Even Spot has a cough!

Ethics project on Transgenic Animals- any comments, just based on what you already know/feel about the subject? I've noticed there are a lot of really interesting conceptions/opinions about this topic, so I'd love to hear anything you have to say! Here's the good ol' Wikipedia entry on the subject, for reference, if you need a starting point. I won't use your comments for our presentation, and I will post on our ethical conclusions once we're finished.

First snow last night! Of course, it was in the 60s by afternoon, so nothing stuck around. A-Basin opens Wednesday, but Greg and I won't get up there until Saturday at the earliest. Early season skiing is for the ridiculous amazingness of getting as many days per season as possible, and I haven't skied early-season in many years, so whenever we go will be awesome!

For those of you who don't know me, I am a cooking maniac. The monthly arrival of 'Gourmet' is read as thoroughly as every letter from my sister in Tasmania, and I cook at least one complicated recipe per issue. As a result of this love of food, and the frustrations of not being able to get fresh herbs and decent produce most of the year, I started growing some ingredients myself. I wish I could say that my garden provided any decent portion of what we consume, but we only have a 5'x8' concrete patio and an office with grow lights to work with here!

I hadn't gotten around to weather-proofing my patio 'garden' yet, and I'm not ready to give up on those last green tomatoes, so I effectively filled our dining room with potted plants. The strawberries, lavender, and other hardy perennials stayed out, but the evergreen Southern blueberry, fig tree, mini roses and tomatoes take up a third of the room. I was looking at getting an olive or dwarf pomegranate tree to put in our bedroom, but I think we'll be stuffed with plants this winter as it is! I really, really like the idea of training a passionflower/fruit vine to climb up the dining room side of the totally non-functionally designed 'buffet' thing, but I really can't justify spending the money to order one! I got my hands on some Kaffir lime leaf a few weeks back and altered a Thai curry recipe around them.. ummmmmmm soooo yummy! But $50 a plant + shipping? Also too much right now. Damned economy! Damned universities taking all our money!

And: Ugh, cold/flu season sucks! We've been extra-diligent about not taking Spot out for adventures unless we've cleaned well and will clean well afterward, too, since snakes and humans can share nasty bacterial stuff. All the same, all three of us have a bit of a cough, and only one of us has a warm, humid hiding place to recover! In fact, Spot's cough has cleared up after a nice mouse and a few days with increased heating...