@ Eddy

Wow. That sounds like it was a great trip. And yes I've had to go check out at the police station when I first got here. They do have a lot of rules here

@ Monica

I don’t think that the baozi would survive the trip, better to have them fresh. Alternatively you could apply for a visa, fly here and try them, served to perfection by the locals, of course! How about it? (feel free to just think about it)

@ Scott

That's wild that you had to make up all of those snow days. Its amazing how crazy Some storms are, so far inland. A few summers ago there was a huge “inland hurricane” that hit Carbondale, IL and destroyed a lot of campus. This was some time ago, then there of course was that storm that hit Harrisburg earlier this year...

Thanks, Scott. It's all better now, the last of the burned skin came off yesterday. That sounds terrible what happened to you! I can see something like that happening. I feel very very dumb now, though, because I actually have an aloe vera plant in my kitchen. It's in a flower pot by the window next to the sink. It's been sitting there for decades really. (that's true! They are impossible to kill). I just didn't think about it when that accident happened. Big duh to me!!


I know, it's been crazy weather. But now it's cold again and they say we may have snow next week! But I hope we have a winter like last year, which was extremely mild! Global warming is not so bad....




OK, I will come there.....you will pay for the plane ticket since you have a job, right?

Plane? Surely you'd have to take the "Slow Boat to China"!

I became use to the healing qualities of aloe when I lived in S. Texas. The plant was practically a weed at times. Once, I dug one up that was to close to the house and ended up with about 20 good sized plants plus at least a hundred pups. I found a place to plant the big ones and ended up just sticking most of the pups in a pot -- WITHOUT SOIL. Three years later I gave a bunch of those pots of pups to a friend. They do get most of their moisture from the air.

At the moment, though, I am managing to kill an aloe. Bought it last year from our church bazarre for $.50. A year later I decided to replant it because the pot was always too small. It has not been doing well since. Not sure if the soil is too dense or acid (our soil was alkalai), or what. I finally pulled it out of the dirt until I can figure out what to do. It is doing better.

As far as the global warming, yes, last winter was decent. We only had one real snow. But we only had about two real rains this summer. We are in a drought right now. If we don't get more moisture, you won't need to move to be in the Arizona desert.

Scott

The soil in my potted aloe vera plant has a lot of clay in it. But sometimes I forget to water the plant for weeks and it's fine.