This is little off subject I think but Joan talking about making things with toilet paper rolls & oatmeal boxes made me think of all the fun I had making forts, school houses, or a fine house- all out of the refrigerator or appliance cartons. The ones we got were around a new appliance & had wood frame & heavy cardboard or maybe even lightweight paneling with reinforced corners. They did well in summer rains(I added some kind of roof) & in winter dad had gotten 1 for me to retreat to in the basement. I put 3-4 of them together on a vacant lot & "taught" school, played house with other neighborhood kids or fought off cowboys or Indians as we often changed which ones we wanted to to be. There was a tree on the lot, so we could escape the fort & go up in the tree & be lookouts, of course the lake was right below so we had to watch"on land & sea" it was quite a job & we were very serious about it. Too bad I didn't have my camera yet! I was shy but always road after the appliance truck & asked if I could have the crate, I think we ended up with 4 on the lot, they were very heavy but delivered right to spot I wanted.So disappointed when torn down & new house went up in there. Dad really started something fun by bringing that 1st 1 home tho. Jan

Well that was a dud deal. Turns out it had more hours than what was advertised. He had paperwork saying a brand new engine was installed at the 1960 mark and is why i was told 40hrs. The meter had nearly 2000 hrs on it. In anycase i didnt buy it dealer said not to. So back to the drawing board.. Oops sorry I just seen this. Sorry it did not work out, but I knew something was wrong, as a good used one should be more like $15,000 to $18,000

oh wow! This looks like fun - you won't be sleeping..... I looked up your new machine - did you see there is a $100 rebate if you bought it this week? I remember you mentioning a new machine at Christmas -buying on machines Ebay scares me, although I know people get great deals. So glad you got what you really wanted.

Wes has one; a mega 64-something, it-does-everything model. He downloads a lot of pod-casts on hunting dogs, training hunting dogs, fishing, and hunting, etc. He's also taking "Speak German" iPod lessons. He has all our photos and music in it. I got him a Bose docking station/speakers. It sounds awesome. He downloads the Prairie Home Companion pod cast each week and we listen to it in the den. I want one of my own. I would put my every-growing collection of audio books in it. I'd get a small docking station so I could carry it around the house and out to the garden as I do chores and "stuff." I listen to the audio books this way now, but I have to carry the bigger CD player and keep changing the discs. I don't like wearing ear buds. I want an iPod, or an iPad.