Okay, so I bought this huge (5-pint) jar of dill pickles and, of course, there’s not enough room for it in my refrigerator. The jar says REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING –in all caps, so you know they’re serious, but in typical rebel fashion, I questioned why.
As I do with all my important questions, I googled it. Using the search phrase “do pickles have to be refrigerated” and I got “about” 1,790,000 hits! No, I didn’t check them all; the first one was good enough for me. As a bonus, I found out, I’m not the only one who doesn’t refrigerate ketchup, mustard, and jam. If you’re interested, I store my butter at room temperature too, one stick at a time. (And I’ve yet to sicken anyone with my daring ways.)
It’s amazing what you can find on the internet. I can’t imagine doing writing research without it. In my last novel, I needed help with some Farsi phrases and lo and behold, there are forums for that sort of thing.
Just because I try to tie all my posts into writing: I pondered penning a perky pickle poem, but pity prevailed.
On another note: I’m trying something new in the comments section. Because I think it’s only polite to respond to every comment, my reply count is always artificially inflated. Though it’s nice for my morale to delude myself that 38 people had something to add to a post, in truth that would be 19 besides me. And sometimes those are really only 10 people because some return to add a second comment. So … as a test, I will reply to you, in bold, within your comment. If you have chosen to be notified of a reply, I don’t know if you’ll receive that notice. Let me know, will you? Otherwise, just assume that I’ve responded and come back later to see.
I wish you a lovely, productive weekend.
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Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I keep the butter out, but everything else is in the fridge. What about pancake syrup? I often argue with my husband about this. I feel like it needs to be in the fridge but he says no.
BTW, I respond to some of my comments but not all. Does that make me rude? I hope not! Now I question myself. Do I need to go back and respond to all those comments I didn’t respond to before.
I always thank a new visitor for stopping by, and I always click their blogs and return the visit.
I thinks it’s important to return the visit. I feel a little slighted if I visit and comment on a blog and that blogger doesn’t return the visit.
I won’t be hurt if you don’t respond to this comment. 🙂 By all means, don’t feel obligated.
LINDA: I’ve never refrigerated pancake syrup and, though we rarely use it, mine has never molded.
I think how you respond to comments is up to each blogger. Some never respond to any … but I confess, I do think that’s rude. If you don’t want to have a “dialogue” with your readers, then disable the comment function. Some do as you do and only respond when they have something specific to say. And some, like my friend Kasie, has taken to doing a return visit to the commenter’s blog and leaving a comment there. I’m just thrilled to have readers take the time to leave a comment, and if I don’t respond, I feel sort of like I’ve invited you into my home, but won’t speak to you. And yes, it does lead to me leaving a lot of inane responses, but that’s me. 🙂
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Interesting take! I always go to the commenter’s blog and leave a response there 1) to support them 2) because I find it narcissistic to comment on my own blog and assume everyone is going to actually RETURN just to see my response.
Hmmm, I’ll presume you aren’t calling me narcissistic, but I guess I’ll never know for sure because you’ll never see this response. Surely, by definition, dialogue shouldn’t be considered narcissistic … unless, of course, you only converse with yourself, which I guess I’m doing right now in writing a response to your comment on my blog. 🙂
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