

Increase fibre Choose whole grain breads and cereals. Substitute whole grain flour for white flour. Eat vegetables and fruits more often and have generous servings. Whenever possible, eat the edible fibre-rich skin as well as the rest of the vegetable or fruit.

Use herbs, spices, and other flavourings For a different way to add flavor to meals, try lemon juice, basil, chives, allspice, onion, and garlic in place of fats and sodium. Try new recipes that use less fat or sodium-containing ingredients, and adjust favourite recipes to reduce fat and sodium.

Eating Out

Choose the restaurant carefully. Are there low-fat as well as high-fibre selections on the menu? Is there a salad bar? How are the meat, chicken, and fish dishes cooked? Can you have menu items broiled or baked without added fat instead of fried?

These are important things to know before you enter a restaurant - fast food or otherwise. Seafood restaurants usually offer broiled, baked, or poached fish, and you can often request butter and sauces on the side. Many steak houses offer small steaks and have salad bars.

Try ethnic cuisine’s. Italian and Asian restaurants often feature low-fat dishes, though you must be selective and alert to portion size. Try a small serving of pasta or fish in a tomato sauce at an Italian restaurant. Many Chinese, Japanese, and Thai dishes include plenty of steamed vegetables and a high proportion of vegetables to meat. Steamed rice, steamed noodle dishes, and vegetarian dishes are good choices too. Ask that the chef cook your food without soy sauce or salt to decrease sodium. Some Latin American restaurants feature a variety of fish and chicken dishes that are low in fat.

Make sure you get what you want Here are just a few things you can do to make sure you're in control when you eat out. Ask how dishes are cooked. Don't hesitate to request that one food be substituted for another. Order a green salad or baked potato in place of french fries or order fruit, fruit ice, or sherbet instead of ice cream. Request sauces and salad dressings on the side and use only a small amount. Ask that butter not be sent to the table with your rolls. If you're not very hungry, order two low-fat appetizers rather than an entire meal, split a menu item with a friend, get a doggie-bag to take half of your meal home, or order a half-size portion. When you have finished eating, have the waiter clear the dishes away so that you can avoid post-meal nibbling.

Mealtime Strategies

We've given you some basic information on fat, fibre, and sodium. And, we've provided some tips on decreasing fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium; and increasing fibre But, how do you put it all together when it comes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner? These mealtime strategies should help.

Breakfast

Strategy #1--Choose fruit more often. Just a few great choices in the fruit family are: cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberries, oranges, bananas, pears, and apples.

Strategy #2--Choose whole-grain cereals and products more often. Examples are whole wheat or bran breads, bagels, and cereal.

Strategy #3--Try making pancakes and waffles with whole wheat flour instead of white flour and one whole egg and one egg white rafter than two whole eggs. For a low-fat topping with fibre, try applesauce, apple butter and cinnamon, or fruit and low-fat plain yogurt.

Strategy #4--Fruit juice and skim milk are familiar breakfast drinks. For an extra boost in the morning, why not try a fruit smoothie made from juice, fruit and nonfat plain yogurt blended together. Other nonfat choices are seltzer water, coffee, and tea.

These breakfast choices are sound nutrition choices because they are not only low in fat and cholesterol but also provide fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Some foods that you should choose less often are sausage, bacon, butter, whole milk and cream (including commercial nondairy creamer). These foods are high in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Lunch

Strategy #1--Try a fibre-rich bean, split pea, vegetable, or minestrone soup. Use commercially canned and frozen soups and cream soups less often - they can be high in sodium and fat. If you make your own soup, use broth or skim milk to keep the fat content low.

Strategy #2--Have a bean salad or mixed greens with plenty of vegetables. For fibre include some vegetables like - carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and kidney or garbanzo beans. For a low-fat         dressing, ty lemon juice or a reduced-calorie dressing. If you use regular dressing, use only a very small amount.

Strategy #3--Try sandwiches made with water-packed tuna, sliced chicken, turkey, lean meat, or low-fat cheese, and use whole-grain bread or pita bread. To decrease fat, use reduced-calorie         mayonnaise, or just a small amount of regular mayonnaise, or use mustard. Mustard contains no         fat.

Strategy #4--For dessert, have fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, or a frozen fruit bar.

Strategy #5--Fruit juice and skim milk are good beverage choices. Club soda with a twist of lemon or lime, hot or iced tea with lemon, or coffee without cream are refreshing drinks.

At lunch, try to eat these foods less often: processed luncheon meats, fried meat, chicken, or fish;creamy salads, french fries and chips, richer creamy desserts, high-fat baked goods, and high-fat cheeses such as Swiss, cheddar, American, and Brie.

Dinner

Strategy #1--Eat a variety of vegetables. To increase variety, try some that might be new to you, such as those from the cabbage family (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage), dark green leafy vegetables (spinach and kale), and yellow-orange vegetables (winter squash         and sweet potatoes).

For old favourites, like peas and green beans, skip the butter and sprinkle with lemon juice or herbs. Or, how about a baked potato, with the skin, and topped with low-fat yogurt and chives, tomato salsa, or a small amount of low-fat cheese?

Strategy #2--Try whole wheat pasta and casseroles made with brown rice, bulgur, and other grains. If you are careful with preparation, these dishes can be excellent sources of fibre and low in fat. For example, when milk and eggs are ingredients in a recipe, try using 1 percent or skim milk, reduce the number of egg yolks and replace with egg whites. Here are some ideas for grain-based dishes:

       --Whole wheat spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce;

       --Whole wheat macaroni and chickpea stew in tomato sauce;

       --Tuna noodle casserole, using water-packed tuna (or rinsed, oil-packed tuna), skim milk, and fresh mushrooms or sliced water         chestnuts;

       --Turkey, broccoli and brown rice casserole using skim milk and egg whites;

       --Eggplant lasagna, made with broiled eggplant and part-skim mozzarella or ricotta cheese.

Strategy #3--Substitute whole-grain breads and rolls for white bread.

Strategy #4--Choose main dishes that call for fish, chicken, turkey or lean meat. Don't forget to remove the skin and visible fat from poultry and trim the fat from meat. Some good low-fat choices are:

       --Red snapper stew;

       --Flounder or sole florentine (make the cream sauce with skim milk);

       --Salmon loaf (use skim milk, rolled oats, and egg whites);

       --Baked white fish with lemon and fennel;

       --Chicken cacciatore Italian-style (decrease the oil in the recipe);

       --Chicken curry served over steamed wild rice (choose a recipe that requires little or no fat; "sauté" the onions in chicken broth                 instead of butter);

       --Light beef stroganoff with well-trimmed beef round steak and buttermilk served over noodles;

       --Oriental pork made with lean pork loin, green peppers and pineapple chunks served over rice.

Strategy #5--Choose desserts that give you fibre but little fat such as:

       --Baked apples or bananas, sprinkled with cinnamon;

       --Fresh fruit cup;

       --Brown bread or rice pudding made with skim milk;

       --Oatmeal cookies (made with margarine or vegetable oil; add raisins).

For many, the end of the workday, represents a time to relax, and dinner can be a light meal and an opportunity to decrease fat and cholesterol.

Snacks

Strategy #1--Try a raw vegetable platter made with a variety of vegetables. Include some good fibre choices: carrots, snow peas, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans.

Strategy #2--Make sauces and dips with nonfat plain yogurt as the base.

Strategy #3--Eat more fruit. Oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, apples, pears, bananas, strawberries and cantaloupe are all good fibre sources. Make a big fruit salad and keep it on hand for snacks.

Strategy #4--Plain, air-popped popcorn is a great low-fat snack with fibre Watch out! Some prepackaged microwave popcorn has fat added. Remember to go easy on the salt or use other seasonings.

Strategy #5--Instead of chips, try one of these low-fat alternatives that provide fibre: toasted shredded wheat Squares sprinkled with a small amount of grated Parmesan cheese, whole-grain English muffins, or toasted plain corn tortillas.

Strategy #6--When you are thirsty, try water, skim milk, juice, or club soda with a twist of lime or lemon.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute are committed to promoting good health and reducing the loss of life from heart disease and cancer.

You can help. By using the ideas in this booklet, trying recipes that have been modified to decrease fat and sodium and increase fibre, and planning menus that are high in fibre and low in fat, especially saturated fat, you may reduce the risk of these diseases for yourself and for those you love.

So Eat Well, Eat Healthy... And Eat For Life!

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HOW TO BE THE BEST DAD A CHILD COULD EVER HAVE

Sixteen Things Fathers Can Do to Support Their Pregnant Partners

1. Go with your partner to her prenatal visits. The baby's heart starts beating 22 days after conception, or the fifth week of pregnancy, and you can hear it with an ultrasound anywhere between the seventh and twelfth weeks.1 During the second trimester, go with your partner if she needs an ultrasound. You can see the baby's head, arms, hands, legs, and feet. You may even find out the sex of the baby. During the third trimester, ask how you can help during the delivery.

2. Watch videotapes, listen to audiotapes, check out the Internet, or read books about prenatal development, birthing, and becoming a parent.

3. Help plan for the baby. Talk with your partner about what you both want for your baby. Ask friends and family members if you can borrow a crib, changing table, or baby clothes. Many people are glad to let you use their things. Save a little money each week. It will make it easier once the baby arrives.

4. Go to classes that will teach you and your partner about childbirth.

5. Help your partner stay healthy during pregnancy. Help her eat many different foods. Watch what you eat too. If you eat right, you will make it easier for her. Help your partner stay away from alcohol. Alcohol can cause birth defects. Encourage her to drink juice or milk.

6. Help your partner stay away from street drugs. If you use illegal drugs, stop now, and if your partner uses them, get help for her. Also, encourage her to check with the doctor before taking any over-the-counter drugs or prescription drugs.

7. Make sure your partner stays away from dangerous household products. Strong cleansers, paint products, and insecticides can all harm your baby. Do not let her empty the cat litter box.

8. Exercise during pregnancy. Walk or swim together. Both are safe exercises and provide time together.

9. Find an infant massage class and attend with your partner. Infant massage is a wonderful way to soothe a baby.

10. Understand the different changes both you and your partner are going through as you prepare for parenthood. Pregnancy causes many changes in how a woman feels about how her body is changing. You can still have sex. Talk to each other about what feels good.

11. Be sure your partner gets enough rest. Help with the household chores. Encourage her to use relaxation exercises and join in. Stress can be very harmful to both mother and baby. Talk out differences in a supportive way. If you find yourself becoming angry and having difficulty controlling negative feelings, seek out counselling Never use physical force, intimidation, belittling comments, or other abusive behaviours These are not productive for any relationship and are especially harmful during pregnancy.

12. Support your partner's choice on how to feed the baby. Breast milk is best for the baby. If mom chooses bottle feeding, you can often take over the feeding of the baby and give mom a rest. Even if breast feeding, mom can pump milk into a bottle, which will allow your participation in the feeding of the baby.

13. To attach with your baby, take time to learn about the developmental stages and how nutrition, lifestyles, and stress can affect prenatal growth. Listen to your child's heartbeat, feel the kicks. From the second trimester on, you can play the "tapping" game. Each time the mother feels the unborn baby kick, you can respond by tapping her stomach in the same area. The unborn baby quickly learns this "call and response" game. Talk and sing to your baby. Direct positive thoughts and loving feelings to your unborn child. Visualize yourself holding, touching, rocking, or talking to your child. Think about the kind of father you want to be to your child.

14. Learn how to bathe, feed, diaper, hold, and comfort a baby. All of these activities will build a father's confidence and enhance bonding with the child.

15. Find a "New Fathers" support group or talk to other men who have had or are going to have new babies. Share feelings, ideas on supporting the pregnant mom, and tips to make sure you are taking care of yourself.

16. As soon as the baby is born, hold the baby and look into the baby's eyes. If you talked to the baby before he or she was born, speak to him or her at birth, then he or she will probably recognize your voice.

Tips for Dads: Caring for New Moms

* Quickly learn to change diapers, burp, and calm your crying baby by jumping in from the start. Show mom she can count on you.

* Coordinate any help. Obtain what is needed from family, friends, or neighbours, and make sure it is actually helpful.

* Tell her she is doing great and will be a wonderful mom.

* Keep necessary resources available, including phone numbers of doctors, the hospital, and helpful books, and use them.

* Help her get some sleep, and try to get some yourself.

* Reassure her that you are in it together, and you will get through it together. Be positive, constructive, encouraging, and help build her confidence.

* Pitch in as much as possible. In the middle of the night when the baby is crying and both of you are dead tired, reach deep and find the strength to get up and handle the baby. Sleep will do her good.

* On occasion, when your baby is calm, remind her of the miracle that she brought into your world. Together, check out your baby's fingers, toes, and nose, and talk of the future - your child's first date, first day at school, and of course, the first time he sleeps through the night.

Troubleshooter's Guide to Crying Babies

* To deduce the cause of his crying, develop a mental list of why your baby cries. Being hungry will be at the top of the list, followed by tired. All lists will be as different as babies are, but think gas, wet diaper, rash, constipation, hot, cold, just wants to be held, or burped - and add new issues as they develop.

Keep trying solutions like you do when troubleshooting a car that will not start. Check the gas, battery, starter, spark plugs, and so on. As long as you are proactively testing solutions, you will minimize anxiety and frustration, which tend to upset babies.

* When you finish your baby's regular list, keep checking. The new nipple on his bottle may not have a hole or a sharp edge of the tape on his diaper may be poking him.

* When you have tried everything and nothing worked, go back to the second item on the list - tired. After 30 minutes of crying, your baby is going to be overtired, and putting her to sleep will be challenging.

* Do not take the crying personally.

* Go for a walk. Babies often love the motion of a stroller or riding in a backpack, pouch, or sling.

* A taut tummy or kicking legs may indicate gas pain. Bicycle her legs, gently rub her tummy, or lay him across your lap with one leg under his tummy and pat his back.

* Try tag team parenting with mom. Taking turns is much better than both of you up all night together.

* Give mom a break and do not have her pop the baby on her breast every time he whimpers. Develop alternate techniques.

* Invest in a baby swing.

* Once you get her to sleep, use a heating pad to warm her bedding (remove before putting baby in crib) so the shock of cold sheets does not wake her up.

* Rhythmic motion and background noise also help lull babies to sleep. Try the vacuum, car rides, music at a low volume, or the washer or dryer.

Your Kids Need You to Know What's Important to Them

These are the things that you should take an effort to know:

* Who is your child's all-time hero?

* What is your child's most prized possession?

* Who is his or her best friend?

*What causes your child to lose sleep?

* What were your child's greatest achievements and disappointments in the last year?

* What is your child's favourite meal?

* What would your child like to do when he or she grows up?

* If your child had $20 to spend, what would he or she buy?

* What does your child most like to do with you?

* What is the most important thing you need to discuss with your child in the next 6 months?

How to Maintain a Close Relationship When You are Away for Extended Periods

1. Go to the mall and have a photo of yourself put on a pillow case and then send it to your child. If you have a favourite cologne, you might want to put a little bit on the pillowcase to remind your child of you.

2. Purchase or make stickers of your child's name and stick them over the names of a character in one of their favourite books. You also can get a picture of your child's face and place it over the character's face.

3. Make a video or audiotape of you reading bedtime stories. Send them to your child along with the book.

4. Arrange for flowers or pizza to be delivered to your child before or after a special event (e.g., a play, recital, or sports game). Include a note telling them how proud you are of their accomplishment.

5. Send a package containing all the things your child will need if he or she gets sick. For example, you could send a can of chicken noodle soup, a special blanket or pillowcase, a video or audiotape wishing them a speedy recovery, crossword puzzles, or a stuffed animal.

6. Send home a photo documentary of what you do all day when you are away. Be sure to include things like what you eat and how you travel. Things that you might think are boring, your kids will be very interested in seeing. Have your child do the same.

7. Have a star officially named after your child.

8. Send a postcard attack. (Send a postcard everyday for a week straight; try to send postcards from unique places).

9. If both you and your child have access to cell phones, then go fishing with them from a distance.

10. Include surprises within your letters: fast food wrappers, foreign currency, pencil shavings, coasters, Band-Aids, your own art, flower petals, Sunday comics, sand, fortunes from cookies, newspaper clippings, stamps, or old shoe laces.

11. If both you and your child have access to the Internet, then go on a virtual field trip together. Be sure to use a chat program so you can communicate with each other while looking at the Web sites. A couple of places to start would be NASA's Web site at http://www.nasa.gov or the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org

12. Find unique things to write your letters on, for example, things your child likes - a favourite colour of paper, stickers, or pictures of things they like; fun objects - coaster, napkins, paper tray liners at restaurants, air sickness bags, old handkerchiefs, or pictures of you or of favourite spots; paper cut into special shapes (holiday shapes like shamrocks or hearts); or puzzles (cut your finished letter into pieces; try sending one piece at a time).

13. Send home some money so that your child can go to the ice cream parlour Be sure to send a special letter along that can only be read at the ice cream parlour If you both have access to cell phones, then you can both be at a ice cream parlour talking over your ice cream.

14. Write a newsletter (have a regular issue of your own family newsletter with columns about each child, family events, and exciting news).

15. If your child does not already have access to a speakerphone, then buy one. Set the phone in the middle of the room, and you will be able to have dinner with them, be there as they brush their teeth, and get ready for bed.

16. Start a letter and take it with you throughout the day. Add a sentence every now and then and be sure to add where you are when you write the different sentences (i.e., an elevator, taxi, or café).

17. Play Internet games together like Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. Other games that can be found on the Internet include golf, card games, chess, checkers, and strategy games.

18. Make a package that contains cookie cutters and the non-perishable ingredients of your child's favourite cookie so you can "help" them bake while you are away.

19. Choose a photo from your photo album that you can send to your child and then write a letter explaining the events surrounding it. Also, if both you and your child have access to the Internet, have a family home page.

20. Begin a life's lessons booklet. Each week write down a few of the lessons you have learned in life and how you learned those lessons. When the booklet is full, send it to your child to use as he or she begins or continues the journey of life.

Tips from a Father in Prison

1. Even if your relationship with the mother of your children is over, you need to establish and maintain a positive relationship with her. For the sake of your children, try to find ways to connect with her respectfully.

2. Do not expect big changes right away from your family members. Take your time.

3. Find out about policies regarding how you can connect with your child - visitation, letters, telephone calls, and audiotapes. Ask your prison chaplain, counsellor, or other staff.

4. Develop a plan and follow it on how often you will connect with your child.

5. When explaining to your children why you are not living with them, be honest but respect their ability to understand it according to their age.

6. When telling your children how important they are to you, do not be surprised if they do not respond the way you want them to. Children are often angry that you did something wrong that prevents you from being with them.

7. To establish and maintain your family relationships, be ready to make amends and apologize to them.

8. Find ways to support your children emotionally, financially, and spiritually as much as possible.

9. Your family and children need to be able to rely on you if you say you will call or write regularly, so be consistent in your approach and contact schedule.

10. Be realistic about goals and expectations. Do not expect too much, too soon from them.

11. Remember family celebrations, special occasions, and cultural events. If you have a hobby or crafts at prison, make gifts or draw pictures and make them into a colouring book.

12. If at all possible, purchase small items for your children through the commissary or mail order catalogs.

13. Use your time constructively. Get your GED, or take parenting classes, anger management, adult continuing education classes, anything that betters yourself.

14. Some prisons allow you to purchase and make video or audiotapes. Use these to tell stories, share memories, and bedtime stories. Have your children listen to it when they miss you.

15. Before your release date, clear up any legal problems that may be pending such as your driving record, credit problems, or child support.

16. Your children might not know how to say exactly what they are feeling and thinking, so be patient with them.

17. Make a realistic plan and follow through, no matter how bad things get, when re-connecting with your children after you are released from jail.

18. While you are still in prison, research programs that might help you reach your goals once released. Seek out programs about parenting, housing, jobs, legal problems, or credit problems.

19. Work with other prison fathers trying to connect with their children from inside prison.

20. Get some counselling from the appropriate staff (psychologist, chaplain, case manager, correctional counsellor).

21. Think about how you want to be a parent and your future as a dad and make decisions about that future. Look at your own relationship with your dad to see what was learned, good and bad.

22. Go to the prison library, take the time to read what you can to try to learn about being a better dad. Try to read as much as you can about father/child relationships.

23. Check out some of the other resources in the Incarcerated Fathers Library.

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KNOWING THE SIGNS OF ILL HEALTH IN YOUR DOG

Signs of ill health are the most important signs of the health status of your dog. For example, if the dog has continuous nasal discharge, it indicates the presence of nasal congestion and if the discharge is thick, the dog may have pneumonia.

If the dog vomits one or two times occasionally, this may not be taken as a serious sign of ill health but if the dog continues this vomiting, then this is something significant to be looked into.

If the dog has continuous itching, then one needs to check the dog first by closer observation and examination of the skin by separating the hair, especially in case of long haired breeds. You may come across ticks or lice on the skin, which may look apparently normal at a distance.

If the dog passes loose stools one or two times, this need not be given more emphasis but if there is continuous passing of loose stool, then the dog is suffering from bowel disorders. If the dog does not pass stool for two to three days, the digestive upsets needs to be examined carefully.

Just patiently observe the dog’s walking movements and rule out any abnormal movements in the dog. If the dog is limping, the animal may have foot lesions. Similarly, if the aged dog is reluctant to walk and consumes less food along with repeated vomiting, then acute renal disorders like nephritis need to be ruled out.

If there is whiteness in eyes, suspect the corneal opacity that may occur in diseases like trypanasomosis. When the dog becomes anemic, the mucous membrane of the eyes becomes paler and in severe cases, may have an all white colour. If the dog bites his chain and owners or others, look for behaviour disorders and rabies needs to be ruled out.

Heart Worm, Fleas And Other Parasites

Heart worm, fleas and other parasites in dogs need to be eliminated by using appropriate medications. Many products have come up in the commercial fields to protect the dogs from heart worms, fleas and other parasites like hook worms, whip worms, round worms, lice, ticks etc.

Among heart worm, fleas and other parasites, the fleas cause hyper sensitive reactions in the affected animals. The animals infested with fleas start severely scratching the body. Many times, the scratching is so severe that the skin becomes more hyperemic and dermatitis occurs in the affected areas.

Animals will not lie down or sleep comfortably due to the constant biting by the fleas. The animal looks as if affected by some severe skin disease. If the animal is not properly attended to for this flea problem, there will be often secondary bacterial invasions in the affected sites and there may even be a bad smell emanating from the affected areas of the skin.

Close observation of the dog is highly essential to rule out the occurrence of fleas disturbing the animal to a greater extent. Similarly, the skin of the animal needs to be tested for the presence of ticks, lice etc. For this, the hair  needs to be separated and close observation is required for the proper diagnosis.

In many incidences, if anemia is present, blood protozoa needs to be ruled out in addition to hookworm problems. Clinical problems like anemia, loose movements, pot belly etc. might be recognized by the dog owners themselves, however the dog needs to undergo a routine health related examination involving fecal examination, hematological examination and blood smear examination.

Many commercial products have come up in the market, which are useful to deal with all these conditions with a single dose. Drugs like ivermectin are highly useful and are available in both injection and oral form in addition to a solution form that can be applied directly on the skin.

Heart Worm Prevention

Beef flavoured chunks, beef flavoured tablets as well as solutions that can be given orally to dogs are available as a measure against the incidence of heart worms.

Avoid mosquito bites by providing proper mosquito-proof shelter facilities to the dogs. Avoid water stagnation around the dogs shelter and the bushes around the area that facilitate mosquito breeding.

Plan whether there is any need for heart worm prevention though out the whole year or only in some months of the year. For example, in case of some countries, mosquitoes may be dormant in most of the colder months. However, in some countries, this is not the case.

Many a times, medications are available for oral administration to prevent heart worms along with hookworms etc. Such oral medications need to be taken as per the instructions. However, be cautious about the occurrence of any adverse drug reactions in the dog given such prophylactic therapy. Adverse event reports need to be sent if you come across any sort of adverse drug reactions in your dog during the preventive treatment.

As a preventive measure for heart worms, the dog needs to be tested for the evidence of these worms at an age of six months. Real beef chewable tablets are available containing medical agents like ivermectin. Soft beef flavoured tablets are highly preferred by dogs as the preventive measure against heart worms. Heartgard, sentinel, interceptor, revolution, etc. are available in the commercial fields as drugs for the preventive measure.

The pet owner needs to consult a veterinarian if the dose for the prophylaxis of heart worm is missed for few months. In such occasions, the pet needs to undergo a heart worm test. This test needs to be carried out in consultation with a veterinarian who is specialized in animal health care and medicine.

Common Questions About Heart Worm

Common questions about heart worm are often related to the species affected by heart worms. One should know that in addition to dogs, the cat, fox, wolf, horse, sea lion etc. are also affected. Can this be cured or not? Yes. This can be treated.

What is the drug used often for the prevention of heart worm in dogs? Ivermectin is the drug used most often to prevent heart worms. Dogs affected reveal constant coughing, panting and dullness in many occasions.

What will be the size of the worms? In the case of the females, it is about twenty-seven centimetres and in the case of males, it is about seventeen centimetres in length.

Is there any vector involved in the transmission of the disease? Yes. Mosquitoes often are associated as vectors in which the early development of larvae of heart worms occur. The third stage larva is that which is transmitted by mosquito bites.

Is the prophylaxis meant only for heart worms or others also? The prophylaxis is meant not only for the heart worms but also for hook worms, whip worms, and round worms.

Heart worm occurs through out the world. In some areas, the incidences are less in colder months in which during these periods the mosquito may be dormant.

What is the name of the drug used for therapy and prevention? Ivermectin and milbemycin oxime may be used. Ivermectin is available in injection form and oral form. Additionally, forms for external application are also available. The cost factor needs to be worked out for all these treatments.

What is the frequency of drug used for prophylaxis? One month before the mosquito season and up to two months after the mosquito season. Ivermectin or milbemycin oxime may be given once monthly for the prophylaxis. Diethylcarbamazine may be used for therapy purpose.

Fleas And Other Parasites

Fleas and other parasites need always to be given priority by dog owners. The common incidences of flea bite allergy cause misery to infected dogs. Flea bite induces allergic reactions in the area bitten by the fleas. The affected area looks like a hairless area and the animal starts scratching.

Fleas cause severe dermatitis in dogs with severe flea infestations. Many times, the flea bite causes allergic reactions in the dogs. In many occasions, dogs experience severe discomfort due to these allergic reactions. Medicated collars are available to treat and prevent the infestation of external parasites like ticks or fleas.

Other parasites like ticks, lice in addition to internal parasites like hook worms, round worms, whip worms etc. cause affections in the health status of the animal.

For example, if hookworm infects the animal, most of the time, the dog has anemia. The anemic signs become more prominent depending on the degree of infection by the hookworm.

Hookworm larvae can pass directly through the skin and cause problems in the infected areas. Such dogs may reveal lesions and dermatitis in the feet in other infected skin areas. Skin rashes may be seen frequently in such cases and the infected animal passes loose stool, which is of red tinged and mixed with blood material.

If the round worms are seen in more numbers, the affected puppies reveal a potbelly condition, which is easily recognized by the dog owners.

Piperazine salts are given by oral route for the treatment of this problem. However, broad-spectrum anthelmintics like pyrantel pamoate, fenbendazole etc. are as well given to treat these conditions.

Many drugs have come in market to treat fleas and other parasites. Nowadays, the medical agent called ivermectin is highly preferred by many dog owners to treat fleas and other parasites in dogs. This drug is available in injection and oral form. The drug is available for external application as well.

Do Parasites Cause “Scooting”?

Parasites can cause scooting. Scooting is anal sac disease. First let's understand what scooting is in detail. This is the dragging of anus with the hind limbs in an extended state. Parasites causing irritation in the anus regions lead to such type of actions in animals like dogs.

However, one should not be under the impression that it is the parasite that alone causes scooting in dogs. There are many conditions in which the dog may scoot without any parasite based etiological agent.

For example, anal gland infections, tumours at the anus and injuries near the anal regions also may lead to scooting.

Flea bite allergy often causes irritation at the anus region and the animal may try to bite the anus region and irritations caused by these factors lead to the dragging of anus region on the ground.

Cestodiasis in dogs is the condition caused by tapeworms. In such occasions, if the animal is not treated in time, the animal may be seen exhibiting scooting. Tapeworm segments passed in the stool create crawling like activities near anus.

Such crawling activities of the tapeworm segments lead to severe itching in these regions. To get relief from this type of constant irritation, the animal starts pressing the anus region on the ground first and then tries to drag it on the ground with typical extension of rear limbs.

Usually there is a packet of eggs when the fecal sample is examined by microscope. However, the flotation technique used often leads to breakage of these packets and diagnosis becomes difficult. Scooting dogs need to be examined to rule out tapeworm segments, which appear as rice like pieces.

These segments are white in colour and turn yellow when taken from the body. Tapeworms themselves may be seen in motion near anus below the tail regions. Consult your veterinarian for specific cures for tapeworm.

