Alcohol Allergies Can Cause Sneezing, Flushing, Headache

Kristin Brown loved to drink – perhaps partied a little too much when she was in her 20s, but when she hit her 30s, alcohol suddenly hit her the wrong way. "It wasn't always that way, so you can imagine my shock and dismay the first time it happened," she told ABCNews.com. "At the age of 35 I was sitting on the couch with my husband after the kids went to bed, when I took two sips of Jack Daniels. I set my glass down and gasped for air. I felt feverish and sweaty, my face became splotchy-red, my hands itched, and my hearing dulled." Brown, now 42 and the mother of three, writes about her love-hate relationship with alcohol in her self-published book, "What Didn't Kill Me." She has tried different types of alcohol -- vodka, whiskey or tequila -- but she breaks out in hives and a fever. After just a few "tiny sips," thinking she will be fine, Brown said she ends up "going down the same dreadful path Jack Daniels led me down." Though she has never been officially diagnosed and at first thought it was a "fluke," Brown said she is sure she has an allergy to alcohol, which can put a crimp in anyone's holiday celebrations. Alcohol allergies are possible at any age, but they are not common, affecting less than 5 percent of all people who suffer from food allergies, according to Dr. Clifford Bassett, clinical assistant professor in the division of infectious disease and immunology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. Allergy Season is Just Around the Corner Watch Video 'GMA' Deals and Steals: Christmas Budget Edition Watch Video ABC News Samples DNA-Altered Salmon Watch Video "You can get wheezing and asthma symptoms or hives," said Bassett. Those who already suffer from asthma seem to be more vulnerable," he said. If a person suspects they have an allergy, it's important they be evaluated by a specialist. Wine contains proteins from grapes, bacteria, and yeast, as well as sulfites and other organic compounds. Other studies have found that egg whites and gelatin are often used in the filtration processing of wine. "It's something you don't think of," said Bassett. Other symptoms can be a flushed or tickling face or a sense of warmth. Others can get a runny rose or headaches. Yeast, molds used in brewing beer from barley can cause chemical reactions that produce histamines and tyramines. Tyramines are amino acid products that are associated with headaches and hypertension. Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in immune or allergic responses. A protein on the skin of a grape, mostly those in red wines, can contribute to symptoms in those who already have allergies, according to a German study. People can also have an oral allergy syndrome -- a reaction to fresh fruit and vegetables that may be used as a garnish or a mixer in a cocktail, according to Bassett. Hazelnut or almond in liquor can also be a problem for those with an allergy to nuts. Alcohol can also exacerbate existing allergies. In one 2005 Swedish study, those with asthma, bronchitis and hay fever were more apt to sneeze, get a runny nose or have "lower-airway symptoms" after a drink, especially women. Wine – both red and white – were often the worst offenders. In 2008, a Danish study of thousands of women found that two glasses of wine a day can double the risk for allergy symptoms, according to an article published in the journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy. "If you have a seasonal pollen allergy to grass or trees and there is a high-pollen day and you eat a piece of fruit or mango, apple or pear, [the body] thinks it's swallowing pollen and you can get an itchy mouth or throat and the allergy is worse.

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China to crack down on "malicious" trademark registrations

China plans to change the law to crackdown on "malicious" trademark registrations, state media said on Monday, after a series of cases in which well-know international brands and individuals have had their names or copyright misused. Foreign governments, including the United States, have for years urged China to take a stronger stand against intellectual property rights violations on products ranging from medicines to software to DVD movies. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is one of the latest to accuse a company of using his name without permission, and French luxury group Hermes International SCA and Apple Inc have faced trademark problems too. The proposed amendment will offer protection to major international brands, giving copyright owners the right to ban others from registering their trademarks or from using similar ones, even if such trademarks are not registered, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "The draft is intended to curb the malicious registration of trademarks," Xinhua said. The country's legislature - which performs a largely rubber stamp role - will discuss the amendment this week, it said, without saying when the new rules could be put in place or providing other details. The move comes after basketball star Michael Jordan filed a lawsuit in China in February against a Chinese sportswear company, accusing the firm of unauthorized use of his name. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recipient and former Chicago Bulls star said that Qiaodan Sports, a company located in the southern Fujian province, had built its business around his Chinese name "Qiaodan" and jersey number without his permission. The lawsuit has yet to go to trial, Chinese media have reported. France's Hermes International SCA has also had problems in China with its trademark, and in July Apple Inc agreed to pay $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China. China has insisted it is serious about tackling intellectual property violations.

