LITTLE ROCK — DEAR READERS: Here is this week’s sound off, about people no longer learning to really cook:
“I read lots of recipes for ‘shortcuts’ to a recipe. Whatever happened to cooks learning to boil beans, bake cornbread, fry potatoes or make hamburger gravy? Our young people know lots of desserts to make but don’t know how to boil an egg. Will they ever go back to ‘scratch cooking’?”
- Carol in Ohio
DEAR READER: Probably not.
DEAR HELOISE: My husband and I have a beautifully landscaped lawn connected to a quarry filled with water. We have one problem: Geese! They enjoy the quarry, too, but several times a day they come out onto our lawn and leave droppings. Is there any solution to this problem?
- R.V. in Ohio
DEAR READER: Geese can leave a big mess. There are several options to fix the problem. You can try things like balloons, flags or scarecrows, which need to be moved often, as the birds may get used to them.
Another way to go is a physical barrier, like a fence. You can run a small fence around the area to keep the geese off your lawn. The geese will still have access to the quarry but will be prevented from going any further.
There are products on the market, from noisemakers to chemical deterrents, but do not feed the geese.
DEAR HELOISE: I enrolled my son in preschool. I had a hard time deciding where to send him. I didn’t know what to look for when touring schools. My mother gave me some good advice that I think can help other people in many situations. She said: “If there are rooms or places they will not let you look, then they are hiding something.And if that is the case, you don’t want him there.”
- S.S. in Texas
DEAR READER: This can be used when looking for schools, but also when looking at assisted-living facilities, nursing homes and boarding facilities for pets.
DEAR HELOISE: When you get a bouquet of flowers, instead of throwing away the vase once the flowers are wilted, try calling your local florist to see if it can reuse it. My local shop was very appreciative of the vases I had accumulated and rewarded me with a bouquet of spring tulips.
- Susan in Virginia
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail
ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 11/19/2012