The 2012 Farmer's Almanac

For the first time, I've ordered The Farmer's Almanac, and I'm having such fun with it!
There are the typical - planting times and seasons, weather predictions (for the mid-south, a mild and dry winter and a cooler than normal spring), articles, ads for silly things.
One article in particular was interesting.  It's called Ham on the Lam and it's about the epidemic pig population in the US.  It appears that wild boar are taking over!  That's the serious part.
The part I'm laughing about is the side bar in the article with some funny "pig" sayings.
Here are a couple:
Do you know what "a pig's whisper" is?  It's a short period of time, the length of a pig's grunt.
Do you know what "pigs and whistles" is?  It's trifles.
What about "to go to pigs and whistles"?  To be ruined.
These are humorous, but the last two in the side bar are my  favorite.
Do you know what it means when one says "to drive pigs"?  Or what about "to drive your pigs to market"?
This is where I'm cracking up!
Next time your husband (or wife) is snoring, or snoring LOUDLY, poke them and say, "Are you driving pigs??"  OR "Are you driving your pigs to market?"
That's what it means - "to drive pigs" is "to snore" and "to drive your pigs to market" is "to snore loudly"!!

HAHA!
I love this little paperback book!

Recycling

Please don't hate me if I'm not all "green earth" to the extreme (though I do think we should care for the resources around us.  That's just good stewardship.  It's the worship of the environment that gets us in trouble - care for, not worship.  Worship is reserved for God alone.)
Y'all probably already know this, but I'm new to the bunny world.  I've never had rabbits, but am finding out they can be expensive to keep.
First of all, they grow from the cute little bunnies they were in April to big ol' rabbits, needing a bigger place to live.  There's this neat e-mail group called Freecycle that I'm part of.  A lady posted a rabbit hutch and we were fortunate enough to catch it before it was snatched up, so our bunnies now have a larger home, just in time for winter...

I've been doing some reading, and there is some debate for and some against heat lamps in the hutch.  The "against" crowd says that rabbits like cooler weather, and that if the rabbits have a good burrowing place with lots of bedding, and if their water can be kept from freezing, they'll be quite happy in the winter.
The reason for this post is the bedding.  That stuff is expensive!  You mean to tell me I have to buy wood chips or shredded cardboard for them to burrow, poop and pee on?
Uh no...
Enter the relevance for my reference to being "green".  I had this brainy thought of shredding our own bedding, as in using those newspapers that were just lying around.
Once I started the shredding, Abigail and Niki thought it looked like fun, so they joined me!

And, no, that is not one of the rabbits.  That is our spoiled rotten "brat" of a dog, Niki ;)  (see the shredded paper in the bag?)
Now our bunnies...  Alanis

and Marley

(they're wiggly and it's hard to get good pics!)
will be warm in the winter.

Easy-cut Watermelon

For years I've cut both watermelon and cantaloupe with some trepidation.  Why does it have to be so time-consuming and irritating?
A while ago, I stumbled upon an easier way to get the job done.  The pictures are below to show you my process.

I started by cutting the watermelon in half.  I chose to do so long-ways.  Then I make slices across...

Then I cut those slices in half...

Now comes the "fun" part - watch this!

I stand the piece up, and cut across ...

then down...  done with that piece!

This process is going quickly!  But what about those pesky ends?  Ah, I have a similar solution...

Yep, you stand "him" up like that, then...

make just one cut and you're DONE!
This took maybe 15 minutes to do what used to take me at least twice that long.
Yes, I'm happy with myself!
If you haven't discovered a quick, painless way to cut melons, why don't you give my way a try?
I have a feeling you may even improve upon it!  And if you do - or if you already have a quicker way, will you let me know?