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Budokon, made in America, mixes yoga with martial arts

Budokon, a workout program developed in 21st century America, blends the ancient mind-body practices of yoga and martial arts into a program that aims to reward followers with conditioning, mindful meditation and progressively colored karate-type belts. "Budokon is a yoga, martial arts and meditation trifecta," said Mimi Rieger, who teaches the not-so-ancient practice in gyms, studios and workshops in the Washington, DC area. An instructor in the 3,000-year-old practice of yoga since 2003, Rieger, founder of Pure Fitness DC, is one of approximately 400 teachers worldwide who are trained in Budokon, which did not exist before 2002. Although mainly done in the United States, Rieger said she will teach Budokon in Turkey, Denmark and Sweden next year and workshops are also scheduled in London, Germany, Korea and Japan. She says the hybrid offers the student an intense, full-body workout as it blends the integrity of the martial arts movement with the fluidity of yoga. "It's like a beautiful symphony of the two," said Rieger, who is among the first women to get a brown belt in the Budokon sequence of six belts: white, red, blue, purple, brown and black. Budokon, which is Japanese for "the way of the warrior spirit," began in 2000 as the brainchild of Cameron Shayne, a martial arts expert and yoga enthusiast originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, looking to solve a dilemma faced in his own practice. "Through martial arts I experienced meditation; both yoga and martial arts share self-reflection, but both suffered from the same disease of being stripped down to a westernized workout," said Shayne, founder of Budokon University in Miami, Florida. A typical Budokon session begins with 20 minutes of yoga sun salutations to, as Shayne says, "lighten and open the body," followed by a martial arts segment of explosive, dance-like movement. The end is a guided meditation. "There is no breath count; we don't stop," said Shayne, who describes the movements as snakelike. Observers will note echoes of Tai Chi. "Modern yoga can be very angular. Our primary series is a circular, continuous transition practice," he explained. Adam Sedlack, senior vice president of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Gym, a national chain of family fitness centers specializing in mixed martial arts training, believes the novice should begin with a specific practice before tackling hybrids like Budokon. "It's more efficient to take a karate class, then a yoga class, and then a tai chi class than it is to combine them," Sedlack said, "so the individual can focus on individual skill sets. The beautiful thing about mixed martial arts is that you're learning a skill while you're working out and burning calories." He notes that martial arts is as much about the confidence of walking down the street with your head up high as it is about learning to kick and hit. Richard Cotton, of the American College of Sports Medicine, said Budokon can offer a challenging change for people with more advanced levels of fitness. "If you're a yoga or tai chi purist, it (Budokon) is not that, but it is variety, and variety is rarely a problem," he said. He points out that one needn't do Budokon, or yoga or Pilates to have a so-called mind-body experience. "Running strength training, and certainly golf, can be a mind-body experience if you're staying in touch with your body," he said. "You can have a mind-body walk." A few years ago Shayne began offering a separate Budokon yoga practice because some people found the martial arts aspect of his practice intimidating or confrontational. "It became a necessity to give that audience what it was asking for," he explained. People either love Budokon, he added, or they hate it and that's fine with him. "I don't need a million people doing Budokon. I don't need someone who walks into class looking for a quick fix," he said. "I need people who feel it as an art.

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FDA warns doctors of counterfeit Botox

Federal regulators have warned more than 350 medical practices that Botox they may have received from a Canadian supplier is unapproved and could be counterfeit or unsafe. The Food and Drug Administration said in a letter sent last month, a letter released publicly last week, that batches of the wrinkle treatment shipped by suppliers owned by pharmacy Canada Drugs have not been approved by the FDA and that the agency cannot assure their effectiveness or their safety. The FDA said Canada Drugs was previously tied to shipping unapproved and counterfeit cancer drugs. The agency warned doctors about buying drugs from sources other than licensed U.S. pharmacies. It is the fifth warning the agency has made this year about foreign suppliers providing unapproved drugs. In February, the agency warned 19 medical practices that they had received a counterfeit version of the cancer drug Avastin. On three more occasions the FDA issued similar warnings about counterfeit Avastin and Altuzan, another brand name for the same drug. The alerts were also primarily targeted at drugs distributed by Canada Drugs. A request for comment from the drug distributor was not immediately returned. Drug shortages increased the financial incentives for some pharmacies to provide counterfeit or illegally imported drugs. The drugs subject to warnings have all been injectable treatments typically distributed through medical practices and not directly to patients. In October, the FDA ordered operators of about 4,100 websites to immediately stop selling unapproved medications to U.S. consumers. The vast majority of those sites were operated by Canada Drugs. The site was still operating Friday. Genuine Botox is made by Allergan Inc., based in Irvine, Calif. Avastin is made by Roche Holding AG's Genentech unit.

