I don't think I have many "gadgets" ... but this one should qualify! I wrote this e-mail to a friend just a short while back: "Got to tell you about one of the BEST purchases Larry has made (for me, anyway!) It's a water-powered hose reel that we bought at Home Depot...we were going to buy a storage hand-crank one at Menards & then this guy saw us looking & stopped & told us about one he had got his wife that wound up by itself...and how remarkably it worked! He said if you don't mind spending more money.... so we went & looked & bought it ... and I am just amazed!!! It winds up to 125' by itself & I have the drain hose going into the corner barrel pond. Since the bushes are so small now, I needed something for the hose (to hide it) ... here's a link, brand is Suncast...so if Dick needs to buy you a gift (and I know he complains about the hose left out), this is it!" http://www.newgardengear.com/waterPoweredGardenHoseReels.php ANYWAY, GJers, this is one of the BEST gadgets I've had in quite awhile & so far is working very, very good! This is NOT a sales pitch...just sharing a great gadget! My latest project has been tearing out overgrown bushes on south end of house & I replaced them with ones that will grow only up to 3' (and they are very small right now)... then mulched the heck of 'em...it's a WIP ... Jeanne S.

Sorry for leaving the thread hanging I have been consumed by the Johnnys Seed catalog trying to learn Veggie Gardening 101 as I have joined a community garden and have no idea what I am doing.. For nearly $4000.00 I think the lawnbott should come with a number of add ons such as a fork that removes weeds as in mows! #7 Lawnbott The LB3510 is the newest and most sophisticated robot mower on the planet. User programmable for up to 4 working zones, the LB3510 also comes standard with a double capacity Li-ion battery to power this larger model, covering homes up to 1 ½ acres. If you want the best in a robotic, electric mower, the LB3510 is it! $3,999.00 #22 Electronic Slug Fence Stop those pesky slugs from ruining your Hostas, your vegetable garden or any other plants that are being attacked by slugs in your garden. This ingenious device puts a very small charge on a wire mesh fence and will repel the snails and slugs before they get to your plants. By Slugs Away $46.03 #19 HIDEHISA Japanese Ikebana Shears The blades of these shears are not laminated (a hard, tool steel forge-welded to a softer iron body), but rather they are made entirely of Hitachi YCS3-Steel. With traditional Japanese laminated shears, the problem is often that when cutting, the relatively soft iron body of the shears bends under stress and so the blades, however hard and sharp, no longer meet closely enough to provide a proper shearing cut. But if one makes the shears entirely out of the hard "Hagane" steel, they would be too susceptible to breaking, as the "Hagane" steel is relatively brittle. The modern alloy YCS3-Steel makes it possible to harden the blades to HRC 63, but to avoid the brittleness characteristic of high-carbon steels. It also allows the body of the shears to be engineered more finely, to a total weight of only 138 g - lighter than other shears designed to do the same job. The light weight staves off fatigue. These shears are particularly suited to hard and knotty branches due to their short, strong blades. HIDEHISA hand forged shears are manufactured in Sanjo, Niigata Province, Japan by an old, established firm well known for the quality of their wares.

Okay, I've finally managed to read all this thread. I love the idea of that portable timer, but of course, a lot of timers are portable. The stove in my Tahlequah house has a timer that only beeps once, so if I don't hear the one beep, I'm out of luck. Having a timer that goes with me wherever I am would be cool. Early in this thread someone mentioned a bench scraper. I love mine. I actually ordered my Christmas present, a dough rising bucket. Since I needed to order some ingredients from KA anyway, it made sense for me to go ahead and order what DH was going to give me anyway, to save shipping. :) As for the above mentioned microplane with a tray - I learned an obvious trick from a Bobby Flay show once. I felt silly for not thinking of it myself. It's simply to turn the microplane so that the blades are at the bottom and the sides are pointing up, like a U. Then you can grate and catch the zest or whatever in the microplane. I've done it that way ever since. I lucked out at an estate sale the other day and found a 8" Henckles chef's knife for $10. I missed out on the Le Creuset they had. As I walked into the kitchen, a woman was laying claim to the entire set they had for sale. Oh, well, she saved me a bunch of money! Still on my list for Santa is one of those scraper paddles for my KA mixer. Sally

Whelp I got the project mostly done. I need better latches on the upper cabinet doors as the cat Abby has decided I put that there for her to open doors and climb up into. GGGGRRRRRR Both pieces were on wheels !!!! All furniture should be on wheels. LOL The old stuff has come from all over. I remember the hooser came from a liquor store in Challis. Just some thing they were selling on the side.Most of my stuff really is just junk. Yard sale stuff thrift store. I still need to fine tune things in studio and kitchen but already Hoosier is great where it is and the ability to easily get to the appliances is a big help. Not that getting them from a shelf below cabinet is all that hard. For me now it is. sigh. Good news is my hands are getting better. This has been pretty miserable. I am going to jazz up the hoosier a little bit. I am not at all concerned to devalue it as it is not a good one. Crappy wood not pretty oak. Painted and all. Then I will get a picture. Adding fru fru to the top is out of the question Again Abby has her own opinion on what belongs up there and has cleared it twice already of what she does not like. This dang cat is more like an Orangutan than a sweet little kitty.