I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Yeah my mom did the S&H green stamps religiously too. So many of us were kids of depression era moms, so they knew how to stretch a penny......or a chicken carcass. LOL

Ah yes, I well remember "stretching the chicken." My mom would even boil down the bones to make soup stock. Being a vegetarian now, it kind of disgusts me to remember that, but she was definitely frugal.

Apologies for brief change of subject but want to take advantage of the mods being here:

Jackie -I have the same problem as you. My spell checker on BCO doesn't work very well. It will highlight a misspelled (non proofed) word, but then highlight other words that have the same group of two or three letters. OR I will get a pop-up explaining which words are wrong but with no highlights in the text to guide me. I have horrendous eyes and clutzy paws so it is hard for me to write mistake-free posts with the BCO font and size (which I have already magnified). Mods, I wonder if there is a "upgrade" to the spellchecker available?

Another hazard to avoid, as buffalos have a temper:

I'm here to report that retirement is great so far, even if I'll be hunting for buffalo, Athena!  It's a beautiful sunny (though brrrrrr cold) day here.  Just the kind of day I like to be home with my splendid view of the snow covered mountain.

While all of you had S&H, we had Blue Chip stamps in California.  I had to look that one up because no one was mentioning them, but the experience was the same.  Many a stamps licked around the kitchen table, then the trip through the Caldecot tunnel to get the prize.  I think I can remember one of them, one of those "sweepers" you push around and it picks up stuff.  Don't recall it working, though.  Apparently they bought out See's candy (good purchase) and Buffett bought See's Candy.  (See's candy is a California thing, though they are expanding a bit.)

Jackie - I'm glad to hear what your Vets say about Fancy Feast.  I haven't felt good feeding them this food because I'm sure they put some secret addicting drug in the ingredients as my cats feed to it like a drug addict to heroin.  I call it "Kitty Crack."  Like the Vet said, Purina makes very palatable products.  Alexandria - I have thought about making homemade food and it might be on the list this year.  Requires a $$$ purchase of a meat and bone grinder though.  I recently found this canned food -- Evangers Beef Gravy and Tips.  It is pure meat.  They don't even add taurine.  My pet food store called the  nutritionist at Evangers and they said if the meat density is high, no need to add taurine. (Taurine is an amino acid that cats cannot manufacture themselves, but necessary.)  It is kosher, too.   It's the only other food both of my cats will eat.  $1.69 for a tuna can size...I dislike that size can as refridgerated food is always less tasty.  Good to hear your breeder has had such good luck with FF.  That really eases my mind.  Like you, I'd have trouble with raw.   I know I've gone to Lisa Pierson's site.  Wasn't she also advocating partial cooking for palatability?

Sunny - I heard this on Morning Joe this morning.  How fun it will be to be a retired woman watching C-Span with Senator Barney Frank!  Al Franken was to be my Senate favorite, but I guess he got Lawrence O'Donnell's memo on Congressional behavior - "do not overexpose yourself on national tv."

HL - that's pretty incredible, $50 a week.  For two, no less. 

RR - I hope you feel better. xxo 

Blue - Love love that sign. Says it all.  Why was Wendell a good boy last night?

When I was about 8, I remember my mother being so upset after a shopping trip, because she had spent a whopping $20.00 on the weekly food. OMG, how I would love to see that bill right now!

Mods, any insights on the spellcheck issue? (See previous page). Thanks!

Kam: On notEvangeler not adding Taurine: I wouldn't trust it.  There was a recent study - feeding cats raw food without adding taurine, on the theory that they would get it from the meat.  They had to stop the study when several cats died from heart problems due to the lack of taurine.  I like BG (before grain) Natural Instinct and Weruva.  As I said, I've heard decent things about Fancy Feast.

Health-related:

I feed my cat Wellness canned food and she (and my other past cats) likes it.  I like that it comes in the 3 oz cans.  Haven't had any luck getting her to eat their dry food though.  I wouldn't worry about mixing in some cans of the food without the taurine so long as it's not their entire diet.  We've kept our dogs on grain free food for several years too.  The quality of the 'grains' they use in pet food is disgusting IMO.   

Pip - I was using the Royal Canine hypoallergenic food from the Vet - yeah $58 a bag - rabbit, venison, lamb, and Emma kitty would slowly develop an allergy to those too.  I finally just purchased a pet food store variety and she does better, though I don't give them much dry.  It mystifies me what she is allergic to.  Blood tests don't work!!  I did one anyway and sure enough it gave her a zero for poultry (not allergic), but if she even breathes in a turkey sandwich, she starts fighting the demons.

As far as taurine, it might need to be added to a feline's diet because cooking destroys it, and cats have evolved with a raw food diet.  I remember my Vet once explaining they need taurine unless their primary diet is mice.  

Edit

Trust the inimitable Dave Barry to have such a one liner.

Many people cannot afford to travel abroad. Not their fault.

But what I CANNOT understand is people who have never been curious to travel abroad.

Wow!  That little Starbucks looks lost amidst the grandeur.  How interesting that you traveled to the UAE . . . I'm curious if the cardamom-scented coffee was the thick, Turkish style, or something different?  My family lived in Saudi Arabia when I was a kid, and while sweet tea was the usual drink, on occasion a host would offer very thin, clear, perfumey cardamom coffee.  I never cared for it much then, but would be curious to try it again.  The Turkish-style stuff is easy for me to find (in both Detroit and Brooklyn), and super easy to prepare (you just boil it with water), but I have no clue where to find or how to brew the stuff I remember from the Gulf.

Linda