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Allergies, extra weight tied to bullying

Kids who have food allergies or are overweight may be especially likely to get bullied by their peers, two new studies suggest. Not surprisingly, researchers also found targets of bullying were more distressed and anxious and had a worse quality of life, in general, than those who weren't picked on. Bullying has become a concern among parents, doctors and school administrators since research and news stories emerged linking bullying - including online "cyberbullying" - with depression and even suicide. "There has been a shift and people are more and more recognizing that bullying has real consequences, it's not just something to be making jokes about," said Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, who wrote a commentary published with the new research. Studies suggest between one in ten and one in three of all kids and teens are bullied - but those figures may vary by location and demographics, researchers noted. The new findings come from two studies published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. In one, Dr. Eyal Shemesh from the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his colleagues surveyed 251 kids who were seen at an allergy clinic and their parents. The children were all between age eight and 17 with a diagnosed food allergy. Just over 45 percent of them said they'd been bullied or harassed for any reason, and 32 percent reported being bullied because of their allergy in particular. "Our finding is entirely consistently with what you find with children with a disability," Shemesh told Reuters Health. A food allergy, he said, "is a vulnerability that can be very easily exploited, so of course it will be exploited." The kids in the study were mostly white and well-off, the researcher said - a group that you'd expect would be targeted less often. So bullying may be more common in poorer and minority children who also have food allergies. But allergies aren't the only cause of teasing and harassment by peers. In another study, researchers from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, found that almost two-thirds of 361 teens enrolled in weight-loss camps had been bullied due to their size. That likelihood increased with weight, so that the heaviest kids had almost a 100 percent chance of being bullied, Rebecca Puhl and her colleagues found. Verbal teasing was the most common form of bullying, but more than half of bullied kids reported getting taunted online or through texts and emails as well. 'START THE CONVERSATION' Shemesh's team found only about half of parents knew when their food-allergic child was being bullied, and kids tended to be better off when their families were aware of the problem. He said parents should feel comfortable asking kids if they're being bothered at school or elsewhere - and that even if it only happens once, bullying shouldn't be ignored. "We want parents to know," he said. "Start the conversation." "Parents whose kids have a food allergy should really be aware that their kids have the kind of characteristic that often leads to being bullied," Schuster told Reuters Health. "They should be working with the school to handle the food allergy in a way that isn't going to make it more likely that their kids will be bullied - and they need to be attuned to their kids." That's the same for parents of overweight and obese children, he added. "Kids need their parents to be their allies in these situations," he said. "Their parents can help them still feel strong.

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Healthy Hollywood: Get Movin' Monday - A Toning Must For 50-Plus Women!

Who says everything goes south after 50? Just look at the rock-solid bodies of Madonna, Christie Brinkley, and Sharon Stone and you know mature women can be and are hotter than ever. The celebrity magnet, Physique 57, (a favorite toning regimen of Kelly Ripa & Sofia Vergara) has put together a new class/workout for women over 50. "Our 'Fit for Life' classes are small group training sessions (limited to 10 participants) that we developed to meet the specific needs of women fifty and over. These one-hour classes are done twice a week over a four-week period, combine low impact strength training exercises, light cardio, and stretches that are designed to create strong, lean, supple, muscles leaving participants feeling more energized, confident, and youthful," Physique 57 co-founder, Tanya Becker. Once the ladies finish the four-week session, they'll be up to speed and ready to join the other classes. It's important that older women are extra careful and do the exercises with the proper form since they are more prone to injuries, says Tanya, "Exercises should be modified appropriately, however, you still want to challenge your muscles otherwise you won't achieve your desired results. Physique 57's exercises are non-jarring on the joints (no jumping or pounding), which is also very important to avoid any injuries while still getting a great workout." Tanya helped create the groundbreaking workout that combines interval training with toning exercises. For now, Physique 57 studios are only in New York and LA, but the training center just released a book, "The Physique 57 Solution: Lose Up To 10 Inches Fast" and there are workout DVDs, so women everyone can learn this celebrity-endorsed secret to a long and lean body. Physique 57 shares with Healthy Hollywood 4 good reasons to exercise - especially as you age! 1. As we age, our metabolic rate slows down which can lead to extra body fat. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn all day long. Also, the less weight you have to carry on your body, the less stress there will be on your joints- not to mention how fabulous you'll look and feel! 2. Decrease your risk of osteoporosis and loss of bone density. Keeping your muscles toned and strong will keep your bones strong. You'll be able to stand taller and exude confidence and grace. 3. Reduce your risk of injuries. Whether you enjoy playing golf, tennis, or just want to stay active for many years, you want a youthful supple body to enjoy life. 4. Keep a good attitude. When you're healthy and fit, you feel good about yourself. Plus, chances are you'll be less prone to depression and have a more positive perspective on life! "The Physique 57 Solution: Lose Up To 10 Inches Fast" is in bookstores now and available at www.amazon. com.

