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.

Steph- if you do have a UTI

I'm back from the doctor and so frustrated, because the rapid test they do showed no bacteria. (Also not pregnant; despite my IUD, they wanted to test for it anyway. The NP said she had a patient once who got pregnant despite an IUD.) They're culturing the sample to check for bacteria that the rapid test doesn't check for, and they took blood to see if my white blood cells are up.

If nothing turns up, they're going to do a CT scan of my abdomen. This is ridonkulous. I have constant pressure in my pelvic area, it burns when I pee, sometimes (but not every time) my pee is cloudy, I have to pee more often than normal, my back hurts, and now I have nausea (hence the pregnancy test).

If it's not a fucking UTI, I don't know what it is. I asked about the possibility of PID, but the NP said the most common bacteria that cause PID are from Chlamydia and gonorrhea. Both of which I definitely do not have (hooray for 7 years of monogamy with a clean partner).

WTF, body? I am displeased.

I spend a lot of time in the supermarket squinting at the "sugars" and the "sodium" lines on the labels, and I feel salt is much easier to minimise, not least of all because "low sodium" doesn't mean they've bulked up on something I hate more than salt, where as "low sugar" is often unpalatable for me.

Plus I like dessert, and there's no way to control sugar there unless you do it all yourself, so things like the cafe-bought muffin I'm eating now are like sucrose balls, but damn. It is a tasty ball of sucrose.

As for salting at home, Julia HM sent me bread and a few ounces of fleur de sel when I moved to LA, and I'm still working on that. Many people would probably consider how I cook unpalatable, but my mother controlled the sodium in our house for more than ten years before I started cooking myself (high blood pressure was her field of research once she stopped working on kidney disease--ironically all of them suffer from it, and I have to change my behaviour to stop fainting at the drop of a hat). I don't know if my sister salts at all--I accept there's chemistry that it's needed for, so it's actually more likely to show up in my baked goods than savoury dishes.

I made it through living in Montreal with one or two stolen salt shakers from Peel Pub.

But the minute you eat a commercially prepared meal, whether packaged or restaurant, boom. If I were doing it for health reasons (I've been prescribed salt pills more than once) I would be sorely frustrated.

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

Laura, I can highly recommend Dallas Fish Market. On the higher end of casual, the food and the service were superb. I'm thinking longingly of it right now.

I'm back from the doctor and so frustrated, because the rapid test they do showed no bacteria. (Also not pregnant; despite my IUD, they wanted to test for it anyway. The NP said she had a patient once who got pregnant despite an IUD.) They're culturing the sample to check for bacteria that the rapid test doesn't check for, and they took blood to see if my white blood cells are up.

FWIW, my urologist said the rapid test is crap.

FWIW, my urologist said the rapid test is crap.

Man, I hope so. This -- whatever it is -- HURTS.

Did they at least give you something pending the test results, Teppy? In either case ~ma.