got it :-) Lucy

RR, that's Ashley sitting on the floor in front of Makayla, with her hair back and the black sweater! She's letting her hair grow, so she just pulled it back. The cake was excellent, especially with the topping, which ran down and made the bottom of the cake sour/sweet and kind of crunchy. Yummy, and the guys swiped the leftovers for the bachelor party. I guess it went OK with beer and Jack Daniels, LOL. Glazed Lemon Sour Cream Cake From The California Cook cookbook Serves 8-10 Note this cake may be prepared up to 3 days in advance, and kept at room temperature, tightly covered. The cake can also be wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and frozen for up to 2 months. Serve with seasonal berries and a dollop of whipped cream. Ingredients: 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature 1 cup sugar 3 large eggs at room temperature 1 Tablespoon minced lemon zest 2 teaspoons lemon extract 1 cup sour cream Glaze: 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch lightweight Bundt pan. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda together in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside. 2. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, or in a food processor fitted with the metal blade, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs, zest, and lemon extract and mix for 2 minutes. 3. Reduce the mixer to the lowest speed, add half the flour mixture, and mix until well combined. Add half the sour cream, mixing constantly, and then add the rest of the flour and sour cream, ending with the sour cream. 4. Pour the mixture into the prepared Bundt pan, and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack. Make the glaze. 5. Using a wire strainer, sift the powdered sugar into a small non-aluminum bowl. Add the juice and lemon zest, and whisk to break up any clumps. 6. Place the cake on a wax paper-lined rimmed baking sheet. Using a long skewer, poke holes in the cake almost going through the bottom at 1-inch intervals. Slowly pour the glaze over the cake, making sure it�s absorbed as you pour. Let the cake come to room temperature. It's very good, so thanks to Beth! Annie

I have spent some money and some time to resurface my traditional office desk which already has a layer of stain and poly. It has few scratched and peeling, so I need to sand it down and redo the surface. I followed all instructions and still having bubble on top of the newly applied polyurethane. Finally, I created my own method. - Clean up and remove all dust on the surface of the wood, in my case, it is the table top of my office desk. - Apply oil based polyurethane with stain color with brush; I used the cheap $1.25 bristle brush from Lowe's. I chose polyurethane with stain color in it. You can choose different color at Lowe’s and it also has gloss and satin (semi gloss) choices. Apply a thick layer on the surface of the wood or on my office desk in my case. There should be many bubbles on the top. Some suggest using heat gun while applying so the bubbles pop and disappear, I have not tried that because I don’t have a heat gun. I ignore the bubbles there for now. Then let it dry thoroughly after few hours or next day. - Sand the surface with very fine 300 or higher sand paper with an electric hand sander. Sand out all bubbles on surface as much as possible. It will scratch the entire surface, don't worry. But do not sand too deep, we still want the polyurethane and the stain on the surface. It is very difficult to remove all trace of bubbles, I stopped when most bubbles are not noticeable. When sanding with electric sander, make sure you sand fully the surface, do not sand with an angle off the wood and do not create track or ditch on the wood. - Clean up and remove all dust on the surface. I use web cloth, and then dry paper towel. Let it dry before next step. - Now mix the poly (with build-in stain color) with mineral spirit in about 5 to 1 ratio. Apply the mixture on the surface again. Do not uses brush this time. Use a paper towel and fold it into a square 2"x2" shape. Then wrap it with a fine cloth, I use silk cloth in my case. Use it to apply the mixture on top of the wood surface. The mixture must be thin enough so that you can swipe across surface without resistance. Add more mineral spirit if necessary. Follow the wood grain and "sail" along the surface with the cloth. Make sure the mixture cover entire surface. - Now let it dry. The surface should be shiny again. You could repeat above step if necessary until you have an almost smooth wood surface or table top. The stain in the poly will create darker or lighter color on the wood surface, that is ok and that is nice. - You are not done. Now mix the oil based fast drying polyurethane with mineral spirit and use new cloth and paper towel to apply one more layer on the wood. Again, make sure the mixture is thin enough and your cloth is fully absolve with the mixture. Apply the mixture to entire surface, you don't need to follow wood grain direction this time. You make sure the entire surface is wet. After it is dry, you can apply 2nd layer until the wood surface is smooth enough for you. Notice that this fast drying poly will deepen the color of your surface. The more layer you apply, the deeper the color. It takes a few days :-)

I did read one publication (I think it was a us govt pamphlet from the early 20th century) that said metallic paint reduces btu output, but haven't seen anything else on the topic. They came from the factory pre-primed and the seller recommends painting them. As a practical matter I don't know how you would preserve cast iron without painting it. These systems are-over designed anyways. They'll put out a 70 degree delta t from the odt, which you hit only a small percentage of the time, with a margin of error. The entire system is within the insulated envelope, and generates heat as long as the thermostat and/or the TRVs call for it. That heat will distribute throughout the house more easily than escaping it. Maybe in old systems where the boiler and uninsulated pipes sat in an uninsulated basement, a small amount of thermal resistance at the radiator posed a problem, but in a properly designed modern system I find it hard to believe it will ever be a real world problem.