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US late-night host Conan O'Brien shares his workout playlist

This week, famed American late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien shared his favorite music for staying motivated in the gym. While not known for his rock-hard gym body, O'Brien is a fitness fan and music lover, and he released his top 16 playlist of gym-friendly tunes as part of his weekly series for streaming service Rdio's Guest DJ. Here is Conan's playlist or in certain countries, stream it here at Rdio. 1. Vampire Weekend, "A-Punk" 2. The Dovells, "You Can't Sit Down" 3. Cheap Trick, "Dream Police" 4. The Raconteurs, "Steady, As She Goes" 5. Jay-Z, "99 Problems" 6. The Police, "So Lonely" 7. Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody" 8. Ronnie Hawkins, "Forty Days" 9. The Who, "The Real Me" 10. Naughty by Nature, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" 11. Thin Lizzy, "The Boys Are Back in Town" 12. The Brian Setzer Orchestra, "Jump Jive An' Wail" 13. Electric Six, "Danger! High Voltage (Soulchild Radio Mix)" 14. Green Day, "Basket Case" 15. Boz Scaggs, "Lido Shuffle" 16. Elvis Presley, "Promised Land"

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World's biggest Titanic attraction opens in Belfast

The largest Titanic visitor attraction in the world opened in the ship's Belfast birthplace on Saturday, some 100 years after the doomed liner was built in the same yards. Almost 100,000 tickets for Titanic Belfast, a striking aluminium-clad building which tells the famous ship's story through special effects, interactive screens and a ride, have been sold ahead of the opening. Organisers hope the £97 million ($155 million, 116 million euro) centre can boost tourism in the British province, which was torn apart by sectarian strife for three decades until the late 1990s. "We want to bring people to Northern Ireland not just to see what a generation 100 years ago were able to achieve, but what this generation can achieve in this new era of peace," said First Minister Peter Robinson. Cyril Quigley, a 105-year-old who watched the Titanic's launch more than a century ago, joined the province's leaders at the opening of the building, which takes the form of four of the ship's huge prows. "All I saw was this big thing sliding out into the water," Quigley said as he recalled watching with his parents. "I was only four and half." Quigley said the new centre, which rose from the derelict Harland and Wolff shipyard, was "wonderful". "I often thought they would make another plastic ship here and have it as a restaurant or something, but this is fantastic," he said. "It's like our Sydney Opera House." The biggest, most ambitious ship of the age hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from Southampton to New York, sinking on April 15, 1912. Of the 2,224 people aboard, 1,514 perished. Organisers hope the six-storey Titanic Belfast, which also features a banqueting space containing a replica of the ship's grand staircase, will attract 425,000 visitors in its first year, including many from Asia.

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Keeping Cartier contemporary: the jewelry house discusses modern art, mass market collaborations and the revival of classics