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/illdog.zip

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You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/pesticides.zip

The View From Earth   Your Health   Raising Your Kids   Love Your Pets   The Garden   Lets Get Cooking   We Learned To Talk   Your Safety

Happy Home   Home Busness   Super Economizing   Safe Money   It's Only Natural   Strange & Scary   Comedy Cauldron

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A HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS

We are Going to be Leaving Our Christmas Recipes Up Until the End of January. Lots of These Recipes are Great Any-Time, and Now is a Good Time to Print Them Up so You Will Have Them on Hand for Next Year - Artimus

***CONTENTS***

CHRISTMAS - PINEAPPLE CHEESE BALL

VEGETABLE CHRISTMAS TREE

CHRISTMAS CHEESE SPREAD

CHRISTMAS TREE SPREAD

CHRISTMAS PICKLES

HOLIDAY DIP

CLAM DIP

CHRISTMAS CRAB DIP

HOLIDAY BROCCOLI DIP

CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS PUNCH

CHRISTMAS PUNCH

CHRISTMAS CIDER

RED CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS FRUIT PUNCH

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS PUNCH

CHRISTMAS EVE PUNCH

CHRISTMAS FRUIT TEA

WHITE CHRISTMAS PUNCH

7-UP CHRISTMAS BOWL

HOT CRANBERRY SPICED TEA

CHRISTMAS RASPBERRY RICE RING MOLD

CHRISTMAS RICE PUDDING

CHRISTMAS FRUIT SALAD

CHRISTMAS CAULIFLOWER

CHRISTMAS SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

HEAVENLY CHRISTMAS SALAD

APPLE RAISIN STUFFING

HOMEMADE TURKEY DRESSING

HOLIDAY MAGIC YAMS

FRUITED BROWN RICE STUFFING

CHRISTMAS CRANBERRY SALAD

HOLIDAY SAGE DRESSING

ORANGE SWEET POTATOES

RICE HAM CASSEROLE

TURKEY BUFFET CASSEROLE

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH

CHRISTMAS MORNING BRUNCH EGG BAKE

CHRISTMAS STUFFED BAKED HAM

CHRISTMAS HONEY COLA HAM

THE CHRISTMAS HAM

CHRISTMAS EVE HAMBALLS

CHRISTMAS MEATBALLS

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH

CHRISTMAS MORNING BRUNCH EGG BAKE

CHRISTMAS BREAD

HERB PARMESAN BREAD WREATH

BROCCOLI "CHRISTMAS" BREAD

CHRISTMAS EVE BISCUITS

CHRISTMAS BREAD

PUMPKIN BREAD

GINGERBREAD

ANGEL FOOD COOKIES

BROWN SUGAR PECAN COOKIES

PECAN CRUNCH COOKIES

CINNAMON CHRISTMAS LOGS

MERRY CHRISTMAS CHEESE CAKES

POLKA DOT SNOWBALLS (CHRISTMAS COOKIES)

CHRISTMAS CRESCENT COOKIES

NO BAKE CHRISTMAS WREATH COOKIES

CHRISTMAS BALLS

CHRISTMAS PECAN BALLS

MOCHA WALNUT CHRISTMAS COOKIES

CHRISTMAS TEA CAKES

CHRISTMAS MACAROONS

SOFT CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE COOKIES

CHOCOLATE PRALINE CHRISTMAS MUD SQUARES

NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

CHEWY NOELS

DATE NUT BALLS

CHRISTMAS SNOWBALL COOKIES

CHRISTMAS PUFFS

CHRISTMAS SNOWCAPS

FRUIT COCKTAIL CHRISTMAS CAKE

CHRISTMAS TREE COFFEE CAKE

CHRISTMAS EGGNOG POUND CAKE

CHRISTMAS NUT CAKE

COLORS OF CHRISTMAS CAKE

CHRISTMAS JEWEL CAKE

CHRISTMAS COCONUT CAKE

DARK CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

ORANGE SLICE CAKE

GERMAN CHRISTMAS CAKE

OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS CAKE

WHITE CHRISTMAS CAKE

DATE - ORANGE NUT CAKE

CHRISTMAS APPLESAUCE CAKE

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE

PISTACHIO CHRISTMAS CAKE

DANISH CHRISTMAS CAKE

WHITE CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

CHRISTMAS POUND CAKE

SCENT OF CHRISTMAS

A CHRISTMAS SCENT

CHRISTMAS "SMELL GOOD"

GINGERBREAD ORNAMENTS

CINNAMON ORNAMENTS

SPICE ORNAMENTS

CHRISTMAS - PINEAPPLE CHEESE BALL

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. of cream cheese

1 (8 1/2 oz.) can of crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups of chopped pecans

1/4 cup of chopped green pepper or 1/4 cup of chopped pimiento

2 tablespoons of finely chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt

Beat softened cheese with a fork. Stir in well drained pineapple, 1 cup pecans, pepper or pimiento, onion and salt. Shape into 1 or 2 balls and roll in remaining pecans. Wrap and store in refrigerator for 24 hours. Serve with assorted crackers.

VEGETABLE CHRISTMAS TREE

1 recipe Hidden Valley sour cream based dip

1 bunch fresh broccoli

1 head cauliflower

15 cherry tomatoes

Spread bottom of a large oblong Pyrex dish with dip. Cut broccoli flowerettes into short pieces; cut cauliflower into bite size chunks. Clean one broccoli stalk for tree trunk. Arrange broccoli into a tree shape on top of dip; stud with tomatoes and surround by cauliflower.

CHRISTMAS CHEESE SPREAD

1 lb. of sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of chopped pecans

1 tablespoon of garlic

2 dashes of Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Shred cheese. Mix all ingredients, shape in mold, refrigerate. Remove from mold prior to serving. Serve with crackers.

CHRISTMAS TREE SPREAD

8 oz. of extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated

8 oz. of cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon of chopped green bell pepper

1 teaspoon of grated onion

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

Chopped parsley

2 tablespoons of sliced pimiento, or cherry tomatoes

Chopped nuts

Combine cheeses, green pepper, onion, and Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Chill. Arrange cheese mixture in Christmas tree shape. Sprinkle with parsley, dot with pimiento or tomato "ornaments". Cover "trunk" with chopped nuts. Serve with crackers.

CHRISTMAS PICKLES

10 pickles, sliced thin

1 cup of green peppers

1 cup of red peppers

1/2 cup of onions, diced

1 cup of vinegar

2 cups of white sugar

1 tablespoon of mustard seed

1 tablespoon of dill seed

1 tablespoon of salt

Heat vinegar and sugar until it comes to boil. Do not boil. Cool and pour over pickles, peppers and onions. Will keep without sealing for months in refrigerator.

HOLIDAY DIP

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of sour cream

1 (8 oz.) can of water chestnuts, drained, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of chopped pimiento

1 tablespoon of sliced green onion

2 teaspoons of beef flavor bouillon

1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

Fresh vegetables and chips

In medium bowl combine all ingredients except vegetables and chips; mix well. Cover. Chill. Stir before serving. Garnish with additional green onion if you wish. Serve with vegetables and chips.

CLAM DIP

1 (10 1/2 oz.) can of minced clams

6 oz. of cream cheese

2 teaspoons of grated onion

1/4 teaspoon of hot pepper sauce

1/8 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of clam juice (reserved juice from canned clams)

Drain canned clams and reserve juice. Combine clams with remaining ingredients and

blend thoroughly. Chill. Serve with crackers or bread rounds.

CHRISTMAS CRAB DIP

1 pkg. (8 oz.) of cream cheese

1 jar Kraft Sharp Old English cheese spread

1 tablespoon of half & half

1 tablespoon of chopped chives

Dash Worcestershire sauce

Garlic salt, to taste

12 oz. of crab (fresh, frozen or canned)

Mix the first six ingredients in the top of a double boiler or chafing dish over a medium heat. When the ingredients have melted and mixed well add the crab, reduce the heat to just warm. Serve with crackers. Great for a party!

HOLIDAY BROCCOLI DIP

2 (6 oz.) of garlic cheese links (in Dairy case)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 small jar of chopped mushrooms

1 small chopped onion

Margarine

2 pkgs. of frozen chopped broccoli

Saute onion in margarine. Cook broccoli according to package directions, draining excess liquid. Add all ingredients in double boiler and cook until cheese is melted. Serve warm with King Size corn chips or crackers.

CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS PUNCH

1 - 3 oz. package of cherry flavored gelatin

1 cup of boiling water

1 - 6 oz. can of frozen lemonade or pineapple-orange juice concentrate

3 cups of cold water

1 - 1 quart bottle of cranberry juice cocktail, chilled

1 - 1 pint of ginger ale, chilled

Dissolve cherry flavored gelatin in boiling water. Stir in lemonade or pineapple-orange juice concentrate. Add the cold water and the cranberry juice cocktail. Place in a large punch bowl two trays of ice cubes or a molded ice ring. Pour punch over ice. Slowly pour in chilled ginger ale. Fruit flavored sherbet may be added if desired. Makes about 25 servings

CHRISTMAS PUNCH

2 cups of boiling water

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 - 46 oz. can of pineapple juice, chilled

1 - 32 oz. bottle of cranberry juice, chilled

1 - 28 oz. bottle of ginger ale, chilled

Combine water, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and stir until sugar dissolves and chill. Combine sugar, syrup, fruit juices and ginger ale. Serve over ice.  Yield 3 3/4 quarts.

CHRISTMAS CIDER

1 gal. of apple cider

1 - 48 oz. jar of cranberry juice

4 sticks of cinnamon

1 small pkg. of red hots candy

Simmer all but red hots for 4 hours. Put candies in glasses, about 1 spoon per glass. Pour liquid over. Serve hot.

RED CHRISTMAS

1 can of red Hawaiian punch

1 small can of frozen lemonade

1 bottle of ginger ale

1 quart of cranberry juice

Combine all the ingredients above in punch bowl and serve.

CHRISTMAS FRUIT PUNCH

1 - 6 oz. can of frozen orange juice

2 - 6 oz. cans of frozen limeade

1 - 6 oz. can of frozen lemonade

1 large can of pineapple juice

1 pint of cranberry juice cocktail

8 cups of cold water

2 quarts of chilled ginger ale

1 quart of plain chilled soda water

1 quart of frozen strawberries

Mint garnish

Empty frozen juices, pineapple and cranberry juice, and water in a large container. Let stand until frozen juice is thawed; stir well. Add frozen strawberries. Pour mixture into punch bowl. Add ice cubes. Just before serving, gently pour in ginger ale and soda water. Top with fruit ice ring and sprigs of mint. Fruit Ice Ring: Use any combination of lime, lemon or orange slices. Arrange in pattern in ring mold; add water to cover fruit and freeze.

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS PUNCH

1 large jar of Tang (24 oz.)

3/4 cup of instant tea with lemon

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

To each 1 1/2 cups dry mix add 1 gallon water, 1 gallon apple juice, 1 gallon pineapple juice. Bring to boil, let simmer 15 minutes before serving. Makes 100 servings.

CHRISTMAS EVE PUNCH

32 oz. of cranberry juice cocktail

46 oz. of unsweetened pineapple juice

2 cups of orange juice

2/3 cup of lemon juice

1/2 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of almond extract

Mix and freeze; to serve, thaw to slushy consistency and add 1 qt. gingerale.

CHRISTMAS FRUIT TEA

2 quarts of cranberry juice

1 - 46 oz. can of frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed & undiluted

2 cups of apple juice

1 cup of orange juice

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

Pour first 5 ingredients into a 30-cup electric percolator. Place cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in basket. Perk and let stand 1 hour. Serve hot. Yield: 1 gallon.

WHITE CHRISTMAS PUNCH

2/3 cup of water

2/3 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of almond extract

1 small can of evaporated milk

1/2 gal. of vanilla ice cream

2 - 2 liter bottles of slice soft drink

Cook water and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Add almond and evaporated milk. Refrigerate. At serving time mix 1/2 gallon softened ice cream, and slice into sugar mixture.

7-UP CHRISTMAS BOWL

2 pkgs. (10 oz. each) frozen red raspberries in syrup, partially thawed

1 can (1 lb. 4 1/2 oz.) chilled crushed pineapple undrained (about 2 1/2 c.)

2 cans (6 oz. each) frozen lemonade concentrate thawed

42 oz. 7-Up chilled

Place raspberries and pineapple in blender; blend well. Pour into punch bowl, stir in lemonade concentrate. Slowly add 7 Up. Makes 2 1/2 quarts.

HOT CRANBERRY SPICED TEA

3 quarts of water

Bring to a boil. Add: 3 family size tea bags (or 9 sm.)

1 tablespoon of whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Cover and steep 30 minutes.

Add:

2 cups of sugar

2 cups of orange juice

3 cups of cranberry juice

3 drops of red food color

Strain spices. Refrigerate leftover tea.

CHRISTMAS RASPBERRY RICE RING MOLD

1/2 cup of rice

2 cups of milk

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 env. of Knox gelatin

1/4 cup of cold water

1 (10 oz.) pkg. of frozen raspberries

1 pint of whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon of almond flavoring

1/3 cup of sugar

In a double boiler, cook the following ingredients until very thick: Rice, milk and salt. Dissolve Knox gelatin in cold water and add to the hot rice (after it thickens); refrigerate until cold. Whip whipping cream until thick. Add the sugar and almond flavoring. Add to rice mixture. Put in a large oiled mold. Refrigerate. Thaw frozen berries, unmold rice salad and spoon berries over rice salad mold or place in a small dish to be served with rice inside the molded ring.

CHRISTMAS RICE PUDDING

2/3 cup of raw rice

3 cups of milk

2 cups of water

1 teaspoon of salt

3 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Cinnamon

Boil rice in 2 cups milk and 2 cups water with salt until thick. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. Beat eggs with the last cup of milk and add to the hot mixture with the sugar, butter, vanilla and nutmeg. Pour into a buttered 2 quart casserole and sprinkle with cinnamon. Set in a pan of water to bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or until set). Serves 10

CHRISTMAS FRUIT SALAD

3 apples, peeled & chopped

3 oranges, peeled (use pulp only)

1 sm. can of crushed pineapple

1 cup of miniature marshmallows

1 cup of pecans, chopped

1 box of strawberry Jell-O, soft jelled

2 teaspoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of mayonnaise

Mix well and refrigerate.

CHRISTMAS CAULIFLOWER

1 head of cauliflower

4 oz. can of sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup of diced green pepper

1/4 cup of butter

1/3 cup of flour

2 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of shredded Swiss cheese

2 tablespoons of chopped pimento

Break cauliflower into medium size flowerets. Cook in boiling water until crisp-tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain. Saute mushrooms and green pepper in butter in medium saucepan until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until smooth and thickened. Stir in cheese, salt and pimento. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Put half of the cauliflower into a buttered casserole dish. Cover with half of the sauce. Then add remaining cauliflower and remaining sauce. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Serves 8 to 10.

CHRISTMAS SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

3 cups of cooked mashed sweet potatoes

2 eggs

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 stick of butter, softened

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of light packed brown sugar

1/2 cup of flour

1 cup of finely chopped pecans

In one bowl, mix sweet potatoes, eggs, sugar, milk, salt; add 1/2 stick butter and vanilla. In another bowl add brown sugar, flour, nuts, and 1/2 stick butter. Add 1/2 nut and flour mixture in potato mixture. Save 1/2 nut and flour mixture for topping. Place in baking dish and add topping. Bake 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

2 cups of sifted flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of allspice

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

4 eggs

1 lb. of dates, chopped

Oil

Sugar

Roll cooking oil in two, 1 pound coffee tins, drain and sprinkle inside with sugar. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. Cream the butter and sugar together with a mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the dates and beat well. Blend in the dry ingredients. Turn the batter into the prepared coffee cans. Place several layers of aluminum foil on the tops and tie securely with string. Place the cans on a rack in a large kettle and add boiling water to a depth of 3/4 the height of the cans. Cover the kettle and gently boil the puddings for 3 hours, replenishing the water as needed. Turn out onto a rack to cool. They may be frozen, or stored for several weeks in the refrigerator.

FOR THE SAUCE:

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of hot water

1 egg, beaten

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of butter

Red and green Maraschino cherries

Pineapple chunks

Raisins

Pecans

Sugar cubes

Lemon extract

In a saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Add the hot water, beaten egg and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Drop in the butter and stir until melted. Add the fruit and pecans. Pour the sauce into a serving container. Drop the sugar cubes briefly in lemon extract. Place the pudding on a serving platter and surround with the sugar cubes, placing several on top of the pudding. Light the cubes, and bring the flaming pudding to the table. Slice the pudding, spoon on the sauce, and top with Cool Whip.

HEAVENLY CHRISTMAS SALAD

1 lg. can of pineapple

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1 tablespoon of butter

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 pint of whipping cream

Red grapes (seeded, cut in half)

Marshmallows (cut in halves or thirds)

Apples

Bananas

Drain pineapple chunks, heat juice in double boiler. Add sugar, cornstarch, butter and eggs. Boil until thick. (This can be made day before.) Add red grapes, marshmallows to drained pineapple chunks. Approximately an hour before serving, add apples and bananas to fruit mixture. Then fold in the custard and the whipped heavy cream.

APPLE RAISIN STUFFING

3/4 cup of minced onion

1 1/2 cups of chopped celery

1 cup of butter

7 cups of soft bread cubes

1 tablespoon of salt

3 cups of finely chopped apples

3/4 cup of raisins

1 1/2 teaspoons of crushed sage leaves

1 teaspoon of thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

In large skillet, cook and stir onion and celery in butter until onion is tender. Stir in about 1/3 of bread cubes. Turn into deep bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Stuff turkey just before roasting. Yield 9 cups enough for a 12 pound turkey.

HOMEMADE TURKEY DRESSING

Turkey drumsticks

4 stalks of celery

3 med. onions

2 tablespoons of black pepper

Lowery seasoning salt

3 med. green peppers

2 tablespoons of salt

Self-rising cornmeal

Self-rising flour

4 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup of Miracle Whip

2 tablespoons of garlic powder

1 doz. unsalted crackers

4 eggs

1/2 cup of sugar

Bring to boil turkey drumsticks, 2 celery sticks (diced), 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder, Lowry seasoning and black pepper. Cook over heat until meat well done. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease pan with butter. Mix cornmeal and flour into large mixing bowl 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons salt and 1/2 cup butter. Pour mixture re into medium pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Test with fork or toothpick. Once completed, set aside to cool. Cut into squares and crumble into large mixing bowl along with 1 dozen of unsalted crackers. Remove turkey drumsticks from heat, drain broth into separate pot. Pour 1/2 of broth into bread crumbs, saturate completely. Reserve remaining broth for basting dressing throughout the cooking (baking) process. Add fresh season salt, Miracle Whip, 1 medium chopped onion, chopped celery and bell pepper (chopped finely) to cornbread mixture. Add 1 tablespoon butter. Sauté new cornbread mixture over medium high for 15 minutes. Pour into greased pan and bake 15-30 minutes. Use reserved turkey broth for basting every 10 minutes to keep moist. Bake until dressing in golden brown. Serves 20 people.

HOLIDAY MAGIC YAMS

1 (16 oz.) can of peaches

1 tablespoon of cornstarch

2/3 cup of brown sugar

1 (8 oz.) can of whole cranberry sauce

1/2 teaspoon of butter

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 (17 oz.) cans of yams, drained

Drain peaches and reserve juice. Put cornstarch in 1/4 cup of peach juice and set aside. Heat reserved peach juice and sugar, cranberry sauce, cinnamon, and butter; when butter is melted add cornstarch, mix and cook, stir over medium until it thickens - put yams in dish, put peaches around yams. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serves 8-10.

FRUITED BROWN RICE STUFFING

1 sm. onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

8 tablespoons of butter or margarine

2 cups of brown rice

4 cups of chicken broth or water

1/2 cup of chopped parsley

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of leaf sage, crumbled

2 cups of sliced celery

2 cups of diced dried apricots

2 cups of pecan halves, coarsely chopped

1 cup of raisins

1 cup of diced apples

Sauté the onion in butter in a large saucepan until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice. Add the broth; bring to boiling. Lower the heat; cover. Simmer, covered until the rice has absorbed all the liquid, about 40 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in parsley, salt, sage, celery, apricots, pecans, raisins and apple. Now you're ready for a holiday feast.

CHRISTMAS CRANBERRY SALAD

1 (13 1/2 oz.) can of crushed pineapple

Water

2 (3 oz.) pkg. of strawberry gelatin

3/4 cup of cold water

1 (16 oz.) can of whole berry cranberry sauce

1/3 cup of coarsely chopped nuts

1 tablespoon of butter

1 (8 oz.) container of Cool Whip

Drain pineapple juice into measuring cup; reserve pineapple. Add water to juice to make 1 cup. Bring to a boil and stir in gelatin. Add cold water; chill until gelatin is of consistency of unbeaten egg whites. Combine pineapple and cranberry sauce, then stir into gelatin mixture. Place pecans in butter in a pan and bake about 8 minutes in 350 degree oven. Stir occasionally until pecans are toasted. Cool nuts. Spread Cool Whip over top of gelatin, cranberry mixture. Sprinkle pecans over frosting.

HOLIDAY SAGE DRESSING

2 loaves of bread, cubed

1 lb. of sweet sausage

1 teaspoon of sage

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of parsley, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 sticks of celery, diced

Salt & pepper to taste

Put bread cubes in large bowl. Fry sausage and drain off excess grease. Dissolve bouillon cubes in 2 cups water. Add all ingredients to bread cubes and mix well. Stuff bird or spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with Pam. Fill with stuffing and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

ORANGE SWEET POTATOES

6 medium sweet potatoes; cooked and peeled

1/2 cup of brown sugar

5 teaspoons of butter

2 medium oranges, sliced thin

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 cup of orange juice

1/4 cup of cornflake crumbs

Build up following layers in a medium size, buttered casserole: potatoes, sprinkled with brown sugar then dotted with butter, and then orange slices. Repeat until potatoes and oranges are used up. Heat honey (enough to make it liquid) and mix with orange juice. Pour over casserole. Combine crumbs with whatever butter and sugar are left and spread over top. Cover and bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove cover after 15 minutes.

RICE HAM CASSEROLE

1 box of Uncle Ben's wild rice mix

1 (10 oz.) box of chopped broccoli, cooked and drained

1 cup of chopped ham

1 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese, cubed

1 can of mushrooms, drained

1 can of cream of celery soup

1 cup of mayonnaise

2 teaspoons of prepared mustard

Cook rice according to directions. Place rice on bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Layer on top; broccoli, cheese, ham and mushrooms. Combine remaining ingredients and put on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serves 4 or 6.

TURKEY BUFFET CASSEROLE

4 oz. of medium white noodles, (about 2 cups)

1 pkg. of frozen broccoli spears

2 tablespoons of butter or margarine

2 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of prepared mustard

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

2 cups of milk

1 cup of grated American cheese

2 cups of cut up cooked turkey

1/3 cup of slivered toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In separate sauce pans cook noodles and broccoli as labels direct just until tender. In saucepan over low heat, melt butter; stir in flour, salt, mustard, pepper and milk. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat, stir in cheese until melted. Drain noodles and broccoli. Dice broccoli stems; leave flowerettes whole. Arrange noodles, broccoli stems, turkey in shallow casserole or 8 inch square baking dish; pour cheese sauce over all. Arrange broccoli flowerettes on top, pressing them lightly into sauce; sprinkle with almonds. Bake uncovered 15 minutes or until bubbling hot. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH

8 eggs, slightly beaten

6 slices of bread, cubed

1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated

1 lb. of sausage, pork, beef or turkey, cooked & drained

2 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of dry mustard

Mix all ingredients. Pour in greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Refrigerate overnight. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 8.

CHRISTMAS MORNING BRUNCH EGG BAKE

3 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese

3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

4 oz. can of sliced mushrooms, drained

8 oz. of cooked ham, cut into fine julienne strips

1/4 cup of margarine, melted

1 3/4 cups of milk

8 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup of sliced green onion

2 tablespoons of fresh snipped parsley

1/2 cup of flour

In a large bowl, lightly toss cheeses together. Sprinkle half of the cheese mixture in an ungreased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. In medium skillet, cook mushrooms and green onions in the margarine, until onions are tender. Arrange vegetables over cheese. Arrange ham strips over vegetables. Sprinkle remaining cheese over ham. (To make ahead, prepare to this point, cover and refrigerate.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl using a wire whisk, blend flour, milk, parsley and eggs; pour over layers in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until mixture is set and top is lightly browned. Let stand about 10 minutes. Cut into squares and garnish with fresh parsley. Serves 12.

CHRISTMAS STUFFED BAKED HAM

Bake at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Serves 12. (Delicious and makes a festive holiday presentation with the pink ham and mixed green stuffing!)

1 fully cooked ham (about 10 to 12 lbs.)

1 (10 oz.) pkg. of frozen chopped kale

1 cup of finely chopped fresh spinach

1 lg. onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

3/4 cup of finely chopped watercress

1/2 cup of finely chopped celery tops (leaves)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 cup of honey

2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

2 teaspoons of dry mustard

Trim rind off ham, if any. Trim fat to 1/4 inch thickness. Make X-shaped cuts with a small paring knife,2 inches deep and 1 inch apart; stagger the rows, all over fat side. Cook hole in boiling salted water to cover, following directions on package; drain; cool; squeeze out excess water with hands. Combine kale, fresh spinach, onion, fresh watercress, fresh celery leaves, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Press greens mixture into pockets in ham; pack down well with fingertips. Place ham, fat side up, in a large shallow pan. Bake in a slow oven (325 degrees) for 2 minutes. Stir honey with vinegar and dry mustard; brush part over ham. Continue baking and brushing with the remaining honey mixture, 30 minutes or until top of ham is richly glazed. Remove ham from pan. Let stand 20 minutes before carving. Carve ham carefully, holding slices together to keep the stuffing intact. Garnish platter with glazed carrots and fresh watercress leaves!

CHRISTMAS HONEY COLA HAM

12-13 lb. pre-cooked ham

2-3 liters of Coke Cola soda

Cloves (whole)

Clove honey or wild flower honey or corn syrup

Prepare ham by placing in a deep steaming pan with rack. Pour soda into pan and bring liquid up to middle sides of ham. Steam (simmer) slowly for 2 1/2 hours. Ham will look very caramelized. Place ham on cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes. Brush with honey. Score ham and pierce ham with whole cloves. Brush again with honey and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden. Serves 10-12.

THE CHRISTMAS HAM

Precooked, tenderized ham

1 cups of dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons of flour

2 tablespoons of brandy

1/2 teaspoons of ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

Grapes

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place ham fat side up, in an open roasting pan and roast until brown and tender, about 1/2 hour longer than the package calls for. Remove ham from oven and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Cut the skin off ham, leaving 1/2 inch of fat. Cut the skin off ham, leaving 1/2 inch of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife in diagonal lines, running in opposite directions to make diamond pattern. Combine brandy, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, sugar and flour and rub well over ham. Return to oven, roast 20 more minutes. With wooden toothpicks, attach to top and side a small bunch of grapes. Serve with mustard sauce.

CHRISTMAS HAM MUSTARD SAUCE:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1/2 cup of sour cream

3 tablespoons of brown mustard

Beat mayonnaise and sour cream until light and fluffy. Stir in mustard.

CHRISTMAS EVE HAMBALLS

1 lb. of lean pork, coarsely ground

1 lb. of lean ham, coarsely ground

2 eggs

2 cups of soft breadcrumbs (white baker bread, broken up by hand, crusts and centers)

1 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of salt

FOR THE GLAZE:

1/2 cup of cider vinegar

1/2 cup of water

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar

1 teaspoons of dry mustard

10 whole cloves

Glaze: Bring to a full, rapid boil. Mix ham ball ingredients together with hands. Form into 2 inch small egg size balls by squeezing tightly 4 times into shape. Place ham balls, side by side, in a glass/enamel baking dish. Pour the boiled glaze mixture over the ham balls, covering each one by spoon if necessary. Cover loosely with foil (don't seal edges around pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. 45 minutes on first side; turn each ham ball over. Spoon glaze over ham balls again. Bake 45 minutes on second side. During the last 30 minutes, remove foil and periodically spoon glaze mixture over the ham balls. Serves 6-8 people, 6-10 ham balls/person. Traditionally served with German potato salad and baked beans.

CHRISTMAS MEATBALLS

2 lbs. of ground beef

2 eggs

8 soda crackers, pour warm water over & squeeze dry

1 grated onion

Salt & pepper

Mix above thoroughly. Roll into small meatballs, brown in frying pan, or in oven. In slow cooker, combine 1 bottle chili sauce, 1 glass grape jelly and juice of 1 lemon. Add meatballs. Keep warm.

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH

8 eggs, slightly beaten

6 slices of bread, cubed

1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated

1 lb. of sausage, pork, beef or turkey, cooked & drained

2 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of dry mustard

Mix all ingredients. Pour in greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Refrigerate overnight. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 8.

CHRISTMAS MORNING BRUNCH EGG BAKE

3 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese

3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained

8 oz. cooked ham, cut into fine julienne strips

1/4 cup of margarine, melted

1 3/4 cups of milk

8 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup of sliced green onion

2 tablespoons of fresh snipped parsley

1/2 cup of flour

In a large bowl, lightly toss cheeses together. Sprinkle half of the cheese mixture in an ungreased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. In medium skillet, cook mushrooms and green onions in the margarine, until onions are tender. Arrange vegetables over cheese. Arrange ham strips over vegetables. Sprinkle remaining cheese over ham. (To make ahead, prepare to this point, cover and refrigerate.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl using a wire whisk, blend flour, milk, parsley and eggs; pour over layers in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until mixture is set and top is lightly browned. Let stand about 10 minutes. Cut into squares and garnish with fresh parsley. Serves 12.

