You probably could cook less however the pot is large so it would be such a thin layer of rice it may not be great. I have several rice cookers, 3 different sizes of the basic rice cookers, I use them all. I use my small 4 cup one the most for just cooking rice for us to have with our meal, I can easily cook only 1 or 2 cups in it and the rice is perfect. I have 2 sizes up 6+12 cups, which I use when I have to feed more people. Then I have my Aroma cooker which seriously is so much more than a rice cooker, I think the name throws many people off because all they think is Rice. I think multi meal machine! Quick dinner machine! Awesome steamer. So if all anyone wants is to cook a little rice get a cheap basic rice cooker from Walmart. But if you want something that cooks rice and much more this is the machine. That other model we both posted is one step up from mine it has one more option, otherwise they are the same. I have never had any problems with the nonstick surface but I am very very careful about what spoons I use and I wash it out immediately by hand. Nothing sticks so clean up is a breeze. This lid locks down you have to push a release button on top to be able to open it. And if you do try to open it during cooking time stand back because it will be steam coming out. Once it is done and goes to keep warm it slowly releases the steam so opening it up won't be really steamy. It's definitely best to leave it alone till it's done. That can mess with it's ability to determine when it is cooked. The exterior doesn't get hot at all, you can pick it up by the handle on top and carry it around nothing is hot except the inner pot and that liner pot lifts out for servings and cleaning. Boiling over is usually a sign of too much water. One thing many people don't know is that the little measuring cups that comes with a rice cooker is specific to that particular pot, and the markings inside the pot for water level are also specific to that cup and pot. And none of them are a true cup. So if you use a regular cup to measure your rice and water you are using much more than you should be for your pot. That cookbook gives conversions and explains this I have a bunch of the little measuring cups and I labeled each one with the pot information in sharpie so I know which one to use.

You can tell male from female. Females will have a nice "round bump" right behind the flower in the shape of the future pumpkin, squash, watermelon etc. and the male will just have the stem. The plant will start with one or the other. Usually, male flowers but this year, my blue hubbard decided to put out females first. It happens. In case the bees aren't doing their job for some reason, you can hand pollinate. Here's a link on how to do it: http://green-change.com/2009/06/04/hand-pollinating-pumpkin-and-squash/. Also includes photos of male and female flowers. I do this with all the cucurbits I grow if I can tell the bees haven't been around. HTH

We had referral lists from two roofing companies (the original one we thought we would use, as well as the one we ended up signing with) and drove around to look at the Gerard roofs they'd installed. They look better in person than they do in any of the photos. We wanted to see them in person because we were trying to decide what color to choose. When we first saw photos only, we thought we'd go with the Country Blend color. But when we went into the first company's showroom, we saw and immediately liked the English Suede color. The salesman gave us a sample of each color to take home. When we did our first "drive around" to look at the roofs, we decided we did not like the English Suede after all. It was great when it was in the shade, but when it was in direct sunlight the color was way too light and kind of "yellowish." Not for us at all. So, we figured we'd go with Country Blend. Oh, the salesman told us that "Gold River" was their most popular color. I'll interrupt myself here to say that Gerard has several colors that are available everywhere. Then, there are additional colors that are regionally available. In the greater Sacramento area there is a master-planned community known as Gold River. Condos, townhomes, duplexes, and single family detached homes. Each individual development within the greater Gold River area has its own set of CC&Rs, and there is also a set of CC&Rs that govern all of Gold River. Gold River remains unincorporated, and has its own Zip code. The median income in Gold River is over $120,000, and is the highest-income area in all of Sacramento County. Hubs and I looked at new houses in Gold River a little more than 25 years ago -- right before we bought the house we're in (purchased new). Although there were floor plans that we liked, we decided Gold River was not for us because everything looked the same. All residences were one of four different shades of brown. Because the association was responsible for front yard landscaping, there was a small number of landscaping designs from which to choose. Unless you're paying attention when you're headed home, it's really easy to end up in the wrong driveway. The homes all originally had shake roofs, and when it got to the point in time where roofs were needing to be replaced, a lot of folks wanted a metal roof. It was apparently felt that composition shingle roofs weren't architecturally desirable enough for the area. And, the master association wanted dark colored roofs. So, Gerard came up with a new color that they named Gold River that met the association's requirements for color. And no one can argue with the Gerard advantages. Plus, all the homeowners there can afford the product, no matter how big their house is. So, the master association approved Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs, but they have to be the Gold River color. You don't have to live in Gold River to get that color, but you can only use that color and no other color if you do live in Gold River. ---- ok, back to my original narrative When I was speaking to one of the owners (the wife of the husband-wife team) of the company who is doing our roof, I asked her which color was the most popular for their installs. She said it was the Timberwood color. Armed with the referral list from that company, Hubs and I headed out again to look at roofs, this time paying particular attention to the Timberwood and Country Blend roofs, and also checking out the Gold River color. We decided that the Gold River color was too dark for us. We still liked Country Blend, but we really, really liked the Timberwood. To us, it looked the most like the color of actual wood shakes. So, that's what we contracted for. The Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs are NOT noisier than a wood shake or comp shingle roof when it rains/hails. A metal roof that doesn't have an air buffer (created by the battens and counter battens) or that doesn't have a coating might be noisier, though. We talked to several different homeowners who'd had the Gerard Canyon Shake roofs installed and every single one of them said they'd go with the same product in a heartbeat. They said their homes stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and they have peace of mind knowing their homes aren't going to catch on fire from a burning ember from someone else's house fire. Oh -- that reminds me. On one of the streets we went to, there were 18 houses that had Gerard Canyon Shake roofs installed within the last 3 years. And 15 of those installations were done by the company that's doing our roof. Turns out that there had been a house fire on that street (it's actually a big loop with 51 total houses). All of the houses at that time had wood shake roofs. That one house burned down completely. The fire spread to the house on one side of it, and that house has not been inhabited since. The "fire house" now is a foundation but nothing else. The house next door to it has not yet been repaired and there are holes in the roof and side of the house where the fire burned through. It was because of that incident that 18 nearby houses had their roofs replaced with Gerard metal roofs. Others were reroofed with shingles, but those are not fireproof. They're better than wood shake, but they will still burn. Dees -- your homeowners association probably just doesn't want a plain metal roof. Have they SEEN the Gerard Stone Coated Steel roofs? Gerard even makes them to look like barrel tiles (think - Spanish or Mediterranean). The company that's doing our roof asked if we have an association to deal with and I said no, because we don't. But she said that they have all of the paperwork and they handle dealing with the associations to get the necessary approvals. So, don't give up hope!

Sushipup, I feel your pain. I have a Maytag Bravos XL toploader. I don't really have any complaints about the job it does cleaning my clothes, but I keep struggling with wrinkles. I've found that as practigal said earlier, it has a lot to do with the spin cycle. I was so excited to get this machine because it did such a good job spinning so my drying cycles were less, but I think it does a little too good of a job. My machine has 3 options for spin, and I wash anything that tends to wrinkle on the low spin option. I still use the high spin option for towels, etc, but all our work clothes are done on low. I hate to do that because it makes the dryer work harder, but that's the only way I've been able to survive. I'm still thinking of replacing the machine at some point.