To ensure that the bright flowers you clipped from the garden bloom for days, drop a piece of charcoal into an opaque water-filled vase and place the flowers inside. The porous briquette will act as water filter, trapping chlorine and other contaminants that speed wilting.

Refrigerator: the temperature should be maintained at 40°F or below.
Pork: to insure that pork is safe to eat; the minimum internal temperature should be 160°F
Steaks and roasts: the minimum internal temperature should be 145°F
Poultry: the minimum internal temperature should be 165°F
Slow cooker: the minimum temperature should be maintained at 140°F

To avoid cleaning silverware every time there is a special occasion tuck a few pieces of chalk in with your utensils when you store them. Chalk will absorb the moisture that promotes tarnish and will keep your silverware clean and polish until the next time you use it.

Oops Fido had a run-in with a skunk. To deodorize him mix two bottles of beer with two tablespoons of vanilla extract and work into his coat. Wait about five minutes rinse and shampoo his coat a usual. (The yeast cultures in the beer penetrate the water resistant oils in skunk spray so they can be rinse away while the alcohol in both the beer and vanilla sweet smell kills odor-causing bacteria.)