CHRISTMAS BREAD

1 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup of nuts, chopped

1 lb. of diced dates

1 cup of flour

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of baking powder

Sift dry ingredients together. Add dates to flour mixture. Beat eggs and sugar together, add nuts then flour mixture. Bake in pan 10 x 14 x 2 inches for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

HERB PARMESAN BREAD WREATH

1 loaf of frozen bread dough

2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine, divided

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, divided

3/4 teaspoon of crushed basil, or oregano or thyme

Brush frozen loaf with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover; thaw at room temperature 2 or 3 hours or in refrigerator 6 to 10 hours. Sprinkle loaf with 1/3 cup cheese; knead until well blended. Cut dough into thirds. On lightly floured surface roll each third in a 25 inch rope. Braid ropes together. Invert a custard cup or small jar on greased baking sheet; grease cup or jar. Shape braid into wreath around cup or jar; pinch ends together to seal. Brush with remaining 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon cheese and the basil. Let rise in warm draft free place (I turn the oven on warm then turn it off and let it rise in there) 35 to 45 minutes until doubled. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven 20 minutes or until golden and done. Remove to rack to cool. Makes 1 wreath. 16 slices.

BROCCOLI "CHRISTMAS" BREAD

1 stick of creamed margarine

1 (6 oz.) carton of cottage cheese

1 box of frozen chopped broccoli

1 lg. finely chopped onion

3 or 4 eggs, beaten

1 box of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin Mix

1 teaspoon of salt

Mix creamed margarine, onion, eggs and cheese. Let broccoli thaw and squeeze out as much water as possible. Add cornmeal mix, broccoli and salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes in 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish. *Great with ham and turkey.

CHRISTMAS EVE BISCUITS

1 oz. of yeast

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Cream yeast with sugar. Add warm milk and salt. Sift in flour. Stir thoroughly. Put in warm spot to rise a little. If necessary, add more flour to roll. Roll about 1/2 inch thick with rolling pin on floured board. Cut into finger-width strips, then into bits of 1/2 inch or less. Bake in 350 degrees oven until edges are light brown.

CHRISTMAS BREAD

2 cups of warm water

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of shortening

2 cakes of yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

2 eggs

8 to 10 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 cup of white raisins

1 cup of seedless raisins

1 cup of candied or maraschino cherries

1 cup of mixed candied fruit

3/4 cup of chopped nut meats

Combine first six ingredients knead in flour. Let rise until double. Knead, again, add rest of ingredients, mix well. Form into loaves, let rise. Bake at 350 degrees. Time depends on loaf size.

PUMPKIN BREAD

2 2/3 cups of sugar

2/3 cup of margarine

4 eggs

3 1/3 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoon of soda

2 cup of pumpkin

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

2/3 cup of water

Mix above together. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Makes 2 loaves.

GINGERBREAD

2 eggs

3/4 cup of brown sugar

3/4 cup of molasses

3/4 cup of melted shortening

2 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of soda

2 teaspoons of ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 cup of boiling water

Cream sugar and melted shortening. Blend in eggs and molasses. Sift flour with spices, soda, and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture. Finally add the boiling water. Beat well. Pour into 9x13 inch greased pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

ANGEL FOOD COOKIES

1 cup of butter or margarine

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups of flour, sifted

1 teaspoon of cream of tartar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of coconut

Cream the butter and sugars. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Roll dough into balls using 1 teaspoon per cookie. Dip in water, then in granulated sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

BROWN SUGAR PECAN COOKIES

1/2 cup of butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, brown sugar and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by teaspoons 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.

PECAN CRUNCH COOKIES

1/2 lb. butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 heaping cup pecans, chopped (use 1/ 2 in batter, save rest for top)

Cream butter, sugar, flour and vanilla. Add half of the nuts. Spread batter over cookie sheet, about 12 x 16 inches. Put rest of nuts over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Place on rack to cool. Sprinkle with 10X su gar. Cut into squares while still hot.

CINNAMON CHRISTMAS LOGS

1 cup of butter

5 tablespoons of sugar

Dash of salt

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon of almond extract

1/4 cup of sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Mix first 6 ingred ients. Roll into 2 inch length logs. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Roll logs in a sugar and cinnamon mixture. Makes 45 cookies.

MERRY CHRISTMAS CHEESE CAKES

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of margarine

1/2 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup of nuts, chopped

--FILLING:-

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of cream cheese, soft

1/4 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of milk

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In 3 quart bowl combine flour, margarine, and brown sugar. Blend with mixer. Stir in nuts. Reserve 1 cup of mixture for topping. Pat remaining in ungreased 8 inch square pan. Bake near center of oven 8 to 10 minutes. Prepare filling. Spread over partially baked crust. Sprinkle reserve crumb mixture on top. Return to oven 23 to 30 minutes. Cool, cut and store in refrigerator.

POLKA DOT SNOWBALLS (CHRISTMAS COOKIES)

2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix and set aside above ingredients. Blend:

3/4 cup of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Beat in 1 egg. Stir in dry ingredients. Add:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of semi sweet chocolate bits

1 cup of chopped nuts

Shape in 1" balls. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cool and roll in powdered sugar. Freeze well.

CHRISTMAS CRESCENT COOKIES

1/2 lb. of butter (2 sticks)

2 cups of flour

2 cups of chopped pecans

5 tablespoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 tablespoon of water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Cream butter and sugar; add vanilla and water. Sift flour and salt, stir into mixture. Add pecans and mix well. Shape into size of walnut and shape into crescent. Bake slowly at 325 degrees about 20 minutes. While warm, roll into powdered sugar.

NO BAKE CHRISTMAS WREATH COOKIES

1 stick of margarine

30 lg. marshmallows

Melt above in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.

Add to above:

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

2-3 teaspoons of green food coloring

3 1/2 cups of corn flakes

Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper from greased teaspoon. Shape each into small wreaths with greased fingers. Decorate with red hot candies and chill to set.

CHRISTMAS BALLS

1 - 14 oz. can of coconut

8 oz. of red candied cherries

8 oz. of green candied pineapple

8 oz. of chopped dates

4 cups of chopped pecans

1 can of Eagle Brand condensed milk

Mix all together, then roll into balls. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. You can roll them in powdered sugar or eat them as they are.

CHRISTMAS PECAN BALLS

1/2 lb. of margarine

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar

Mix altogether, except confectioners' sugar. Chill in refrigerator an hour or more. Roll in balls, size of quarters and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees on cookie sheet. Roll in sugar while still warm. When cool, roll again in sugar.

MOCHA WALNUT CHRISTMAS COOKIES

12 oz. pkg. of Nestle Toll House semi-sweet morsels, divided

2 tablespoons of instant coffee

2 teaspoons of boiling water

1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon of soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt over hot (not boiling water), 1/2 cup chocolate morsels. Stir until smooth and cool to room temperature. In small cup, dissolve coffee in boiling water and set aside. In small bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, combine butter, sugars, and coffee. Beat until creamy. Add egg and melted chocolate morsels. Mix well. Then gradually add flour mixture. Stir in the remaining chocolate morsels and walnuts. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to stand 2-3 minutes before removing from cookie sheets; cool completely. Yield: about 24 three inch cookies.

CHRISTMAS TEA CAKES

1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of soda

1/2 cup of buttermilk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of shortening or butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

In one bowl mix sugar, flour and soda. In another bowl mix buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, shortening and salt. Mix this well and then add your first bowl. Cut and roll out your cookies and bake at 350 degrees until done. Decorate any way you like.

CHRISTMAS MACAROONS

1 (7 oz.) pkg. of shredded coconut

2 egg whites

3/4 cup of sugar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 cup of flour

1/4 cup of pecans, chopped

1/2 cup of assorted colored gum candy, cut into sm. pieces

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Whip egg whites slightly and add sugar, salt, vanilla, flour, pecans and candy. Mix well and drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet, leaving a space between each. Bake about 15 minutes or until slightly brown. Let cool for 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet.

SOFT CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

4 scant cups of sugar

2 scant cups of Crisco

4 eggs

2 cups of buttermilk

2 teaspoons of soda

4 teaspoons of baking powder

2 tablespoons of vanilla

8 cups of flour

Cream sugar, shortening. Add eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Must refrigerate preferably overnight. The secret to this dough is keeping it chilled, it's a very soft dough. Take a little out of the bowl and place on floured sink top or pie board. Treat it similar to pie crust as far as handling goes, you may need to sprinkle with a little flour and roll to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a floured cookie cutter. Work with small amounts in order to keep dough chilled. Have patience and you will be rewarded with beautiful cookies. Bake 350 degrees - watch - do not brown (only lightly on bottom). Can freeze and frost later.

CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE COOKIES

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

4 sq. of chocolate, unsweetened

2 cup of sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of white flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 cup of powdered sugar

Mix oil, chocolate and sugar. Blend in one egg at a time, until well mixed; add vanilla. Stir in salt, flour and baking powder. Chill several hours or overnight. To bake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Place powdered sugar on a plate. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto powdered sugar, roll them around in it and shape them into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on racks before storing them.

CHOCOLATE PRALINE CHRISTMAS MUD SQUARES

3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup of finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup of butter or margarine, melted

1 (12 oz.) jar of commercial caramel flavored topping

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1 cup of butter or margarine

4 (1 oz.) squares of unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of all-purpose flour

4 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine first 4 ingredients, stirring well. Press crumb mixture into bottom of a greased 9" square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. Cool slightly. Combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour, stirring well. Spread topping on crust to within 1/4" from edge of pan. Set aside. Combine 1 cup butter or margarine and unsweetened chocolate in a heavy saucepan; cook over low heat until melted. Stir in sugar and next 3 ingredients, pour mixture over caramel topping in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool and spread with chocolate frosting. Lightly sift powdered sugar over frosting if desired. Decorate with pecan halves and candied cherries, if desired.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING:

1 tablespoon of butter or margarine

2 tablespoons of cocoa

2 tablespoons of water

1 cup of sifted powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan, cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.

NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

2/3 cup of extra fine granulated sugar

1 cup of mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of dark raisins

Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Use electric mixer). Beat egg whites briefly, add cream of tartar and beat briefly. Add sugar and beat 2 minutes or more until thick. Use wooden spoon to FOLD in other ingredients. Drop by ice tea spoon full onto foil lined cookie sheets. Place in oven, close oven door and turn oven OFF. Leave in oven overnight. Next morning carefully peel foil from bottoms of cookies. Store airtight. Yield: 3 1/2 dozen. Doubles easily.

CHEWY NOELS

2 tablespoons of butter

2 eggs

1 cup of brown sugar

5 tablespoons of flour

1 cup of chopped nuts

1/8 teaspoon of soda

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Melt butter in 8-inch square pan over low heat. Beat eggs, slightly; combine sugar, flour, nuts and soda. Stir in eggs; add vanilla. Pour into pan; do not stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

DATE NUT BALLS

1/2 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups of chopped dates

1/3 cup of chopped maraschino cherries

3/4 cup of sugar

3 cups of Rice Krispies

1 cup of chopped pecans

Put butter, dates, cherries and sugar into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture becomes a soft paste. Remove from heat. Add cereal and pecans. Mix well. Use a level tablespoon and make balls. Place on waxed paper to cool.

CHRISTMAS SNOWBALL COOKIES

1/2 lb. of butter

1/2 cup of superfine sugar

1 cup of pecans, chopped fine

3 cups of cake flour

Mix all ingredients. Form into small balls with your hands. Bake on cookie sheet about 20 minutes at 350 degrees (they should bake all the way through without burning). Roll in powdered sugar while still warm.

CHRISTMAS PUFFS

1/2 cup of butter or margarine

1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Meringue Filling

Cream butter with powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt, blending well to make a stiff dough. Form into small balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Make a well in center of each ball with tip of a wooden spoon handle. Chill while making meringue filling.

MERINGUE FILLING:

1 egg white

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans

Candied red cherries, halved

Beat egg white until foamy, add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in pecans and spoon generous amount of mixture into wells in cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with half a candied cherry after baking. Yield: 2 dozen.

CHRISTMAS SNOWCAPS

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 cup of margarine

1 (3 oz.) pkg. of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of lemon flavoring

1 cup of powdered sugar

Combine flour and baking powder. Beat margarine and cream cheese together with mixer; add sugar and flavoring and beat until fluffy. Add flour mixture and beat until well mixed. Chill overnight. Shape into 1 inch balls; place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove and cool slightly. In a plastic bag pour powdered sugar and shake a few cookies at a time. Makes about 36. Recipe can be doubled.

FRUIT COCKTAIL CHRISTMAS CAKE

2 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

1 lg. (3 1/2 c.) can of fruit cocktail

2 beaten eggs

FOR THE TOPPING:

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of nuts

Mix all together, then sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.

CHRISTMAS TREE COFFEE CAKE

2 pkgs. of active dry yeast

1/2 cup of warm water

1 1/4 cup of buttermilk

2 eggs

5 1/2 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of butter or margarine

1/2 cup of sugar

2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoon of salt

In a large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast and warm water. Add buttermilk, eggs, 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the butter, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Dough should remain soft and sticky. Turn dough onto well floured board. Knead 5 minutes. Shape dough into desired coffee cakes and rolls. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 375 degrees. GLAZE: Mix 2 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons water or milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cream until smooth. Trim with colored sugar.

CHRISTMAS EGGNOG POUND CAKE

1 cup of butter

1 cup of Crisco shortening

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of commercial dairy eggnog

1 cup of flaked coconut

3 cups of sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon of lemon extract

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of coconut extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and shortening. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a spoon, add flour to creamed mixture alternately with eggnog, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in coconut and flavorings. Blend well. Pour batter into well-greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove.

CHRISTMAS NUT CAKE

2 cups of walnuts

1 1/2 cups of Brazil nuts

1 lb. of whole dates

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

4 eggs, well beaten

Mix nuts, dates and sugar. Add to the eggs. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. This is only enough to cover the dates and nuts, but do not add more. Pour into a bread tin and bake slowly (1 hour, 15 minutes) at 275 degrees.

COLORS OF CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 (3 oz.) pkg. of red gelatin (raspberry, strawberry or cherry)

1 (3 oz.) pkg. of orange gelatin

1 (3 oz.) pkg. of lime gelatin

2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup of butter or margarine

8 oz. of pineapple juice

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 (3 oz.) pkg. of lemon gelatin

2 pkgs. of whipped topping mix

Mix red, orange and lime gelatins by instructions on box. Pour gelatin into 3 shallow pans (9 x 14 inches) and let set. When set, cut each pan of gelatin into 1/2 inch cubes and mix together in bowl. Return cubed gelatin to refrigerator for later use. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter or margarine together and press into bottom of rectangular cake pan (9 x 14 x 2 inches). Bake in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes or until brown. Remove and let cool. Dissolve sugar in pineapple juice and bring to a boil on stove. When boiling, add lemon gelatin and dissolve stirring frequently. remove from stove and allow to cool until it forms a syrup. Prepare 2 packages of whip topping according to label directions, add pineapple-gelatin mix to whip topping and fold in well. Fold in your cubed mixed gelatin into your whip topping, and then spoon completed mixture into your pan with graham cracker crust. Sprinkle a little graham cracker crumbs on top of your cake and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

CHRISTMAS JEWEL CAKE

3 cups of pecans, chopped

2 sm. boxes of coconut

3 rings of candied pineapple

2 boxes of dates

1 lb. of candied cherries

1 can of Eagle Brand condensed milk

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of flour

Cut everything and mix well. Add milk, vanilla, and flour. Line a tube pan with oiled brown paper. (I use a clean brown grocery bag, measure pan size and cut it to size. I use oil or shortening to oil paper.) Pack mixture lightly into paper lined tube pan. Bake 30 minutes at 250 degrees and 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool a little. Invert cake on rack and remove paper. Place on cake plate and cool before serving. It keeps well (at room temperature) for several days. Simply rich and delicious!

CHRISTMAS COCONUT CAKE

1 (18 oz.) pkg. of butter cake mix with pudding

1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

1 (8 1/2 oz.) can of cream of coconut

1 (15 1/4 oz.) can of crushed pineapple

1 (12 oz.) carton of thawed whipped topping

1 (12 oz.) pkg. of coconut

1 (10 oz.) jar of maraschino cherries

1 pkg. of crushed pecans

Grease and flour bottom only of 13x9 inch pan. Set aside. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions. Punch holes in top of warm cake with small knife. Combine condensed milk and cream of coconut, pour over warm cake; let cool. Spread pineapple over cake. Top with whipped topping. Sprinkle coconut on cake. Decorate with cherries and pecans. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Cut into squares and serve. Yields 15 to 18 servings. Keep in refrigerator.

DARK CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

1 cup of currants

3 cups of light or dark raisins

1/2 cup of dried preserved orange peel

1/2 cup of diced preserved lemon peel

1 1/2 cup of diced preserved citron

1 cup of halved candied cherries

1 cup of diced preserved pineapple

1 cup of pecan halves

1 cup of blanched almonds, cut lengthwise

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of shortening, softened

6 eggs, separated

1/2 square of unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/4 cup of fresh, frozen or canned lemon juice

1/4 cup of orange juice

2 cups of sifted all purpose flour

Thoroughly grease 3" to 4" deep 10" tube pan. Cut heavy waxed paper to fit bottom and sides of pan. Line pan with waxed paper (be sure paper fits snugly) and lightly grease paper. Or use aluminum foil without greasing. In large bowl, thoroughly mix currants, raisins, peels, citron, cherries, pineapple and nuts with 1 cup flour until all are coated with flour. Start heating oven to 300 degrees. Sift remaining 1 cup flour with spices and soda. In large electric mixer bowl, with mixer at medium speed, or cream blend shortening with sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add melted chocolate. At low speed or blend, beat in alternately, just until smooth, flour mixture and fruit juices. When mixture is thoroughly blended, stir by hand into fruit mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into cake mixture. Turn into tube pan. Bake 2 hours and 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan; remove paper; store to mellow.

ORANGE SLICE CAKE

3 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 lb. of orange slices (gumdrops)

2 cups of walnuts, chopped

1 (3 1/4 oz.) can of flaked coconut

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of dates, chopped

1 cup of butter or margarine

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon of soda

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1 cup of orange juice

2 cups of powdered sugar

Combine and set aside, the cut up orange slices, chopped walnuts, chopped dates and flaked coconut. Add 1/2 cup of the flour mixture, to the orange slice mixture, mixing well. Work with spoon until light, the butter. Add the sugar and beat well. Add the eggs, one at a time. Combine the soda and buttermilk. Add alternately with flour mixture. Blend well after each addition. Add candy mixture, mix well. Turn into tube pan, greased and floured. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Mix well the orange juice and powdered sugar. Pour this mixture over the hot cake. Let stand overnight in the refrigerator before removing from the pan. Punch holes in cake with an ice pick so the glaze will soak into the cake.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 lb. of raisins

1 cup of hot water

1 lb. of bulk pork sausage

1 teaspoon of soda

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 lb. of pitted dates, cut roughly

1 lb. of English walnut halves

1 lb. of dark brown sugar

1 cup of mixed candied fruits

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice

Pinch of salt

Combine raisins and hot water, cooking until slightly plumped; set aside. Place sausage in a large mixing bowl; sprinkle with soda. Pour water in which raisins were cooked in over sausage. Mix with hands or on lowest speed of electric mixer. Add remaining ingredients mixing slowly, but well. Place mixture into 6 to 7 lightly greased small loaf pans (5x3 inches). Bake at 375 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Yield: 6 to 7 cakes. Note: Add 1/2 cup bourbon or cognac to mixture if desired. Make cakes 3 weeks ahead of serving time for best results. Store in a cool, dark place and brush with bourbon or cognac each week.

OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS CAKE

2 cups of flour

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup of raisins

1 sm. box of glace cherries

2 tablespoons of crystallized ginger, chopped

1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2/3 cup of butter

4 eggs

1 cup of currants

1 sm. box of glace peel

1 teaspoon of allspice

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs. Fold in half of flour mixed with spices. Dust fruits and nuts with a little flour and mix in. Fold in remainder of flour. The batter will be stiff. Grease and flour a 10-inch loaf pan or a round baking pan 3 inches deep. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours. Test for doneness with a fine skewer. If it shows any batter, bake for up to 30 minutes more. If top is too dark before cake is ready, cover lightly with foil.

WHITE CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 cup of butter or margarine

1 (16 oz.) pkg. of powdered sugar

6 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of cold water or use cherry juice

3 cups of all purpose flour, unsifted

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 (8 oz.) jar of cherries, drained & halved

1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans

1 (14 oz.) pkg. of flaked coconut

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat 2 whole eggs into the creamed mixture. Separate remaining 4 eggs and beat in yolks, salt and vanilla. Add the water alternately with flour and baking powder. Stir in cherries, nuts, coconut with a spoon. Beat 4 egg whites until stiff, fold into batter. Bake in a greased and floured cake tube pan for 2 hours at 325 degrees or 2 loaf pans for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

DATE - ORANGE NUT CAKE

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of oleo

4 eggs

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1 teaspoon of soda

1 tablespoon of grated orange rind

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 lb. of chopped dates

1 lb. of chopped orange candy slices

2 cups of chopped nuts

1 cup of flaked coconut

Cream oleo and sugar well. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each one. Dissolve soda in buttermilk and add to mixture. Add the orange rind and flour then the dates, orange slices, nuts and coconut. Makes a stiff dough, mix with hands if necessary. Bake in greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

CHRISTMAS APPLESAUCE CAKE

3 cups of applesauce

3/4 cup of shortening

3 eggs

2 cups of sugar

3 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoon of baking soda

4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of chopped nuts

1 lb. of raisins

1 lb. of orange slice candy

Cream shortening, sugar and eggs until light. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with applesauce. Add nuts, raisins and cut up gum slices. Bake 1 1/2 hours in 325 degree oven in greased paper lined pans. Fill pans not over 2/3 full.

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 pkg. (8 oz.) of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of butter, softened

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 1/4 cups of sifted cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 jar (8 oz.) of maraschino cherries, drained & chopped

1 cup of chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

4 eggs

2 tablespoons of milk

In large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, granulated sugar, vanilla and spices. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. In small bowl, combine flour with baking powder; gradually add 2 cups of the flour mixture to butter mixture. To remaining flour mixture add maraschino cherries and 1/2 cup of the chopped pecans; fold into batter. Grease 10 inch bundt pan or tube pan; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Loosen edge; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. In small bowl, beat powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Spoon icing over cake. Garnish with pecan halves and candied cherries.

PISTACHIO CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 pkg. of white Duncan Hines cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup of Wesson oil

1 cup of 7-Up

2 oz. of chopped walnut tidbits

2 pkgs. of Royal Pistachio pudding mix

Mix cake and 1 package pudding together. Bake in bundt pan at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, don't over bake. Cool cake before tipping upside down.

FOR THE FROSTING:

1 pkg. of pistachio pudding

1/2 pint of whipping cream

1 cup of milk

Mix together and frost cake. Add cut cherries (red and green) to make wreaths on top of cake.

DANISH CHRISTMAS CAKE

1 cup of margarine

1 3/4 cups of sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of soda

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of orange juice

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 lb. of chopped dates

2 cups of chopped pecans

1 sm. bottle maraschino cherries and juice

1 tablespoons of grated orange rind

1 cup of buttermilk

Flour the dates, nuts and cherries with one cup and mix so fruit doesn't go to bottom of pan. Cream sugar and margarine and add unbeaten eggs one at a time. Vanilla goes in buttermilk. Soda goes in with salt and flour. Alternate flour mixture and liquid. Add fruit and nuts. Pour batter into well greased angel food tube pan or 3 loaf pans or salad rings. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until cake tests done. Have sauce ready and while cake is still warm, pour sauce over cake.

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 cup of orange juice (or orange and lemon juice mixed)

1/2 to 1 cup of sugar

1 cup of shredded coconut

Mix together and pour over cake.

WHITE CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

1 lb. of butter

2 cups of sugar

6 eggs, separated

1 oz. of lemon extract

3 cups of sifted flour

1 lb. of pecan halves

1 lb. of white raisins

1/2 lb. of candied red cherries

1/2 lb. of candied green cherries

1/4 lb. of candied pineapple, cut up

Beat butter, sugar, egg yolks and lemon extract well. Mix in flour, nuts and fruits. Do not chop nuts and fruits. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Fill 2 well greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3 inch pans. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Turn oven to 350 degrees and bake 7 minutes. Turn heat off and leave cake in oven 7 minutes. Remove and cool in pan. When completely cool, take out of pan and wrap in foil. Store in airtight container in cool place. Keeps for weeks. Makes 2 cakes.

CHRISTMAS POUND CAKE

1/4 lb. of butter

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of cream cheese

1 1/4 c. of granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of milk

Cream butter with cream cheese. Add sugar and blend until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs (one at a time). Add vanilla. Add remaining ingredients alternately with milk. Beat about 5 minutes. Pour batter into well greased tube pan and bake 350 degrees 45 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.

SCENT OF CHRISTMAS

3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons of ground cloves

1 tablespoon of anise seed

1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 quart of water

Mix together. Add water. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer on low. Dry mix can be used as gift.

A CHRISTMAS SCENT

Peels of 2 oranges

3 cinnamon sticks

12 whole cloves

2 1/2 cups of water

Combine in a saucepan. Simmer, add water as needed.

CHRISTMAS "SMELL GOOD"

1 pkg. of pickling spice

1 pkg. of whole cloves

1 pkg. of stick cinnamon

1 jar of apple juice

Put in crock-pot. Fill to top with water. Bring to boil, put on simmer.

GINGERBREAD ORNAMENTS

3/4 cup of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of allspice

2 tablespoons of cloves

1 tablespoon of nutmeg

1 cup of applesauce

Combine first 4 ingredients and blend well. Stir in applesauce and mix well. Roll out 1/4 inch thick on ungreased cookie sheet. Cut with cookie cutters of different shapes. Put a tiny hole in top with toothpick. Let dry 4 days. Put string through hole and hang on Christmas tree.

CINNAMON ORNAMENTS

1 cup of cinnamon

1 cup of applesauce

Mix equal parts of cinnamon and applesauce. A dash of cloves, nutmeg and/or ginger may be added. Roll out on a cinnamon-dusted board, rolling 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out with small cookie cutters. Using a pencil, make a small hole for a string near the top. Let dry thoroughly. Dough may be placed in plastic bag for later use.

SPICE ORNAMENTS

3/4 cup of ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon of allspice

2 tablespoons of ground cloves

1 tablespoon of ground nutmeg

1 cup of applesauce

Mix all spices into applesauce, blend until mixture becomes like play-dough. Roll dough onto a non-stick surface about 1 inch thick. Cut shapes with your favorite cookie cutter(s) and let dry 3 to 5 days.

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/homemadechristmas.zip

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HOW TO WRITE SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES

THE FIELD FOR SPECIAL ARTICLES:

ORIGIN OF SPECIAL ARTICLES.

The rise of popular magazines and of magazine sections of daily newspapers during the last thirty years has resulted in a type of writing known as the "special feature article." Such articles, presenting interesting and timely subjects in popular form, are designed to attract a class of readers that were not reached by the older literary periodicals.

Editors of newspapers and magazines a generation ago began to realize that there was no lack of interest on the part of the general public in scientific discoveries and inventions, in significant political and social movements, in important persons and events.

Magazine articles on these themes, however, had usually been written by specialists who, as a rule, did not attempt to appeal to the "man in the street," but were satisfied to reach a limited circle of well-educated readers.

To create a larger magazine-reading public, editors undertook to develop a popular form and style that would furnish information as attractively as possible. The perennial appeal of fiction gave them a suggestion for the popularization of facts. The methods of the short story, of the drama, and even of the melodrama, applied to the presentation of general information, provided a means for catching the attention of the casual reader.

Daily newspapers had already discovered the advantage of giving the day's news in a form that could be read rapidly with the maximum degree of interest by the average man and woman. Certain so-called sensational papers had gone a step further in these attempts to give added attractiveness to news and had emphasized its melodramatic aspects.

Other papers had seen the value of the "human interest" phases of the day's happenings. It was not surprising, therefore, that Sunday editors of newspapers should undertake to apply to special articles the same methods that had proved successful in the treatment of news.

The product of these efforts at popularization was the special feature article, with its story-like form, its touches of description, its "human interest," its dramatic situations, its character portrayal--all effectively used to furnish information and entertainment for that rapid reader, the "average American."

DEFINITION OF A SPECIAL ARTICLE.

A special feature article may be defined as a detailed presentation of facts in an interesting form adapted to rapid reading, for the purpose of entertaining or informing the average person. It usually deals with (1) recent news that is of sufficient importance to warrant elaboration; (2) timely or seasonal topics not directly connected with news; or (3) subjects of general interest that have no immediate connection with current events.

Although frequently concerned with news, the special feature article is more than a mere news story. It aims to supplement the bare facts of the news report by giving more detailed information regarding the persons, places, and circumstances that appear in the news columns.

News must be published as fast as it develops, with only enough explanatory material to make it intelligible. The special article, written with the perspective afforded by an interval of a few days or weeks, fills in the bare outlines of the hurried news sketch with the life and color that make the picture complete.

The special feature article must not be confused with the type of news story called the "feature," or "human interest," story. The latter undertakes to present minor incidents of the day's news in an entertaining form. Like the important news story, it is published immediately after the incident occurs.

Its purpose is to appeal to newspaper readers by bringing out the humorous and pathetic phases of events that have little real news value. It exemplifies, therefore, merely one distinctive form of news report.

The special feature article differs from the older type of magazine article, not so much in subject as in form and style. The most marked difference lies in the fact that it supplements the recognized methods of literary and scientific exposition with the more striking devices of narrative, descriptive, and dramatic writing.

SCOPE OF FEATURE ARTICLES.

