Jeremy Herndon Blog

This morning I was unhappy to discover that my car had a flat tire.  I guess it was a good time to have a flat tire, since I was home at the time.  Not that it is EVER a good time to have a flat tire; they are a pain in the butt!  But if I HAVE to have a flat tire, I’d much rather be at home discovering it than out on the road; especially on an Interstate Highway in rush hour!  But face it, a flat tire is an aggravation, no matter what!

Thank goodness my spare is good, but it IS a donut tire so I need to go to the tire store as soon as possible to either get this flat tire repaired (I hope it is repairable!) or replaced.  I didn’t have road hazard insurance on the tire that is flat, if I have to buy a new one I will be SURE to get road hazard insurance this time!  Tires are not cheap!

I’ve heard that the Zimmer company has manufactured some defective Durom hip replacement cups that are causing some of the recipients of the cup troubles.  Because of these issues on zimmer durom cup, the Zimmer legal department is contacting recipients of the cup and asking the patients to sign a release of liability agreement.  There are many durom lawsuits going on right now over the defective cup, and the durom lawyers are advising anyone who receives such a request from Zimmer to NOT sign the release.

They say that signing the release would prevent you from having any recourse should the cup fail in the future.  You might also be opening yourself up to being sued by Medicare or your health insurance.  So, folks out there in the audience who might be reading this should take note of this – if you have one of these cups, do NOT sign the release!

Have you ever even heard of “shelf stable milk?”  I hadn’t until I ordered a box of food from Angel Food Ministries.  Part of their basic box of food includes a small carton of “shelf stable milk.”  It is real 2% milk that is sealed in a wax type of container that does not need to be refrigerated until it is opened.  The expiration date on it is many months away; it keeps just fine until opened.  Puts me in mind of the canned sweetened and/or condensed evaporated milk. 

My grandparents tell me that during the “Great Depression” they would buy canned condensed evaporated milk because it was inexpensive and did not need to be refrigerated.  They told me that they didn’t even refrigerate it after opening it, they would just put it on the kitchen counter and cover the opening with foil to keep bugs out.  I don’t know what the “safety rules” are for refrigerating canned condensed evaporated milk, but seems to me that it should be refrigerated after opening.  What do you think?

I can remember when I was a kid my mother showed us how to make candles, using wax, chopped ice cubes, and milk cartons.  It was so fascinating, stirring the melting wax, pouring it over the ice that we had poured into the milk cartons.  What was really cool was peeling the milk cartons off after the wax had cooled and seeing the really neat designs that the ice had left in the candles!  That is just one of the fond memories I have of my childhood; doing fun things like that with my mother.  She is such a crafty lady!

Recently my mother decided to try her hand at the cottage-industry candle making business. She wants to make soy candles and sell them at craft fairs. She loves to make candles, and she figures that it would be a great way to make a little bit of pocket money while doing something she loves to do! She told me that she found a great website called jarstore.com where she can buy wholesale Libby jars for her new candle-making business. Libby jars are her favorite jars.  She has asked her best friend Carol to come over and help her at the craft fairs; they can sit together at the tables and visit with each other in between customers.  I told her that if that’s what she wants to do, then she should go for it!

Today I was driving around and noticing that spring really seems to have arrived. The grass is greening up; the daffodils, forsythias, tulip trees are in full bloom. It won’t be long before everyone I see is sneezing and blowing their noses and complaining about their spring allergies! It really is a shame that so many people suffer from the pollen floating in the air from the trees and flowers. This would be a good time, though to own stock in allergy products and facial tissue!