My rain guages didn't come cheap, but I have plenty. I had a kid! Consequently I have dozens of makeshift rain guages scattered all over my yard. Here's a picture of While I'm kinda kidding, it does illustrate that it does not need to be fancy. In the sun, the water will evaporate out of the guage, so you can't keep an accurate running total with one. You must check and dump fairly regular no matter what type it is if you want to be accurate. 5 gallon buckets are a liability, as a kid can go head first into one and not get out. A child small enough to do that is also one young enough to not know any better.

Thanks again everyone for appreciating the labels. Yummykaz-(Rebecca)- you are more than welcome to use them. Readinglady (Carol)- I enjoyed all the other ideas for labels, thanks for the link. Also the watermelon link you provided above was good too. I have always wanted to try a watermelon jelly- I think I'll skip that one now. The 2nd recipe you had listed in that link for watermelon rind pickles is close to a batch I made once, and other batch recipes I've successfully done are also listed below, (Since tnflower_lover requested mine.) I too have a copy of Marion Brown's old book. The first recipe below (from readinglady) is from "Pickles and Preserves" by Marion Brown, 1955, reprinted University of North Carolina Press 6 cups watermelon rind (trimmed of green outside skin and all soft pink inside pulp) 7 1/2 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups water 1 lemon, thinly sliced 1/2 ounce ginger root, broken up Cut preppped rind into pieces. Cover with water and boil 2 hours or until tender. Cool in the water. Drain and measure to make 6 cups. Boil together the other ingredients for 10 minutes. Add the rind and cook for about 1 hour, or until the rind is transparent. Always keep the rind covered with syrup while cooking. If the syrup is too thin, add additional sugar; if too thick, add water. Remove from heat. Seal hot in sterilized jars. (reading lady added- "I'd process BWB as per jam".) I (reba_grows) have a 1982 Kerr home canning and freezing book that I use as a jump off point for a lot of canning. In it, they have a recipe for watermelon rind PRESERVES. Mine usually ends up more like a preserve VERY sweet in a thick sweet syrup. KERR Watermelon Preserves Select melons with thick rinds. Peel off all green and pink leaving only the white rind. Dice, soak in mild salt water overnight (1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon cold water). Drain and cook in clear water about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain well. For 4 pounds (11 cups) of rind, make a syrup of 9 cups of sugar, 8 cups water, 4 lemons sliced thin. Add 4 sticks cinnamon, 4 teaspoons cloves Tie the above spices in a cheesecloth or muslin bag (or use a stainless steel tea ball) and add to the syrup. Boil the syrup, lemon and spices for 5 minutes before adding the watermelon rinds. Add rinds and cook until transparent and clear, (careful with your stirring so nothing sticks or burns). If desired, a few minutes before the preserves are done add a few drops of red or green food coloring to tint the preserves. (I added a tiny amount of yellow once-it turned out pretty-reba.) Remove spice bag. Pour into sterilized jars, (I just use clean hot jars since they will sterilize in the WBC-reba),leaving 1/2 inch at the top (I leave only 1/4 inch as in the BALL recipe below- reba). Add lid, screw on band. Process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. (I process 20 minutes as in recipe below-reba). Next, from a 1999 Ball Blue book is the one that I use the most often except I add cinnamon sticks in a teaball with a few whole cloves to the syrup-reba. BALL Watermelon Rind Preserves 1 and 1/2 quarts watermelon rind, 4 tablespoons salt (for the soak...I use canning salt, reba), 3 and 1/2 quarts water divided, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice (I use bottled but newly purchased-reba) 1 medium lemon sliced thin (I use 2). To prepare rind- Trim red and green from rind. Cut rind in 1 inch pieces. (I borrowed miniature heart, diamond and clover cutters once- too cute for words.) Dissolve salt in 2 quarts water. Pour salted water over rind and let stand 5 to 6 hours. Drain, rinse, and drain again. Cover rind with cold water and let stand 30 minutes. Drain again. Sprinkle ginger over rind. Cover again with clear fresh cold water and cook until fork tender. Drain again. To prepare syrup- Combine sugar, lemon juice and 1 and 1/2 quarts water in a large saucepan. Boil 5 minutes. Add prepared watermelon rind and boil gently, for 30 minutes or until syrup thickens. Add sliced lemon and cook until rind is transparent. Remove from heat, skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 " headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust 2 piece caps. Process 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. Yields about 6 half pints. In the same 1999 BALL Blue book they also have- BALL Watermelon Rind PICKLES (not preserves)- 4 quarts cubed watermelon rind 1 cup canning salt 1 gallon cold water 7 cups sugar 1 medium lemon thinly sliced 1 tablespoon whole cloves 1 tablespoon whole allspice 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds 3 sticks cinnamon 2 cups vinegar (that's what makes these more picklely and less preserves like) Peel watermelon rind like other recipes above. Cut rind into 1 inch pieces. Dissolve salt in water, add rind and let stand 6 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse, drain again and set aside. Tie spices in bag or ball. Combine sugar, lemon slices, spice bag or ball and vinegar in a large saucepot. Bring mixture to a boil and cook 10 minutes. Add rind to syrup and SIMMER until rind is transparent. Remove spice bag/ball. Pack hot rind and hot liqued into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. Yield about 6 pints. One of these should be a winner as far as ingredients and amounts, but I would still process the preserves 20 minutes, or 10 minutes for the pickles, using 1/4" headspace for either. Also, when I soak the rind, I do it along with ice cubes in a ziploc bag added to it (so it doesn't dilute the salt brine) to keep them good and cold for a while. I know someone also requested the Kosher green tomato pickles- I'll have to find the recipe and post in another post, another time. Weeding in the garden took it out of me today. PS I do not grow my own watermelons- too much trouble and space for me. I have not had the problem of thin rinds here in the east (West VA).

