First, Meyers are extremely resilient; it will live. DO NOT prune it; as the tree needs the carbohydrates in the trunk and limbs to recover. In time the tree will sprout again from the center and fill in the gaps. DO take off all the fruit; if not the tree will sacrifice everything to save the fruit. Keep a good thought.

I would not recommend heating large quantities of water in the microwave and transferring it to the pot. When water boils in a pot, the molecules at the bottom turn to steam, make bubbles, and rise to the top. Microwaves (the waves themselves) heat whatever molecules they hit, so you get molecules of steam mixed in throughout the water. This can cause the water to "explode" if you jostle it and there are a lot of steam molecules that suddenly get together and rapidly rise out of the liquid. It's not too common, because usually either the bubbles would escape sooner, or there wouldn't be too many steam molecules, but I would think with a bigger batch of water there's more room for variation in the process so more chance of overheating the water, plus way more potential for injury. Lpinkmountain, I assume you are already keeping the pot lidded whenever possible as it's heating? That helps a lot. I have a tall speckled enameled stock pot from Target or Walmart that actually does fit quarts, with just enough room for an inch of water to slosh out only a little while boiling. Electric stoves are actually more efficient than gas because less heat escapes around the pot since the heat transfer is mostly by conduction (touching) rather than convection (hot gases flowing, e.g. the products of combustion on a gas stove). With a gas stove, the extra heat would go into your house. If you have air conditioning, the cost to cool your house would be a little lower with an electric stove than a gas stove. Do you have air conditioning? And what kind of heat do you have? I believe you are too far north for a heat pump, so maybe you have gas or oil heat? I wonder if the rise in your electric bill is caused more by your summer A/C usage than your canning. Heating and cooling are the largest costs on a residential electric bill, by far. Other things do make a difference, but if you can during the "shoulder season" when you aren't using heat or A/C, you should compare that bill to the ones in July and August. Luckily electricity is cheap in Virginia (disclaimer: I am proud to work for the electric utility). During January I set my gas-boiler hot water radiator system to 62°F, and when I felt cold I blasted my electric space heaters (several hours a day). My gas bill went up by $100 ($200 total for gas and water). My electric bill went up $10 to $45. One last thing, I think Ken made a "think-o" up there. Power = voltage x current (watts = volts x amps), so 1000 watts on a 110-volt plug would be about 10 amps, while 1000 watts on a 220-volt plug would be about 5 amps. That's why high voltage is useful for high-power applications like stoves and dryers. Melissa

Wow... I admire your savvy. We only use our forced-air gas furnace when temperatures are extremely cold for our area (lows in the low-teens or colder), and only as an over-ride heating source to our Sun Cloud Infrared Heater - when it can't keep up with the extremely cold temperatures and high winds, or we are away from our home for longer than 24-hours. During the coldest days when we have the furnace on, it will come on 3-6 times a day when used in tandem with the Sun Cloud. We've used the Sun Cloud for the past 7-years as our main source for heat and turn our furnace on less than 14-days total during a winter (an average of 8-days per year over the 7-years), and much of that was when we were gone on vacation over Christmas. The next few days the furnace will be on with lows expected to be 5 degrees F tonight and -5 Tuesday. Highs in the mid-teens - plus wind 15-25 mph. I just checked the Watt-A-Meter we put on the Sun Cloud recently - after 112-hours it registers $3.73 for electricity for that period of time. I realize that's not a lot of time, but it is actual use and numbers. It's averaging .03 cents an hour. Over longer periods of time we generally average .02 cents an hour. Our home may seem a bit cool for most people - between 64-66-degrees F - that's on the coldest days. Our utility costs are one-third to one-half what the neighbors are, living in similar homes with 2-adults. We think the Sun Cloud is a safe and affordable source for heat - especially after 7-years of service. We paid for the Sun Cloud with savings on utilities the first year we owned it. It's NOT your usual space heater stuck under the desk to warm feet... Pluses, it doesn't dry the air out. It has zero-clearance and A-1 insurance rating (the highest safety rating means lowest possible insurance costs, and some home insurance will not cover other "space" heaters) - you can safely place it next to a wall, sofa, etc. Safe to use around pets and children. Won't tip over (looks like an oak side table on wheels). No matter where you are in the area we heat - whether it's the farthest point from the Sun Cloud, or next to it - watching TV or eating dinner 18-foot away next to a bay window, around the corner into the kitchen, the area temperature is very consistent through-out. No cold spots. We DO leave the furnace fan on constantly, and this helps to distribute heat to the 3 bedrooms we close off to the rest of the house, and they remain about 3-6 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. -Grainlady

This is a rather old thread but I wish to make a comment anyway since every time I search for fire safety-dogs, it comes up as one of the few resources. Also this thread catapulted me into finding a solution! This is it and I couldn't be more excited to have found it!Someone above mentioned a harness made for letting rescue dogs down from a helicopter into an emergency zone. That looked great until I found the following, which is less than half the price at $70. https://www.x-itproducts.com/how-it-works-large-pet-escape-sling/ At this time it's not offered on Amazon so you have to go directly to the X-It website to order. Ours arrived today. My husband and I tested it out a bit. Okay, we didn't throw our dog out the window however easily got our 80 lb. Golden into the sling/harness very very quickly without any struggle from him (and he's a guy who snaps at being brushed - gently). It's just so easy to get the sling on - slip paws into the large holes, pull up and cinch the velcro at the neck. Next we picked him up using the handles - no problem - and again, not an ounce of struggle. He was obviously well supported and comfortable, even off the floor! We were very happy to discover the sling comes with an attached nylon webbing strap that was way longer than it would take to get him down from our 2nd story bedroom. (It's made for a 4 story building.) Best of all, the "strap" has handle loops every so often taking away the danger of it slipping through your hands while letting your dog down. We're seniors yet I feel confident we can do this if necessary! Of course using this is a last resort and it clearly states that in the instructions. But we feel so much better having a 2nd way out of our 2nd story bedroom for our dog, as well as ourselves (via ladder). We're so grateful someone finally thought of large dogs. Thank you X-It!!! We'll be spreading the word to everyone we know who has dogs. And no, we're not paid by the company, nor have we received any free products! We're simply happy to have finally found this solution. But I agree with some of the above comments, the next house we buy will be one story. Until then, we have a plan.