Les R

I've had the good fortune of eating at a lot of fine places in my life. The place settings that have impressed me the most are white, heavy duty, stoneware. The coffee cups are thick the plates are thick and they have always been larger than normal plates. I really don't know how to describe them other than I am sure most people have run across at some point in their life's. Does anyone understand what I'm talking about?

I have one that I overwintered in a pot in the house. Most of the winter I had it in a west facing window and it produced one good lemon. It was blooming again and I moved it to another location it just didn't like and it dropped all its flowers. I live in central Alabama and moved it outside in April on my patio which is exposed to mostly the west but a lot of sun from 11:00 on. I have it on a watering timer with several other plants, bulb beds, etc. I water everything every day for about 20 minutes now that we are 95 degrees plus every day. In April the tree was doing fine, had abut 6 fruits set on and started to bloom again. Then, all of a sudden all but two lemons died turning yellow then black. All the blooms have ddisappearedand I have only two lemons left. I am wondering if the hot spell is getting them, although the foliage looks all right or maybe I watered too much. I took the mister out of it and am thinking about moving it more into the shade too. I fertilized it last fall with a blend of organic fertilizers that should now be broken down and usable Any ideas, too much water, too much sun, too little fertilizer?

My Dr. prescribed Spiriva for my lung problems and it has caused a raging chest infection. Coughing up stuff and can't hardly swallow. It exactly like the infections I have had all my life that were treated with penicillin. But, since this was caused by a drug I am wondering if conventional treatments will work. Does any know? Yes, I quit taking the stuff 3 days after I started buy now I am into this mess 6 days and it still hurts like heck. I did call my doctor but it was on a friday and they are closed that day so, no call back. I would go to a dock in a box but they are closed on Sundays.

I have an apple tree that has set on a decent bunch of fruit for the first time. I couldn't tell how good the crop was until the apples got up to golf ball size. Now I am wondering if it is too late to do any good? I had read once you need to thin them before the fruit gets the size of nickles.

I have a small orchard I spray for fire blight each year. I had a little problem with a couple of trees but mostly everything is in good shape. I have an ornamental crab apple about 100 feet east of my orchard and it has been hit hard with fire blight this year. When I cut out the fire blight in my orchard I take the cuttings and burn them. I am wondering if I have to worry about the blight on the crab apple? Should I cut it all out and burn it or can I just let it go?

My mom used to coat salt port with flower and fry it. I don't remember her soaking it in water first but she may have. Somewhere in my life I got the impression you should boil the salt out before you fry it. How long should I soak it or should I soak it all?

I made some buttermilk using powdered nonfat milk and an authentic buttermilk culture. Now I notice the whey is separating like in cheese making. I never had this happen with store bought and I've made buttermilk before using different methods and never had this separation happen. What is going on? Do I just shake it up before I pour?

My wife and I are getting a divorce and she has moved out. I had some storm damage and the insurance company made the check out in both our names since she is on the mortgage. She endorsed the check but when I went to deposit it the bank wouldn't put it in my account because my wife wasn't present. When I called the banks home office they said it was a local rule and they couldn't change it. It's my impression that the bank just set this up as an internal rule and could easily deposit it if they chose to. I have been told my only real recourse is to close my account out of anger and bank somewhere else. Anyone know of a way to make them deposit it?

The above text says it all.

I have been making a beer now for about a year using kits I buy online. They are about 2kg and make 5 gallons. They call for the addition of 500mg DME and 300MG Corn Sugar. A friend brought by a small 1kg can of Malt Extract that he got in a grocery store and it makes 5 gal too but does not call for any DME, just sugar and table sugar at that. Can anyone explain the difference between these two approaches to making beer other than about $10.00 between the two and both get you 5 gal of beer?

I will be selling my home in the next few months but my roof is in year 19 of a 20 year roof. I know this will be an issue with the buyer but I don't know exactly how to resolve it. I can wait and let the buyer bring up the matter but am afraid some people who don't want to negotiate may just walk away. I can get it done on the cheap but that will certainly close the door to some people (e.g. a single layer 20 year shingle over the old shingles, no code problems with this in my town). I can go Cadillac with a 40 year or limited lifetime and try to use it as a selling point. The last option is the one I want to use if I can get my money back when I sell. If I negotiate I will allow for the cheapest approach the buyer will go for. If I put on a good quality roof will I be able to add it to my asking price or will that just be money I have to spend to sell the place, my bad timing?

