My husband researched all the dehydrators before ordering the Excalibur a few months ago. I haven't used it as much as I thought, but I've just been crazy busy. It is well-made and 100% USA made. Be sure to order the paraflexx sheets for small or sticky items, especially if you are going to make fruit leathers. We have been well pleased with it, even though I haven't used it as much as I should. There have been some items I could have dehydrated instead of canned. There is a learning curve as to what works best in the dehydrator. I just wish my sink was big enough to rinse off the trays! One of the selling points (for me) was that the fan is in the back and distributes the air evenly to all of the trays. Another advantage of the the Excalibur is that you can remove racks regardless of position. That also makes it easy to check things. If you have a tray of things that is cut a bit thicker, you can just remove an empty rack above it. We purchased the 9 tray model that includes the timer. I thought it would be a good feature, but it has turned out to be pretty meaningless. In hindsight, I would have saved the money on that option and bought the model without the timer. I don't think you can go wrong with the purchase of an Excalibur. Be sure you stick with the 9 tray model. It may sound like a lot, but it fills up pretty fast! I'd like to see more tips on dehydrating foods here. I tried strawberries but was disappointed in them. Maybe they just weren't good enough strawberries to begin with, but they didn't have good flavor. Jill

Since I usually hunt things for a long time, I rarely have regrets. But sometimes I'm being impulsive. For example I'm saving for a bed for my daughter(she has where to sleep no worries..she just dreams about full size bed instead of twin). Yesterday they have all sorts of deals, in honor of Mother's day..I see some nightstands and I fall in love. We don't have matching nightstands in our master; we have other things (huge end table and bookshelf ladder lol) that work nicely and look fine, but it's been years that I wanted to get matching nightstands because I think our bedroom, as much as I love it, might use some relief:) So I buy these nightstands..sale and all, but it's not really cheap. And I know-it's not that I chose wrong, they are adorable, and in worst case if my husband hates them or I have an unexpected bill to pay-they're lightweight and the store is 20 min from us, and we can return it. But could I go without them for another year or two or three or..? Yeah I could. So sitting here full of remorse and guilt.. Also they were new. I know old nightstands that I really tend to love are more expensive than these. I even checked our CL once again, to make sure before making the purchase. But still. Who knows, maybe I'd eventually find a bargain. And now I still have to find this full size bed. I can't even tell myself I gave myself a Mother's Day gift..because I already got a HUGE orchid... Thank you for giving me this great opportunity to confess..because I didn't say a word to my unsuspecting husband yet..:)

Shag would be longer, I think. You'd probably find "high pile" in the description. ETA: You might be right about it being called "shag", Dyan. Found this one at HD. Look at the close-ups. Home-Decorators-Collection-Ethereal-Shag-Cream-Beige-7-ft-x-10-ft-Indoor-Area-Rug

Buy enough for two coats. It will need it. I painted every single bit of trim and doors, in my house Racoon fur by BM which is a dark charcoal. It was ok, but, wasnt what I wanted, so 1 yr later, I painted them all black. I thought maybe 1 coat would work, but, it took 2.