Well it is certainly unique! As a long terrarium it's not going to cut it without further modifications. Are you planning for it to be such or only an "incubator" until the seeds sprout? I know you said it had good ventilation, but how do you know? What is your "litmus test"? Lack of sufficient light will be an issue if you are planning on actually growing the plants in there even for the short term. Even if you place it against a window/glass door with the microwave door facing that window, you likely won't get sufficient light for any higher light plants (and those are). If you do get a bright sunny day with light streaming directly into the microwave, then you run the risk of "cooking" the plants within. (Think car outside on a sunny day.) And even if on day X with bright sun is okay, will it still be the case on day Y which occurs during a completely different season of the year? With that in mind, before committing plants to reside in there for any length of time, I would suggest using one of those digital thermometers that keep track of max high and low temps. (Easy to find at BBSs, and not terribly expensive... think they run around $10-15 now -- used to be much more expensive when they first came out.)

I haven't made these but they sound very good and easy too. Melt In Your Mouth Doughnuts (Made With Canned Biscuits!) 1 ten count can Texas style doughnuts (or your preference, just not flaky layers) 1 Cup Sugar 1 1/2 T cinnamon 1 stick margarine, melted Vegetable Oil For Frying Pour oil into skillet to the depth of a little less than 1/2 an inch and heat on medium to medium high for about five minutes. In a bowl, melt margarine. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Using a plastic bottle cap, cut the center out of each biscuit. Drop dough into hot oil, watching carefully and turning when golden. Once doughnuts are golden on both sides, remove to paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all dough is cooked, including doughnut holes. Dip both sides of each doughnut into melted margarine, then press both sides into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm. Quick and Easy Jelly Filled Doughnuts 1 can biscuits (make sure you don't get the flaky layers type) 1 can store bought frosting (vanilla, so you can tint it) Vegetable oil Jam, jelly, or preserves Sprinkles Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 " in a large skillet. Heat on medium to medium high for several minutes, until oil is good and hot. Drop biscuits into oil and turn when they brown, this will happen very quickly. After they are browned on both sides, remove to paper towel lined plate. Place jam into bag equipped with icing tip. You can also use a syringe or just use the jelly bottle (if you got the squeeze variety). Stick the tip into a doughnut and gently squeeze. Repeat with all doughnuts. Place 1/2 can of frosting into bowl and add a few drops of your favorite food coloring. Stir well. Heat in microwave for about thirty to forty five seconds, to make a glaze. Dip the top of each doughnut into the glaze and set aside to dry. Top with sprinkles.