Dishwasher

I miss a lot of "special" weeks in this job, and the most recent victim was National Window Safety Week. While I doubt that the result was anything like the defenestration of Prague (the one in 1618, not 1419), I would be remiss if I did not mention at least a few safety tips provided to me by the folks at Marvin Windows: Keep windows closed and locked when not in use. If you open windows for ventilation, choose windows not easily reached by children. Install a window-opening control device to limit the window opening.

I grew up in a household in which my mom regularly ran a white glove over the woodwork. Mom's no longer among the living, but if she were to pop down to my house, she would have one sorry-looking glove. When my children were small, I used to put away their toys while they were still playing with them. But the truth is, I am a secret slob - like so many of us. America's standards of housekeeping have taken a steep plunge. The number of hours Americans spend on housework keeps dropping, along with their interest in floor wax, scouring powders and deep cleansers.

The 25-year-old Bucks County man knew he was painted into a corner for committing two rapes and one attempted rape in the Art Museum area last summer. So Joseph N. Lynch, of Lahaska, Bucks County, a restaurant dishwasher, didn't attempt to color the truth by framing a defense yesterday. He pleaded guilty before Common Pleas Judge Carolyn E. Temin and was committed to prison to await sentencing. The judge ordered a background report and psychiatric tests. Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich told Temin that he wants to call the victims at the sentencing hearing.

Question: Just wondering if you might have any suggestions for me regarding ants running all over the inside of my dishwasher. It is on an exterior wall, and we have sprayed an ant-control compound outside. We have not had many ants inside the kitchen or the rest of the house, just the dishwasher. I have been pre-rinsing the dishes before putting them in. I run it about every other day. Answer: There must be a food source somewhere - maybe behind the dishwasher or under the dishwasher, or perhaps the filter is dirty and needs to be cleaned.

One of my favorite lines from television was delivered by Jonathan Harris, who played the diabolical yet cowardly Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. He and Will Robinson were out searching for iron pyrite, and as Will scanned the horizon with binoculars, he reported that his mother and older sister were doing laundry. "Spare me the dreary domestic story," Smith told him. Well, what Dr. Smith would consider dreary, we here at "Your Place" consider our meat and potatoes. So, when we write about dishwashers that produce glassware with a filmy coating, a tidal wave of e-mail leaves us floating in possible solutions.

Now and then, emotion overtakes my mother as she works in the kitchen of her rural Pennsylvania home, where a collection of miniature pitchers marches across the top of the cabinets. Her husband - like her, in his early 70s - says she often exclaims, "I just love dishwashers!" when the "clean" light pops on. The other morning, as I was wedging my family's morning take of three plates, five forks and six coffee mugs into a dishwasher already nearly full, Mom was loading her own with one plate, two forks and a coffee cup. As we telephonically loaded together, she told me that she considers it a joyful task.

Dishwasher drawers have become hot commodities among folks looking to clean their plates in a smaller space. Choice is limited to two major manufacturers, Fisher & Paykel and KitchenAid, a division of Whirlpool Corp. Still, you should research before you buy - especially since a single drawer can run $800 or more, compared with $200 for a basic full-size dishwasher. Need to know: Dishwasher drawers are 24 inches wide and 22 inches deep, the same as a standard dishwasher. Where you save space is with the height of the unit.

Dishwashers today are more energy-efficient than they used to be. In many cases, it actually costs less to use the dishwasher than to wash dishes by hand. Of course, your savings go down the drain if you wash only half a load. And it's also important to take care of this appliance to keep it in peak form. Check the door gasket from time to time. Clean it with vinegar and follow with a light coating of petroleum jelly. This may keep the dishwasher from leaking around the door. Check the bottom after every use to make sure food scraps - or eating utensils - haven't accumulated.

DEAR ABBY: The letter from "Turned Off in Texas" caught my attention. While I agree that putting a toilet brush in the dishwasher with the dishes was unexpected and off-putting - we don't ever want to link the toilet with our food - I think your answer showed a little overreaction. Running the dishes in another cycle should take care of any concerns as long as the water is hot. Studies have shown that the inside of the average public toilet bowl is not as bacteria-laden as a public drinking fountain.

