Lawrence, The skins will come off in the processing, break into pieces, and roll themselves into, as Dave says, little "red twigs." Teeny little things, like the size of an apple stem, say. I find they are not chewy or tough, but can get caught in one's teeth. I have canned tomatoes this way and eaten the results and it was fine, but I've decided I much prefer the results without the skins. The easy solution, as suggested above, is to can SAUCE rather than whole tomatoes; just throw 'em in the pot whole (cut out any bad bits, but you can leave the cores in), and when they're cooked down, run them through a food mill or sieve. The skins, cores, and some seeds will be kept behind and you'll have a lovely sauce. I do this when I'm in a hurry, when I have a zillion pounds of tomatoes harvested that day, or when a lot of the toms are small and a pain to peel! THen I can a smaller amount of whole tomatoes or crushed tomatoes, which I peel first, when I have a smaller quantity of larger toms. That way I've got some of each to use for whatever I need later --- MOST of my canned-tomato needs are for sauce, but I like having some with actual tomatoes on hand. Hope this helps! Happy canning. Let us know how it goes. Zabby

"WRONG, water should NEVER come out of the overflow on the brine tank... never ever. Something is wrong! " justalurker, I agree with you that there is a problem with the softener! I was referring to the immediate problem being resolved - namely, the almost ankle depth water in the utility room that we had to deal with when we first discovered this issue. As I mentioned, we have switched the softener to bypass mode now so atleast we dont have to deal with overflowing water in the utility room, but like you said we still need to fix the root cause with the softener. The documents and links you provided gave pretty good overview of how the softener works and how it can be serviced. I also talked to the softener dealer I had purchased the softener from and they advised me to try some things: 1) Confirm that the PE brine tube connecting the control valve and brine tank is connected securely to the control valve. (verified this is true) 2) Remove the air check valve from the brine tank (BTW, is the "air check valve" the same as the "safety float" you keep referring to in your posts?). Clean out the air check valve to remove anything that might prevent it from sucking the brine from the brine tank back into the control valve. I tried to pull out the PE tube from the white plastic elbow (see photo of this in the link below) so that I can lift out the air check valve from the white cylinder in the brine tank and clean it, but it seemed quite tight (maybe its supposed to be this tight) and I didnt want to yank on it too hard and cause further damage (just playing safe due to my inexperience dealing with softeners). Will it be easier to remove the PE tubing from the white plastic elbow if I turn the control valve to "Backwash" position manually and remove some water from the PE tubing first? If so, when control valve is in "backwash" position, would the water from the PE tubing flow out the "bypass outlet" (and hence require me to turn off the bypass) OR would it flow out the "drain line"? Basically, I am trying to figure out the right way to remove and clean the "air check valve". 3) If cleaning the "air check valve" does not help, the dealer advised to remove the control valve and bring it in because it would probably still be covered under warranty. Per the dealer, since the softener was purchased and installed in late summer of 2006, most of the repair costs should still be covered under manufacturer's warranty. As I understand they would send the control valve to the manufacturer (Water Right) and get it back within 7-10 days and I would be responsible for 25% of the cost. So if it comes to this, I will need to figure out the right way to remove the control valve - I understand it should not be too hard and the control valve can be "twisted off" from the top of the resin tank (how do i disconnect control valve from the bypass or the water meter before twisting it off the resin tank)? As you quoted Clint Eastwood, I can and prefer doing the "basic" troubleshooting (i.e. cleaning air check valve and, if needed, remove the control valve) but since its under warranty, it might be best to have it fixed by the pros (in the case the manufacturer themselves). Would appreciate help with these "basic" tasks. Thanks again, -Topper Here is a link that might be useful: PE tubing connected to white plastic elbow

We've been on the road since after noon. Dd was able to get off the carrier and has a flight here tomorrow. She's not in the navy. She was on the carrier doing something for her company, I have no idea what. But that made her a low priority getting onto one of the transport flights. I'm betting someone gave up their seat for her when they found out she needed to get here. Hotel rooms are scarce here but we managed to snag 5 rooms for immediate family and brought an air mattress with us, so as long as dd's flight isn't delayed, all is good now. Thank you so much for your prayers. I'm sure it made all the difference. Dead tired and still have to put a photo slide show together. See you soon.

Hi Sam Pan- I agree with you that the red chandelier in the dining area has to go. I also agree with you that the massive metal wall sculpture has to go, it will dominate any chandelier you put in the living room. The living room and dining room chandeliers do not have to be the same, they should just have the same feeling, the same metal. You can do your round one with dark metal in the living room , and one that looks like an atom in the dining room, or vice versa. These are both from Restoration hardware, since you want to get your other chandelier from there, and come in different sizes and finishes.