Ahead of the launch of Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts, the latest expo from Cartier's art museum the Fondation Cartier, which begins April 3 in Paris, Relaxnews met up with Cartier Europe's managing director Cyrille Vigneron to discuss how a prestigious maison stays ahead in an ever evolving luxury market. Relaxnews: Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts brings together four artworks commissioned by Cartier and made by four very different artists (David Lynch, Takeshi Kitano, Alessandro Mendini, Beatriz Milhazes) using precious and semi-precious stones no longer deemed suitable for the brand's jewelry. What makes a luxury house decide to team up with contemporary artists? Cyrille Vigneron: The artists can see what others don't see in terms of trends, arts, design, all forms of expression. They see a different way to represent the world and the foundation doesn't think about what Cartier is doing -- it just thinks about the art world. The Fondation won't become a design studio for Cartier products. Some other brands are doing that, calling artists or designers and saying 'sign our products' or making something that is co-branded. I won't say who but you can easily see. It becomes a hybrid which has some value but it changes the orientation and perception. A brand should be true to its own creative past, its own patrimony, and the designer should serve that as a purpose. When it comes to a designer working for himself it's something different. RN: The Fondation Cartier is known for championing emerging contemporary artists from across the globe, but where does Cartier stand on rising US jewelry designers such as Alexis Bittar and Pamela Love? Do you feel a challenge to compete or consider them separate? CV: For jewelry I say the more players the better. Having more famous designers gets people interested and creates stimulation and diversity. But each has to find its own style. For example, Hermès is moving into it and exploring its own way with the famous Hermès handbags being transformed into jewelry for the luxury market. This is something exploratory, something no one has done before. As long as we have many designers doing something genuine it's fine, when a designer starts to copy another one that's not fine. RN: Cartier was one of the main luxury jewelers in the limelight following last year's Elizabeth Taylor jewelry auction, and some of the opulent designs inspired by the star's collection have been reinterpreted on a mass scale. What is your take on this? CV: When you are copied it means that you're interesting, but if some brands just come and copy others without making any innovation or developments then it's counterfeit. You should respect others. If you just say, "We'll copy this and make it cheaper and it will be fine," it's just disgusting. But if you really go further and try something new and I'll find clients for that then it's great, then it stimulates everyone's creativity and inspires us to do things better. RN: So would Cartier ever collaborate with a more affordable brand? CV: No, never. There can be room for premium jewelry or costume jewelry; it can all be something interesting as far it is what it is. Then there is fine jewelry, then there is high jewelry and it's a different world. We can have simple designs; for example the trinity ring is very simple, a wedding band is a wedding band -- simple, straight, symbolic -- we're happy to do it. But a lower end collaboration to diffuse via a mass production -- never. Projects such as the recent Cartier Odyssey movie make Cartier universal. Whether you intend to buy or not doesn't matter. RN: How does Cartier maintain a balance between keeping traditional clients happy and attracting new ones? CV: The maison has a stature and has been endorsed by really famous people from past and present: Liz Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, Grace Kelly. But this can only continue if our contemporary creations are rejuvenated. Now the most demanded pieces come from the Tutti Frutti collection, each of them is new but has been inspired by the 1920s. We can make new ones out of the same inspired style and then have something really daring and new in terms of shape and style and ways to wear. Classics are the kind of designer pieces or products which can talk to anyone at anytime -- a design that has been outstanding whether made in the 1930s or 1970s or this generation. That's why collections go through generations; whether it's a trinity ring or a love bracelet. At some point they were daring and then they become classic because someone wears them. Our creations are constantly kept alive, adding new variants to the same model but also keeping the initial model alive itself and that's why we have many variants on the Tank watch collection or the trinity collection. RN: What advice would you give someone considering investing in an expensive item of jewelry? CV: The best way is to see what suits you; your style, lifestyle, what you want to express, who you want to look good for. Talk and let the magic work. You buy it for life. We have a lot of respect for people like mothers who will give their daughter their trinity ring when she turns 18. Our creations keep their value over time and there is currently a lot of demand for vintage pieces.

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Is a Rural Retirement Right for You?

