diff --git a/pecan/jsonify.py b/pecan/jsonify.py
index b4f1227..c0ce2c8 100644
--- a/pecan/jsonify.py
+++ b/pecan/jsonify.py
@@ -29,14 +29,6 @@ except ImportError:         # pragma no cover
     class RowProxy:
         pass
 
-#
-# exceptions
-#
-
-
-class JsonEncodeError(Exception):
-    pass
-
 
 #
 # encoders
diff --git a/pecan/middleware/logger.py b/pecan/middleware/logger.py
index 01c53ed..946ec17 100644
--- a/pecan/middleware/logger.py
+++ b/pecan/middleware/logger.py
@@ -10,19 +10,6 @@ import time
 import urllib
 
 
-def asbool(obj):
-    if isinstance(obj, (str, unicode)):
-        obj = obj.strip().lower()
-        if obj in ['true', 'yes', 'on', 'y', 't', '1']:
-            return True
-        elif obj in ['false', 'no', 'off', 'n', 'f', '0']:
-            return False
-        else:
-            raise ValueError(
-                "String is not true/false: %r" % obj)
-    return bool(obj)
-
-
 class TransLogger(object):
     """
     This logging middleware will log all requests as they go through.
@@ -96,9 +83,9 @@ class TransLogger(object):
                 offset = "%0.4d" % (offset)  # pragma: nocover
         remote_addr = '-'
         if environ.get('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'):
-            remote_addr = environ['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']
+            remote_addr = environ['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']  # pragma: nocover
         elif environ.get('REMOTE_ADDR'):
-            remote_addr = environ['REMOTE_ADDR']
+            remote_addr = environ['REMOTE_ADDR']  # pragma: nocover
         d = {
             'REMOTE_ADDR': remote_addr,
             'REMOTE_USER': environ.get('REMOTE_USER') or '-',
@@ -113,25 +100,3 @@ class TransLogger(object):
             }
         message = self.format % d
         self.logger.log(self.logging_level, message)
-
-
-def make_filter(
-    app, global_conf,
-    logger_name='wsgi',
-    format=None,
-    logging_level=logging.INFO,
-    setup_console_handler=True,
-    set_logger_level=logging.DEBUG):
-    if isinstance(logging_level, basestring):
-        logging_level = logging._levelNames[logging_level]
-    if isinstance(set_logger_level, basestring):
-        set_logger_level = logging._levelNames[set_logger_level]
-    return TransLogger(
-        app,
-        format=format or None,
-        logging_level=logging_level,
-        logger_name=logger_name,
-        setup_console_handler=asbool(setup_console_handler),
-        set_logger_level=set_logger_level)
-
-make_filter.__doc__ = TransLogger.__doc__
diff --git a/pecan/tests/middleware/test_logger.py b/pecan/tests/middleware/test_logger.py
index e69de29..530440e 100644
--- a/pecan/tests/middleware/test_logger.py
+++ b/pecan/tests/middleware/test_logger.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+from cStringIO import StringIO
+from unittest import TestCase
+from webtest import TestApp
+
+from pecan.middleware.logger import TransLogger
+
+
+def simple_app(environ, start_response):
+    start_response("200 OK", [('Content-type', 'text/plain')])
+    return ['Hello, World']
+
+
+class FakeLogger(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.b = StringIO()
+
+    def log(self, level, msg):
+        self.b.write(msg)
+
+    def getvalue(self):
+        return self.b.getvalue()
+
+
+class TestDebugMiddleware(TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.logger = FakeLogger()
+
+    def test_simple_log(self):
+        app = TestApp(TransLogger(simple_app, logger=self.logger))
+        r = app.get('/')
+        assert r.status_int == 200
+        assert r.body == 'Hello, World'
+        assert '"GET / HTTP/1.0" 200 - "-" "-"' in self.logger.getvalue()
+
+    def test_log_format(self):
+        app = TestApp(TransLogger(simple_app, logger=self.logger, format='X'))
+        r = app.get('/')
+        assert r.status_int == 200
+        assert r.body == 'Hello, World'
+        assert self.logger.getvalue() == 'X'
+
+    def test_log_query_string(self):
+        app = TestApp(TransLogger(simple_app, logger=self.logger))
+        r = app.get('/?foo=1')
+        assert r.status_int == 200
+        assert r.body == 'Hello, World'
+        assert '"GET /?foo=1 HTTP/1.0" 200 - "-" "-"' in self.logger.getvalue()
diff --git a/pecan/tests/middleware/test_recursive.py b/pecan/tests/middleware/test_recursive.py
index e34733b..8c7888a 100644
--- a/pecan/tests/middleware/test_recursive.py
+++ b/pecan/tests/middleware/test_recursive.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class TestRecursiveMiddleware(TestCase):
                                     status, headers, exc_info=None
                                 ):
                                 return start_response(
-                                    '404', headers, exc_info
+                                    '404 Not Found', headers, exc_info
                                 )
                             return self.app(e, keep_status_start_response)