OK, there are a lot of possibilities as to why your pickles went wrong. Scum in-and-of-itself is not a bad thing, but it does need to be removed and mold is definitely to be avoided. My first thought is "how warm did your house get?" There's a fairly narrow range of temps desirable for fermenting. Over 75 is not good. Also, were the pickles weighted so that none were exposed to air? Ideally you'd cover the pickles with a sterilized weight to hold them beneath the brine and then cover the crock with a lid or cloth. One option for a weight is to use a big food-safe bag (i.e. extra-large ziploc) filled with additional brine so if it leaks it won't harm the fermentation process by weakening the solution. You want a bag big enough to fill the crock to the edges so there's minimum exposure to air. It's possible your soft pickles were floaters, not sufficiently covered with brine. The fruit flies are definitely a bad sign. I have never had flies even remotely interested in my pickles and if they were they'd have to get through the cover, which isn't going to happen. Let us know if any of these conditions might be the answer to your problem. If not, we can suggest other possibilities. I hope you don't give up. It's darned discouraging to lose a batch of pickles but if you stick with it, a real long-fermented pickle is heavenly. Carol

Siversword, no DOUBT that scale of yours is broken what with all that jumping on and off you do, Ha Ha! Don't make me come over there and hide it from you, now! I weighed in at 146 this week but I KNOW I am up at least 2lbs by week's end here, as for the first time in a long time, I ate GARBAGE all week. It wasn't a matter of will power, I just didn't care. Pants are fitting tighter and I feel downright sluggish. Yuck! I won't do that again for a long while as my energy level has suffered. After eating so well for so long, I can really feel the awful difference : ( I went out this afternoon and stocked up on nonfat yogurt, lite string cheese, fresh fruit, veggies, fish, turkey breast and chicken breasts. I made a low fat bean soup and a roasted tomato-red pepper soup, prepped a HUGE bowl of salad and cut up celery, carrots and cukes for lunches and snacks. tomorrow's another day... I don't weigh again for a couple of weeks but I'll check in. Tikanis

Hi Iva mae, Silversword, Checking in here... way to go Iva Mae! Silversword, why do you torture yourself by weighing so often and on 2 different scales??? LoL!! Congrats to you too. I managed to maintain my weight between 144 and 146 lbs all summer. I ate pretty much what I wanted, but tracked EVERY bite that went into my mouth on fitday. I also love the way i feel when I eat healthy and am not a big sweets eater. If I over did it on Monday, I was extra diligent on Tuesday etc. After being sick for a couple of weeks, I started back on the treadmill this morning and I am off to lose these last 10-15 lbs. I don't weigh every week, and I am in no big hurry, but will check in. Let's keep up the good work! Tikanis

Good morning Iva! (and everyone else!) I went to the gym yesterday. 17 minutes on the stair machine (ugggghhh!!!!) I do it until I hit 150 calories burned, and I really can't last more than 15 minutes. Then 40 minutes on the elliptical, total calories burned was around 500. Then I went upstairs and did some weights. For the first time in a while I actually saw leg muscles coming up. It was really validating. Weighed myself before I left the gym and was 139. There is something so wonderful about moving that big block weight thing from the 140 to the 120 before using the slider, even if the slider is all the way to the right!!! Went home, made a big salad (black beans, peas, feta cheese, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, red onions, a little fish with balsamic vinegar and olive oil) Poured myself a half glass of wine and only drank half of that. Resisted the temptation to go out and get a snack before bed. Stepped on the scale this morning.... 137. 145/137/125 145/8/125 12 more pounds to go!!!