Incidentally, I have a recipe for homemade cream of tomato soup which is only slightly more complicated than dealing with gradually stirring milk into a condensed soup, and I find it less trying to my patience. (ETA: Anybody who wants it, let me know)

Between that and homemade chowders, I have darn near sworn off canned soups. (Exception made for Progresso Chicken Soups when I'm sick.)

Anybody who wants it, let me know

Me! Me! Cream of tomato soup has been one of my go-to comfort foods forever and ever, but the canned condensed stuff tastes more and more gross lately. If you've got a good recipe for homemade actually tasty tomato soup that's easy enough for my lazy self, I will adore you with little sparkly hearts.

wow ... I kept hearing this annoying beeping noise and went to the window to see what was causing it. Not sure what the noise is, but someone's set up a (full size?) statue of a whale outside.

Geez, Toddson. "Full size? whale statue" was really not where I expected that sentence to end up. (eta: Update if you find out what's the what with the whale, please!)

I imagine it has something to do with Earth Day (check out Google today).

My earth day accomplishment this year was to successfully force the cancellation of a volunteer clean up the park day this weekend.

For context, a bunch of neighborhood dog owners - i.e., the actual daily users of the park - did it on our own last weekend, clearing out brush and trash and laying down about 150lbs of grass seed. And after the rain this week, the last thing that park needed was a bunch of people tromping around on the barely sprouting grass.

Fortunately, we actually fenced off the entrances and put up totally unauthorized "park closed" signs to keep people out for the next month or so.

Guerrilla gardening!

Steph- if you do have a UTI I suggest AZO (without the cranberry) to help with pain. Also Aloe supplements can provide some relief.

Also D-Mannose supplements can help either 1) prevent UTIs if you take them every day and are prone to UTIs or 2) helpe shorten the duration. My urologist suggests taking 3-4 tables during a UTI.

D-Mannose is the sugar in cranberry juice that helps prevent/treat UTIs and you can take it without having to deal ith the juice.

Balsamic vinegar is a friend to a low-sodium cook. (A small amount of) Cocoa powder enriches the flavor of tomato dishes. It is worth the time it takes to read the label of EVERY canned tomato product on the shelves. Brands vary widely across types and types vary widely across brands. Some of them can be as low as 15mg of sodium per serving without bothering to advertize themselves. Dei Fratelli tomato puree is one [link] There are dozens of flavored diced tomato products which do nicely for a quick pasta dish with less than 300mg per serving, which is half the sodium of "healthy choice/reduced sodium" spagetti sauces and taste much, much better.

Pastene no salt added canned tomatoes are my favorite.

I've never been told to restrict sodium. I justify loading everything with salt because I live in a very hot humid place where we all sweat away the stuff. Construction workers and yard workers and stuff have to eat salt pills.

I likely will head to Dallas for a business thing sometime soon. The Grapevine is on my very short list.