Thanks Josh, the pruning, root pruning, and downsizing of the pots is what I have read everywhere, and everyone seems to agree on it. That is why I canâÂÂt figure out why the ones I left in the large pots and didnâÂÂt prune as much did the best. In fact, the Carolina reaper plant, that I didnâÂÂt prune at all, is doing the best of all. IâÂÂm glad I did my little experiment and didnâÂÂt prune them all back and put them in smaller pots, because if I did I wouldnâÂÂt have any left. Unfortunately, my experiment left more questions than answers. My conclusion is, all the small pots died, all the large pots on the left side of the same window died, and all the pruned plants on the left side of the widow died. The ones I messed with least are thriving. I just canâÂÂt hash out what is a coincidence and what caused my problems. I should have mentioned before that the ones on the left side of the window and right side both have a heating duct.

Yes remove the nest (save it in a ziplock bag in case you ever need to do a nestchange). You can move the box or you can simply make it face a new direction. My sister had a HOSP attack her blue eggs once. She removed the eggs/nest, turned the box and the blues came back and rebuilt and had a successful nesting. As for the wren guard. I use the heavy cardboard that computer paper boxes are made out of, it has never turned to mush in even heavy rains and lots of rain. Sides make it much more stable and prevent the front from blowing in and out wint the wind. I also screw the piece of carboard that is taped to the roof of the box to the roof of the box because sometimes with duct tape, when it gets wet in will loosen up some. I do use water proof duct tape now but I like the screw in the top for added stability. Good luck! Donna

WOO HOO! What a great way to start. ;-) Dehydrated apples are a BIG part of our diet. They are used to make all kinds of things - apple pie/crisp, applesauce, added to quick breads and homemade granola, as well as a favorite out-of-hand snack food. Once new-crop apples are available, I'll dehydrate 50- to 75-pounds of apples and store them in canning jars in the basement. I'd REALLY suggest a hand-powered peeler/corer/slicer if you do a lot of apples. Otherwise, I suggest one of those corer/slicers you push through an apple. Then with a paring knife you can quickly slice each large apple slice into several 1/4-inch slices. You can also use a cutting mandoline and slice the apple, starting at the bottom to the stem in complete apple "rounds", core and all, for very little waste. You will get a decorative star-shape center where the seeds were. Don't bother removing the seeds, they generally fall out during drying. If not, a poke with a toothpick will take care of them. Bananas, not so much..... In order to dehydrate bananas until they are crispy dry, you need to choose bananas that are UNDER-ripe (less sugar developed in them) and firm, and over-dry them. And when they do get crispy, they quickly rehydrate and soften. The crispy dried bananas you have probably eaten, and are more familiar with, are actually deep-fried, not dehydrated. I will incorporate bananas in fruit roll-up mixtures, which work best if they are ripe and sweet. I do have a handy-dandy banana slicer that cuts a banana into even slices which helps them dry evenly, and if you are going to dehydrate a lot of bananas, I'd suggest getting one. Back to apples.... You can sprinkle apples with cinnamon or cinnamon/sugar. You can also sprinkle apple slices with Jell-O powder (a little goes a long way, so use a VERY light hand - place the powder in a salt shaker and cover all but 2 or 3 holes). Keep this in mind if you have some less-than-tasty apples. My favorite apples to dehydrate are Jonathans, but I pick a LOT of free apples and if they aren't as sweet and flavorful as I'd like, I'll "doctor" them with cinnamon, or occasionally, some kind of sweetener (Trehalose) and cinnamon if we're going to use them for snacking (although we normally just eat them plain). Otherwise, less-flavorful apple slices work well for applesauce since it can be easily flavored with cinnamon and sweetened (if necessary) after it's rehydrated. PRETREATING: I'd suggest an acidic bath (1 quart water + 1 T. ascorbic acid powder, citric acid powder, or Fruit Fresh - which is a mixture of ascorbic and citric acid) rather than full-strength lemon juice. If you'd rather use bottled lemon juice, the ratio is 1 c. lemon juice to 1 quart of water. Lemon juice is only 1/6th as effective as ascorbic acid. This pretreatment does several things. It helps prevent the fruit from oxidizing/browning - Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant - it adds a little Vitamin C to the finished product, and most important, it helps prohibit microbial growth (such as Salmonella and E. Coli 0157:H7). There are new recommendations for drying that nearly always includes some form of acidic bath pretreatment to prohibit microbial growth. You will find a lot of up-to-date information about dehydrating at the link below. The recipe for Mango Leather is one of my granddaughter's favorites. I also mix fresh (or frozen) peaches and mangos using this recipe. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation

I brought children's panel quilts (train panels and the like which were about a yard of fabric) and simple pieced quilts to practice on and then gave them as gifts or charity. I didn't feel I was just practicing with muslin and the babies/kids didn't care about the quilting and the quilts are smaller and you finish quickly and practice loading/unloading which was complicated for me at first. I liked meandering on the front of the machine, but learning the pantographs was fun as well. I second not to use a quilt you care about right now, you'll be looking at the quilting every time. Best to give those first quilts away and they will never notice you oops fell off the pantograph line for a bit!