LOL .. ya Bonnie he will show up .. he is that stupid :o) He isnt looking at a few months in custody he is looking at maybe 5 - 7 years + +. I have yet to hear for the fool .. but its only a matter of time cuz he doesnt even have any clean underwear .. yuck. I got my new kid on the 5th. So far he isnt any problem at all. But he isnt in school yet so the expectations are pretty minimal. Tomorrow I am going to start tightening the screws :o) We are going to go the Humane Society in the morning (7:30 am) to volunteer. He needs to be doing something so why not work on his 40 community hours that he will need to graduate. I would have to say that the other foster parents in our program are a bit jelouse as my kids are hand picked just for me :o) My old social worker deals with all of the kids in the group homes so she knows me well and what type of kid would do well here. It works out great for me as they are usually an excellent fit so we have little issues :o) This kid is pretty explosive (so they tell me) but I have yet to see any behaviours .. you have to love the honeymoon period :o) He really likes all of the animals in our home which is a plus as the pets tend to defuse alot of the emotions a kid feels. Laura

Unless you didn't measure something accurately, there should be no problems. Sugar can have something added to it before its added to the rest of the mixture. In some cases sugar needs to be dissolved before the pectin is added anyway. even if its damp and clumping it should dissolve just fine in the liquid. If you didn't use any pectin and expect that the jam will set without its use, that would depend on how much natural pectin is already in the fruit. If its high, it should still be fine, if its low, you would have to bring the mixture to a boil for a while so that it can reduce moisture and help the natural pectin set. Even if it doesn't set (usually after about 15-25 days with added pectin) you can open each jar and reprocess using some pectin at that time. Being as accurate on ingredient amounts and quantities can vary, only because your making somthing from a source that could be sweet, sour, or low pectin, as well as its acidity. All these factors need to be considered in ANY recipe. Some people don't like a lot of sugar in jams or jellies, so they use less. If this is done, and no added or required pectin is added, the mixture may never set up. Jelly isn't really a difficult thing to master. Heck, I make yeast breads and muffins without any recipes of any kind. Been doing it so long, I can usually tell what is needed. Visual, taste, and smell are all needed to give you what you desire, as to an end result. Good luck. Always TASTE what you make before committing it to canning jars. Then your sure not to get any surprises.

hmmmm.. i am in z5 ... last week was 65 to 85 degrees ... i can see the heat storage system getting somewhere.. but that was ambient air ... the week prior.. i seem to think it was 40 ish .. with night temps.. down into the 30 ... if not lower .. heck my ground wasnt even thawed when the heat hit ... how much stored heat.. could have been stored the week prior .. and how fast is significant heat stored ... come on.. admit it.. you jumped the shark .... the theory is all there.. but the fever clouded your judgement ... regardless.. you will be more hesitant next year ... which is good .. IN MARCH ... even with your setup .. as you have learned ... how about a new post.. and some pix of your greenhouse set up.. i am jealous also ... ken

My parents got sick from my eating half cooked chicken that an elderly relative "sort of cooked". Both ended up in the hospital. The relative's response was "oh I thought the chicken smelled a little funny".... we all just slapped ourselves on the forehead. We all still eat this relative's cooking, but the preparation is watched more closely and she is lovingly picked on occasionally. Things like this happen to be best cooks.... let your sisters know just so everyone knows what is going on. Your sister with the health issues may want to let her MD know. Depending on what was wrong with her, the MD might want to see here or might just tell her to call if she noticed a problem. I would eat your dessert (but then I still lick brownie and cake batter from the bowl and both have raw eggs!)