The range of subjects for special articles is as wide as human knowledge and experience. Any theme is suitable that can be made interesting to a considerable number of persons. A given topic may make either a local or a general appeal.

If interest in it is likely to be limited to persons in the immediate vicinity of the place with which the subject is connected, the article is best adapted to publication in a local newspaper. If the theme is one that appeals to a larger public, the article is adapted to a periodical of general circulation. Often local material has interest for persons in many other communities, and hence is suitable either for newspapers or for magazines.

Some subjects have a peculiar appeal to persons engaged in a particular occupation or devoted to a particular avocation or amusement. Special articles on these subjects of limited appeal are adapted to agricultural, trade, or other class publications, particularly to such of these periodicals as present their material in a popular rather than a technical manner.

THE NEWSPAPER FIELD.

Because of their number and their local character, daily newspapers afford a ready medium for the publication of special articles, or "special feature stories," as they are generally called in newspaper offices.

Some newspapers publish these articles from day to day on the editorial page or in other parts of the paper. Many more papers have magazine sections on Saturday or Sunday made up largely of such "stories." Some of these special sections closely resemble regular magazines in form, cover, and general make-up.

The articles published in newspapers come from three sources: (1) syndicates that furnish a number of newspapers in different cities with special articles, illustrations, and other matter, for simultaneous publication; (2) members of the newspaper's staff; that is, reporters, correspondents, editors, or special writers employed for the purpose; (3) so-called "free-lance" writers, professional or amateur, who submit their "stories" to the editor of the magazine section.

Reporters, correspondents, and other regular members of the staff may be assigned to write special feature stories, or may prepare such stories on their own initiative for submission to the editor of the magazine section.

In many offices regular members of the staff are paid for special feature stories in addition to their salaries, especially when the subjects are not assigned to them and when the stories are prepared in the writer's own leisure time.

Other papers expect their regular staff members to furnish the paper with whatever articles they may write, as a part of the work covered by their salary. If a paper has one or more special feature writers on its staff, it may pay them a fixed salary or may employ them "on space"; that is, pay them at a fixed "space rate" for the number of columns that an article fills when printed.

Newspaper correspondents, who are usually paid at space rates for news stories, may add to their monthly "string," or amount of space, by submitting special feature articles in addition to news. They may also submit articles to other papers that do not compete with their own paper. Ordinarily a newspaper expects a correspondent to give it the opportunity of printing any special feature stories that he may write.

Free-lance writers, who are not regularly employed by newspapers or magazines as staff members, submit articles for the editor's consideration and are paid at space rates. Sometimes a free lance will outline an article in a letter or in personal conference with an editor in order to get his approval before writing it, but, unless the editor knows the writer's work, he is not likely to promise to accept the completed article.

To the writer there is an obvious advantage in knowing that the subject as he outlines it is or is not an acceptable one. If an editor likes the work of a free lance, he may suggest subjects for articles, or may even ask him to prepare an article on a given subject. Freelance writers, by selling their work at space rates, can often make more money than they would receive as regular members of a newspaper staff.

For the amateur the newspaper offers an excellent field. First, in every city of any size there is at least one daily newspaper, and almost all these papers publish special feature stories. Second, feature articles on local topics, the material for which is right at the amateur's hand, are sought by most newspapers. Third, newspaper editors are generally less critical of form and style than are magazine editors. With some practice an inexperienced writer may acquire sufficient skill to prepare an acceptable special feature story for publication in a local paper, and even if he is paid little or nothing for it, he will gain experience from seeing his work in print.

The space rate paid for feature articles is usually proportionate to the size of the city in which the newspaper is published. In general the column rate for special feature stories is the same as that paid for news stories.

WHAT NEWSPAPERS WANT.

Since timeliness is the keynote of the newspaper, current topics, either growing out of the news of the week or anticipating coming events, furnish the subjects for most special feature stories. The news columns from day to day provide room for only concise announcements of such news as a scientific discovery, an invention, the death of an interesting person, a report on social or industrial conditions, proposed legislation, the razing of a landmark, or the dedication of a new building. Such news often arouses the reader's curiosity to know more of the persons, places, and circumstances mentioned. In an effort to satisfy this curiosity, editors of magazine sections print special feature stories based on news.

By anticipating approaching events, an editor is able to supply articles that are timely for a particular issue of his paper. Two classes of subjects that he usually looks forward to in this way are: first, those concerned with local, state, and national anniversaries; and second, those growing out of seasonal occasions, such as holidays, vacations, the opening of schools and colleges, moving days, commencements, the opening of hunting and fishing seasons.

The general policy of a newspaper with regard to special feature stories is the same as its policy concerning news. Both are determined by the character of its circulation. A paper that is read largely by business and professional men provides news and special articles that satisfy such readers.

A paper that aims to reach the so-called masses naturally selects news and features that will appeal to them. If a newspaper has a considerable circulation outside the city where it is published, the editors, in framing their policy, cannot afford to overlook their suburban and rural readers. The character of its readers, in a word, determines the character of a paper's special feature stories.

The newspaper is primarily local in character. A city, a state, or at most a comparatively small section of the whole country, is its particular field. Besides the news of its locality, it must, of course, give significant news of the world at large. So, too, in addition to local feature articles, it should furnish special feature stories of a broader scope. This distinctively local character of newspapers differentiates them from magazines of national circulation in the matter of acceptable subjects for special articles.

The frequency of publication of newspapers, as well as their ephemeral character, leads, in many instances, to the choice of comparatively trivial topics for some articles. Merely to give readers entertaining matter with which to occupy their leisure at the end of a day's work or on Sunday, some papers print special feature stories on topics of little or no importance, often written in a light vein.

Articles with no more serious purpose than that of helping readers to while away a few spare moments are obviously better adapted to newspapers, which are read rapidly and immediately cast aside, than to periodicals.

The sensationalism that characterizes the policy of some newspapers affects alike their news columns and their magazine sections. Gossip, scandal, and crime lend themselves to melodramatic treatment as readily in special feature articles as in news stories. On the other hand, the relatively few magazines that undertake to attract readers by sensationalism, usually do so by means of short stories and serials rather than by special articles.

All newspapers, in short, use special feature stories on local topics, some papers print trivial ones, and others "play up" sensational material; whereas practically no magazine publishes articles of these types.

SUNDAY MAGAZINE SECTIONS.

The real function of the Sunday Magazine, to my thinking, is to present the color and romance of the news, the most authoritative opinions on the issues and events of the day, and to chronicle promptly the developments of science as applied to daily life. In the grind of human intercourse all manner of curious, heroic, delightful things turn up, and for the most part, are dismissed in a passing note.

Behind every such episode are human beings and a story, and these, if fairly and artfully explained, are the very stuff of romance. Into every great city people are drifting daily from the strange and remote places of the world where they have survived perilous hazards and seen rare spectacles.

Such adventures are the treasure troves of the skilful reporter. The cross currents and reactions that lead up to any explosion of greed or passion that we call crime are often worth following, not only for their plots, but as proofs of the pain and terror of transgression. Brave deeds or heroic resistances are all too seldom presented in full length in the news, and generously portrayed prove the nobility inherent in every-day life.

The broad domain of the Sunday magazine editor covers all that may be rare and curious or novel in the arts and sciences, in music and verse, in religion and the occult, on the stage and in sport. Achievements and controversies are ever culminating in these diverse fields, and the men and women actors therein make admirable subjects for his pages. Provided the editor has at his disposal skilled writers who have the fine arts of vivid and simple exposition and of the brief personal sketch, there is nothing of human interest that may not be presented.

The Sunday magazine of the newspaper bids fair to be a crisp, sensible review and critique of the live world. It has developed a special line of writers who have learned that a character sketch and interview of a person makes you "see" the person face to face and talk with him or her yourself. If he or she has done anything that gives him or her a place in the news of to-day, the person is presented to you. You know the person.

It seems to me that the leading feature of the Sunday magazine should be the biggest topic that will be before the public on the Sunday that the newspaper is printed. It should be written by one who thoroughly knows his subject, who is forceful in style and fluent in words, who can make a picture that his readers can see, and seeing, realize. So every other feature of the Sunday magazine should have points of human interest, either by contact with the news of the day or with men and women who are doing something besides getting divorces and creating scandals.

I firmly believe that the coming Sunday magazine will contain articles of information without being dull or encyclopaedic, articles of adventure that are real and timely, articles of scientific discoveries that are authentic, interviews with men and women who have messages, and interpretations of news and analysis of every-day themes, together with sketches, poems, and essays that are not tedious, but have a reason for being printed.

THE MAGAZINE FIELD.

The great majority of magazines differ from all newspapers in one important respect--extent of circulation. Popular magazines have a nation-wide distribution. It is only among agricultural and trade journals that we find a distinctly sectional circulation.

Some of these publications serve subscribers in only one state or section, and others issue separate state or sectional editions. The best basis of differentiation among magazines, then, is not the extent of circulation but the class of readers appealed to, regardless of the part of the country in which the readers live. The popular general magazine, monthly or weekly, aims to attract readers of all classes in all parts of the United States.

HOW MAGAZINES GET MATERIAL.

Magazine articles come from (1) regular members of the magazine's staff, (2) professional or amateur free-lance writers, (3) specialists who write as an avocation, and (4) readers of the periodical who send in material based on their own experience.

The so-called "staff system" of magazine editing, in accordance with which practically all the articles are prepared by writers regularly employed by the publication, has been adopted by a few general magazines and by a number of class periodicals. The staff is recruited from writers and editors on newspapers and other magazines. Its members often perform various editorial duties in addition to writing articles. Publications edited in this way buy few if any articles from outsiders.

Magazines that do not follow the staff system depend largely or entirely on contributors. Every editor daily receives many manuscripts submitted by writers on their own initiative. From these he selects the material best adapted to his publication. Experienced writers often submit an outline of an article to a magazine editor for his approval before preparing the material for publication. Free-lance writers of reputation may be asked by magazine editors to prepare articles on given subjects.

In addition to material obtained in these ways, articles may be secured from specialists who write as an avocation. An editor generally decides on the subject that he thinks will interest his readers at a given time and then selects the authority best fitted to treat it in a popular way. To induce well-known men and women to prepare such articles, an editor generally offers them more than he normally pays.

A periodical may encourage its readers to send in short articles giving their own experiences and explaining how to do something in which they have become skilled. These personal experience articles have a reality and "human interest" that make them eminently readable.

To obtain them magazines sometimes offer prizes for the best, reserving the privilege of publishing acceptable articles that do not win an award. Aspiring writers should take advantage of these prize contests as a possible means of getting both publication and money for their work.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNKNOWN WRITERS.

The belief is common among novices that because they are unknown their work is likely to receive little or no consideration from editors. As a matter of fact, in the majority of newspaper and magazine offices all unsolicited manuscripts are considered strictly on their merits. The unknown writer has as good a chance as anybody of having his manuscript accepted, provided that his work has merit comparable with that of more experienced writers.

With the exception of certain newspapers that depend entirely on syndicates for their special features, and of a few popular magazines that have the staff system or that desire only the work of well-known writers, every publication welcomes special articles and short stories by novices.

Moreover, editors take pride in the fact that from time to time they "discover" writers whose work later proves popular. They not infrequently tell how they accepted a short story, an article, or some verse by an author of whom they had never before heard, because they were impressed with the quality of it, and how the verdict of their readers confirmed their own judgement.

The relatively small number of amateurs who undertake special articles, compared with the hundreds of thousands who try their hand at short stories, makes the opportunities for special feature writers all the greater. Then, too, the number of professional writers of special articles is comparatively small. This is particularly true of writers who are able effectively to popularize scientific and technical material, as well as of those who can present in popular form the results of social and economic investigations.

It is not too much to say, therefore, that any writer who is willing (1) to study the interests and the needs of newspaper and magazine readers, (2) to gather carefully the material for his or her articles, and (3) to present it accurately and attractively, may be sure that his or her work will receive the fullest consideration in almost every newspaper and magazine office in the country, and will be accepted whenever it is found to merit publishing.

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

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Emergency Preparation

How to take care of your family when disaster strikes

Why Be Prepared?

Disasters are a very real occurrence that can happen anywhere in the world at anytime.

Experiencing a disaster is traumatic enough, having the extra disadvantage of being unprepared for such an event will ultimately result in more unnecessary stress in an already stressful situation.

There are many benefits in being prepared for an emergency situation.

Being prepared will aid in reducing the amount of fear, stress and anxiety that generally occurs during a situation. By being prepared and familiarizing yourself with procedures carried out during these situations you will ensure these feelings are minimized.

Increased amounts of stress and anxiety may result in a person being unable to respond correctly or effectively during a situation. If you cannot think and act appropriately, it is unlikely that your will be able to effectively take care of yourself and your family. By being prepared with the correct equipment, and by familiarizing yourself with characteristics, requirements and procedures during relevant forms of emergency situations, you will increase your chances of being able to react appropriately to such situations.

By being prepared and knowing ahead of time what may occur in certain situations, you may also successfully minimize the impact of a situation. For example, if you familiarize yourself with the characteristics of a cyclone, in the event that you find yourself in such a situation you will be able to secure objects and seek shelter, thus you will be able to successfully minimize the amount of damage incurred by the cyclone.

How Can I Be Prepared?

There are many ways in which to effectively plan for an emergency situation in order to ensure you are well prepared for the event. Maximizing your level of organization will ultimately result in effectively responding to an emergency situation and will hopefully aid in decreasing the damage caused by a disaster.

To be prepared, you must firstly be aware of disasters that may occur in the state or country you reside in. Know danger and warning signs and be familiar with local procedures in the event of an emergency.

Being familiar with the types of disasters that may occur in your area will ensure sufficient knowledge with which to plan emergency procedures for the disasters relevant to you. It will also aid you in preparing a disaster supplies kit.

There are a few factors that may prove beneficial to know before disaster strikes.

Start by researching some of the disasters that may be relevant to the area in which you are living. You may find a significant amount of information online or alternatively you could contact the relevant weather bureau and ask if they could send you out appropriate information. Talk with neighbors and friends to obtain their opinion.

Once you have gained sufficient knowledge on any relevant disasters you may begin planning procedures for yourself and you family to follow. The following will provide you with some ideas on factors you should take into consideration when planning for a disaster:

1) Escape Routes: Trace your house or draw a floor plan in order to determine appropriate points of exit for different situations. Aim for two exits from each different room.

2) Where to Group: In the event of an emergency, each family member might find themselves exiting from a different room. To ensure everyone evacuates safely, designate an appropriate area for everyone to gather.

3) Communication: If disaster was to strike, ideally it would be during a time that the whole family is together; unfortunately this is not the case, so be prepared and organize a means of communication or designate a meeting place. Discuss how you will communicate in a variety of different situations.

4) Existing Procedures: Also know any emergency procedures that may be exist in your work place or in your children’s school. This may help you organize a means of contact or a designated meeting area.

5) Create a Disaster Supplies Kit: This will ensure you are fully prepared in the event of a disaster and will prevent you from having to search around and obtain relevant items in the midst of a disaster, when you might not be thinking effectively due to the resultant stress and anxiety. Refer to chapter three for further information on how to make and emergency supplies kit and what items you will require.

6) Know How to Turn Off the Water or Gas Supply to your Home: This might be useful in the event of an evacuation.

7) Designating ‘Shelter’ Rooms: We often hear about people having to take shelter when we hear about disasters. Taking shelter may refer to shelter in ones home or shelter outside a particular area. It is always beneficial to plan ahead of time and designate ‘safe’ rooms in the house for a variety of situations. It is also wise to plan external forms of shelter (such as staying with a relative or in a hotel, etc) in the event that you are required to leave you home.

8) Insurance: Ensure you purchase relevant insurance with which to provide a means of replacing your possessions if a disaster should cause damage to your home or contents. For insurance purposes, make an inventory of the possessions you own; writing a list and taking pictures or video are the most effective means of doing so. It may also be beneficial to purchase health and life insurance.

9) Storage of Important Documentation: Ensure all important documentation is stored in a safe place away from the home (e.g. in a safe deposit box). If you are going to store the contents in your home, look at purchasing a fire proof safe. Be sure to put any documents inside the safe into plastic baggies in the event of a flood.

10) Make Plans for Pets: If you have pets, it is advisable to make plans for their care in the event of a disaster. Ensure you have the necessary equipment and supplies for your pet such as food, water and an identification tag. It is also advisable to ensure your pets medical records are up to date (keep a copy of these if possible), and that your pet has undergone all relevant immunizations or vaccinations. For specific advice relating to the area you live in, contact your local animal shelter or emergency department.

Optional Planning:

11) Learn First Aid: In order to be fully prepared for any situation in which a disaster may occur, it is always a good idea to complete a first aid course.

Making A Disaster Supply Kit

Assembling a disaster supply kit is an effective way to ensure you are prepared and organized in the event of a disaster.

In the event that a disaster does occur, you may find you are required to survive without the help of everyday comforts such as electricity or running water. Preparing for such a circumstance ahead of time is imperative.

When assembling your disaster supply kit, start by packing the basics. The following is a list of appropriate items to be packed in a disaster supply kit:

1) Food and Water: In the event that you are unable to obtain food or water from external sources during a disaster, be prepared. Have enough food and water on hand to last each member of the family for at least three days. Depending on the type of disaster you are planning for, you may like to store enough food for up to two weeks.

The most reliable way of storing water in your disaster supply kit will be to purchase commercially bottled water, as this will provide a safe form of drinking water in the event of a disaster. Current recommendations for water intake stand at approximately two liters of water per day per person. Take this into account when preparing your disaster supply kit, to ensure you store enough water for all members of the family.

Whilst commercially bottled water is the safest way of storing water for an emergency, there are other methods that may be applied. You may choose to prepare your own bottles of water. If his is the case try to purchase appropriate containers from a camping supplies store and be sure to clean these thoroughly. If you will be selecting your own containers, aim for bottles that previously held water.

Do not use milk or juice containers as these contain protein and sugar residue that may result in the growth of harmful bacteria in your water stores. Again, be sure to clean the containers thoroughly. Once you have obtained and cleaned your containers, fill them with water and seal the lid tightly. To assure that the water remains pure, it is also a good idea to boil the water before filling your bottles.

When you are packing food supplies for the family, avoid foods high in salt (as these will make you thirsty and want to drink more). Ensure you select canned or dry foods that do not require refrigeration. If canned foods are included in your kit, ensure you pack a can opener! Even if you buy canned food with pull-top lids, what will you do if the tab breaks off?

If a member of your family has special food requirements, ensure you take this into account and include appropriate food for them.

2) Flashlights with Extra Batteries: Remember, in the event of a disaster you may be required to fend for yourself without the luxuries of everyday life, including electricity. Be prepared by having flashlights or some form of lighting device ready.

3) Portable, Battery Operated Television or Radio: Packing one of these items will enable you stay up-to date with the current situation and procedures being carried out. Ensure these items are battery powered so as not to rely on electricity.

4) First Aid Kit: A first aid kit is imperative in any disaster supply kit. Along with any minor injuries, in the event of something more extreme you may find yourself unable to make it to a hospital or that hospital services are ‘backed up’ if a disaster strikes.

Ensure you have packed a first aid kit to tide you over until you are able to attend a hospital.

5) Sanitary Items: These may include toilet paper, paper towels, baby wipes, toothbrushes, soap, and any other form of sanitary product you think may be required.

6) Kitchen/ Cooking Utensils: In the event of an evacuation you may require utensils with which to cook. Pack the basics, such as a saucepan, a frying pan and a few spoons etc.

Do not go overboard and pack the kitchen sink. Remember, you may be required to carry your disaster supply kit. If you have some sort of portable cooking device it may be worthwhile packing this as well.

Suitable cooking devices may include candle warmers, fondue sets (for indoor use) or camp stoves (for outdoor use). Along with the cooking items, pack a box of matches in a watertight container. These may be helpful in any situation.

7) Photocopies of all Identification: Pack these in case all originaldocumentation is lost.

8) Extra Clothes and Blankets: The climate in which you live will ultimately determine the type of clothing you pack. Pack sufficient clothing to last a few days. You will be grateful for doing so in the event of an evacuation.

9) Money: Be prepared and have some money on hand. In the event of an emergency, ATM machines or credit card facilities may no longer be available.

10) Relevant Medications: If you or anyone else in your family suffers form a medical condition, ensure you pack a sufficient amount of relevant medications or medical equipment, as it may not be possible to obtain these in the event of a disaster.

Ensure you regularly check the used by date of medications included in the disaster supplies kit.

The above list is a very basic guide to follow to ensure a well equipped disaster supplies kit. Every family is different and will have individual needs. Be sure to take these into account to personalize your disaster supplies kit. As your family grows and changes, remember to update the kit to allow it to cater for your families requirements.

Once you have developed a disaster supplies kit it is important to maintain it. Keep it stored and sealed in an environment in which food remains cool and dry, to maximize the life of the dried or canned foods. Remember to regularly check the items in your disaster supplies kit and dispose of any canned foods that are dented, and any foods that have exceed their 'use by date'. It is recommended that all food and water be replaced every six months. As you dispose of items, be sure to replenish them.

Dealing With An Evacuation

A common emergency procedure we frequently put into place is that of evacuation. In the event that an evacuation is necessary, knowing procedures and having a plan ahead of time will ensure you are prepared and able to remain calm and in control, able to handle the situation.

If an evacuation is necessary, you will be notified via one of the main forms of communication: television or radio. The amount of time you will have to leave your current location will depend on the severity of the disaster. In some cases this may be a day or two. In many cases, however, evacuation may be immediate, leaving no time with which to obtain adequate supplies. For this reason being prepared is imperative.

The following will aid in effectively handling an evacuation. Some of these may not be possible if time does not permit:

1) Keep the car filled with fuel if you are expecting an emergency. Gas stations may be closed in the event of an emergency. So ensuring you are prepared before hand is necessary. If you do not have a car ensure you make arrangements for transportation.

2) Follow all instructions provided by the relevant authorities.

3) If time permits, be sure to collect your disaster supplies kit. For information on creating a disaster supplies kit refer chapter three.

4) In the event of an evacuation, leave as early as possible to avoid delays due to weather, traffic congestion etc.

5) If you are being evacuated from home and have time to change, ensure you wear comfortable, strong shoes and protective clothing, such as long pants.

6) If you have the time before leaving your home, ensure you unplug electirical goods, secure loose objects outside and lock the house.

7) If you are driving, remain alert. Stick to main roads and do not take short cuts. Watch out for fallen power lines, stay away from these.

If, for some reason, you find yourself required to evacuate without sufficient time to plan or pack, the following quick checklist will aid in grabbing a few items that may be useful. Remember, only stop to collect these items if there is sufficient time, do not put your safety on the line to do so. If authorities have requested you leave your place of residence immediately, you must follow their instructions.

1) Pack your mobile phone, wallet and a list of appropriate contact numbers. It is wise to have these numbers written down in addition to being stored in your phone. In the event your phone dies, you will still have access to them.

2) Quickly pack some bottled water and ready to eat food.

3) Quickly pack a small bag with underwear, some extra clothes and toiletries. Ensure you pack any medication you require.

4) Grab the your car keys and home keys.

5) If time permits, pack a torch, battery operated radio, extra batteries and a first aid kit.

Despite only serving the basic needs, these items will make an evacuation much more bearable. To avoid being caught unprepared for an evacuation, it is always beneficial to have a pre-made disaster supplies kit. This will enable you to evacuate at the drop of a hat without having to gather necessary items.

Dealing With An Emergency - Shutting Off Your Utilities

In many situations involving an emergency, authorities may request you shut off the utilities servicing your home. This is generally for safety purposes. Being familiar with the processes involved in shutting off the utilities ensure you are effectively able to handle the situation in a calm and rational manner.

The utilities you will be required to shut off will be determined by the type of disaster:

1)  Shutting Off Gas: Gas is generally shut off to prevent the spread of fire following a disaster. There are different shut off methods for  different states and countries. To ensure you are familiar with the process of shutting off the gas for your home, contact your gas provider.

Share the procedure with all members of the family- it is important that everyone knows how to do this. In the event that you do have to turn the gas off, ensure you have a professional turn it back on.

2) Water: In the event of a disaster, it is possible that a cracked pipe in the water mains could contaminate the water leading to your home. For this reason it is sometimes necessary to shut off the water leading to your home.

To effectively shut off the water supply to your home, locate you’re the main house valve for your water supply (it may be useful to know this ahead of time, to avoid having to look for it in an emergency situation) and simply turn it to shut. Ensure the valve is completely shut. You may turn the water back on once authorities have agreed it is safe to do so.

As water valves have a tendency to rust, ensure you regularly check your and replace it if necessary. This will make opening and closing the valve easier in an emergency situation.

3) Electricity: You may be requested to shut of your electricity if there is concern that gas is leaking. Electrical sparks have the potential to ignite gas, thus causing an explosion.

To shut off the electricity to your home, locate your circuit box (it may be useful to know the location of your circuit box ahead of time, this will save time and confusion in the event of a disaster). Shut off each individual circuit in the circuit box, finally, shut off the main circuit breaker.

Teach all responsible members of your family how to shut off the electricity.

Managing During A Disaster

During a disaster things may become very chaotic and confusing. The following information is provided to try and ease the confusion you may experience during this time.

Taking Shelter: Prior to a disaster taking place, you should have discussed designated shelter rooms in which to remain safe during a disaster. Shelter rooms will vary depending on the type of disaster.

If you are required to leave your home and have not made alternative arrangements for shelter, mass shelters are generally available to the public. Mass shelters require you to live with a large number of people within a designated space. Unfortunately his is not the most pleasant experience; however it will provide you with a degree of safety and a roof over your head. Mass shelters provide food, water and sanitary requirements, however it is still beneficial for you to take your disaster supplies kit with you, particularly if a member of your family has special requirements. For hygiene purposes, pets are not allowed in community shelters.

Managing Water: Despite often seeing it in television, it is important to remember that water should not be rationed (unless specified by authorities). Allow each family member to drink according to their needs. If you are prepared and have assembled a disaster supplies kit, you should have done so taking water requirements into account. Water requirements per person per day are approximately two liters.

To minimize water requirements and thus make the best use of your stored water, try to remain inside and cool, and avoid participating in strenuous activities. If you are fortunate enough to have packed bottled water, ensure you drink this to avoid the risk of contamination.

If you do not have sealed bottled water, the following sources may be used to obtain water:

- Melted ice cubes

- Water drained from a heater

- Juice from canned or tinned fruit

- Water drained from water pipes (ensure you have shut the water off at the main valve before draining from pipes)

When draining water from pipes, treat it with suspicion. If the water appears cloudy, or if you have any doubts about drinking it, it may be best to treat the water before drinking it. Treatment methods are as follows:

1) Boiling: The high temperature provided by boiling water will eliminate any micro organisms. Boiling is a safe and convenient means of treating water. Boil the water for one minute and allow it to cook before drinking. Passing the water back and forth between two containers will improve the taste.

2) Distillation: This method will not only eliminate micro organisms from water, it will also effectively remove any other chemicals. This method involves boiling water and collecting the resultant vapors. To distill water, boil the water in a pot that has a matching lid with a handle. Tie a cup to this handle in a way that the cup hangs the right way up when the pot lid is upside down. Place the lid upside down on the pot while the water is boiling, ensuring that the cup does not touch the water. Boil for twenty minutes. When you remove the pot lid (be careful not to drop the cup), distilled water will have accumulated in the cup.

3) Chlorination: This technique may be used in the event that you do not have the means to boil water. Adding simple household bleach will aid in the chlorinating process. The only bleach that may be used is bleach containing 5.25 to 6 percent sodium hypochlorite that is not scented, color safe or combined with a cleaning agent.

Add 1/8 of a teaspoon of bleach for every 3.7 litters of water. Allow this to sit for fifteen minutes. The mixture should smell lightly of chlorine; if it does not repeat the process. Discard the water if it does not give off a chlorine smell after the second does of  bleach.

Managing Food: When managing your food supply in a disaster, it is important to remember that rules for food hygiene and safety still. Before handling or preparing food, ensure you wash your hands. Ensure food is kept in covered containers (discard any food that has been left out at room temperature or has been left unsealed), and that all utensils are kept clean. Any garbage should be disposed of outside in a sealed bag.

Disasters That May Occur And How To Deal With Them

There are many different types of disasters that may occur. Whilst a disaster can happen anywhere, some areas are more prone to a particular type of disaster than others. This chapter provides a list of the more common disasters that happen in most places and how you can effectively deal with them.

Floods: Characterized by increasingly rising water levels, generally do to heavy storm activity. Floods can happen just about anywhere in the world. If you feel a flood is likely to occur where you are living, ensure you stay up to date on the current situation by monitoring news reports on the television or radio.

If you must venture out in the midst of a severe storm, be aware that flash flood may occur. Flash floods are characterized by large amounts of water that appear almost instantaneously (i.e. an instant flood with no warning). If a flash flood occurs move to high ground immediately.

If a flood becomes excessive, you may be required to evacuate your home. If you have the time, try to bring in and outdoor furniture or possessions, and place furniture in the highest possible point in the house (ideally this would be upstairs in a two story house).

Unplug all electrical equipment from the wall and shut off the electricity to your house if possible.

If you are walking through a flood, ensure you do not walk through any flowing water, regardless of how shallow it is.

If you are driving, do not drive into or through flooded areas, if you find that floods waters begin to rise around your car abandon the car and make your way to higher ground.

Areas in which flood waters are rising are extremely dangerous. There are many instances in which people have been swept away and consequently drowned.

