I don't know if this is the official "right" answer, but here's what I do. . . 2 or 3 hours after I take anything out of the canner, I check the seal by gently touching the middle of the lid. If there is any give, I know that that jar has not sealed. So I take my sharpie and put a little dot on the lid. The next night (I do all my canning in the evening), when I take off my rings and wash my jars, any jar that has a dot on the lid, I check those jars extra carefully for the seal. Anecdotaly I have found that if a jar doesn't seal within an hour or 2, most likely it isn't going to seal. Based on the system I use, I would feel comfortable letting my jars sit an extra day or 2 before removing rings, washing and putting away for storage.

Hi Zaman. Glad to know I'm not alone. But I'm doing it as a hobby - and to provide some vermicast for my vegetables and flowers. I have EF which I got from the agricutural department. They sold them to me for 5 sen (that's about 1.4 US cents, I think) each. I got 1,000 from them in May last year. I thought I should provide an update on my worms (when I told my daughter I wanted to do that, her response was: "Yeah, I am sure everybody is sitting on the edge of his seat wating to hear your exciting news." Too bad her sarcasm is totally lost on me :)) About 2 months ago, I had a lot of vegetables, fruits, etc and my regular compost bin was quite full. I could not put them all in the worm bin. So, after reading the thread on BSF, I dumped them in a styroform box, poked some holes on the sides and bottom of the box, transferred a bunch of BSF larvae from the worm bins to the "BSF Bin". I was expecting a nice compost - very moist perhaps, but compost nonetheless. To my horror, after 2 weeks, I had a stinking black sewage-like mass in the BSF Box, with hundreds of BSF larvae swimming in it. I then thought, if I mixed the sewage with dry pieces of cardboard (which I use for my worm bedding) I might put the sewage to good use. Which was I did. Smelt rotten. I pushed the existing bedding, worm and all to one side of the worm bin and dumped the bunch of sewage/cardboard mixture into the empty side. Left the lid open. My backyard stank. But my family being used to it by now did not complain. I fully expected a holocaust in the worm bin. But surprise, surprise! After two weeks, I checked and found that the smell was gone, AND my worms had all become adults (well, all, except a few). I do not know if any died in the two weeks (I stopped counting them, Chuckiebtoo) but there were fat worms in all areas of the bin. That was three Saturdays ago. I haven't peeked since - except to make sure there were no escape or suicide attenpts). I think the bin needs to be harvested. So I plan to spend my Sunday (tomorrow) doing that. Have already accumulated a sackful of cut up shredded paper towel cores, pizza boxes and egg cartons for bedding. I won't attempt another BSF box, though. I hope to find some cocoons. Wish me luck.

I can't answer your questions about how long to wait for the Americoat, but in response to your question about the plaster.... To be "by the book," you should not go into a newly plastered pool for at least 7 to 10 days. During that time, you should be brushing the sides and bottom at least twice a day, every day (and three times a day is preferable). The reason you need to brush is to get rid of all of the "plaster dust" so that it doesn't calcify in place, causing rough spots. You need to get rid of all of that dust before you start swimming. Also, the plaster will still be wet when the hose is put in (so the end of the hose should be wrapped in a white towel or sock). Plaster cures under water, and if you go in too soon, you will create footprints / dings / gouges / marks, etc., that will be permanent.

What a beautiful place you have. I have a couple of suggestions. One; don't say small bedrooms, just say bedrooms. You have the sizes listed, people can judge for themselves. Really, only one of them seems small to me. Two; your pictures are in no order. You should regroup them. Start with the front of the house and the porch. Then show the inside rooms. Put all of the bedroom pictures together and all of the kitchen together. I didn't see a picture of the bathroom, can you put a picture of it? You don't need all the pictures you have. Next do the putside areas. Cut some of them, like the pictures of the dogs. Put all the barn and horse pictures together. Put all of the backyard/deck pictures togeather. Some of your pictures are too dark and many of them look cluttered. For example clear all the small stuff off your kitchen countertops before the picture is taken. You could get an estimate for converting the smallest bedroom into a bathroom. Even if you don't plan on doing it you could have it to show a buyer. I think a lot of people would perfer a 3 bedroom 2 bath house to a 4 bedroom 1 bath house. Good luck, I hope you get another buyer soon!