Jerry Baker's What's Growin' On?

Hi folks!

To cut down on heating bills this winter, I’m doing everything I can to make my house more energy efficient. This weekend’s chore was to insulate my hot water pipes. It was a cinch! Not only will it prevent heat loss, but now I can turn down my water heater by a few degrees and still enjoy piping hot water. You can’t beat that!

After the pipes were insulated, Shirley and I went to our local nursery to pick up a few bright, bloomin’ poinsettia plants. And to keep ‘em healthy throughout the holidays, I mixed up a batch of my world-famous Holiday Houseplant Tonic: 1/4 cup of beer, 1/2 tbsp. of unflavored gelatin, 1/2 tbsp. of fish emulsion, 1/2 tbsp. of Vitamin B1 Plant Starter, 1/2 tbsp. of ammonia, 1/2 tbsp. of instant tea granules, and 1 gallon of water. I’ll use this mix every time I water the plants to keep ‘em in the lush and lovely all season long.

And that about wrapped up our weekend. But Sunday night, my nose was so stuffed up that I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. So I dissolved 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of baking soda in a cup of warm water, and used a medicine dropper to spritz a little of the liquid into my nose. It cleared my sinuses as well as any of those store-bought saline sprays, and I slept like a baby.