Just discovered this site by accident, and thought I'd share it with you all.
Thanksgiving Arts and Crafts

Does anyone know how to get rid of insects in pine cones? Last year I put a basket of pine cones next to our fire place, and while watching television a gigantic spider crawled up my leg . I assume insects house in those cones. Any ideas?

When making things with pine cones, first bake the cones on a foil-lined cookie sheet for about three quarters of an hour at about 200 degrees. This kills any bugs or spider mites that live in them. This also allows the seeds to fall out.

Ah, I won't be using pine cones in my wreath. Besides not liking bugs, I hate to cook.
Louisa

Hannelore, I have 2 pine cone trees in my back yard so I always have plenty of pine cones to disinfect before I bring them in. I hate spiders crawling out of the cones or out of my wood that is in my wood box that I have next to my fireplace. What we do to get rid of the insects is use an indoor insect fogger. You can buy them from the hardware store, wal-mart, or even the grocery store. It works GREAT! I don't set it off in the house, but you can. We keep some wood in the garage and store the rest in our garden shed. We set off a fogger in the shed and garage and leave the door shut for a few hours to a day. This kills all the little critters in the wood and the cones before we bring them into the house to use.

Very smart Cookie...AND I would prefer your method because I don't have them in my oven! Way to go! JJ

Yes I think I'll spray the critters. Never cared for baked spider legs anyway.
We actualy drove into the forest to find cones. The ones we found were mostly foul and mushy. So we drove back home, and low and behold found tons of cones in our back yard bushes that fell from our neighbor's tree.

HAnnelore, are you gearing up for a big dinner.

Sometimes we get the bugs when we bring in wood for the fire. It doesn't really bother me, but it sends my daughter running...

Yes I am getting ready, Dotsie. How could you tell?

Since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday over here, we will be celebrating this Sunday. I'm going to have 12 people over, and our grandbaby too. Just got back from shopping. I'm exhausted, and my feet look and feel like Turkey claws.
Am I gobbling?

I love having big dinners. My hubby is a tremendous help, I couldn't do it without him. I'm trying a new turkey stuffing, so wish me luck! I always experiment on my poor guests. So far so good, no one has died yet.

Are you able to cook, Dotsie? I mean can you stand that long in the kitchen now? What will you be doing Thanksgiving?

If your're still on crutches, then I hope you'll get spoiled.

Hannelore...I'm not fond of bugs, and least of all, spiders! But my father always used to tell me not to kill the spiders because they're the ones who eat all the other little bugs that may come into our homes.