Regarding pears in white wine --- I did some two years ago, half in red wine and half in white, according to a "recipe" suggested by Victrola (a gentleman in Montreal who was posting here regularly then --- apparently he's gotten very busy with athletic pursuits recently) and expanded on by Mrs. Bartholomew (a Toronto forum member who had time to post then before she had her baby). Mrs. B. suggested a Gewurtztraminer with vanilla, cinnamon, and star anise. I used a Vidal for my white wine, and not having any star anise I think I used cinnamon, vanilla, and a few allspice berries. The red I spiced much as Victrola suggests. Both came out just delicious. It's not a cold pack as described here (though the key is that you can cook the WINE etc. for a lot longer FIRST till it thickens, then just heat the pears in it and cook them briefly); like Victrola suggested, I used a firm, Flemish Beauty pear. I don't know if there's any reason you could not pack the pears cold and pour hot syrup over them, though, is there? Anyway, sounds like you did something wonderful already. But I thought I'd post this because it's such fun to read Victrola's "recipes." One thing I noticed was that I was surprised at how mildly spiced the syrup & pears were when I opened the jars. The flavour was definitely less than when it was first made (I remember drinking the leftover wine syrup --- it had been a bad day, LOL --- and it was much spicier than the eventual pears were.) So if I did them again I would go even heavier on the spices without fear of overdoing it. Z Canning poached pears: a Victrola Adventure Since Zabby recently suggested, tongue in cheek, that I've been hoarding my recipes, here is something I made today. Okay, so it's not quite a "recipe" but I don't think it lacks for details (other than measurements, but I don't measure things, so don't ask for 'em!). Today at the market, my favourite vendors had some beautiful firm Flemish Beauty pears. This is one of my favourite variety of pears; I find they have a distinctive and pleasant vanilla note. I think there were about 8 pears. Their firmness meant that, although not ready for eating, they were perfect for cooking. I peeled them with my old-fashioned apple peeler device, which worked (for most of the length of most of the pears) because they were firm and fat. After peeling, I cut them vertically into wedges of eighths, and dipped them in lemon juice to keep them from browning. (Perhaps that was superfluous, since they were to be poached in red wine anyway?) I bought a litre of the Hungarian red wine Szeksardi Voros, which friends of mine, not knowing how to pronounce Hungarian, would call Sex and Divorce. As their English name implies, it's not a fancy wine, but it's fine (and cheap) for these purposes. I brought it to boil with some cloves, a cinnamon stick, a whole allspice, a few peppercorns, one whole cardamom, two slices of lemon, one slice of orange, sugar to taste, and the "pearings" (couldn't resist the pun... sorry... pear parings, in English). I boiled this until greatly reduced. Then I fished out the solids, added the pears, boiled for about two minutes, stirring gingerly. Once again, I must praise the firmness of these pears. They didn't go to mushiness. I removed them from the heat, fished out the pears, packed the slices into jars (500ml and 250ml jars... pints and half-pints, if you prefer), and covered with the reduced wine syrup. Whoops, I had reduced it too much, and there wasn't enough to cover all the pears, so I boiled up some sugar and water (1:4 ratio) very quickly to cover the pears. Silly me, I now realise, after the fact! I had meant to top them up with brandy before sealing, not more syrup! After 20 minutes processing in BWB, I pulled out two beautiful 500ml jars and three lovely 250ml jars. And to my great pleasure, one of them did not seal, so I had no reason not to sample my wares: yum yum. I can't wait to have the occasion to bring these out for a dinner party or give them as host/hostess gifts. One last time, let me emphasise the firmness of the pears! I couldn't imagine this turning out well with Bartlett pears (which I love for eating out of hand), for example. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: MrsBartholomew 6a Canada (My Page) on Mon, Sep 20, 04 at 16:11 I love poached pears in red wine. I often make them for dessert when we have guests. Once I did them in white wine instead, just for a change - it was a Gewurtztraminer, and the seasonings were just a vanilla pod, a couple of star anise, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, it was beautiful. I serve one pear with about a half-cup of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream, and the syrup always gets eaten up! I've never tried canning them but maybe I should. It was the firmness I was afraid would be lost, but I didn't think of buying a harder pear. Good thinking.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this but my free electrician (brother in law) keep pushing back the date that he would come over and run the tests. 1. What is the pressure reading on the filter gage. Normally this should be between 12-25 psi...higher pressure is a sign of too much restriction between the pool and the pump...lower pressure is a sign of suction line restrictions. Both cause the pump to work harder than normal and the motor to overheat because it's not operating as designed. Pressure is right at 10 psi after backwashing and I clean it when it reaches 18 psi. It is currently at 12 psi. 2. Are there any bubbles observed when looking through the clear basket lid..if bubbles are observed and the pump is producing lower pressure at the filter gage, then there is a suction restriction causing cavitation. Bubbles with normal pressure means there is an air leak which should be fixed but this is not causing the pump failure. That being said, if the air leak is big enough to cause the pump to lose prime and run dry then the pump will eventually fail due to overheating. No bubbles 3. Voltage at the pump...both undervoltage and overvoltage will cause the motor to run hot. Operable design voltages are normally between 197V and 250V with motor life reduced with extended run time at each extreme. 208V to 240V is normal. 242V 4. What is the motor voltage rating on the motor nameplate...is it 230V only or both 208V/230V...this information will help along with the reported voltage measurement at the pump. The nameplate reads 230/115 5. What are the symptoms of the failed pumps...can you tell if the motor has burned or smells burnt. Both times, I came home and noticed pump was not running. I went over to the pad and the motor was ungodly hot and has even left burn marks on the pipes that are about 5 inches from the motor. I touched it and it was about 3 million degrees. 6. Is the pump circuit breaker tripping...this is a sign there are shorts internal to the motor that are caused by insulation breakdown due to repeated overheating. The pump circuit breaker has never tripped 7. Does the motor stop running for a few minutes and then come on automatically...this is a sign the motor overload is tripping internally due to overheating or high current. Nope, it runs perfectly until it burns out and then never again. My brother in law checked eveything on the electric side and said there is no issue other than the fact that the ground wire was not hooked up. He said since we have had no storms this probably wasn't the issue but he was a little PO'd that they didn't have it hooked up. It is now of coarse.

One year I did make Christmas earrings for all my girlfriends. We bowl together and have a Christmas celebration each year. So I had my DH drill a tiny hole in the metal end, then I strung each bulb with jewelers wire and earring hooks. I painted tiny Christmas themes on each one(pointsettia,holly, santas, snowmen, snowflakes, bells, angels etc.) the girls loved them and still wear them during holiday time. I have so many I need a BIG project to use them up! I still use these on my tree and outside every year, so I get "new" material every year as well! I was thinking of crushing some and just using the colored glass somehow, but how I'm not sure.

put CFL's in the fixture. they will give you the same amount of light, but way less heat. you can get the light off the mirror, but be prepared to break teh mirror in teh process. it may come off with out breaking, but it may not. this is why the sparky did not do it, he did not want to be responsible for replacing the mirror.