Hey Gardenlad, it says, "Small peppers may be left whole with two small slits in each pepper. Core and cut large peppers into strips." Am I right that the larger the pepper, the greater the percentage of seeds and core, so it's not just a matter of whether the peppers will fit into the jars? I KNOW this may be just unbearable to all of you experts, but, here goes: Not including stems, the longest are 6 inches; the smallest about 4.5 inches. Would any of those be considered "small?" Since this is to be a nap time endeavor and time will be short, can I just cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds, etc. Also, I don't see any real info on how tightly to pack them in the jars. Is it pretty much like for pickles, or not as tight?

Thank you, everyone! My son loves hearing that "he done well". LOL He is a perfectionist, and loves to work with his hands. Once he sees someone doing something, it only takes him one try to do it himself...usually much better than the person he saw doing it in the first place! Mago~ The pinwheels, depending on what type fabric you use (I have used flannel before), soften up with each washing and really start to look more realistic. They keep their positions- the way they are facing- but they round out a bit, I guess you could say. The pinwheels are just squares that are folded over twice and pinned to a background square.Then the four background squares are sewn together like a regular 4-square. So the pinwheels really have some substance, and are great for baby quilts- babies like to pull on them. I always make sure I double stitch the blocks, just to make sure that they don't come loose later. We have 6 kids, and the oldest 2 boys are in a church group- Pathfinders. It's much like Boyscouts. They earn honors for learning different skills. Quilting & sewing is one of them. Doing laundry & other household chores is another. There are 150 honors, more or less...I forget the total! But both boys do the household chores regularly anyway, so they already have the honors associated with them. I rarely do the dishes or sweep the floors anymore. :O) I just tidy up after the littlest ones. It's a team effort, really. Everyone pitches in around here. My oldest- he's 13- loves to cook, so he does that every chance he gets. He'll be quilting next week, so we'll see what he comes up with!

However, there's always a good reason I never believe you have clay without a jar test...because most people who think they have clay simply don't. At worst, they have "clay and," with the and being sand or silt. How you treat a soil depends very much on the percentages of each constituent (clay, silt, sand, and organic material) and exactly what type of clay, if any, you have. Fun fact: Bricks are actually about 75% clay, 25% sand, give or take a lot, and require both drying and firing to be bricks. Underfired or unfired bricks would simply dissolve in rainfall, as well as being extremely weak. Fun fact: Most hardness issues in soils come from a misbalance of calcium and magnesium ions (sodium can also be a problem but usually is only in low rainfall or seashore conditions, although I've seen exceptions to that). Most of the rest are biological imbalances due to low organic material levels and limited soil life. A rare few are mechanical in nature. All statements are true of clay soils as well as any other. Fun fact: Even knowing your soil constituents doesn't tell me the total exchange capacity, which is required to make alterations to a soil. While sand and silt vary somewhat, clay can vary from 10 to 40 on the scale. Not all clays are created equal. Far from it.

Well, to be fair, I only get really really exhausted and miserable when I have to WORK during daylight hours. I am often up and active during the day when I am off. I have the luxury of really not having to worry about anyone but myself, SO and my pets. I can sleep and be active whenever I want with no consequences to other people. Sometimes I keep the same sleeping schedule when I am off, sometimes I do not if I have lots of things I want to do during the day, like shop or garden or if I have appointments. Its only those day shifts that I have to work that really really rob me of my mojo. That is why its such a mystery to me. I think maybe it is because my "work" routine is thrown off so much. I cannot do on dayshift what I can on nights: walk outside, read with any commitment, listen to music or books because I am not alone and do not wanna bother other people. Or maybe its a psychological thing. Either way, they pay me big time to suffer through and come work on my off days so I will continue to do so as needed because I am a greedy little minion.....who will fight a nap like a cranky toddler and then sleep through the night. Or day, whatever applies.