Our policy, here at the Institute Of Things That Might Kill You, is not to cause panic. If we suspect some new health menace, such as a link between brain cancer and the dance routine to "Achy Breaky Heart," we do not make any announcement without first going through the standard scientific procedure of applying for a large federal grant. But there is no time for that now. Not with the reports that have been flooding into the institute concerning a health menace that threatens all Americans who fall into the High-Risk Group, defined as "Americans who are not already dead.

I miss a lot of "special" weeks in this job, and the most recent victim was National Window Safety Week. While I doubt that the result was anything like the defenestration of Prague (the one in 1618, not 1419), I would be remiss if I did not mention at least a few safety tips provided to me by the folks at Marvin Windows: Keep windows closed and locked when not in use. If you open windows for ventilation, choose windows not easily reached by children. Install a window-opening control device to limit the window opening.

I begin today's exercise thanking the 118 readers from Maine to California who e-mailed me with recommendations on preventing cloudy glassware from coming out of the dishwasher. That will do. As far as which way to place forks and knives, up or down, in the dishwasher, Bernice Wissler has determined how I will do so from now on: "I put them both top up and bottom up in order to be sure that none of them 'nest.' The silverware holder has six compartments and we usually have more than six forks, for example, so having some facing up and some down makes for a more even distribution.

One of my favorite lines from television was delivered by Jonathan Harris, who played the diabolical yet cowardly Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. He and Will Robinson were out searching for iron pyrite, and as Will scanned the horizon with binoculars, he reported that his mother and older sister were doing laundry. "Spare me the dreary domestic story," Smith told him. Well, what Dr. Smith would consider dreary, we here at "Your Place" consider our meat and potatoes. So, when we write about dishwashers that produce glassware with a filmy coating, a tidal wave of e-mail leaves us floating in possible solutions.

Question: I live in a mature residential area not too far from a neighborhood park. For the last few years, when the weather reaches the low 20 degrees, field mice come in the house. Then they find their way into the dishwasher, of all places. I have plugged up every hole in the house I could with every technique I have read or heard about, but they still get in. We do scrape and rinse the dishes, and in the morning I still find mouse feces in the bottom of the dishwasher. The plumber told us he not seen this in his 30 years in the business and thought it was so funny, he did not charge us. He suggested a new dishwasher.

On a warmish New Year's Eve, I planted more lettuce in the cold frame on the south side of the house since what I'd put in a few weeks before was thriving. Then, of course, the next few days turned bitterly cold. Although the lettuce continues to thrive - it is a cold frame, after all - my thoughts turned to how people were coping with this and future spates of frigid temperatures. Consumer Reports tweeted a link to a Centers for Disease Control list of home-heating safety tips.

DEAR ABBY: The letter from "Turned Off in Texas" caught my attention. While I agree that putting a toilet brush in the dishwasher with the dishes was unexpected and off-putting - we don't ever want to link the toilet with our food - I think your answer showed a little overreaction. Running the dishes in another cycle should take care of any concerns as long as the water is hot. Studies have shown that the inside of the average public toilet bowl is not as bacteria-laden as a public drinking fountain.

Another possible solution to a problem from a reader who couldn't use the shower and run the dishwasher simultaneously. Kevin Knudsen of Hawthorn Woods, Ill., believes the problem may lie with the flow rate, since the reader with the problem said he had plenty of pressure. The Knudsens, who are on a community well system, had similar issues, "except it was the neighbor flushing while we were in the shower," he said. "Our pressure also indicated everything was acceptable. " Once he added a pressure tank and a check valve, the problem almost went away.

WASHINGTON - Whirlpool Corp.'s Maytag unit is recalling about 1.7 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday, says the company, part of Whirlpool Corp., has received 12 reports of electrical failures in the dishwasher heating element that led to fires and damage. One kitchen fire caused extensive damage, the agency said. No injuries have been reported. The recall includes Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley brand dishwashers with plastic tubs.

Peachy taste These new FruitziO snacks are freeze-dried so they're crunchy and retain the real taste of the fruit. Free of nuts, gluten, and dairy, they're kosher and vegan. Flavors include apricot, with a touch and sugar cane, and peach. Pretty enough to party Add some polish to your garden party with these sunny dinner plates in mix and match florals of yellow, berry, blue, and green. Made of melamine for Crate and Barrel stores; they're unbreakable and dishwasher safe.