If you happen to see a person in danger of being swept away, help to the best of your ability without jeopardizing your own safety. Try to help them out of the water by holding out a long rod or stick.

Should you pull a person out of flood waters, the following first aid procedure may just help in saving their life.

- Lay the person on their back and apply pressure to the stomach in order to force any water out. Alternatively the person may lie on their stomach and pressure could be applied to the back.

- If a person is unconscious, mouth to mouth resuscitation may be necessary.

- Warm the person up by any means necessary, whether this involves a blanket or sharing body heat.

- Alert emergency services.

Hurricanes: A hurricane is an extreme type of storm or cyclone that generally forms in the tropics. Hurricanes are accompanied by intense, windy storms, and often results in the production of tornadoes, storm surges (similar to a tidal wave- a storm surge is a dome of water that is force onto the shore as a result of intense winds) and generally result in heavy damage due to extensive rainfall and consequent floods.

If the area in which you live is experiencing a hurricane, ensure you listen for up to the minute updates, provided on the television or radio.

Due to the intense winds generated by a hurricane, it would be advisable to tie down any loose objects outside, or to store them indoors until the wind subsides.

In some cases, a hurricane may become so extreme that authorities will request you evacuate your home. If this is the case, ensure you follow all instructions.

If you find yourself unable to evacuate your home for one reason or another, ensure you remain indoors at all times and away from any windows or doors. Close all internal doors, and find a means of bracing all external doors. Depending on the severity of the hurricane, you may have to shelter in a small internal room or closet on the lowest level of a house. If you are in a room, lie flat on the floor and take shelter under a sturdy object- such as a table.

Thunderstorms: Thunderstorms are a common occurrence, and for this reason people often forget that they have the potential to be extremely dangerous.

Every thunderstorm produces lightning and has the possibility to generate tornadoes, extreme winds, rain and consequent flooding.

In the event that a thunderstorm occurs in the area you live in, remain indoors and refrain from going outside. If you are unable to enter a building of some sort, wait the storm out by sitting in a vehicle.

If you receive warning that a storm is coming, make an attempt to secure any loose items outside, or store them inside until the storm has subsided. The generation of high winds can often cause displacement of outdoor items, causing damage to surrounding structures.

Avoid showering during a storm, as plumbing fixtures can conduct electricity. Though the chances of them being hit my lightning is minimal, it is not a risk you should be taking.

If your home phone has a cord, only use this in an emergency, as this may also conduct electricity. Cordless and mobile phones are safe to use as they do not conduct electricity.

If lightning strikes a house, the resultant power surge can often cause serious damage to any electrical appliances still plugged in to their sockets. To prevent this from happening, it is always a good idea to unplug electric appliances during a storm.

Earthquakes: Earthquakes are characterized by a series of vibrations of the ground that can often lead to serious damage of surrounding buildings.

If you find yourself in the midst of an earthquake:

If you are indoors - Take cover under a strong piece of furniture or crouch in a corner and cover your face and head with your arms.

Ensure you stay away from all doors and windows and anything that could possible fall. Remain inside until all shaking has subsided.

If you are outdoors - move away from any buildings or structures likely to fall.

Once vibrations have subsided, be aware that further vibration or shockwaves may occur. Though these further vibrations are generally not as severe as the initial vibrations, they may serve to further weaken structures already affected by the earthquake. Ensure you stay well clear of such damaged areas.

If you are living in a coastal area, earthquakes can result in the formation of a tsunami (also known as a tidal wave). If a tsunami is likely to occur, move inland immediately to higher ground.

After a tsunami has subsided, stay away from flooded areas until authorities have  declared it is safe to return.

Fire: Whether this disaster is an individualized event or on a large scale, fire escalates quickly and is extremely dangerous. The heat and smoke resulting form fire is also extremely dangerous.

There are some precautions that may be taken to protect you from falling victim to a fire in your home. These include installing smoke alarms on each level of your residence and regularly checking these alarms to ensure they are working correctly. Ensure smoke alarms are replaced every ten years.

To aid in evacuation procedures during a fire, ensure windows and doors are not nailed shut and that there are appropriate fire ladders if you live in a multi story building.

If a fire were to occur in your home, it is important to have a predetermined escape route from each room in the family home. Remain low to the ground during your evacuation, to minimize inhalation of smoke and other toxic gases caused by the fire. Before opening any doors, check for heat by using the back of your hand to feel the top of the door.

If the door is hot, do not open it; find another means of exiting the building. If the door is not hot, open it carefully and ensure the escape route is clear before exiting the room. If the escape route is clear, exit the room and close the door behind you.

If your clothes happen to catch fire during your evacuation, drop to the ground in order to extinguish the fire. Do not run as this will accelerate the burning. Ensure all family members are familiar with the 'stop, drop and roll' method.

If you or a family member becomes burned, the following first aid tips may be helpful:

For minor burns or burns no larger than two to three inches in diameter:

- Cool the burn as soon as possible by rinsing in cold water or applying a cold pack.

- Cover the burn with gauze.

For major burns or large burns:

- Seek medical treatment immediately.

- Do not attempt to remove clothing or to put burns under water. Instead, cover the burns with a cool, moist bandage.

- If the individual has stopped breathing, begin resuscitation.

Other Things You Can Do

Have your family take a first aid course from your local Red Cross and take refresher courses every few years.

Make sure your family knows how to swim. Have life jackets on hand in case of floods.

Have a wheeled cart, waggon or wheel-barrow on hand to carry you supplies in case of evacuation on foot is necessary.

If you have pets, make sure you have pet carriers. This will help to keep them from getting lost or injured during an emergency.

...And finally, remember almost everyone who has ever been in an emergency situation thought it would never happen to them. So Plan Ahead and Be Prepared Ahead of Time!

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/emergencypreparation.zip

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NEVER PAY FOR A PLUMBER AGAIN

THE DOs & DON'Ts OF HOME PLUMBING

DO - Run very hot water  into your kitchen sink drain either by boiling water on stove or from your faucet, then fill one side of your sink and plunge.

DO - When plunging your sink, plug up one side with a cloth and hold.

DO - When using your garbage disposal, run hot and cold water at full pressure.

DO - Fill up sink after using your disposal and drain.

DO - If you have a dishwasher,  use after using your garbage disposal.

DO - Remove the aerator on your kitchen faucet when pressure is slow and clean, unscrew by hand or use channel pliers.

DO - Remove the screws from your kitchen wash bowl and bath tub faucet, and put a few drops of household oil in each screw hole or under handle if removable.

DO - At least twice a year clean out the inside of your toilet tank. When cleaning tank, turn off the water, flush toilet once, add small amount of cleaning detergent inside tank to water remaining, use a cloth or brush to clean.

DO - Clean out holes under toilet seat and rim of the bowl - can use small end of a pocket knife.

DO - Clean out 3/4" hole in the bottom of toilet bowl.

DO - Replace rubber tank ball at this time if needed.

DO - Adjust water level in toilet tank, 1" below top of 3/4" overflow pipe. To adjust type with 1/4" rod and metal or plastic float ball, put both hands on rod and bend end of rod towards float ball down, this lowers water level. To raise water level, bend rod up .

DO - When plunging your bathroom sink or bath tub use a cloth and plug up the overflow and hold tight. It's a good idea to plunge your drains before they stop up.

DO - Remove the stoppers and clean down pipe where stopper connects.

DO - When finished plunging, fill wash bowl until it runs into overflow. If you have a small type spring brush, use to clean overflow.

DO - Spray disinfectant cleaner into overflow.

DO - If bath tub is slow draining and has the lever at overflow for stopper, remove bolts, and pull wire, lift lever out and clean hair from wire.

DO - Oil parts in toilet tank that are above the water level, handle and ballcock valve.

DO - If you have trouble with tree roots in your sanitary sewer, purchase some copper sulphate in blue chunk form, put a sizable amount on your basement floor drain strainer, let cold water run over it until it dissolves.

DON'T - Put coffee grounds in your sink drains.

DON'T - Use drain cleaners containing lye.

DON'T - Poke any wire or rod from your sink into drain.

DON'T - Have a shelf above your china sinks with heavy objects that could fall into sink. Will crack china sink or chip cast iron type.

DON'T - Use your toilet tank lid for a shelf.

DON'T - Have a knick-knack shelf above your toilet.

DON'T - Pour a bucket of dirty water into your toilet; may contain scrub rag.

DON'T - Pour hot water into toilet; temperature change will crack the bowl.

DON'T - Put any type cleaning device into your toilet tank. - DO - Just clean by hand.

DON'T - Hang wire type odor tablet in toilet bowl.

DON'T - Put a brick in your toilet tank to save water. - DO - Adjust water level.

DON'T - Use the toilet bowl for a scrub tub.

DON'T - Leave diapers soaking in bowl.

DON'T - Throw disposable diapers in toilet.

DON'T - Keep your waste basket in kitchen and bathroom under the sink.  Keeps bumping pipes and causing leaks.

DON'T - Throw sanitary napkins into toilet; burn them.

DON'T - When painting around the house, paint any of your copper water lines.

DON'T - Forget at least twice a year to put a garden hose on the boiler drain at the bottom of your hot water tank and run until the water clears up.  Spray this valve with a little oil also. I use WD-40.

DON'T - Forget to check your flu pipe from your hot water tank to the chimney for leakage of fumes.

DON'T - Leave your water valves rust shut. Put some oil on the stem and open and close them a few times. If it leaks at the stem use a crescent wrench and tighten bonnet nut at the handle. Spray a little oil on the whole valve. Keeps from rusting.

Here are some of the things I have removed from toilets in years of home plumbing calls:

                                                                        Small bottles                        yo-yo ' s

                                                                       tooth brushes                        toys of all kinds

                                                                       wire odor tablets                cigarette lighters

                                                                       golf balls                                lids and caps

                                                                       car keys                                hair curlers

                                                                       false teeth                                cream jars

                                                                       wallets                                combs

                                                                       knick-knacks                        pens and pencils

DO - Keep these items away from the toilet.

DON'T - Let the children play in the bathroom with toys small enough to go down your toilet trap.

DO - Get in the habit of putting the back of the toilet seat down before flushing.

But if you haven't put into affect my DO's and DON'Ts, and you flush the toilet and the water in the bowl starts coming up and not down, quickly remove the tank lid, reach into the middle bottom of tank and push the rubber ball or flapper back down over the outlet. Then shut off the water supply.

Now if you are sure you haven't let something like the above listed objects fall into the toilet, you can usually use a plunger to open the toilet. But if you are missing something from the toilet area that could be in the bowl, you will have to use a toilet auger to try and retrieve the object. If you can't remove it with the auger, the toilet will have to be lifted.

Water Leaks

If you have a water leak from below your bathroom directly below your bath tub shower, and it only leaks when you take a shower, here's what to look for:

DO - Check the entire tile wall on the inside area of the bath tub for cracks, etc. To repair, use a tube of tub & tile caulking seal.

DO - Check the wall, especially around the handles and the spout of the faucet, seal all openings with caulking.

DO - Check the inside edge of the shower door track.

If the water leak is below the toilet, first check the water pipe where tank and bowl are connected together. If there is no sign of water on the floor around the pipe, chances are your toilet needs to be lifted and a new wax ring installed (refer to toilet installation).

When Away

DO - If you go on vacation or are away from home for a few days, always shut off your water supply to your home.

DO - Keep heat on where water pipes and drain pipes are located in your home, when temperature is 32 degrees or colder.

DO - If you can't put heat in an area where water pipes are, use an electric heat tape.

DO - If your kitchen sink is located on an outside wall, leave cupboard doors open in severe cold weather.

DO - Shut off all outside faucets in cold weather if they are not of the frost proof type.

DO - If you are closing up a home in the wintertime and there will be no heat in the home, shut off the water supply at the street or in the basement.

DO - Open all faucets in the home and leave them open.

DO - Open drain at bottom of hot water tank and drain.

DO - Remove all water from toilet tank and bowl.

DO - Put permanent Anti-freeze in toilet bowl and a small amount in the bottom of the toilet tank.

DO - Put anti-freeze in all sink drains and bath and shower drains, enough to fill the traps.

DO - If you wish, remove traps on sinks, but be sure and plug up open line, to keep out sewer gas fumes.

HOW TO INSTALL A NEW TOILET

If your toilet is old and in need of repairs, it is really cheaper to install a new one.  This is the easiest of all the plumbing jobs in the home to do and if you follow my simple instructions you can put yours in yourself.

1.  Shut off the water to the toilet, use a bucket and a cloth or a sponge to remove the water left in tank and bowl after you flush the toilet.

2.  Using a pair of channel pliers, or a small pipe wrench (8"), remove the nut where the water line fastens to the ballcock valve under the left side of the bottom of the tank. Next use a small crescent wrench, remove the two 1/4" nuts holding the bowl to the floor flange. Remove old toilet. Remove the water line from the valve or fitting at floor or wall.

3.  Now you are ready to install your new toilet.  Put the two 1/4" bolts in the side holes of the flange with the bolt head in the flange. Put some of the old wax at this spot to hold the bolts straight up and across from each other. Put new wax ring on flange, flat side up if tapered.

4.  Set new bowl only straight down so it centers on wax ring and both bolts come through holds on each side of bowl. Sit on bowl facing wall until your weight puts bowl flush with the floor. Put metal washers and nuts on bolts and tighten until snug. Do not over-tighten as you can crack the bowl. Tighten these again after toilet is completely installed and filled with water.

5.  Next put 2" rubber gasket on tank where it sets on the bowl, put rubber washers on bolts provided under the bolt head so they will be on the inside of the tank. Pick up tank and set on bowl over holes in bowl where bolts go through. Sit on bowl facing wall.

6. Put bolts on from the inside of the tank into holes in bowl, put on metal washers and nuts and tighten. Hold tank level and tighten so it brings tank down level. Use a large screw driver inside tank and a crescent wrench or end wrench to back up nut under bowl.

7. Tighten with screw driver. Hook water supply to tank, turn on water, check for leaks, snug up the bolts holding bowl to floor. If there is a space between the back of the tank and the wall, put a spacer of sort there to brace tank. A piece of wood or hard rubber works fine.

PARTS NEEDED:

Toilet bowl

Toilet tank

Toilet seat

Two 1/4" bolts for bowl to flange

Wax ring

20" water supply with fitting at valve or floor connection

Now DO put my DOs and DON'Ts into use, and you new toilet will never need a plumber!

CONSERVATION BEGINS AT HOME

I believe if we tried we could cut our water use in half. There are many more ways other than the ones I have in my report. Have an idea of your own ? write it down. Sometimes some things we don't think are worthwhile are great ideas.

Like the young man who went into one of the larger toothpaste companies and told the president of the company if he paid him a sizable amount of money, he would give him his idea on how he could double his toothpaste business.

The company president  agreed, and the young man said, okay here's what you do, make the hole in all of your toothpaste tubes twice the size it is now, this will double the use of your toothpaste, and double your sales.

HERE ARE SOME OF MY IDEAS

The first thing to do is to check your entire plumbing system for leaks - leaking faucets, water pipes, etc. If you don't think a leaking faucet will waste water, put the stopper in a sink where one is leaking overnight.

The toilet is the worst water waster of all. Flush the toilet and wait until it supposedly shuts off, then listen at the tank for a hissing or trickling sound, if you hear a noise here's what to do, check the rubber tank ball or flapper in the middle of the toilet tank at the bottom.

If the ball is old and has lost its shape, replace it. Also using a fine steel wool pad, clean off the seat under the ball till it is smooth. If the noise is from the ballcock valve on the left side of the tank and is the type with the quarter inch rod with a metal or plastic float ball, lift up on the rod, if the noise stops, then starts again after you let go, chances are your ballcock valve is bad and needs replaced.

If when you are holding the quarter inch rod up and the water leaks out of the tank, and you have already replaced the rubber  ball or the flapper, check the lift wire or the chain from the ball to the handle, and make sure it is not dropping the ball wrong, or is on a bind.

WHEN YOU FLUSH YOUR TOILET AT ANY TIME, ALWAYS WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE SURE IT SHUTS OFF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE LEAVING THE HOUSE. IF YOU ARE LEAVING YOUR HOUSE FOR A VACATION OR ONLY A COUPLE DAYS ITS A GOOD IDEA TO SHUT YOUR MAIN WATER VALVE OFF. IT MIGHT SAVE A GREAT WATER LOSS, AS WELL AS A LOT OF DAMAGE TO YOUR HOME. HERE'S WHY:

I had a plumbing call to a home where the people had gone on a vacation for two weeks. The last person to leave the home flushed the toilet and did not wait to be sure it shut off before leaving.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:

The toilet stopped up when the last person flushed it. The rubber ball did not drop back straight and the water ran over the toilet bowl for two weeks.

HERE’S WHAT THEY FOUND WHEN THEY RETURNED HOME AFTER TWO WEEKS:

- The bathroom and the kitchen floors had warped.

- The tile and the carpet was ruined.

- The plaster ceiling in the kitchen had fallen.

- The woodwork and the doors were all warped.

- The formica counter tops in the kitchen had lifted.

- Below the kitchen in the basement, the father and son's very expensive car and train set were severely damaged.

NOW this was in the winter time, and the furnace was left on to keep the water pipes from freezing. The water went down from the first floor and leaked onto the furnace which made steam, the steam went into every room in the house and caused the wallpaper to fall off the walls in every room.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU - IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO MAKE SURE THE TOILET HAS STOPPED RUNNING !!!

LOOK AT THE WATER WASTED HERE AS WELL AS THE $ COST JUST FROM BEING CARELESS !!!

SAVING WATER

- When using your bathroom or kitchen sink, don't leave the water run when you don't need to.

- Take shorter showers.

- Turn off the shower when you are lathering up.

- When using your washing machine, and only washing a small amount of clothes, set the water level for less water.

TRY THIS:

Take the quarter inch refill tube that goes from the toilet ballcock valve into the overflow pipe in the toilet tank, and fasten it so the water from it goes into the tank and helps to fill it faster. You can only do this if when your toilet is flushed and retraps itself. While the toilet is refilling after being flushed, it doesn't take as much water as is put into the bowl from the refill tube. Every little bit helps.

HERE IS A GOOD WATER SAVER

If the water pressure in your home is more than you need. DO THIS:

Close your main water valve until your pressure slows down some, but is still enough for your needs. Or do this to the smaller valves under your kitchen and bathroom sink. A lot of homes have a lot more pressure than they need.

UNDERGROUND WATER LEAKS

Sometimes there are water leaks underground between your home, the street, or your outside water supply.

These go undetected for years. Here's one way you can check your line for a leak. Put your ear on the water meter in your home and put your finger in your other ear. If you hear a hissing sound like pressure releasing you probably have a leak in your line, be sure no one is running water in the house when doing this.

Most of the time a leak underground will eventually come to the top of the ground, but I have had some leaks that I found had worked their way into the sewer line under it, and had been leaking for years.

To check this, remove the clean out plug on your sewer line to the street. Put your ear at that point and listen, if you have a leak you will be able to hear it in the sewer line. Again be sure no one is running water...

HERE ARE SOME OF THE WAYS A CITY COULD SAVE WATER

In areas where the water pressure is greater than needed, the city water department could install a pressure regulator valve at the water meter in  these homes to control the amount water used. Another good water saver would be to require in new home construction that a small spring valved wall hung urinal be installed in all bathrooms .

A TOILET WHEN FLUSHED USES ABOUT SIX GALLONS OF WATER.

A SMALL WALL HUNG SPRING VALVED URINAL USES LESS THAN ONE GALLON.

LOOK AT THE WATER THAT COULD BE SAVED HERE.

HERE IS A TWENTY-FIVE YEAR WATER LEAK...

I worked as a maintenance plumber in one of the larger hospitals in the area. Here's what I found one day.

The kitchen of the hospital had a tile floor, and at one area the tile floor was always hot, so much so the workers were always complaining of being too warm.

One day while working on the water piping, we had to turn off the water for a long time. I later happened to kneel down on the floor where it was always hot. It had cooled down. When we turned the water back on we found a water line leaking under the floor where it was always hot. We repaired the hot water pipe, turned the water back on, and the floor stayed cool.

I then began to explain to the kitchen supervisor what we had found. She said she had worked here for twenty five years and the tile floor in that are had always been hot. A twenty five year water leak. Can you believe the water loss here. I bet if we checked all over the country we could find an enormous amount of water being wasted.

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/plumber.zip

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BACK TO TOP

START YOUR OWN RESUME WRITING SERVICE

MAKE $1,000's A MONTH WRITING RESUMES

Section One

Here's a business you can start for virtually nothing, parlay into a million dollar enterprise in five years or less. Many established resume writing services in the large metropolitan areas are reporting annual incomes of $250,000 or more. Even the smaller operations, in towns as small as 15,000 are experiencing sales of $50,000 or more.

No special knowledge, education or experience are required for total success in this business. An awareness of the general format of the "modern resume," and the ability to keep oneself up-to-date on refinements or new approaches to presenting resume material are about the only prerequisites to successfully operate a resume writing service.

Probably the most exciting and motivational aspects of this business idea are the low investment and risk factors involved, and the growing demand for resume service. Up until the past couple of years, few if any Americans really had to look for jobs. People in general have either forgotten how to look for a new job, or never knew how in the first place.

Since the start of World War II, back in 1941, the American worker has been spoiled by an affluent society and an ideal market for the job seeker. Usually, all he had to do whenever he lost a job or wanted to change jobs was to report in to the local branch of his local employment service office, check in at his union office, look at the want ads in the Sunday paper, or call a few friends and ask about job openings.

But no more! Times have changed! There are fewer jobs and an increasing number of people applying for those jobs that are available. Just recently, the post office department in a large west coast city advertised that applications would be accepted on two days only, for 600 upcoming openings. Would you believe that twenty thousand applicants showed up to fill out applications.

Can you imagine the post office personnel people reviewing all those applications, and then interviewing all those people, according to the fair employment practices act?

On another day, word got out that there was going to be an opening for a forklift driver at a local warehouse. Fifteen hundred men and women showed up even before the job was advertised!

Times are tough, and we're moving ever deeper into the age of specialization. Employers are demanding to know more about the applicant - his work record, natural talents and personality traits. They want more information upon which to base their interview selections than just the cold facts on the application form.

Personnel managers are placing a higher premium on their time, and delegating to others the job of "weeding out" the unqualified applicants from those whose backgrounds and goals come closest to fitting the needs of the company.

To get in to see the person doing the hiring nowadays, the job applicant has to "sell the short-stopper," and that calls for a professionally written resume. More and more firms are demanding resumes.

Industry estimates are that by the year 2000, most of the jobs worth having will require a written resume before even an initial interview is granted. And that's where you can fit into the picture with your Professional Resume Writing Service.

Probably 80 percent of the people searching for jobs don't have a resume. Of the 20 percent who do have resumes, many are ineffective; they simply do not adequately present the applicant's total qualifications.

Everyone - with or without a resume - is looking for this key: A professionally written resume, a sales presentation of their qualifications and experience that will get the job for them - the job they want. The jobhunters are wound up in their own specialties and problems. They don't know how, and they don't have the time - AND they're willing to pay you to put it all together for them.

Just as you're willing to pay a doctor, dentist or investment broker, those who need a resume are willing to pay you for this service. The market exists in every city and town in this country, and the demand for this service is growing daily. Your opportunity for success beyond your fondest dreams has never been greater! The brass ring is here! Grab it, and hold on!

You'll need a good computer and most importantly a good lazer printer - black & white is fine, though color is better. Arrange to rent, or buy on monthly payments if necessary, the best machine for the quality of work that will command top dollars for you.

To prepare yourself properly, invest in a good book on how to write "job-winning" resumes. Select a book which discusses both the cover letter and the format of the body of the resume.

The most important part of any resume package is the cover letter the applicant sends as part of the resume. This letter states the specific job the applicant is applying for, explains why he believes he is qualified, and pointedly asks for an interview.

In most cases, you'll be able to provide an "all-purpose form letter" which your client can adapt to any position that interests him. More later about actual writing of the resume and the cover letter. The format and style of the body of the resume are the items you want to learn from your book. Resumes of today generally follow this outline:

1.          Name

2.          Address

3.          City, state, zip.

4.          Phone Number

5.          Type of job or position wanted

6.          Goals and/or desires in life

7.          Job history, starting with current or last job held

8.          Special courses, education or training completed

9.          Military History

10.          Formal Education

11.          Activities while attending school: athletics, offices, awards

12.          Hobbies and special interests

13.          Notation that references will be furnished on request.

14.          Availability

15.          Health

Once you're organized with space and equipment, you're ready for business. All that's necessary from this point on will be advertising, client interview, and producing the final product.

Your advertising needs, in comparison with many other businesses, need not cost you an exorbitant amount of money. It should, however, be consistent and eye-catching.

You should contact your area's most widely read newspaper and arrange to run a one-column by one inch ad every day for the next six to twelve months. By purchasing your ad space on a daily insertion basis, and over at least a six month period, your rate will be much lower than the rate charged for shorter contracts.

Your newspaper ad might read something like this:

A Complete, Professional Service

MIDWEST RESUME SERVICE

Resumes - Letters - Portfolios

...that result in jobs!

Phone 123-4567

Aside from an ad in the newspaper, and perhaps a similar one in your area shoppers' papers, the only other advertising efforts you should worry about are those that don't cost money - free bulletin board announcements, radio and television talk show interviews, and low cost flyers, circulars or brochures that describe your services.

One method of gaining business exposure which is most often overlooked is the radio and television talk show interview. Call the broadcast stations in your area and get the names of the producers of these talk shows.

Then write them a letter explaining your services, and how you believe an appearance on their program could be educational and beneficial to their audiences. Include a brochure with your letter. A couple of days after you're sure they've received your letter, give them a call on the phone, and ask them to consider an interview with you.

Another area to explore for free publicity is as a guest speaker for your civic clubs. For these, simply write out a speech emphasizing the need for a resume, and the proper way to write one that will result in a job for the job-seeker. Explain the growing trend of employers to use the resume as a screening device, and the fact that a well-written resume can get a better job for someone when there are seemingly no openings. Don't be afraid to explain what goes into a professionally written resume.

Many of the people listening to you - if you sell them on the idea of a resume - will come to you to have it written because they don't have the time or know-how, and because you'll have the reputation of an "expert" after having spoken before their club.

Basically, people are lazy in this respect, and would rather pay someone else to do something than to take the time to learn how and do it themselves. Once you spread the word that you're in the business of preparing resumes for people looking for work or wanting better jobs, you'll have no trouble at all keeping busy!

Your brochure can be as simple as a Z-folded 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. It should describe your services, emphasize your professionalism, fast service and reasonable cost.  It would be best to have your story typeset and laid out in three columns down the width of the paper.

Most quick print shops can handle all this for you, at a nominal cost. Once you've had your brochures printed, leave off a supply with your area high school and college counselors, vocational and trade school placement directors, and with as many private employment agencies as will take them.

When prospective clients call you, simply explain your services and prices, and set up an appointment for them to meet with you. For this it's best to prepare a script, which might read like this:

YOU, answering the phone: Good morning!  Midwest Resume Service.  May I help you?

CLIENT: Yes, I'm calling about your ad in the paper.

YOU: Oh yes, and thank you for calling. Let me explain our services. We're professional resume writers - we interview job - seekers such as yourself - learn the important features of their backgrounds as those features apply in helping us to write a resume that will land them the job they're looking for.

Then we assemble all this information into a winning presentation, type it out, give you the original plus 50 copies and a cover letter (which you can modify as necessary on your home computer and have copied each time you submit a resume). Your cost is only $70, and usually we can have everything ready for you within three or four days. Now, does that sound like what you had in mind?

CLIENT: Yes! That's just what I had in mind. When can we get together and start the ball rolling?

YOU: How about this afternoon at 3:15, or would tomorrow morning at say 9:45 be better for you? We're located at 600 North Main Street. Are you familiar with the area?

CLIENT: Yes, I know the area, no problem. This afternoon at 3:15 will be fine.

YOU: Good! Now, let me have your name and phone number please.

CLIENT: Gives you his name and phone number.

YOU: All right, Bob, we'll look forward to seeing you this afternoon at 3:15.

You now have a client, and an appointment to interview him for background information in order to put together a resume that can result in a job for him. Be sure you're prepared with a "researcher's questionnaire," to guide you in the questions to ask.

Type your resume format on a separate sheet of paper, numbering each question you want an answer to, or subject you want to cover. This of course serves as a "master" which you duplicate and use as the researcher's questionnaire guide.

For each interview, take one of these "interview guides" and an ordinary yellow legal tablet, and start asking questions. Identify each page of notes with a number or subject matter from the resume format, and use a separate page of the tablet for each subject and each job the client may have had.

The interview should be relaxed, with the client doing most of the talking. However, you should control the interview and take notes as the client gives you the information you need. Be confident, but friendly.

Maintain your confidence and ask leading questions that elicit complete, revealing responses. Take your time, and "listen" to what the client isn't telling you as well as what he is telling you. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to find out all there is to know about your client in twenty minutes or less.

Look ahead to the day when you have employees working for you. Develop your interviewing techniques to a state of maximum efficiency for your business, and then record three or four interviews for use in training your employees. You should also reproduce several examples of completed resumes and put them into an instruction book for study by new employees .

After the interview, you need to interpret your notes and type the information into a resume. This should be easy because you have gathered the details in sequence with your resume format. Familiarity with format writing style makes the task of putting everything into finished form quite simple.

At the very least, a quick course in resume writing will be necessary. Check out a book on the subject from your public library.

