As Good As Gold

  There is just no pleasing so folks.  A throughout the winter, they whined about the cold, ice and snow.  Now that springtime has come, they are whining about the pollen and their allergies.  Granted. folks have been having a rough time with allergies and the symptoms are no fun whatsoever.  Pop always used to say, "Whining just makes things worse.  Instead of complaining, do something to make things better."  He was a wise man.

  Contrary to what a lot of people think, their allergy flareups are not due to goldenrod.  This is another misconception just like the one about pine pollen.  Goldenrod, like pine, can be used to remedy the sniffles, excess mucus and headache that accompany the allergic reactions.  Before you think that I am off on a tangent here, I have tried goldenrod as a home remedy and it works.  Actually, it worked so well, that since the "trial run", I have had no allergy problems.   That was three years ago.  

  Goldenrod is oft maligned as the culprit by folks with allergy problems.  It is not the goldenrod but rather the ragweed that is doing the dirty business.  Ragweed is one of the plants whose pollen is scattered by the wind and, hence, right in your face!  Goldenrod, on the other hand is pollinated by bees and butterflies so the pollen is not "all up in the air". 

  It would not be a bad idea for folks to give the goldenrod a try but I do recommend consulting a doctor before just grabbing a handful of the beautiful blooms from the roadside.  It is best to be aware of any interactions with other medicines before starting a new regimen.

The Jellies fight back!

Last night's post was sort of a "tongue in cheek" spoof of the crazy names of things in the Bay. I twisted and turned the names so that they seemed ridiculous. I poked fun at the Ground Mullet, the Gaff Topsail and the Jellyfish. I teased and taunted the poor defenseless critters. Did they get offended? Did they get mad and retaliate? Well..in a word..umm..YES! Tonight was another night of shrimping and all was going extremely well. The five gallon bucket was rapidly filling with the beautiful crustaceans! Each throw of the net yielded thirty or forty large shrimp and then..it happened. One of the Jellies that I taunted last night did take revenge upon me! As I reached down to pick up a large shrimp, I felt a telltale burn on my right hand. Not wanting to part with my prize, I endured this pain thinking that I merely brushed a Sea Nettle. Not so..the tentacles of the Sea Nettle wrapped around my hand. As I tossed the shrimp into the bucket, the tentacles slid around my hand and flopped onto the pier causing splatters to bounce back up to my face. By this time, my hand seemed as if it was on fire and I could tell it was starting to swell

a bit. Time to head to the house for a remedy. I grabbed the camera and bucket of shrimp and headed up the hill. I pondered just what should be done in case of a severe tangle with a Sea Nettle. No clue came to mind. I have been stung many times before but never to this extent. Once inside, I tried to think..old folktale remedies started popping into the head. Rub sand from the beach onto the sting..Hey..I live on the Bayou..we have mud! Pour human urine onto the sting..uhhhh..how about...NO!!!! Coat it with meat tenderizer..wait..no, that is for bee stings. I grabbed the salt shaker and poured a healthy mound of salt onto the hand that was now a lovely shade of vermilion and and was beginning to be as puffy as a pin cushion. I am not sure what possessed me to do this but at the moment it seemed to be a good idea. The salt proved to be a futile effort. Son walks in and tells me that it should be sugar..ahhh..he was on the computer

looking up remedies! Good Son!! Sugar..who would have thought..I reached for the sugar shaker. A mound of sugar now coated the sting. Ok, when is this supposed to work?? All the sugar did was melt into a sticky candy coating on my hand. Vinegar was the next suggestion that came from the Boy Wonder's mouth. Vinegar? You are going to pickle my hand?? Splash..the sugar oozes off of the hand into a puddle as the vinegar burns the stew out of every tiny scratch on my hand. Ok now..this is enough! No more ideas from him! I was just about to think the Jelly had won when the pain stopped and the redness started fading. Within ten minutes, the swelling was gone. Was it the salt? The sugar?? Or the vinegar??? Maybe the combination of all three??? Who knows? But something worked! The Jelly had its revenge but not for long!

Hunting for a Remedy!

I am really feeling my age lately (and we will not go into just what age that is!). I ache! Throwing a cast net, standing on ladders and shoveling dirt are probably not helping things one bit. As a matter of fact, I imagine these things exacerbate the aches and pains tremendously. It is just hard for me to stop doing all of these things and many more. For instance..today, instead of waiting for someone else, I decided to install a light fixture. This would not have been too difficult had it not been twelve feet up and needed to have screws inserted into some really hard wood. Balancing myself on top of step ladder while pushing on a screwdriver took the use of some muscles that have been dormant for some time. So now I am paying for my impatience. Not one to take any sort of medicines if I can at all avoid it, I decided to turn to my vast amount of herbs for relief. Off to the kitchen to make a potion as my nephew calls it. I pulled several herbs that I know have pain relieving effects and bruised, blended and heated. Now a concoction of Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Sassafras and oil will steep overnight. Actually, this smells really nice and looks a lot more like salad dressing than an arthritis cure. Tomorrow will be a test run of the quality of this remedy..hopefully, the arthritis in my hands will respond well to this treatment. I might be aging but I still have far too many things that I want to do and achy hands and joints just will not be tolerated!

I thought I might show you another neat way to use cheesecloth for Halloween decorations. Here on the Bayou, it is very rare that we have cool enough weather in October to use the fireplace as it is intended. But..then again, it is not so rare for me to use things in ways that they are not intended to be used. To give the empty fireplace a much creepier appearance than just a big, gaping hole, I made "ghost" fire! I placed a few real logs on the grating in the fire box and I hid a standard "black light" lamp at the base of the logs. ("Black light" or ultraviolet light lamp.)

To do this, I merely placed the black light on the floor of the fireplace near the logs and then placed a log between the light and the hearth. The cord from the light was extended out the side of the fireplace but was hidden by the fire screen. Next step is to prepare the "flames". This is done the same way that we made the cheesecloth ghost. I just cut strips of cheesecloth, soaked them in liquid starch and twisted one end to bring them to a point. They were then laid them on a foil-lined cookie sheet to dry..I did curve them a bit to make them more "flame-like". (You can "speed" dry them by placing them in a pre-warmed oven that has been turned off. Do not place them in an oven that is still on as it is a fire hazard!) After they dry, arrange them in the fireplace, keeping in mind how flames would look. Just poke them in between the logs to make them stand erect. Make sure to put some in front of and some in back of the logs. Turn on the black light.. tada!.. ghost fire! You can leave them like this as the black light will make them glow or you can do as I did and lightly spritz them with (of all things) Mr. Clean! Make sure it is the original yellow colored Mr. Clean and not the new types. The original type will make the "flames" glow even brighter! This does give the old fireplace an eerie glow! (Without the added heat..something that we do not need this far in the South!) You can take this one step further and add a tiny fan to make the flames move but it really is not necessary..they look fine as they are! Oooohhh..creepy ghost fire! Hehe!