johndeere, That's pretty impressive that you have all that stuff in a 120 sqft shed. I just got mine a month ago so I'm still filling it up. Right now I have my JD225, the 30" tiller, 10 cu ft cart, 175lb spreader, 7 bushel bagger, dozer blade, table saw (that can probably go back to my garage), Karcher/Honda 3000psi pressure washer, 21" Craftsman/Honda push mower, Husqvarna 455 Rancher w/20" bar, Husqvarna 323 trimmer with manual feed head (I hate those bump feed jobs), shovels, axes, rakes, loppers, a fiberglass-handled Vaughn claw hammer, two bags of Quickrete, a half bag of 10-10-10, and my John Deere licensed sprinkler that drives around the yard using the hose as a guide. I built a 4x10 loft in the back, 5' off the floor, which will soon shelve Rubbermaid bins of junk my wife says we need to keep for God knows what reason, currently taking up precious space in the frog (finished room over garage). And underneath that loft is 1,000 board feet of black cherry in 8' lengths neatly stacked with spacers to dry, awaiting some project down the road. I keep all my mechanics tools in the garage. Even though I have a deadbolt on the shed, I'd rather have the Craftsman rollaway and powertools in the garage. I don't think I can fit another tractor in there, but I definitely like the idea of building another garage so I can use my current garage for a workshop (without having to pull the vehicles out and then try not to get sawdust everywhere).

Nick Smith, I am looking for an electric car with a decent range that is not huge. The American market doesn't offer anything in this class. If you look you may find that what you think of as American or Foreign cars are not what you believe them to be. "American" cars made elsewhere or of imported components and "Import" cars made here in the States. I now drive a Toyota and must say its the highest quality auto I have ever owned. Wish we could build them like that. Maybe someday.....

Hi Jon, 1) tank built, swedish common sense of really important features, no useless bells and whistles. 2) Miele and Siemens ... if electronic parts weren't made by ELMARC. Asko machines are like a gorgeous person with a tank built body but with a weak brain .... It's a shame Merloni uses on ASKO the very same same PC boards they use on ELTO/Servis/ARDO/other thousands regional budget brands If you want to know more : antoniomerloni.it and this heavy .pdf document. It is the analysis of the crysis of Merloni Group (it's on the bankruptcy borderline). It's in italian but there are understandable diagrams expecially on the pages 25 ---> 36 I really hope they have recovered and now outsource the electronics from a more reliable manufacturer than their internal one (elmarc) 3) Volvo Polar, a real tank

Snow reflects the entire light spectrum, thus it apears white (unless you live in London where we have grey snow). Obviously it's very unlikely to reflect straight off the snow on the ground and directly hit the pannels commonly installed on a roof, but when the light photons are bounced off the snow they do go back in to the atmopshere. From here they do a number off things, mostly they're bounced about by the atmospheric gases (mainly water), some are lost in to space and a large number are sent back down to earth again. You can see just how reflective the atmosphere is by looking at the sky. The human eye doesn't see light photons untill they impact particles/gases in the atmosphere, which is why outer space is filled with light photons and still pitch black. One of the many benifits of having atmospheric gases is their ability to trap various form of energy, mainly heat and light close to the earth's surface by reflecting most which are not asorbed on contact with the earth back down again. When the earth's surface is highly reflective the light is constantly bouncing between the ground and the atmopshere, thus raising the levels of solar radiation that will impact the solar collector, and giving a basis to my claim that cold climates are "filled with solar radiation". While the direct path of light provides the most useful energy in a solar system, a large ammount of energy can also be gained from indirect sources like reflection. Also, there will be clouds in cold climates, just it's more common to have clear skys in cold weather. The colder the air, the less water it can hold. Weather forcasts are in part based on rules like this because they're so dependable. Without clouds in the way (although in some cases they can actually help by reflecting light back when white and fluffy) solar systems can work better. Well, I hope this makes better sense. You'll have to excuse my slightly difficult description as I don't speak perfect english and scientific words are not every day lanuage.