The important thing to remember is to drop the "I's" and write in a kind of note-taking reportorial style:

"Hired as an entry level shipping clerk. Recognized need for organization on the loading dock to eliminate congestion. Suggested designated spaces for incoming and out going shipments. This program was adopted and immediately eliminated congestion of trucks and decreased overtime requirements, with an estimated savings of $1400 per week for the company. Promoted to Line Expediter after six months."

Don't put a time limit on the amount of time you devote to each client, but once you're organized and established, the interview through the finished resume shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

After you have the resume typed, call the client in to check it over and approve it. In almost every case, he'll be very favorably impressed and ready to go with anything you suggest. The secret is in the quality of your work - good type, clean paper and error-free.

Explain to your client that his resume will make a more favorable impression on the prospective employer when it is printed on better quality paper. Suggest to him that you have it printed for him on colored "offset" paper instead of ordinary bond. Ivory, tan or blue shades are desirable. For expensive-looking resumes, suggest that it be printed on 11 x 17 paper, and then folded in half to make a kind of "book" about the client.

The charges for your service should be about $70 - $80 for the interview, original resume, 50 copies on white bond paper, and a universal cover letter. For colored offset paper, or for 11 x 17 sized sheets, check current prices at your print shop.

You should pass those costs on to your client, plus a nominal service charge of $5 or so. Also explain to your client that you can up-date or add to his resume whenever the need arises, and for this service you charge $20, plus the cost of printing as many copies as he requires.

Now for the cover letter - probably the most important part of any resume submitted for job consideration. The first thing you ask your client regarding the cover letter is if he intends to submit his resumes in answer to advertised positions, or if he intends to "shot-gun" them out to possible employers. According to his stated plan, you simply use one of the two general forms for cover letters.

And that's it - the basics you need for starting your own highly profitable resume service.  A couple of things to always bear in mind: Your success will be directly related to the quality of the finished product you put out. Learn to do it right, and then strive for perfection with every job you complete for a client.

Remember too that the image you project is the credibility rating you'll carry with your customers. Shabby surroundings, a disorganized office and a less than professional appearance will doom you to failure.

Finally, put some real planning into starting your business; get it well established and running smoothly; then hire other people to do the work. The object of a business of your own is not steady employment for you, but financial security and independence - to achieve and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Plan your business, nurture its growth and then hire other people to do the work while you guide, supervise and make bank deposits.

COVER LETTER IN RESPONSE TO AN ADVERTISED OPENING

Your recent ad, expressing a need for an experienced stock clerk, has come to my attention. I'd like very much to get together with you at your earliest convenience to discuss my qualifications for this position. With hopes for such a meeting in mind, I'm enclosing a copy of my resume for your information and consideration.

I assure you that I am experienced, learn very quickly, and am adaptable to new methods of operation. I have heard favorable comments about your company as the place for one with ambitions for growth and self-improvement .

I'm available to come in and meet with you at your convenience and can begin work immediately. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. A call from you will be most welcome and appreciated.

Sincerely yours, Your signature

Your Typed Name

(123) 456-7890

COVER LETTER FOR WHERE NO KNOWN OPENING EXISTS

As a salesman, I have ambitions to improve my status in life.

Your company's reputation as a leader in the publishing of educational materials impresses me, and I would like to explore the possibilities of becoming a part of your sales force.

I'm currently a top-producing salesman, but feel stymied with my present employment. I think I could do much better with a company receptive to innovative ideas and energetic people such as myself.

Could we get together and discuss the possibilities of my joining your organization in some capacity that would utilize my abilities to a greater extent, and at the same time benefit your company?

I will be free from 10 o'clock on, next Tuesday, the 27th. Please give me a call at (123) 456-7890.

Thank you! I am looking forward to meeting you.

Your signature

Your typed name

PS: Enclosed is a resume that will give you an in depth look at my accomplishments, and an idea of my potential. I appreciate your time and consideration.

RESUME EXAMPLES &  INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR CLIENTS

WRITE A JOB RESUME THAT GOES RIGHT TO THE TOP OF THE STACK!

Section Two

Many people would love to get a better job. And most of these same people have the proper training and skills to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, so many job hunters have very poor communication skills.

They are unable to clearly tell potential employers about their job qualifications. In short, they do not have good job seeking skills. In many cases, this prevents them from getting a high paying job that they could easily do. Often, the job will go to someone who is less skilled but who has written a eye-catching resume.

Often, job seekers have a few mistaken opinions about potential employers. They believe that employers are able to easily separate the qualified job applicants from the less qualified applicants. But this is likely not true. Sometimes there are from 30 to 300 resumes for the same job. So the interviewer first does a fast screening of all the resumes to eliminate as many as possible. The "good" resumes usually make it through the screening process. Many times the best job candidate is screened out due to a poor resume.

In today's business world there is often many qualified applicants applying for the same job. What if, out of all of those who apply, one job seeker turns in a skillful resume? Who do you think stands the best chance of getting the job? It's the one with the "best" resume, of course. This is so often true even through some of the other applicants may be better qualified for the job.

In order to get a good job you must communicate to the employer that you are ready, willing, and able to do the job. So if you are capable of producing a top notch job resume, you definitely increase your chances of getting a better job.

Virtually every potential employer will want to see a resume from you. The resume will determine who gets a job interview. Your resume is a mini-statement about yourself.

After reading your resume the employer should have a better "feel" for you as a person and as a potential employer. It serves to get acquainted with the employer so that they can decide if they want to know more about you.

The resume is the first step, your introduction to an employer. First impressions really do count. If you make a poor first impression, you'll never get to step two - the job interview.

To the purpose of your resume is to make a good first impression. In effect, your resume should tell the employer that you have good abilities and are truly interested in working. This report will help you make that good first impression. And it could very well help you to get the better job you're looking for.

RESUME BASICS

All good resumes follow the same general basic guidelines. While there is some flexibility in these guidelines, you don't want to stray too far from them. You want a resume that is bold, exciting, and enticing. But not too much so.

You also want a resume that is somewhat conservative. In other words, it must be bold. Not flashy. You must show that you have confidence in your abilities, but not sound like a braggart. You must sound eager to do the job, but not desperate. So there is a fine line that you must walk in order to produce the best possible resume.

You want to use intelligent language. However, you don't want to try and impress the employer with long, flowery, or uncommon words or phrases. Use everyday language whenever possible.

Of course, if you are applying for a highly technical position, it's acceptable to use some of the special terms used in that particular profession. But as a rule you should keep it simple and straight to the point.

The word resume comes from the French word "resumer" which means to summarize. So the exact purpose of a resume is to summarize your experience, knowledge, and accomplishments. Therefore, you must avoid being too wordy. Say exactly what you mean in the least number of words possible.

The length of your resume is important. Resumes should be from 1 to 3 pages long. Don't make your resume longer than 3 pages, even if you have a lot to tell. Remember, a resume is supposed to be a summary. A resume that is too long simply will bore the reader. There will be so much material that nothing will stand out and be remembered.

RESUME APPEARANCE

The appearance of your resume is also important. A sloppy looking resume will greatly lessen your chance of getting an interview. The first thing that an employer evaluating your resume will notice is it's appearance. There are several different things that can be easily done to increase the overall appearance of your resume.

The first of these appearance factors is the paper that your resume is printed on. There are many different kinds of paper other than regular typing paper. You could make an improvement by using a colored paper. I suggest a subdued color like brown, off-white, or gray.

Next, you could use a better grade of paper. Go to a local office supply store and examine the different types of writing paper. You'll notice some big differences. Pick out a nice looking, more expensive grade of paper for your resume.

The next thing to consider is the quality of the material that is typed onto the resume. Never use a low quality printer to type your resume. Use a good quality laser printer. It's very important that you make sure the writing on your resume looks good. This means clean, crisp, and sharp looking letters.

A third aspect of your resumes appearance is more subjective. It takes into account such things as the letter spacing, how each section is arranged, and it's overall appearance. Some resumes simply look better because of the way they have been designed.

Never overcrowd the resume. Leave some "white space" so that important points can appear to pop out. Never submit a resume with handwritten corrections. You can highlight sections of a resume by using a different typeface or size or by using "bullets."  If possible, use larger letters for the headings used in the separate sections of the resume.

Never try to be too fancy by using wild colors, cute graphics, and so forth. Don't be overly creative. A simple, straightforward, factual resume will do nicely. Make it stand out, but stay conservative.

Another phase of your resumes appearance is it's accuracy. Make sure there are no misspelled words! Mistakes will create the wrong image. Make sure that the punctuation is correct. And make sure that all of your columns line up.

See that all of your facts are correct. Don't say you attended 3 years of college, but only show two years worth of grades. Potential employers will note all inaccuracies and wonder why they appear in your resume.

OPTIONAL DATA

There is a variety of personal data that may be somewhat controversial if included in your resume. In the past it was acceptable to include all kinds of personal data, but times and laws have changed. Affirmative Action laws have made it illegal to discriminate based on such things as age, sex, marital status, race, religion, and so forth. Therefore, most experts recommend against placing this kind of personal data into your resume.

Your salary requirements should not be listed in the resume, if you can avoid it. The reason is that if you put too low of a salary, you might be paid less than the real value of the job. If you put down a figure that's too high, you may not get considered for the job. If an employer likes you, it may be possible to negotiate a higher salary during the interview stage.

Another thing that your resume doesn't need is your photograph. Potential employers can decide if they are interested in you after reading your resume. They can see what you look like during the interview.

RESUME STYLES

There are several styles of resumes along with numerous variations. Your experience and the kind of job you are applying for will help to determine the style of resume you use.

The two basic styles are: Chronological Resumes and Functional Skills Resumes. Some of the variations include the main themes of business, academic, general, student, standard, professional, or engineering.

A Chronological Resume lists work experience in reverse chronological order (the most recent experience first). It includes some descriptive text about each position, usually described in about one paragraph.

This type of resume offers several advantages: it is widely accepted, they are easy to read, and they show a clear pattern of your development. The disadvantages include: it does not highlight your major accomplishment(s), nor do they effectively show your other skills.

Functional Skills Resumes highlight your skills and accomplishments rather than providing a chronological record of your job history. Your accomplishments and skills are listed at the beginning. Your job history is listed at the end of the resume.

This type of resume allows you to call attention to your achievements. The major disadvantage is that employers may find it difficult to follow your work experience.

Many people discover that a combination of these two kinds of resumes is the best way to go. You may want to try several different types of combinations before settling upon a final design.

WRITING YOUR RESUME

Some specific topics that your resume should cover are:

(1) Job Objective - lets the employer know that you are interested in a specific type of work. This can be done in 2 or 3 sentences.

Example: work in an analytical chemistry laboratory that focuses on environmental samples. Oversee and coordinate the activities of other lab technicians.

(2) Summary of Qualifications - is a short paragraph that summarizes your experience and skills.

Example: I have 8 years experience working on all p samples for metals C. Used CLIP and SW846 methods phases of analytical chemistry. Including work with a wide variety of instruments and computers. Was second-in-command of a lab with 8 technicians.

(3) Professional Skills - is the section where you give specific details about your qualifications.

Example:

INSTRUMENTS OPERATED

A. Atomic Absorption Spectrometer

B. Microwave Digestion System

C. Polarograph

D. Laser Fluorimeter

E. IBM Computers

ADMINISTRATION

A. Supervised 8 technicians when the Department head was absent.

ANALYSIS

A. Waste oils for metals

B. Water and soil

(4) Work Experience - in this section you give a one paragraph summary for each of your previous jobs. This should include starting and ending date, reason for leaving, job title and duties, and any special accomplishments for each of the jobs.

(5) Education - gives a summary of all schools attended, degrees earned, and special seminars or training courses that you have attended.

(6) Honors and Awards - it's a good idea to list any special awards you have received.

(7) Personal - information about your hobbies and activities should be included.

(8) Others - professional organizations that you belong to, computer or programming skills, articles or books published.

(9) References - you can state something like, "references available upon request," or list at least 3 on your resume.

It's important to include all of the basic information on your resume. But, what is also important, is the way you say it. Don't use dull, lifeless statements. Instead use action words. Here are some typical action words:

Accelerated, achieved, advised, approved, assisted, built, calculated, completed, conceived, controlled, coordinated, created, decreased, defined, designed, developed, directed, earned, edited, engineered, evaluated, found, generated, implemented, improved, invented, managed, operated, organized, planned, proved, revised, scheduled, tested, trained, verified, wrote.

These words give the correct impression that you have been responsible for do different kinds of jobs tasks. In other words, you weren't just a follower. Of course, you should always be truthful. Don't oversell yourself by claiming you did things that you didn't do.

As you can see, a resume is really a very simple document. It is not that difficult to produce a good resume, if you follow the simple steps outlined in this report. By dividing it into sections it becomes a much easier job. These different sections also help you to stay organized.

If you have worked on a special project or had a lofty responsibility on a previous job, you may want to include that in a section all by itself. Example: "I organized a training department for AMCO Scientific and was responsible for overseeing the production of training lessons."

Another good way to get familiar with proper resume writing techniques is to review a good resume. There's an example included in this report. You can use it as a model. Then produce several different resumes for yourself until you find the best possible combinations for your specific skills. You may also want to have a friend to read your resume and point out any problems.

Helping Your Client Land The Job

WHERE TO LOOK

Many people do not have good job hunting skills. They are not experts at locating job openings for which they may be qualified. Here are some ideas to help you uncover those jobs.

NEWSPAPER ADS - usually draw the greatest number of applicants, so you'll end up with a lot of competition. If you have no geographic restrictions, you may want to check out of state newspapers.

Find a way to make your resume stand out so that it isn't lost among the many applicants. Here are a couple of ideas:

(1) Send a customized cover letter with your resume.

(2) Call before you send the resume in. If possible, talk to the person who will be doing the interview or who you'll be working for. If this isn't possible, talk to the personnel director about the job and let them know that your resume is coming. This will help them to remember your name and may help you get through the resume screening process.

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES - these are agencies that try to match employees and employers. These agencies vary in the way they work. Some can be very helpful. Others are somewhat unscrupulous.

Your best chance is to go with an agency that specializes in your field. Beware of agencies that continually run the same ad because, often, they are just trying to build a list of candidates. Use agencies that don't require you to pay a fee.

TRADE JOURNALS AND PERIODICALS - Are often the best places to look. This is one of the primary means of job advertisement for some types of professions. Example: The magazine Environmental Science continually carries ads for environmental professionals. Other good places to look include: trade shows and professional conventions, personnel offices, college placement offices, friends who are in the same profession as you.

Another method is to simply go through the yellow pages and look for companies which may need a person with your skills. Then contact these companies by phone and follow-up by sending in your resume. Job seeking is a skill that requires persistence. You must not become discouraged. Keep making plenty of contacts. Sooner or later, you'll find the job that's right for you.

THE INTERNET - There are many sites on the internet that list jobs available, as well where you can place an ad advertising that you are offering to work. Don't waste time by placing ads or answering every one of the ads in these sites. Make sure it's a site that specializes work in your area as well reply to ads that are offering only the work that you truly want. You can be quite particular on these sites because there are so many jobs offered as well as potential employers are always scanning these sites to find employees with the exact skills they are looking for.

THE JOB INTERVIEW

Most people are nervous when they go to a job interview. However, by preparing beforehand you won't have anything to worry about. Believe it or not, occasionally the person conducting the interview is nervous, too! Most interviewers will make a decision within the first 5 to 10 minutes of the interview. There are a number of steps that you can take that will greatly improve your chances of getting the job.

The first (and perhaps the most obvious) thing to consider is your appearance. No matter what type of job you apply for, you should dress appropriately. A nice suit is your best bet. Dark blue or a gray pinstripe are the best colors. Don't wear a loud tie. Make sure all of your clothes are wrinkle free and that your shoes are polished.

Women should wear a conservative suit dress. Avoid excessive jewelry, make-up, perfume and bright nail polish.

Interview do's and don'ts:

(1) Arrive early. If you arrive late, you'll be rushed and the interviewer may consider you unreliable.

(2) Walk briskly, with purpose, and stand up straight.

(3) Don't smoke, chew gum, slouch, read a novel, or other similar activities while you are waiting in the lobby. If some of the company's literature is available, read that instead.

(4) Give the interviewer a firm handshake. Don't be afraid to look him or her in the eye.

(5) Be prepared. Carry an extra copy of your resume and academic record.

(6) Don't talk too much... or too little.

(7) Above all, try to be natural and relaxed. Be yourself.

Questions that the interviewer may ask you include: what are your career goals? How many sick days have you taken in the past two years? What are your strong points? Do you have any hobbies? Why do you want this job? Tell me about yourself. What did you like most or like least about your last job? Do you have any questions?

She or he may also ask you some specific questions that relate to equipment or procedures you'll need to use on the job. This is a way of determining your overall knowledge and skills.

Before and during the interview...

(1) Be positive and enthusiastic.

(2) Try to focus upon your accomplishments and achievements in past jobs.

(3) Find out as much as possible about the job duties and requirements of the position you are applying for. This will help you to be able to ask further questions.

(4) Find out as much as possible about the company.

(5) If you are really interested in the job, let the interviewer know about it.

(6) Questions you need to ask include: when will the job start? To whom do I report? What would a typical day be like?

(7) Don't be too concerned about salary and benefits at first. If you are selected, they will make you a salary offer. Toward the end of the interview you can ask about benefits.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

There are a number of things that you can do after the interview that will make you an even more attractive job candidate. Here are a few tips:

(1) Write a thank you letter. If you really want the job, say so in the letter.

(2) If you have not heard anything within 8 to 10 days, you may want to call. Assure them that you are not trying to be pushy, but that you are just interested.

If you aren't hired, you can still send a thank you letter to the company and ask them to keep you in mind for any other similar job openings.

Also, you may want to ask the interviewer for a specific reason as to why you weren't hired. This information will help you as you search for other jobs.

CONCLUSION

Getting a good job that you want is not always easy. There are many qualified people after every top paying position that is available. But if you use the strategies described in this report, you'll stand a much better chance of success.

Be persistent and don't sell yourself short. You could end up with a much better job in a very short period of time.

SAMPLE RESUME

Jerry Jobseeker

12345 Main St.

Anytown, U.S.A.

555-5555

SKILLS

Professional Skills:

Experienced in operating a wide variety of analytical instruments including, Flame and Furnace AA, Microwave digestion, Laser flourimeter, and more.

Familiar with the full range of EPA and CLIP methods and protocols for inorganic analysis

Expert with IBM-PC computers and have over ten years of computer experience.

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

1971 to 1977 Austin Powder Company, McAuthur, Ohio

Chemistry

Chemist:

Performed a wide range of chemical analysis on raw materials, finished products and competitor's samples. Used classical wet chemistry methods.

1977 to 1982 Mead Paper Company, Chillicothe, Ohio

Mead Research

Paper Technologist:

Worked to improve paper formulations, solve problems, and improve quality using pilot plant and mill studies. Performed a wide range of paper tests, wrote reports, and evaluated results.

1982 to Present Martin Marietta, Piketon, Ohio

Senior Chemist:

Performed a full range of analytical methods for metals on all types of samples (soil, water, air, waste samples). Responsible for quality control and in charge of department supervising 14 technicians when supervisor was absent.

EDUCATION

Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

BS in Chemistry, 1971

Minor: History, Math

GPA: 2.4 Concentrated in inorganic chemistry

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

1975 to Present: American Chemical Society

PERSONAL DATA

I am very active with a number of hobbies including: golf, gardening, baseball, computers, and writing. I have authored a number of books about computers and various chemical related subjects.

REFERENCES

Available upon request.

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/resume.zip

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BACK TO TOP

GROCERY & FOOD SAVINGS

One of the easiest ways to save a lot of your hard earned money is at the grocery store. By putting in a bit of planning & effort, you can save hundreds of dollars a month & be eating far more nutritiously & deliciously then ever before - & it's fun as well.

53 PRACTICAL WAYS TO FIGHT HIGH GROCERY PRICES

1.        Learn to cook intelligently. Invest in a good, inexpensive cookbook.

2.        Plan all meals in advance.

3.        Cook only as much food as your family will consume at each meal.

4.        Cook slowly. Do not overcook. This prevents vitamin & mineral losses.

5.        Save and make use of all leftovers. Start collecting leftover recipes.

6.        Serve smaller portions. Eat less, stay slimmer and healthier.

7.        Eliminate fancy, fattening, expensive desserts.

8.        Give children smaller portions and teach them not to waste food.

9.        Pet food is expensive. Train your cat and dog to eat leftovers.

10.        Avoid "fad" and junk foods consisting of empty calories.

11.        Cut down on all sweets, white flour products and fatty foods.

12.        Stop smoking. Drink juices instead of alcoholic beverages.

13.        Don't drive many miles to save a few pennies at a certain store.

14.        Use powdered milk instead of fresh milk.

15.        Beat high coffee prices by drinking tea - and save about half.

16.        Take your lunch to work.

17.        Watch "open dating" on perishables and avoid buying outdated, spoiled food.

18.        Become a "comparison shopper". Buy "specials" from several stores.

19.        If you don't have one, invest in a new or good used freezer.

20.        Read labels. Remember that ingredients are listed in order by weight.

21.        Purchase only what you will use and eat everything you buy.

22.        Visit your grocer as LEAST often as possible.

23.        Trade money-saving recipes with friends, relatives, neighbors.

24.        When grocery shopping, carry a list and stick to it!

25.        Shop only on a FULL stomach. Never when hungry.

26.        Never take children grocery shopping with you.

27.        Clip, save and use "store coupons". Trade those you don't need.

28.        Watch for grocery store "sale" ads and shop the store's specials.

29.        Watch the cash register when checking out. Errors can be costly.

30.        Buy your favorite foods in the largest size containers available.

31.        Buy cheaper "store" or "house" brands.

32.        Avoid the supermarket's "gourmet" section.

33.        Stock up on genuine bargains.

34.        Ignore advertisements for "new" or "improved" convenience products.

35.        Avoid all convenience foods and items with long lists of additives.

36.        Stock up on "in season" foods.

37.        Pocket big savings by using more poultry in your menu.

38.        Avoid non-nutritious foods, junk foods, sugary foods, soft drinks, etc.

39.        Dine out less often. When you do, take home leftovers in a "doggie bag".

40.        Grow some of your own herbs, fruits, vegetables.

41.        Avoid convenience stores. They're more expensive.

42.        Ask store personnel to steer you to the "best buys".

43.        Buy your favorite foods by the case and ask for discounts.

44.        Make your own soups, bakery goods, ice cream, yogurt, cole slaw, jams, etc.

45.        Buy unsliced cheese and sandwich meats. Slice them yourself and save.

46.        Look for damaged merchandise and ask for price reductions: dented cans, crushed cartons, outdated bakery goods, bruised                 produce, etc. Make sure any damaged cans etc. are not leaking.

47.        Buy ONLY food items from your grocery. Buy non-food items elsewhere.

48.        Serve a balanced diet and you won't have to spend on vitamins.

49.        Buy "in season" produce from local farmer's fields, gardens, orchards.

50.        Compare prices of foods in various forms - canned, frozen, fresh and dried. Buy the least expensive.

51.        Observe "unit pricing". Compare weights before deciding.

52.        Before checking out, weed out the items you don't need.

53.        Limit snacks at home to popped corn, fruit & vegetables.

36 BUTCHER'S SUGGESTIONS FOR CUTTING MEAT BILLS

1.        Buy a good cookbook. Familiarize yourself with cheaper meat cuts.

2.        Have at least one meatless day each week - serve substitutes.

3.        Trade budget-stretching meat recipes with friends, neighbors, relatives.

4.        Avoid expensive canned and frozen "convenience" meats.

5.        Watch ads & stock up on genuine meat bargains. Keep your freezer full.

6.        Buy meats in economy "family-packs" when possible. Divide and freeze for specific uses.

7.        Stretch hamburger meat by adding bread crumbs, chopped onion, egg and seasonings. Shape into patties and grill.

8.        Buy beef by the "half" or "quarter". Have it professionally cut and store in your freezer. Sell or trade excess with your neighbors.

9.        To avoid excessive shrinkage and waste, cook long-cooking meat over low or moderate heat or in 325 degree oven.

10.        Use a meat thermometer to determine doneness. This prevents overcooking, shrinkage and drying out of meat.

11.        Well trimmed meat weights less, costs less. Shop around and find the markets that do the best trimming job.

12.        Extend meat loaf and other ground-beef dishes with mixed vegetables, mashed white or sweet potatoes, rice or pasta.

13.        Reduce amount of meat in such recipes as stews, casseroles, chili and spaghetti sauce. Increase sauce and vegetable.

14.        For freshest meats, shop early on when stores are busy - generally mid to end of week. Avoid mornings after long weekends.

15.        Stir-frying stretches meat and it's fast too. To cut into thinnest slices, partially freeze the meat. Use round and flank steak.

16.        Use "chunky" style soups over potatoes or pasta in place of meat.

17.        Substitute small bone chuck steak for sirloin or top round. Sprinkle with meat tenderizer before broiling or barbecuing.

18.        Rush purchased meat to refrigerator or freezer to avoid spoilage.

19.        To avoid wasting hamburger, freeze as patties instead of as a chunk.

20.        Save rinds from ham, bacon or hocks. Tuck into potato, rice or noodle casseroles & bake for meaty flavor before serving.

21.        Unless you want the bone for soup, a boneless ham usually costs less.

22.        Save & freeze all meat bones and trimmings. Use in soups and stews.

23.        Buy large cuts of meat (chuck & pork roasts; thick steaks & ham), when on sale and cut up for a variety of uses.

24.        Marinate, tenderize or braise less tender cuts of meat before cooking.

25.        Try less expensive "organ" meats: liver, heart, brains, kidney, tripe.

26.        Buy luncheon meats unsliced in a chunk. Slice them yourself & save.

27.        Buy bacon ends in economy sizes; divide and freeze. Cook, then combine with scrambled eggs - cheaper than perfectly sliced.

28.        Get to know your market's meat cutter. He can alert you to unadvertised specials and give you good cooking and saving tips.

29.        Slice roasts and ham thin. Two thin slices look like more on the place than one thick one.

30.        You require less ground-meat mixture per serving if you use it to stuff tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage leaves or squashes.

31.        To avoid "freezer burn", which dries out and toughens meat, re-wrap all market-packaged meats in airtight freezer wrap.

32.        Save cooking liquid from smoked pork shoulder or brisket. Use for lentil, pea, potato or barley soup.

33.        Save scraps of meat leftovers. Grind or chop them & mix with salad dressing, relish, celery & onion for spreads and dips.

34.        Make gravy from drippings. Serve on biscuits, toast, pasta, rice, etc.

35.        Dice cooked meat leftovers, mix with barbecue sauce & serve in buns.

36.        Save on "outdated" meats, but freeze or serve as soon as possible.

CUTTING YOUR GROCERY BILLS IN HALF WITH COUPONS

There have been many articles and reports written explaining supposed ways to cut your grocery bills. Sure, you can eat only bargain noodles and generic beans. That will save a little money. Wash out those plastic bags and reuse them. That will save a few cents.

But there is one sure way to cut your grocery bills in half (or more!) that is easy and you can still buy brand name items. By intelligently using the system detailed in this report, you will see savings from the first day.

First, save coupons. Too many people think coupons are a waste of time, or that they only raise the prices that are charged on items. This is false!

Buy a box of envelopes, and label your envelopes with the categories of food and products you buy regularly. You can be as broad ("vegetables") or exact (an envelope for each brand of canned vegetables you regularly buy) as you want. Clip every coupon you come across and file them in the proper envelope.

Sunday newspapers are the best source for coupons. If you find a lot of coupons you can use on a particular Sunday, it may be worth your while to buy a second copy of the paper, to get another set of coupons. If your paper costs $1.00, you can make that back with two 50-cent coupons. The rest will be profit!

Next, watch the sale flyers. When you see items on sale that you have coupons for, that's the time to buy. Here's something a lot of people don't realize. Say you have three 50-cent coupons for "Bill's Beans." You can only use one coupon per purchase.

But, if you buy three cans at once, that's three purchases, and you have every right to use all three coupons. Also, watch for stores that offer "double coupons."

That means that they will double the value of the coupon, usually up to 50-cent value coupons. Buy the sale items with doubled coupons, and your saving increase!

For best results, you should try to have a coupon for at least one-half to two-thirds of the items you buy on your shopping trip. Make a shopping list before you go and stick to it. This prevents impulse buys.

Also, funny as it may sound, don't go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. If you do, you'll no doubt buy extra things that sound good to you at the time, but you may not end up eating. That's the first half of the system. Using coupons to their fullest extent is a major part of grocery bill cutting.

Next comes rebates.

When you use any canned, boxed or bagged goods, save the package. Labels can be soaked from cans with warm water, and the outside layer of a box (the part with the printing on it) can usually be carefully peeled off. Use a few grocery boxes to organize these. Alphabetically is the best way. These can be stored in an unused closet or the garage.

Also, keep your receipts. You'll need them for rebates. Then, when you see a rebate for an item you regularly buy, you can get the required proof of purchase easily and quickly from the packaging.

Here's how these fit together: For example, you have three 15-cent coupons for a 79-cent canned vegetable. The vegetables go on sale for 69-cents at a store that doubles coupons. You can now buy three cans of the vegetables for 39-cents each (69-cents minus 30-cents per coupon).

Then, a few weeks later, the manufacturer has a $1.50 rebate that requires three proofs of purchase. By sending in the rebate, you have now made a profit of 33-cents ($1.50 minus $1.17). Many manufacturers will reimburse you for the cost of postage to send the rebate and proofs in, so you get the full 33-cents.

