Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[naglady]

Naglady, we live in the Flint area. Are you planning on coming to chickenstock??

Thought this wind was suppose to let up this afternoon. Wicked.

I am going to try, but not sure.. we usually have our week long camping trip that week..

 

[Opa]

Shortly after lunch I was in the middle of typing a response about not needing to refrigerate eggs and the reasons why when Hope came to inform me that our septic tank was backing up. When my house was built basement floor drains could be tied into the septic system so if there is a problem sewage can back up into the house. Hope had been doing laundry and the water around the drain appeared to be gray water.

When I built the addition on this house I wrote the exact location of the septic tank clean out down and put where I could easily find it. Natural I couldn't remember where that place was. After much probing I finally located where it probably was. I called septic pumping service and started digging while waiting for their arrival. Surprisingly I located the lid 20" down and Hope and I had a 3' square hole excavated by their arrival. The driver was very impressed with Hope's shovel ability and ask if she wanted a job. Two and a half hours and $250 later I thought I was all set.

Hope went back to doing laundry and when the washer discharged its water we once again had water backing up. With much plunging of the floor drain the water drained away. I ran all of the faucets and flushed all of the toilets and no water backed up. So evidently the drain line from the laundry sink is in the same line as the floor drain. Since we can use toilets and take showers I willl deal with resolving the problem tomorrow. I just too old and tired to face it today.

 

[naglady]

Aggravated! Someone has made purchases on my debit card without me having ever lost it. Not sure where they got the number from but it could be anywhere in town. I've never used it online. So the card has been marked compromised and unusable now. I first noticed the issue in my account, a purchase that stood out like a sore thumb. It was a check with an absurdly high number and for a store I've never even heard of, way out in Arizona. Then, while on the phone with the bank I find out that a purchase was denied at a Walmart (I wouldn't be caught dead in a Walmart --DH works for Meijer HQ-- so I know it wasn't me, lol). I doubt the person was caught but I hope they enjoy their $300 purchase from Cowtown Boots, buggers. I'll be getting that money back, of course, but still... This happened to me once before, years ago. Some idiot used my credit card number to buy me some "special" certain organ-enhancing vitamins, shipped to my door and everything. Back then though, the cops actually, futilely came to your door and filed reports, which they did. Nothing ever came of it naturally, and I was refunded. No, I didn't keep the vitamins. I sent them back from whatever shady California shack they came from. If I could thrive in this country without cards and credit, I would in a heartbeat. But it's not realistic. We'd have no house. Necessary evil.

Oh yeah, and someone tried to hack my facebook account last month too. ALL of my passwords have been changed everywhere online, just as a precaution.

our credit card info was hacked twice last year.. had to get new cards.. pain in the butt..

 

[ladyrsanti]

You may need to consider that your computer has been comprimised...

Being that my husband is an IT tech, it would be extremely embarrassing if this were the case. Usually he keeps our network more guarded than Fort Knox. But I vaguely remember a day last month when his mother was in town and he was surprised that she picked up and used our signal to play games on her ipad, without a password. Anything is possible.

 

[bullof7battles]

When I was 13, I took a trip to the British Isles. In a grocery store in the suburbs of London, I thought it was strange at the time, but the eggs were in the isle next to the pasta.

 

[MIchickens]

When I was 13, I took a trip to the British Isles. In a grocery store in the suburbs of London, I thought it was strange at the time, but the eggs were in the isle next to the pasta.

I was in Germany a few years back and I found it odd that their meat was not the blood red color ours is in America. I later learned they don't use carbon dioxide to make the meat look red. They just cut it and wrap it. I tried some and it was just great. I like their lunch meats allot better also. Ours seem bland in comparison.

I would definitely move to Germany in a second if the opportunity arose. The whole country is so beautiful and clean. History abounds in every city I visited.

 

[bullof7battles]

I would absolutely LOVE to live somewhere in the countryside in Europe. Maybe I will go some day and just walk around. Hike until I found a small town I like and do odd jobs to survive and buy beer, learn what I can about the history, myths and legends and then move on when I've had my fill...

 

[RaZ]

I was in Germany a few years back and I found it odd that their meat was not the blood red color ours is in America. I later learned they don't use carbon dioxide to make the meat look red. They just cut it and wrap it. I tried some and it was just great. I like their lunch meats allot better also. Ours seem bland in comparison.

For at least the past 20 years, industrial gases and gas mixtures have been commonly used during packaging for preservation purposes and to improve the taste and appearance of various foods. This process of packaging in an atmosphere other than air is known as modified atmosphere packaging.
In 2004, a new three-gas mixture used for packaging of red meat cuts and ground beef products was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is gaining in popularity. This mixture is 0.4 percent carbon monoxide, 30 percent carbon dioxide and 69.6 percent nitrogen. The CO gives meat the bright red colour. Look at the butcher case in any Meijer's, all of that meat is bright red.
Countries in the EU are quite a bit better than the US at protecting the consumer from big chem-ag corporations but they have some problems of their own as well. Consider the current scandal of horse meat being sold as beef.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-02-21-carbon-monoxide-meat_x.htm

 

[chickflick]

Oh! Don't get me going on German lunch meat!! Just love it. Why can't America make meat like that? There's a German deli in where my mom lived and every time I went to visit we would go there and buy all my favorites and enough for me to bring home. I so wish they would deliver! There are some in Chicago that my son would go and get some. He forgot to bring me some last time he came for a visit. My DH did find a German deli online that I have to go and check out and see what they have. Got my mouth watering.....

 

[MIchickens]

I would absolutely LOVE to live somewhere in the countryside in Europe. Maybe I will go some day and just walk around. Hike until I found a small town I like and do odd jobs to survive and buy beer, learn what I can about the history, myths and legends and then move on when I've had my fill...

OK...so...in the military we always have a battle buddy. I will consider it my duty to go with you as your battle buddy....lol. What you said is my idea of heaven. I hope you get your chance one day to do that...just keep us updated on here with your adventures! I will live vicariously through you!