Would you be willing to exchange Thai restaurants and unwavering wireless Internet for homegrown produce and birdsong? If so, a rural retirement may suit you well. The bonus: Rural acreage is a rare segment of the real estate market that weathered the Great Recession. [See 10 New Retirement Hotspots.] According to a report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, residential land values in the United States are down nearly 70 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006. During that same period, the value of cropland in the contiguous United States rose some 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's also the downside; higher values mean higher points of entry for would-be buyers looking to get into the rural market. But the category looks poised to grow even more (individual markets may vary, of course.) Higher overall commodities prices lift land values. And while commodities prices can be volatile, a rising global middle class population that's sure to eat better and drive more could keep a floor under the market. That helps land prices. "Idyllic lifestyle-seekers" want a fresh start and a tangible investment, says Dan Duffy, CEO at the rural and coastal real-estate search network United Country, based in Kansas City, Mo. "You can't create more land--it's a finite investment. And during the downturn, agricultural land produced a dividend-like yield in the 5 percent to 8 percent range, plus capital appreciation. This, while some bond yields hovered at zero or worse," Duffy says. Land is also broadly characterized as a "real" asset. It's tangible, and that makes it an inflation-fighter. Land investment can be two-pronged: The land itself is worth something, and what it might produce has a separate value. There are other money-making possibilities: rental income, such as for livestock grazing, cash crops from corn to timber, lodging fees for cabins or a bed-and-breakfast, organic-vegetable selling, fishing and hunting rights, wind power or natural gas rights, and profiting from eco-tourism. Crickets can be louder than traffic. A trend of retirees leaving the suburbs for small town and country life--a move that demographers call "out-migration"--was underway before the economic downturn. It held up relatively well during that period, although was slowed somewhat by weak home-selling markets that kept retirees and soon-to-be retirees in their existing homes. But with the number of baby boomers exiting the workforce, it's a trend that looks to continue. [See the 10 Sunniest Places to Retire.] USDA data show a "deconcentration" of population near metro centers. Urban areas will see a net loss of people age 55 to 75, while in non-metro areas, that age group will increase by 1.6 million nationally during the next 10 years. Remember the Alpaca farm craze a few years back? Turning into a rancher overnight isn't for everyone. Luckily, there are dozens of ways to extend your "career" in the country. If remote life isn't quite your aim, small-town retirement hubs may allow for a service-focused second career--think restaurant or real estate office proprietor, or perhaps hanging out a tax-preparation shingle after a long accounting career at a Fortune 500 company. Many retirees want land they can develop or recreate, at least partially, for their own residential or hobby use. A land purchase can be a wise "mini step" toward retirement: Buy the land while still working in a populous setting, rent it out, move there eventually, says Duffy. Prime school districts may no longer top the list of real estate must-haves, but retirees want a certain level of service and cultural amenities, whether they're in population centers or not. This need may help drive their decision-making. Plus, there are potentially heavy maintenance costs and overall land management responsibilities that may turn off some buyers. An acreage is a big purchase, one that requires a considerable amount of due diligence. (Real estate firms are increasingly getting into the land-management business, so property owners can pay for help.) Curtis Seltzer, a rural land investor and author of How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property, says rural buying should start at the ground up, literally, with a focus on dirt. "Most buyers from the city and suburbs, including me, focus first and almost exclusively on the country house, whether existing or planned," writes Seltzer. "This comes at the expense of paying attention to the dirt on which the house stands and which surrounds it. We do this, I think, because all of us have a passing familiarity with houses. So we evaluate country property in terms of what we know rather than what we don't." [See 10 Places to Buy a Retirement Home for Under $100,000.] Seltzer offers these tips: -- Look first at how the land lays--its topography. Which direction do its slopes face? How steep are they? If the land is flat, will it drain quickly or hold water because the subsurface contains a lot of clay? The surface vegetation and the feel of the dirt in your hands will give you an initial reading. Topographically interesting land is usually more interesting to spend time on, but it's also more expensive to work with and much harder to work against. -- Second, look at your soils. Different soils have different characteristics and capabilities which will determine what you can do with your property at a reasonable cost. Your first stop in scoping property is to pick up a copy of the county's Soil Survey at the local U.S. Department of Agriculture office. County-level aerial maps and soil-survey information are available for some states and counties, and can be found at soils.usda.gov/survey. -- Third, look at the location of your dirt. Will it be hard to get to in bad weather? Is it subject to flooding, earthquakes, mudslides, windstorms, fires, and prevailing weather? If you have shoreline, is the land low (bad) or high (good)? Is the shoreline eroding? Is the land facing in the right compass direction for your plans? -- Finally, look at your dirt in terms of proximity to local goods and bads--hospital, fire station, public water and sewerage, rescue squad, floodplain, job opportunities, and distance from your current residence, post office, bank, supermarket, and objectionable facilities--however you care to define them. Trending now. United Country's Duffy says rural destinations in the Mid-Atlantic are drawing rising interest for their temperate climate, mix of mountains and shoreline, and reasonable distance to centers such as Washington, D.C. This way, retirees may maintain consulting positions and ease into their retirement. One micro-trend is what he terms the "half-backers." It's a population that spent their working years in the Northeast, then retired to Florida, but are now finding unattractive pricing (or lack of housing or elbow room there) and are moving halfway back to the Northeast. Duffy says "small" ranches of a few hundred acres in Texas are popular searches on his firm's website. He also notes increasing migration from California to the "unspoiled" and less-expensive mountain retreats of Colorado, Montana, and Idaho.

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