Think about it. If you are able to do this with at least half of your grocery purchases (and you should, if you try), you can cut your grocery bill at least in half, if not more! All this for not a whole lot of work. It may seem a bit much at the start, but once you get a good, organized system in place, it will be quite easy.

HOW TO TURN FREE GROCERY STORE COUPONS INTO CASH

Save all the "cents off" coupons that you can. These "store coupons" are as good as gold. If you know how to use them. And they're free! Simply clip and save them from all of the newspapers and magazines that you read.

One of the easiest ways to use these coupons to best advantage is to trade them for other coupons, for products you want. As example, let us say that you have accumulated several dollars worth of coupons for dog food -but you don't have a dog. Maybe a friend, neighbor or relative would be very happy to use those coupons when they buy dog food. Just trade them for grocery store items that you and your family want and use.

This type of "bartering" can work in other ways too. Let us say that you want a certain item, but don't have the ready cash. Try to make a deal with the store owner.

Maybe he will accept a quantity of store coupons in exchange for items you want. The rate of exchange should be about 10 to 1 - $10.00 worth of store coupons towards $1.00 of the purchase price of the product or service you want.

This type of exchange agreement can best be made with smaller stores. As example, we know a lady who does a lot of sewing and needlework. She gets all of her supplies from a nearby sewing center, by saving and trading store coupons for her yarn, thread, needles, etc. Another lady we know, recently traded a handful of store coupons for a like-new toaster at a neighborhood garage sale.

You can also sell store coupons by mail for cash! For free details, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Store coupons - Dept. 30R, Box 6466, San Francisco, CA 94101.

Many of the smaller mail order dealers will also be receptive to offers of exchanging their goods or services for grocery store coupons. Study mail order magazines and try to "make a deal"!

You have nothing to lose since the store coupons you have to trade are free!

GET ALL THE GROCERY COUPONS YOU NEED

Anyone who doesn't use coupons when they go grocery shopping is missing out on an easy way to save money. Many stores double coupons, so a 35 cent coupon will actually save 70 cents.

On an average shopping trip, people purchase 16 items, so if you were able to save 70 cents each on only half of your purchases, that would be $5.60. Multiply that times 52 weeks, and you have over $290! That's money that you can use for other things, or to save.

The only problem is, it seems like the only coupons in your newspaper are the ones for products you don't buy. There are a few good ways, though, to get all the grocery coupons you can use, on the products you actually buy.

First, and easiest, buy groups of coupons at a discount from a coupon service. The biggest and best is called Coupon Connection of America. First, you purchase a booklet of 10 certificates, each worth $15 in coupons, for around $25. You then pick the exact items and brands that you want coupons for from their list of over 1,200 national name brand products.

Send in a certificate to the company with your selection list, and they send a total of $15 worth of coupons for the products you selected. If you buy a certificate booklet for $25, you'll get $150 worth of coupons you can use, for a $125 total profit! If your store doubles coupons, you'll save $275 ($300  - $25 price of booklet)! CCA has agents across the country. Call them at (800) 989-1819 for the name of the closest one.

Another way to get coupons is to subscribe to a coupon saver's newsletter. The best one is Refundle Bundle. It contains lists of coupons and rebates available from manufacturers, as well as a classified area, where you can find people who want to trade coupons they don't need for ones you don't need.

This can be a great way to get the ones you want. You can find the current subscription price, as well as other coupon newsletters, by looking through the "household" sections in the periodical reference books at your local library.

Finally, you can start your own local coupon club. Advertise in the weekly PennySaver papers in your surrounding area for people interested in saving money. It shouldn't be hard to find a place to meet.

If you have the space, meet at your house or basement. Often, public libraries will have meeting places for clubs and organizations for free or very low cost.

At your first club meeting, you can get suggestions from the people attending as to how the club should work. Form a "board of directors" from the people who have the best suggestions. If you have to pay for a meeting place, charge a low yearly dues that will cover the expense, as well as any mailing or newsletter expenses.

Get a subscription to some of the best coupon saver newsletters in the club's name, and share the information with other members (but don't photocopy them and pass them around; that's illegal). Give members subscription info if they are interested). The bulk of the meeting can be used for coupon trading sessions. Try to discourage coupon or rebate selling, as that can be a touchy subject for a lot of people. Equal value trading can be extremely successful for getting the coupons you want.

Try these suggestions, and you'll find yourself saving a LOT of money every time you go to the grocery store!

SAVE MONEY COOKING

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BABY FOOD

Making your own baby food will ensure that what your child is eating is fresh, nutritious and free of additives. By making your own baby foods, you'll be saving money, up to 50%. And to top it off, it's easy; making baby food at home is probably a lot less time-consuming than you may have thought.

In order to make your own baby foods, you'll need something to cook in. A steamer basket is cheap and by cooking fruits and vegetables in it, you'll be sure of keeping the nutrients in the food, instead of in the cooking water.

To puree your foods, you can use a fork, a food mill or blender. A blender quickly purees almost anything into the finest consistency. When your baby first starts on solids, you'll be pureeing things to a very fine consistency and, as baby gets a little older, you will make foods a little coarser.

You may wish to buy a food mill which comes in large and small sizes. It is very handy and inexpensive. The food mill strains most cooked foods to a very smooth consistency, although meats can be a problem as they will have a coarser texture.

As babies are susceptible to digestive upsets, you'll want to take note of the following tips concerning the handling of foods:

- always work with clean hands.

- always use clean utensils.

- prepare foods immediately upon removing them from the refrigerator.

- freeze immediately after cooking any foods you want to store.

You can prepare large amounts of foods at once and freeze them. Take your prepared foods and plop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Freeze the plops right away and then take them off the sheet when they are frozen and put them into plastic bags. Label and date. You can also freeze the food in plastic "pop out" ice cube trays. Small Tupperware jars with lids serve the same purpose and stack easily. Frozen baby foods can be stored for up to two months.

When you take frozen foods out for baby, warm the food in a cup placed in a saucepan of boiling water with a lid on.

Cereals are typically the first foods given to a baby because they contain lots of iron. You can buy the commercial baby cereals, or prepare your own, by running oatmeal through your blender, for instance.

Fruits are generally given next. Except for raw, mashed banana, you will need to cook all other fruits until they are soft.

Try making your own applesauce and pearsauce; don't add any sugar, as these fruits are sweet enough on their own. You can also peel peaches, plums and apricots and boil or steam them.

Use fresh vegetables whenever possible in order to provide the best nutrition and flavor for your baby. Frozen vegetables are better to use than canned. Steaming vegetables is the best method of preparation. Carrots and sweet potato are two popular choices to begin with.

Yogurt, mashed cottage cheese, mashed pumpkin, baked potato, avocado and tofu (oriental soy bean curd) are all popular with babies. One good idea is to blend together cottage cheese, banana and fresh orange juice - delicious!

Meats should be added slowly. They can be boiled or broiled, then put in the blender with a little milk and perhaps banana or cream of rice to get the right consistency. Chicken is generally the first meat baby is introduced to and usually goes down fairly well.

There is no rush to start your baby on solid foods. Milk is his most important food. Your doctor's recommendations and your own intuition will help you to know when to begin introducing solids to your baby's diet. Always remember to be patient with your baby and allow at least a few days between newly added foods to make sure baby doesn't suffer any reactions.

HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN PET FOOD

As a pet owner, no doubt you want to give your dog or cat the best care possible. And caring for your pet means feeding him the best diet you can.

Animals, because they are color blind, choose their foods by smell. Most dogs like gamey flavors best, as well as liver, fat, garlic, onions, horsemeat, lamb, beef, cheese and fish. Cats enjoy chicken, liver, fish, turkey, lamb, and yeast, and prefer fresh to aged flavors.

Remember that cats are fussy eaters and it is not wise to continually feed them their favorite foods. Soon they will refuse to eat anything else; it is your job to see your cat has a balanced diet.

Animals do not need salt added to their diet as the natural salt in the food is enough for them.

Dogs may eat any vegetable they want, but cats should not have any starchy veggies, like peas and corn. Some dogs and cats even enjoy fruits!

It's a good idea to always add a grain, such as Kibble, wheat germ, cooked oatmeal or whole wheat bread to meat dinners. For dogs use 75% carbohydrate foods (grains and vegetables) to 25% meat; for cats use half carbohydrate foods to half meat.

You will find, once you begin making your own pet foods, that it is really relatively simple and you will save some money as well. Remember that all pet foods should be served at room temperature; don't serve food cold from the refrigerator nor hot from the stove.

Incidentally, you should know that cats should be fed three twice a day, while an adult dog needs only one meal a day.

Here are some pet recipes you can make at home:

SAUTÉED LIVER

Heat 1 teaspoon corn oil in a pan. Add 1/4 pound beef liver and fry on both sides until cooked but not dry inside.

Add 1/2 cup water to the pan and mix it up with all the brown bits.

For dogs, cut the liver into pieces and serve; for cats, grind the liver in a blender, using the pan juices.

CHICKEN SOUP

Combine 1 chicken liver, 1 giblet, 1 chicken heart, 1 chicken neck, 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley. Cover and simmer until the giblet is tender.

Chop all the meat for dogs removing bones and mix with kibble; for cats, you may want to grind the meat in the blender.

VEAL STEW

Combine 1/2 pound stewing veal, 1 cup canned tomatoes, 1 cup water, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 1/2 onion (chopped), parsley and a dash of garlic powder in a pot and simmer. When meat is tender, remove all the bones.

For dogs, cut the meat in chunks, and mix stew with kibble or some other grain; for cats, grind the stew in blender, adding a tablespoon of wheat germ or 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread.

LIVER COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine 1/2 cup dry milk and 1/2 cup wheat germ; drizzle 1 teaspoon honey on top.

Add one 3-1/3 oz. jar of strained liver baby food or homemade blended liver and stir until everything is well mixed.

Form the mixture into balls; place them on an oiled cookie sheet and flatten them with a fork.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Consistency should be fudgy.

Store in a jar in the fridge; freeze if keeping more than a few days.

DOG MORSELS

2 cups whole wheat flour 2 tsp. garlic powder.

2 cups white flour 1 cup skim milk powder.

2 eggs water.

1/2 cup melted beef or pork drippings (or lard).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix ingredients together with enough water to make a stiff dough.

Roll out and cut into Christmas shapes.

Bake on cookie sheet until hard.

LAMB STEW

Follow the recipe for Veal Stew, using chunks of lamb instead and leaving out the tomato if desired.

MACKEREL DINNER

Heat 1 tsp. corn oil in a skillet and fry 1 small mackerel until it flakes apart easily. Remove and cool.

Pour 1/2 cup hot water into the pan and scrape the brown bits into it.

Remove the bones from the fish and mix with the juice.

For dogs, serve in pieces with kibble; for cats, grind with the pan juices.

FISH COOKIES

Follow the recipe for Liver Cookies but use instead 3-1/2 ounces of mashed and boned mackerel, either canned or freshly cooked.

BEEF COOKIES

Following the recipe for Liver Cookies, using cooked beef puree instead.

KITTY TREATS

1-1/2 cups rolled oats 1/4 cup vegetable oil.

1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup tuna oil, chicken broth or beef bouillon.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients into a dough.

Dust hands with flour and form small, 1/2-inch-thick, round "biscuits".

Set on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 30 minutes (or until biscuits are slightly browned).

Cool 30 minutes before serving.

BUDGIE BROWNIES

1 cup cornmeal 1 tsp. finely ground cuttlebone.

1 cup hulled millet 2 tbsp. liquid honey.

1/4 cup whole wheat flour 2 eggs.

2 tbsp. raw wheat germ 4 egg yolks (for larger birds add 1/2 cup peanuts).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

Pat into a greased and floured baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes or until firm. (If edges start to get too brown, cover with foil).

Cool and cut into small squares.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN HOME BREW

This recipe is presented as information only. The author is not responsible if this recipe is so pleasing that you drink the brew excessively.

The necessary ingredients are usually available from most markets, and the bottle caper and caps may be found at most hardware stores. You will also need a crock, about 10 gallons and a hydrometer of the type designed for brewing.

The purpose of the hydrometer is to determine when the sugar content of the mix is less than 1%. It will float on top of the mix for about 3 or 4 days, and when it sinks you are ready to bottle the brew.

You will need a collection of empty bottles - the quart size is best. Be sure they are SUPER clean.

Ingredients:

Malt-2 cups

Sugar-5 cups

Yeast-1 tbsp

Water-3 gallons

For a darker color add more malt. For stronger flavor add more sugar and a small amount of brewers hops. The BEST flavor, at least to the author is to use 3 cups of superfine sugar and 3 cups of brown sugar. This gives about 18% by volume - 36 proof.

Remember: This is far stronger than regular beer - so drink very slowly!!!

Directions:

Heat about 2 quarts of water and dissolve the malt syrup. Add the sugar to the mix slowly and stir until dissolved. Let the mix boil for several minutes then pour into crock and add the balance of water. If you use hops wrap them in a cheese cloth and hang it in the mix. Wait about three hours and skim off foam.

Place the hydrometer in the mix and from this point on keep your eye on it. It will sink in about three days or so and you are ready to bottle.

The best way to bottle is a small syphon hose. Try NOT to disturb the mix. Slowly place the hose about one inch from the bottom and start the syphon action. As each bottle is filled about one inch from the top, pinch the hose to stop the flow and then release and fill the next bottles and let them age - at least 10 days and 30 days is better.

This recipe should produce the equivalent of nearly 40 cans of store bought beer, all for a few dollars.

You can get all the supplies you need at any Wine Makers Store, including bottles, and can reuse the bottles, just make sure they are absolutely clean and sterile.

Remember that it will be around two times stronger than regular beer - so BE CAREFUL HOW MUCH YOU DRINK, and of course, NEVER DRINK & DRIVE.

The very best flavor comes after about 3 months. If you are smart - start another batch immediately as you will want to start drinking the first one almost immediately.

HOW TO GET FREE MEALS IN RESTAURANTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For the last 26 years I have eaten out in restaurants EVERY DAY! Many times two or three meals in one day! About 98% of all my meals are from restaurants. I've spent so much time in restaurants that, over the years, I've, even worked in a few as dishwasher, cook, and manager trainee.

I rarely eat out in fast-food establishments. I enjoy the "family-style, dine-in type" restaurants. The kind with a smiling hostess, friendly waitress, and a manager who gets around and speaks to all the customers.

When I find a place that has good food and friendly service, I keep going back. It doesn't take long to be on a "first-name" basis with each employee that you deal with. Through the years of eating out, I've occasionally received a "FREE" meal!

The following methods to receive free meals are NOT SCAMS or ILLEGAL SCHEMES! I'm also NOT going to tell you to get someone else to pay for your meal, but if it works for you - Go For It! I DID NOT go out and plan or create these methods, they just started happening to me!

ON THE HOUSE

By frequenting the same restaurant often, you get to be pretty good friends with the managers and owners. On several occasions, I've been offered a meal "on the house" for one of two reasons:

       1) Owner/manager wants my opinion of a new menu item and offers it free of charge, or

       2). A dinner, was either ordered by mistake by the waitress, or prepared by the cook by mistake - too good to throw out -         offered to me free of charge. Thank You! (Right place at the right time!)

FAVORS

I've also received FREE MEALS for doing the restaurant a favor from time to time. I once suggested my favorite restaurant to a local cub scout troop for a banquet location. I received a FREE MEAL from the manager in appreciation.

A co-worker of mine was looking for a caterer for his family reunion. I suggested he call my favorite restaurant for a price (and mention my name). He got a good price - and I got a FREE MEAL in appreciation!

Also, while "hanging out" at my favorite restaurant, I've been asked by the manager to run to the grocery for him to pick up some item they may need. When I get back, he's "taken care" of my check!

SECRET SHOPPER SERVICE

I once saw an ad in the classifieds for a secret shopper. I answered the ad and was hired by a national restaurant chain to eat in one of their restaurants twice a month. Each time I visited I had to make a full report on service, food, time it took, etc. I was reimbursed for my meals plus received extra money for doing it! Watch your classifieds, or you may start your own service.

BIRTHDAYS

Many restaurants offer discounts or free birthday cake on your birthday. I have found one restaurant that will give you a FREE MEAL on your birthday!

I cannot print the name, but I can tell you it is a national chain of restaurants, and, you can get Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner for FREE! (I go to different locations for each meal.) Call your local restaurants to see what they do for birthdays.

FREE MEAL BENEFITS

A few years ago I decided to get a part-time job to make some extra money. Since I spent so much time in restaurants, I thought food service would be my first and best choice.

I soon found myself working in a buffet style restaurant where employees can eat FREE on the days they work!

BARTER-SYSTEM-TRADE

Probably the best way I've found to get "practically free" meals is to trade for a service or product. I say "practically free" because there is a very small cost involved. I had already owned a pin on button machine much like those you see advertised in most magazines. I've been making sports buttons for schools and teams for about 7 or 8 years.

One day a manager asked me if I had any Easter buttons for his waitresses to wear for the holiday. I came up with a design, had it printed and took 25 Easter buttons to the manager. When he asked me "how much?", I didn't know what to charge. He offered me a $15.00 steak dinner, and I said "OK!" (NOTE: My TOTAL costs to make these 25 buttons was $1.63!!)

The following month he wanted 50 Mother's Day buttons (25 for each of his two stores). I received TWO complete meals of my choice including drink and dessert! Every major holiday for the last seven years, I've traded holiday buttons for "practically free" meals! I've also approached other restaurants in my area and had similar success.

NOTE: I only approach restaurants that I really would like to eat in. Just think, if you could barter with enough restaurants each holiday, you could accumulate enough meals to possibly eat "practically free" every day!

You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/grocerysavings.zip

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You Can Download The Above Article In A PDF Booklet By Clicking On The Following Link:

http://free.artimuspress.com/creditprotection.zip

The View From Earth   Your Health   Raising Your Kids   Love Your Pets   The Garden   Lets Get Cooking   We Learned To Talk   Your Safety

Happy Home   Home Busness   Super Economizing   Safe Money   It's Only Natural   Strange & Scary   Comedy Cauldron

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33 Potent Foods to Lose Weight

An Assortment of Foods that are Beneficial in Your Weight Loss Struggle

Fat Burning Basics

If you’re overweight, you are not a bad person. You’re simply overweight. But it’s important to lose the extra pounds so you’ll look good, feel healthier and develop a sense of pride and self-esteem. Once you’ve lost the fat, you’ll need to maintain your weight.

In this booklet, you’ll discover how to lose 10 pounds a month – a nice, safe loss of about two or two-and-a-half pounds a week – painlessly. You’ll feel satisfied and more energetic than in the past without feeling deprived.

Most Americans pack on those extra pounds by eating the wrong things. Changing these poor eating habits is the key to long-term success. Knowledge – along with the right food – is the key.

When humans lived in caves, they didn’t know anything about preserving and storing food. They spent all their waking time and energy hunting and gathering food. When they had it, they gobbled it down fast. Instead of storing food in pantries or cupboards, they stored energy in their bodies in the form of fat to burn during periods when there was little or nothing to eat.

Each year, it was absolutely vital for them to put on a good layer of fat during the warm sprint and summer months. That was the only way they could guarantee their survival during the lean and mean winter months.

And since women bore the young, they needed more energy to sustain themselves and their babies, and that meant they were usually heavier.

Even though we no longer live in caves, we have inherited and maintained this basic mechanism for fat storage from our hunting and gathering ancestors. Each one of us is born with a certain number of fat cells. How many of these fat cells you possess depends on genetics. If you have a lot of fat cells, maybe your ancestors were the biggest people in the tribe, which was a good thing because they had the best chances of survival.

You can never get rid of fat cells, but – unfortunately – you can add to them. Depending upon what you eat, your body will manufacture new far cells. And like those you were born with, they never go away.

That doesn’t mean you’re doomed to be fat once you put on extra pounds. It is possible to shrink fat cells. That’s what happens when you lose weight. You burn up the fat stored in those big fat cells. Think of them as balloons. Burning off the fat inside them has the save effect as letting the air out of a balloon.

A good weight loss program requires a certain amount of intake restriction – the consumption of fewer calories. You burn off the fat by eating less fat and becoming more active.

To guarantee a lifetime of weight-control success, you have to change the type of foods you eat, so that you ingest less fat and still get the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, protein, fat and carbohydrates your body needs to thrive.

Extremely low-calorie diets may help you shed pounds quickly, but they’ll lead to failure in the long run.

That’s because humans are genetically protected against starvation. During food shortages, our bodies slow down our metabolisms and burn less energy so we can stay alive.

A part of our brain called the hypothalamus keeps us on an even weight keep by creating a “set point.” That’s the weight where we feel comfortable. The hypothalamus determines this point based on the level of consumption it’s used to. It seeks to keep our weight constant, even if that point is over what it should be.

When we drastically cut back our food intake, the brain thinks the body is starving, and in an effort to preserve life, it slows the metabolism. Soon the pounds stop coming off. Consequently, we grow hungry and uncomfortable and then eat more. And then the diet fails.

How can you compensate for this metabolic slow-down? The answer is that you have to change the nutritional composition of the foods you eat. You will have to cut down on total calories – that’s absolutely basic to weight loss. More important, however, is reducing the percentage of total calories you are getting from fat.

That’s how you’ll avoid starvation panic in your system. At the same time, you reduce the amount of fat in your food, replacing it with safe, low calorie, nutrient-rich plant foods. This will convince your brain that your body is getting all the nutrition it needs.

In fact, you’ll be able to eat more food and feel more satisfied while consuming fewer calories and fats.

Plant foods break down slowly in your stomach, making you feel full longer, and they are rich in vitamins, minerals, trace elements, carbohydrates and protein for energy and muscle-building. This allows your body to burn off its excess stored fat.

Fat Burning Foods

Each one of the following foods is clinically proven to promote weight loss. These foods go a step beyond simply adding no fat to your system – they possess special properties that add zip to your system and help your body melt away unhealthy pounds. These incredible foods can suppress your appetite for junk food and keep your body running smoothly with clean fuel and efficient energy.

You can include these foods in any sensible weight-loss plan. They give your body the extra metabolic kick that it needs to shave off weight quickly.

A sensible weight loss plan calls for no fewer that 1,200 calories per day. But Dr. Charles Klein recommends consuming more that that, if you can believe it – 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day. He says you will still lose weight quite effectively at that intake level without endangering your health.

Hunger is satisfied more completely by filling the stomach. Ounce for ounce, the foods listed below accomplish that better than any others. At the same time, they’re rich in nutrients and possess special fat-melting talents.

Apples - These marvels of nature deserve their reputation for keeping the doctor away when you eat one a day. And now, it seems, they can help you melt the fat away, too.

First of all, they elevate your blood glucose (sugar) levels in a safe, gentle manner and keep them up longer than most foods. The practical effect of this is to leave you feeling satisfied longer, say researchers.

Secondly, they’re one of the richest sources of soluble fiber in the supermarket. This type of fiber prevents hunger pangs by guarding against dangerous swings or drops in your blood sugar level.

An average size apple provides only 81 calories and has no sodium, saturated fat or cholesterol. You’ll also get the added health benefits of lowering the level of cholesterol already in your blood as well as lowering your blood pressure.

Whole Grain Bread  - You needn’t dread bread. It’s the butter, margarine or cream cheese you put on it that’s fattening, not the bread itself. We’ll say this as often as needed – fat is fattening. If you don’t believe that, ponder this – a gram of carbohydrate has four calories, a gram of protein four, and a gram of fat nine. So which of these is really fattening?

Bread, a natural source of fiber and complex carbohydrates, is okay for dieting. Norwegian scientist Dr. Bjarne Jacobsen found that people who eat less than two slices of bread daily weigh about 11 pounds more that those who eat a lot of bread.

Studies at Michigan State University show some breads actually reduce the appetite. Researchers compared white bread to dark, high-fiber bread and found that students who ate 12 slices a day of the dark, high-fiber bread felt less hunger on a daily basis and lost five pounds in two months. Others who ate white bread were hungrier, ate more fattening foods and lost no weight during this time.

So the key is eating dark, rich, high-fiber breads such as pumpernickel, whole wheat, mixed grain, oatmeal and others. The average slice of whole grain bread contains only 60 to 70 calories, is rich in complex carbohydrates – the best, steadiest fuel you can give your body – and delivers surprising amount of protein.

Coffee  - Easy does it is the password here. We’ve all heard about potential dangers of caffeine – including anxiety and insomnia – so moderation is the key.

The caffeine in coffee can speed up the metabolism. It’s known as a metabolic enhancer.

This makes sense, since caffeine is a stimulant. Studies show it can help you burn more calories than normal, perhaps up to 10 percent more. For safety’s sake, it’s best to limit your intake to a single cup in the morning and one in the afternoon. Add only skim milk to it and try doing without sugar – many people learn to love it that way.

Grapefruit - There’s good reason for this traditional diet food to be a regular part of your diet. It helps dissolve fat and cholesterol. An average sized grapefruit has 74 calories, delivers a whopping 15 grams of pectin (the special fiber linked to lowering cholesterol and fat), is high in vitamin C and potassium and is free of fat and sodium.

It’s rich in natural galacturonic acid, which adds to its potency as a fat and cholesterol fighter. The additional benefit here is assistance in the battle against atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and the development of heart disease. Try sprinkling it with cinnamon rather than sugar to take away some of the tart taste.

Mustard - Try the hot, spicy kind you find in Asian import stores, specialty shops and exotic groceries. The amount of hot mustard normally called for in Mexican, Indian and Asian recipes, about one teaspoon, temporarily speeds up the metabolism, just as caffeine and the drug ephedrine do.

Mustard is natural and totally safe. It can be used every day, and it really works. It can speed up the metabolism by as much as 20 to 25 percent for several hours. This can result in the body burning an extra 45 calories for every 700 consumed.

Peppers - Hot, spicy chili peppers fall into the same category as hot mustard. A mere three grams of chili peppers were added to a meal consisting of 766 total calories. The peppers’ metabolism raising properties induce a thermic effect. It doesn’t take much to create the effect. Most salsa recipes call for four to eight chilies – that’s not a lot.

Peppers are astonishingly rich in vitamins A and C, abundant in calcium, phosphorus, iron and magnesium, high in fiber, free of fat, low in sodium and have just 24 calories per cup.

Potatoes - We’ve got to be kidding, right? Wrong. Potatoes have developed the same “fattening” rap as bread, and it’s unfair. An excellent food with which to achieve rapid weight loss is the potato, at 0.6 calories per gram or about 85 calories per potato. A great source of fiber and potassium, they lower cholesterol and protect against strokes and heart disease.

Preparation and toppings are crucial. Steer clear of butter, milk and sour cream, or you’ll blow it. Opt for yogurt instead.

Rice - An entire weight-loss plan, simply called the Rice Diet, was developed by Dr. William Kempner at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The diet, dating to the 1930’s, makes rice the staple of your food intake. Later on, you gradually mix in various fruits and vegetables.

It produces stunning weight loss and medical results. The diet has been shown to reverse and cure kidney ailments and high blood pressure.

A cup of cooked rice (150 grams) contains about 178 calories – approximately one-third the number of calories found in an equivalent amount of beef or cheese. And remember, whole grain rice is much better for you than white rice.

Soups - Soup is good for you! Maybe not the canned varieties from the store – but old-fashioned, homemade soup promotes weight loss. Dieters who eat a bowl of soup before lunch and dinner lose more weight than dieters who don’t. In fact, the more soup you eat, the more weight you'll lose. And soup eaters tend to keep the weight off longer.

Naturally, the type of soup you eat makes a difference. Cream soups or those made of beef or pork are not your best bets. But here’s a great recipe:

Slice three large onions, three carrots, four stalks of celery, one zucchini and one yellow squash. Place in a kettle. Add three cans crushed tomatoes, two packets low-sodium chicken bouillon, three cans water and one cup white wine (optional). Add tarragon, basil, oregano, thyme and garlic powder. Boil, then simmer for an hour. Serves six.

Spinach - Popeye really knew what he was talking about. Spinach has the ability to lower cholesterol, rev up the metabolism and burn away fat.

Rich in iron, beta carotene and vitamins C and E, it supplies most of the nutrients you need.

Tofu - You just can’t say enough about this health food from Asia. Also called soybean curd, it’s basically tasteless, so any spice or flavoring you add blends with it nicely. A 2½ ” square has 86 calories and nine grams of protein. (Experts suggest an intake of about 40 grams per day.)

Tofu contains calcium and iron, almost no sodium and not a bit of saturated fat. It makes your metabolism run on high and even lowers cholesterol.

With different varieties available, the firmer tofus are goof for stir-frying or adding to soups and sauces while the softer ones are good for mashing, chopping and adding to salads.

Potent Foods

It would be unrealistic to think you could successfully lose weight and enjoy what you’re eating with a mere handful of foods, no matter how delicious, nutritious and satisfying they may be. So we’re going to add an extra roster of fat-fighting foods you can eat along with the great foods mentioned in the last section.

They’ll lend different tastes and textures to every meal and provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals, proteins and other vital nutrients. Naturally, each one is high in fiber, low in fat and safe when it comes to sodium content, too.

Many have crunchiness and flavor we’ve come to desire in snack and nibbling foods. If you’re like most of us, you may have a real junk food snacking habit – a habit you’re going to have to change in order to slim down. Many of the foods in this section may be worthy substitutes.

Barley - This filling grain stacks up favorably to rice and potatoes. It has 170 calories per cooked cup, respectable levels of protein and fiber and relatively low fat. Roman gladiators ate this grain regularly for strength and actually complained when they had to eat meat.

