Tbh mine survived and just tasted flat and sour, like the heat killed all the good stuff.

No way, a bottle cap? That's genius in the dumbest way possible. My husband would lose it if he saw me do that after he bought a fancy copper moat for our porch last summer. We had the same exact problem, the ants were basically using the moat as a tiny water slide straight to the sugar water. I ended up using a old pickle jar lid, punched a little hole in it with a nail, and it worked way better than the $25 thing he got. It's funny how the simplest junk in your kitchen drawer beats the stuff they sell for birds.

That spreadsheet trick is pretty clever, honestly. Reminds me of how I used to track which job boards actually got me replies back in the day, though I never thought to repeat their keywords back at them. Funny thing is, my wife does something similar with her resume when she applies for teaching jobs. She keeps a folder of every posting she's replied to and highlights the words they use over and over, then works those into her cover letter. Sometimes it feels like a game of matching, but hey, if it doubles your calls, that's the name of the game. Might have to steal your column idea next time I hire someone for my crew, since I get flooded with applications that all sound the same.

Did you have the same sad mush problem for years like me? I felt so dumb when I realized the oven was the answer, it's like a totally different vegetable now. The high heat makes all the difference for sure, I have never gone back to steaming since I tried roasting frozen corn and green beans the same way.

That load override got me too once, check it first thing every shift now lol.