I live in Alabama and planted, using plants not bulbs, some Granex onions. They have been in the ground since early March and they are just setting there. One has sprouted a bloom and the rest all have only three stems and the tips have died and are brown. The soil is loose, we have had plenty of rain but they are just setting there. I have other onions left over from last year and they are doing great. I was told that Granex would be a good variety for me but these are really disappointing. Anyone got a guess why the are pretty much the same size as when I planted them?

Two years ago I lost, in the spring, 7 fruit trees of varying varieties to what I assumed was fire blight. Last year I sprayed the heck out of them with Streptomycin and didn't have a twig of fire blight. Now this year I have a Manchurian Apricot that looks like those I lost. It has however some good shoots left. Since this tree is 7 years old I find it hard to believe that fire blight could effect it so harshly and kill a tree this old. I have sprayed this year also and have no other signs yet of the blight. Any ideas what can kill trees over 5 years old in one spring season? Send my an e-mail and I will send you pictures. I don't know how to attach them to a Question.

I'm filing form 8857 for Innocent Spouse status. My wife and I are divorcing and she didn't have enough money deducted for taxes from her income by about $3,200.00. She feels that since I am the primary taxpayer the government will come after me for the money so she is refusing to pay any tax so I am filing for relief. The only form I find is 8857 but i think Equitable Relief should probably apply because the dispute will be for unpaid taxes not a fraudulent tax form. However, I find no form for Equitable Relief and I am wondering, if the tax examiner rejects my 8857 for Innocent Spouse will he or she automatically review it for Equitable Relief? Will I have to file for it separately under some other form after the rejection?

As a young man I helped roof a few houses around my hometown to make some extra money. People didn't remove their old shingles until the built up 4 layers. When I talk to roofers today they talk like that is a sin and you should tear the old shingles off every time you need a new roof. Why go to that expense every time you need a roof?

After a couple of years looking I finally found a way to separate the seeds of blackberries from the juice in quantity using a Waring juicer. I'm trying to find all the ways I can use it. I have already mixed it with Splenda and carbonated water to make a great soda drink. Now I want to mix it with water to make something akin to Koolaid. Has anyone tried this? No, I haven't forgotten jams, jellies or cobblers.

I have a laminated wood Parquet floor at my front door. It's about 4' X 4'. It was looking a little beat up so I cleaned it and put on two coats of Satin Polyurethane. After looking at it I felt I should have gone with a gloss so I over-coated the satin, Now I look at it and think of what foot traffic will do to that high gloss shine. What do other people do in a case like this? I am not sure I want to sand everything off and start over because I am sure this is a laminate.

I like to make a lot of my own foods anywhere from Pimento Cheese to Mayo to canning my own Tomato Juice from the garden. I purchased a Dymo Label printer and print out labels with the contents, date made, etc and put on the containers. I put the labels for foods put in jars on the lid that I throw away after use but I do use a lot of reusable plastic ware. The problem here is to get the old label off. It's a real pain because I don't want to run it through the dishwasher and clog it up. Is there a label with an adhesive that will last in storage yet come off easily and work in a Dymo LabelWriter400?

My wife and I are getting a divorce and although she has agreed to file jointly she refuses to pay any more tax than was deducted from her income, about $500.00. Our total liability is over $15,000.00 and I have already paid $9,000.00. I am trying to find a way to make her pay her fair share. She actually makes more money than me but I take about $69,000.00 from my IRA each year to pay the bills and get another $25,000.00 in Disability Social Security making it look like I have the lions share of our income. I have looked at trying to negotiate an Installment Agreement and offer to pay half of what is left but there seems to be a point or two about that that won't work. I am now looking into Equitable Relief to see if the IRS will make her pay at least 25% of the taxes since that is how much of our total income she makes. Anybody got any suggestions? I'm just trying to get fair treatment. I have paid 90% of our taxes for 10 years and she pockets her money to spend as she please, thus our divorce. I think it's time I get made whole.

If I can get my soon to be X to file a married filing jointly return the IRS says I can enter into a "Manually Monitored Installment Agreement" with them. I could enter into the agreement agreeing to pay 50% of any taxes due, my share, and she would be responsible for the other 50% if she could pay. Well, she can pay and the IRS said they would go after her for the rest of the money. Was the IRS guy just trying to get me off the phone or is that the way it will really work?