Studies at the University of Wisconsin show that barley effectively lowers cholesterol by up to 15 percent and has powerful anti-cancer agents. It cures constipation better than laxatives -and that can promote weight loss, too.

Use it as a substitute for rice in salads, pilaf or stuffing, or add to soups and stews. You can also mix it with rice for an interesting texture. Ground into flour, it makes excellent breads and muffins.

Beans - Beans are one of the best sources of plant protein. Peas, beans and chickpeas are collectively known as legumes. Most common beans have 215 calories per cooked cup (lima beans go up to 260). They have the most protein with the least fat of any food, and they’re high in potassium but low in sodium.

Plant protein is incomplete, which means that you need to add something to make it complete.

Combine beans with a whole grain – rice, barley, wheat, corn – to provide the amino acids necessary to form a complete protein. Then you get the same top-quality protein as in meat with just a fraction of the fat. Eating beans regularly can lower cholesterol levels.

The most common complaint about beans is that they cause gas. Here’s how to contain that problem: Before cooking, rinse the beans and remove foreign particles, put in a kettle and cover with boiling water, soak for four hours or longer, remove any beans that float to the top, then cook the beans in fresh water.

Berries - This is the perfect weight-loss food. Berries have natural fructose sugar that satisfies your longing for sweets and enough fiber so you absorb fewer calories that you eat. The high content of insoluble fiber in fruits, vegetables and whole grains reduces the absorption of calories from foods enough to promote width loss without hampering nutrition.

Berries are a great source of potassium that can assist you in blood pressure control. Blackberries have 74 calories per cup, blueberries 81, raspberries 60 and strawberries 45. So use your imagination and enjoy the berry of your choice.

Broccoli  - Broccoli is America’s favorite vegetable, according to a recent poll. No wonder. A cup of cooked broccoli has a mere 44 calories. It delivers a staggering nutritional payload and is considered the number one cancer-fighting vegetable. It has no fat, loads of fiber, cancer fighting chemicals called indoles, carotene, 21 times the RDA of vitamin C and calcium.

When you’re buying broccoli, pay attention to the color. The tiny florets should be rich green and free of yellowing. Stems should be firm.

Buckwheat  - It’s great for pancakes, breads, cereal, soups or alone as a grain dish commonly called kasha. It has 155 calories per cooked cup. Diets including buckwheat lead to excellent blood sugar regulation, resistance to diabetes and lowered cholesterol levels.

You cook buckwheat the same way you would rice or barley. Bring two to three cups of water to a boil, add the grain, cover the pan, turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the water is absorbed.

Cabbage  - This Eastern Europe staple is a true wonder food. There are only 33 calories in a cup of cooked shredded cabbage, and it retains all its nutritional goodness no matter how long you cook it.

Eating cabbage raw (18 calories per shredded cup), cooked, as sauerkraut (27 calories per drained cup) or coleslaw (calories depend on dressing) only once a week is enough to protect against colon cancer. And it may be a longevity-enhancing food. Surveys in the United States, Greece and Japan show that people who eat a lot of it have the least colon cancer and the lowest death rates overall.

Carrots - What list of health-promoting, fat-fighting foods would be complete without Bugs Bunny’s favorite? A medium-sized carrot carries about 55 calories and is a nutritional powerhouse. The orange color comes from beta carotene, a powerful cancer-preventing nutrient (provitamin A).

Chop and toss them with pasta, grate them into rice or add them to a stir-fry. Combine them with parsnips, oranges, raisins, lemon juice, chicken, potatoes, broccoli or lamb to create flavorful dishes. Spice them with tarragon, dill, cinnamon or nutmeg. Add finely chopped carrots to soups and spaghetti sauce – they impart a natural sweetness without adding sugar.

Corn  - It’s really a grain – not a vegetable – and is another food that’s gotten a bum rap. People think it has little to offer nutritionally and that just isn’t so. There are 178 calories in a cup of cooked kernels.

It contains good amounts of iron, zinc and potassium, and it delivers a high-quality of protein, too.

The Tarahumara Indians of Mexico eat corn, beans and hardly anything else. High blood cholesterol and cardiovascular heart disease are almost nonexistent among them.

Cottage Cheese - As long as we’re talking about losing weight and fat-fighting foods, we had to mention cottage cheese.

Low-fat (2%) cottage cheese has 205 calories per cup and is admirably low in fat, while providing respectable amounts of calcium and the B vitamin riboflavin. Season with spices such a dill, or garden fresh vegetable such a scallions and chives for extra zip.

To make it sweeter, add raisins or one of the fruit spreads with no sugar added. You can also use cottage cheese in cooking, baking, fillings and dips where you would otherwise use sour cream or cream cheese.

Figs  - Fiber-rich figs are low in calories at 37 per medium (2.25” diameter) raw fig and 48 per dried fig. A recent study by the USDA demonstrated that they contribute to a feeling of fullness and prevent overeating. Subjects actually complained of being asked to eat too much food when fed a diet containing more figs than a similar diet with an identical number of calories.

Serve them with other fruits and cheeses. Or poach them in fruit juice and serve them warm or cold. You can stuff them with mild white cheese or puree them to use as a filling for cookies and low-calorie pastries.

Fish - The health benefits of fish are greater than experts imagined – and they’ve always considered it a health food.

The calorie count in the average four-ounce serving of a deep-sea fish runs from a low of 90 calories in abalone to a high of 236 in herring. Water-packed tuna, for example, has 154 calories. It’s hard to gain weight eating seafood.

As far back as 1985, articles in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a clear link between eating fish regularly and lower rates of heart disease. The reason is that oils in fish thin the blood, reduce blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

Daily supplements of fish oil bring dramatic relief to the inflammation and stiff joints of rheumatoid arthritis.

Greens  - We’re talking collard, chicory, beet, kale, mustard, Swiss chard and turnip greens. They all belong to the same family as spinach, and that’s one of the super-stars. No matter how hard you try, you can’t load a cup of plain cooked greens with any more than 50 calories.

They’re full of fiber, loaded with vitamins A and C, and free of fat. You can use them in salads, soups, casseroles or any dish where you would normally use spinach.

Kiwi - This New Zealand native is a sweet treat at only 46 calories per fruit. Its high in vitamin C content and potassium. It stores easily in the refrigerator for up to a month. Most people like it peeled, but the fuzzy skin is also edible.

Leeks - These members of the onion family look like giant scallions, and are every bit as healthful and flavorful as their better-known cousins. They come as close to calorie-free as it gets at a mere 32 calories per cooked cup.

You can poach or broil halved leeks and then marinate them in vinaigrette or season with Romano cheese, fine mustard or herbs. They also make a good soup.

Lettuce - People think lettuce is nutritionally worthless, but nothing could be farther from the truth. You can’t leave it out of your weight-loss plans, not at 10 calories per cup of raw romaine. It provides a lot of filling bulk for so few calories. And it’s full of vitamin C, too. Go beyond iceberg lettuce with Boston, bibb and cos varieties or try watercress, arugula, radicchio, dandelion greens, purslane and even parsley to liven up your salads.

Melons - Now, here’s great taste and great nutrition in a low-calorie package! One cup of cantaloupe balls has 62 calories, on cup of casaba balls has 44 calories, one cup of honeydew balls has 62 calories and one cup of watermelon balls has 49 calories. They have some of the highest fiber content of any food and are delicious. Throw in handsome quantities of vitamins A and C plus a whopping 547 mgs of potassium in that cup of cantaloupe, and you have a fat-burning health food beyond compare.

Oats - A cup of oatmeal or oat bran has only 110 calories. And oats help you lose weight. Subjects in a landmark 12-year study lost three pounds in two months simply by adding 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of oat bran to their daily food intake and nothing else. Just don’t expect oats alone to perform miracles – you have to eat a balanced diet for total health.

Onions - Flavorful, aromatic, inexpensive and low in calories, onions deserve a regular place in your diet. One cup of chopped raw onions has only 60 calories, and one raw medium onion (2.15” diameter) has just 42.

They control cholesterol, thin the blood, protect against cholesterol and may have some value in counteracting allergic reactions. Most of all, onions taste good and they’re good for you.

Partially boil, peel and bake, basting with olive oil and lemon juice. Or sauté them in white wine and basil, then spread over pizza. Or roast them in sherry and serve over pasta.

Pasta - The Italians had it right all along. A cup of cooked paste (without a heavy sauce) has only 155 calories and fits the description of a perfect starch-centered staple.

Pasta is rich in six minerals, including manganese, iron, phosphorus, copper, magnesium and zinc. Also be sure to consider whole wheat pastas, which are even healthier.

Sweet Potatoes - You can make a meal out of them and not worry about gaining a pound and you sure won’t walk away from the table feeling hungry.

Each sweet potato has about 103 calories. Their creamy orange flesh is one of the best sources of vitamin A you can consume.

You can bake, steam or microwave them. Or add them to casseroles, soups and many other dishes. Flavor with lemon juice or vegetable broth instead of butter.

Tomatoes - A medium tomato (2.5” diameter) has only about 25 calories. These garden delights are low in fat and sodium, high in potassium and rich in fiber.

Cancer rates are lowest among people who eat tomatoes (or strawberries) every week.

And don’t overlook canned crushed, peeled, whole or stewed tomatoes. They make sauces, casseroles and soups taste great while retaining their nutritional goodness and low-calorie status. Even plain old spaghetti sauce is a fat-burning bargain when served over pasta, so think about introducing tomatoes into your diet

Yogurt - The non-fat variety of plain yogurt has 120 calories per cup and low-fat, 144. It delivers a lot of protein and, like any dairy food, is rich in calcium and contains zinc and riboflavin.

Yogurt is handy as a breakfast food – cut a banana into it and add the cereal of your choice. You can find ways to use it in other types of cooking, to – sauces, soups, dips, toppings, stuffings and spreads. Many kitchen gadget departments even sell a simple funnel for making yogurt cheese.

Yogurt can replace heavy creams and whole milk in a wide range of dishes, saving scads of fat and calories. You can substitute half or all of the higher fat ingredients. Be creative. For example, combine yogurt, garlic powder, lemon juice, a dash of pepper and Worcestershire sauce and use it to top a baked potato instead of piling on fat-laden sour cream.

Supermarkets and health food stores sell a variety of yogurts, many with added fruit and sugar. To control calories and fat content, buy plain nonfat yogurt and add fruit yourself. Apple butter or fruit spreads with little or no added sugar are an excellent way to turn plain yogurt into a delectable sweet treat.

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The Enigma: Nuts & Bolts Or Just Lights In The Sky?

CELESTIAL ARKS

The "Mothership" Theory and Warp Speed Thinking

One theory presented by some UFOlogists is that a great ark or "mothership" may be orbiting Earth or laying at anchor in deep space just this side of a "Black Hole" dispatching scientific probes and reconnaissance craft to our planet from time to time. This ark, like a real-life "Deathstar," is an artificial world, growing its own food, recycling its own waste products, capable of sustaining alien life indefinitely, just as a naturally created world does.

Living aboard this ark are a number of different kinds of alien beings, each carrying out their own particular experiments upon earthlings with the blessings and help of the others. That the ark is peopled by different life forms is the only explanation of the diverse descriptions of alien beings seen by humans who have experienced encounters. Unless there is more than one ark!

But if UFOs are really capable of the speeds and maneuvers they appear to display, a "mothership" would not be necessary. If a spacecraft could travel to the ark near a black hole, why not simply go on to the black hole and re-enter their own dimension, thus eliminating the building of an enormous artificial world with all its logistics problems? In one way, an answer to the appearance and disappearance of UFOs may be less complicated; in another way the possible answer is infinitely more complicated than humans can imagine.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. A beam of light, if it could be made to follow the curvature of the Earth, would circumnavigate this planet at the equator 7.44 times every second. It takes approximately 2.5 seconds for radio transmissions travelling at the speed of light to reach the moon. It takes light approximately 8.33 minutes to reach Earth from the sun and a bit over two minutes from the planet Mars.

The fastest aircraft devised by humans travels at approximately 4000 or 5000 miles per hour; 83.3 miles per minute; 1.38 miles per second, or approximately 186,000 times slower than the speed of light!

The limit of our vision at sea level, from horizon to horizon in nearly flat areas (deserts), is about 40 miles. If we could spot the Aurora aircraft flying at 40 miles above the ground in the west and follow it until it disappeared in the east, we would see it for approximately one minute.

If a UFO or TLO were to traverse the same sky at the same altitude at the speed of light we would be unable to see it at all since it would be in our field of vision for about 1/5000th of a second! The image, even if we were looking directly at the object, would not even register on the optic nerve, would not be transmitted to the brain, except, perhaps, as a subconscious image.

Some astronomers, engineers and government poobahs have argued that UFOs do not exist because no one has ever captured an image on film during the thousands of photographs taken of stars and planets from all the observatories on the planet. Aircraft lights have been recorded as they cross the field of vision of the telescopes, and other known phenomena have been captured. But no UFOs have been recorded by astronomers. Even long exposures of open sky seems to have failed to reveal the presence of real "Nuts and Bolts" UFOs or elusive TLOs.

What they apparently fail to understand is that the hardware and software they're using is not equal to the task of recording an object moving at or near the speed of light.

Recent video pictures of the Patriot missiles intercepting Scuds over Saudi Arabia clearly illustrate the inability of television cameras to record events that occur in fractions of a second. A 4000 miles per hour missile may travel several hundred or several thousand feet between scans of the television camera. Even ultra high speed motion picture cameras miss events at 10,000, 20,000 or more frames per second simply because the shutter or prism of the camera has rotated to a "closed" position exactly 50% of the time the event is being recorded!

Think of it this way: When you watch a motion picture recorded at 24 frames per second, each frame of the film is seen in approximately 1/50th of a second. Then the shutter on the projector closes, the film advances and the shutter opens to reveal the next frame. In other words, when you view a film at a theater, half of the time you are seeing total darkness!

Because the human brain is geared to generate apparently smooth motion from a series of still photographs projected through a light source and lens at approximately 1/50th of a second, the movement on the screen is transmitted the brain as continuous motion. We are completely unaware that 50% of the time the shutter is closed and we are in darkness until someone explains it.

But even at 1/50th of a second,  significant action is occurring that we do not, can not see. Imagine how much more action might be occurring all around us at 186,000th of a second!

A craft with a propulsion system capable of moving at the speed of light in normal flight coupled with the anti-mass field inertial system could remain in earth orbit continuously without ever being seen by human senses or recording devices. Only when the UFOs decelerate from light speed to several thousand miles per hour to enter the atmosphere to land or take pictures or hostages, do they become visible to human senses.

Imagine you have built a spacecraft with these features. You certainly would not approach the target landing area at the speed of light. You would slow your craft and make a gradual approach similar to any earth aircraft, although at a considerably higher speed. When you decelerate from light speed your craft would suddenly become "visible" to human senses, making it appear as if your craft materialized instantly in the sky.

Having chosen your target or landing area, you would glide in, take pictures, or land to abduct humans, do whatever you think you should do, and leave. Once in the sky and safely away from aircraft or other hazards, you could accelerate to light speed again and simply "vanish" from view. You could be on Mars in about two and half minutes having dinner.

And that brings up a question: When humans are abducted, are they examined in the spacecraft at the spot where it landed or does the spacecraft take them somewhere else? Does the tingling or burning reported by many abductees suggest that the propulsion system is operating, that they are somewhere in space during the examinations? Many people have reported that they regain consciousness miles away from where they first encountered the spacecraft. This would suggest that some, if not all, are actually taken to another location or into hyperdrive while the examinations are occurring.

This seems entirely plausible since the aliens would not necessarily wish to remain on the ground during a medical examination requiring an hour or two of earth time. Too much danger of being seen by others. Besides, remaining in Earth's polluted atmosphere may be unhealthy for aliens accustomed to breathing purified gases.

That UFOs and TLOs appear and vanish instantly, that they perform dramatic manoeuvres while in the atmosphere and visible to humans is well documented. This can only be accounted for (in a purely mechanical way) if the craft are capable of accelerating to or decelerating from near-light speeds.

But at least one type of travel is infinitely faster than light speed and that is Thought-Speed! Suppose for a moment that alien spacecraft are not propelled by "engines" or surrounded by anti-mass fields, but are projected to specific points in the universe by the power of alien thoughts!

Light can travel to Mars (for instance) in about two and one half minutes. Thought can travel to Mars instantly. Thought can travel to a "Black Hole" instantly. Thought can travel to the most remote corner of the galaxy instantly. One moment you are on Earth; the next you are on Alpha Centauri. There is no physical motion, no brute force required to send you from one point to another. No humming or buzzing of equipment or engines. You are here, then you are there. You appear and disappear as quickly as you can think it.

Scientists who study the human mind agree that we have hardly scratched the surface of knowledge about what the human mind is capable of doing, even when functioning at one-hundredth capacity. Experiments in mind-over matter suggest that normal human beings are capable of controlling the random numbers generated by computers.

Tests have shown that human beings can control their heart rate and blood pressure by will alone. People who practice holistic medicine are able to regenerate damaged tissue in a remarkably short period of time. Mediums appear to be capable of conjuring up spirits of departed friends. Terminally ill patients have been known to cast off their ailments and live long and productive lives with no sign of harm.

Some particularly gifted people can move objects or alter their shape. Nearly everyone has thought of an old friend only to have them call minutes later. A few espers can see events that will occur or are occurring with astonishing clarity and accuracy.

Are these people operating on a different frequency from the rest of us, or have they simply honed skills any of us could perform could we but get the hang of it? Is the dimension of thought-time-space so near that we live within it without being aware of its existence? Has everything that ever happened, is happening or ever will happen already happened? Is our universe so structured that it takes "Earth Time" to catch up to it? Could we see past, present and future events completely by learning to penetrate and control the dimension of time and space as thought? An illustration that events occurring over a period of thousands or millions of years continue to exist in the cosmos is evident by the birth and death of stars.

Exploding super novas have been seen and recorded on earth, even in recent times. But the stars destroyed themselves thousands or millions of years ago. We are only seeing the event now because it has taken the light from the explosion thousands of years to reach Earth telescopes. That we can see and record these events is tantamount to traveling backwards thousands of years in time. The light emitted from these stellar explosions is not lost with time and distance. It continues for thousands of years until it strikes a solid body in space.

If a spacecraft approached Earth at the speed of light from a distant galaxy, the inhabitants aboard that ship could see every event that occurred on this planet from the moment it began to form from cosmic dust to the present. They would have an instant overview, in a matter of hours, minutes or seconds, like a motion picture seen in fast forward until they slowed to "Earth Time,".

They would, of course, if they are as technologically advanced as they appear to be, have sophisticated devices aboard their spacecraft to record and store these images. They would have seen the rise and demise of dinosaurs, the emergence of homosapiens, every war fought over every inch of ground since the beginning of time, and every probe earthlings have launched into their airspace.

They would know a great deal more about us than do we!

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Letters to the Welfare Dept.

These are genuine extracts from letters received by the Ministry of Social Security, which deals with Public Welfare:

1.   I am glad to state that my husband died yesterday, I will be glad if you will get me a pension. If you don't hurry up with it, I will have to get public resistance.

2.   I am enclosing my marriage certificate with three children. One of them is a mistake as you will see when you look into it. I am writing to say that my youngest is born two years old. Why am I not getting allowance for it?

3.  I enclose certificate with six children. One of them is a twin and died. You ask if he is christened. Yes, he was baptized on half a sheet of paper by a certain Chaplain in the Salvation Army.

4.   The man I live with won't work as he wants to know if my husband is dead. Will you search the records for him and let me know?

5.   I am writing to you truly, yes, I was confirmed with a boy weighing ten pounds. Let me know if this is what you want to know because I have fallen in error with the Landlord and need it badly to pay the rent.  

6.   In accordance with your instructions I gave birth to twins in the enclosed envelope.

7.   I want money badly as quick as you can send it. I have been in bed with the doctor for a week and he doesn't seem to be doing any good. If things don't improve I will have to get another doctor.

8.   Milk is needed for the baby. Father is unable to supply it.

9.   Re your dental enquiry. The teeth at the top are all right, but the ones in my bottom are hurting terribly.

10.   Please send me a form for cheap milk. I have a baby two months old and did not know anything about it until a neighbour told me.

11.   Please send me a form for milk as I am stagnant.

12.   Please send me a form for cheap milk for having babies at reduced rates.

13.   My son has been unable to attend school. He has had diarrhoea through a hole in his shoe.

50 Ways To Confuse Your Roommate

1.   Insist that you are a vegetarian and protest anytime your roommate eats meat. Then leave "Slim Jim" wrappers on the floor and lie on the bed holding your stomach every-time your roommate walks in. If he/she asks about the wrappers, say you know nothing about them.

2.   Get some hair. Disperse it around your roommate's head while he/she is asleep. Keep a pair of scissors by your bed. Snicker at your roommate every morning.

3.   Every time your roommate walks in yell, "Hooray! You're back!" as loud as you can and dance around the room for five minutes. Afterwards, keep looking at your watch and saying, "Shouldn't you be going somewhere?"

4.   Trash the room when your roommate's not around. Then leave and wait for your roommate to come back. When he/she does, walk in and act surprised. Say, "Uh-oh, it looks like, THEY, were here again."

5.   Every time you see your roommate yell, "You son of a..." and punch your hand with your fist. Then buy him/her some ice cream.

6.   Set your roommate's bed on fire. Apologize and explain that you've been watching too much "Beavis & Butthead." Do it again. Tell him/her that you're not sorry because this time, they deserved it.

7.   Put your glasses on before you go to bed. Take them off as soon as you wake up. If your roommate asks, explain that they are Magic Dream Glasses. Complain that you've been having terrible nightmares.

8.   Eat lots of "Lucky Charms." Pick out all the yellow moons and stockpile them in the closet. If your roommate inquires, explain that visitors are coming, but you can't say anything more, or you'll have to face the consequences.

9.  Set up meetings with your roommate's faculty advisor. Inquire about his/her academic potential. Take lots of notes, and then give your roommate a full report. Insist that he/she do the same.

10.   Drink a raw egg for breakfast every morning. Explain that you are in training. Eat a dozen donuts every night.

11.   Every Thursday, pack up everything you own and tell your roommate you're going home. Come back in an hour and explain that no one was home. Unpack everything and go to sleep.

12.   Every time you wake up, start yelling, "Oh, my God! Where the hell am I?!" and run around the room for a few minutes. Then go back to bed. If your roommate asks, say you don't know what he/she is talking about.

13.   Draw a tiny, black spot on your arm. Make it bigger every day. Look at it and say, "It's spreading, it's spreading".

14.   Buy a McDonald's "Happy Meal" for lunch every day. Put the bag on your head like a hat. Throw everything else away.

15.   Buy a plant. Sleep with it at night. Talk to it. After a few weeks, start to argue with it loudly. Then yell, "I can't live in the same room with you," storm out of the room and slam the door. Get rid of the plant, but keep the pot. Refuse to discuss the plant ever again.  

16.   Buy a Jack-In-The-Box. Every day, turn the handle until the clown pops out. Scream continuously for five minutes.

17.   Hang up pictures of chickens all over the room. If your roommate eats eggs, yell at him/her and call him/her a cannibal.  

18.   Buy some knives. Sharpen them every night. While you're doing so, look at your roommate and mutter, "Soon, soon...."

19.   Lock the door while your roommate is out. When he/she comes back and tries to unlock it, yell, "Don't come in, I'm naked!" Keep this up for several minutes. When you finally let your roommate in, immediately take off all of your clothes, and ignore your roommate.

20.   Bring in potential "new" roommates from around campus. Give them tours of the room and the building. Have them ask about your roommate in front of him/her, and reply, "Oh, him/her? He/she won't be here much longer."

21.   If your roommate comes home after midnight, hit him/her on the head with a rolled up newspaper. Immediately go to bed, muttering, "Ungrateful little..."  

22.   Pile dirty dishes in your roommate's bed. Insist that you don't know how they got there.  

23.   Collect hundreds of pens and pile them on one side of the room. Keep one pencil on the other side of the room. Laugh at the pencil.

24.   Feign a serious illness for two weeks. Have a priest come to your room and visit you. Write out a will, leaving everything to your roommate. One day, miraculously "recover." Insist that your roommate write out a will, leaving everything to you. Every time he/she coughs, excitedly say, "Oooh, are you dying?"

25.   Live in the hallway for a week. Afterwards, bring all of your stuff back into the room and tell your roommate, "Okay, your turn."  

26.  Keep a tarantula in a jar for three days. Then get rid of the tarantula. If your roommate asks, say, "Oh, he's around here somewhere."

27.  Tell your roommate, "I've got an important message for you." Then pretend to faint. When you recover, say you can't remember what the message was. Later on, say, "Oh, yeah, I remember!" Pretend to faint again. Keep this up for several days.

28.  Bowl inside the room. Set up tournaments with other people in the building. Award someone a trophy. If your roommate wants to bowl too, explain that he/she needs bowling shoes.

29.  Walk backwards all the time. Then pretend to trip and hurt yourself. Fake an injury and go through a long, painful recovery. Start walking backwards again.

30.  While your roommate is out, glue your shoes to the ceiling. When your roommate walks in, sit on the floor, hold your head, and moan.

31.  Explain to your roommate that you're going to be housing a prospective student in the near future. One day, bring in a pig. If your roommate protests, hug the pig and tell your roommate that he/she hurt its feelings. Watch T.V with the pig, eating lots of bacon.

32.  Punch a hole in the T.V. Sit and watch it anyway, complaining about the poor picture quality.  

33.  Make a sandwich. Don't eat it, leave it on the floor. Ignore the sandwich. Wait until your roommate gets rid of it, and then say, "Hey, where the hell is my sandwich!?" Complain loudly that you are hungry.

34.  Wear a cape. Stand in front of an open window for about an hour every day. Then, one day, when your roommate is gone, go outside and lie down underneath the window, pretending to be hurt, and wait for your roommate to return. The next day, start standing in front of the window again.

35.  Collect potatoes. Paint faces on them and give them names. Name one after your roommate. Separate your roommate's potato from the others. Wait a few days, and then bake your roommate's potato and eat it. Explain to your roommate, "He just didn't belong."

36.  Fill an empty shaving cream can with whipped cream. Use it to shave, and then spray some into your mouth. Later on, complain that you feel sick. Continue this process for several weeks.

37.  Cover your bed with a tent. Live inside it for a week. If your roommate asks, explain that "It's a jungle out there." Get your roommate to bring you food and water.

38.  Keep a vacuum cleaner in the middle of the room. Look at it with fear for a few days. Then stay out of the room entirely, opening the door only a crack and whispering to your roommate, "Psst! Is it gone?"

39.  Break the window with a rock. If your roommate protests, explain that you were hot. Open and close the broken window as you normally would.

40.  Throw darts at a bare wall. All of a sudden, act excited, telling your roommate that you hit the bull's eye.

41.  Send flowers to your roommate, with a card that says, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." When you see them, start ripping up the flowers. Repeat the process for a few weeks.

42.  Call your roommate "Clyde" by accident. Start doing so every so often. Increase the frequency over the next few weeks, until you are calling him "Clyde" all the time. If your roommate protests, say, "I'm sorry. I won't do that anymore, Murray."

43.  Hire a night watchman to guard the room while you are sleeping.

44. Practice needlepoint every night. At one point, grab your thumb and scream, "Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Cry hysterically for a few minutes, and then go to bed. Sob and sniff all night.

45.  Move everything to one side of the room. Ask your roommate if he knows how much an elephant weighs, and look at the floor on the empty side of the room with concern.

46.  When your roommate comes in, pretend that you are on the phone, screaming angrily and shouting obscenities. After you hang up, say, "That was your mum. She said she'd call back."

47.  Every time your roommate comes in, immediately turn off the lights and go to bed. When he/she leaves, get up and loudly yell, "Okay, guys, you can come out now."

48.  Sit in front of a chess board for hours, saying nothing, doing nothing. Then, look up and say, "I think this game goes a lot faster with two players."

49.  Start wearing a crown, all the time. If your roommate tells you to take it off, say, "What the hell do you think you are? A king?"

50.   Talk back to your "Rice Krispies." All of a sudden, act offended, throw the bowl on the floor and kick it. Refuse to clean it up, explaining, "No, I want to watch them suffer."

What We Have Learnt From Movies

1.  During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

2.  All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets which reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.

3.  It's easy for anyone to land a plane, providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.

4.  The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No-one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.

5.  You're very likely to survive any battle in any war - unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

6.  A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

7.  When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet as you take out a bill - just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.

8.  If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.

9.  Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say: Enter Password Now.

10. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.

11.  If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition - even if you haven't been carrying any before now.

12.  Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.

13.  Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat them.

14.  The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective - or give him 48 hours to finish the job.

15.  Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.

16.  It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.

17.  Even when driving down a perfectly straight road it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.

18.  Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.

19.  It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

20.  It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

21.  Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.

22.  No-one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.

23.  When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.

24.  An electric fence powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight year old child.

25.  Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds - unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

26.  You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.

27.  When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

28.  A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

29.  Although in the 20th century it is possible to fire weapons at an object out of our visual range, people of the 23rd century will have lost this technology.

30.  Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment.

31.  Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.

32.  A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of Wembley Stadium.

33.  Male human beings almost never undress to have sex, or if they finally do it, they are samples of the species with no visible genitals.

34.  Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.

35.  If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

36.  Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.

37.  Interbreeding is genetically possible with any creature from elsewhere in the universe.

38.  The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

39.  All grocery shopping bags contain at least one loaf of French Bread.

40.  All telephone numbers in America begin with the digits 555.

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