I found this thread by accident and am very happy that I'm not the only person in the world who doesn't like dog - or any droppings for that matter - in my yard. We live on a corner and it amazes me how people will allow their dogs to run 20 feet up into my yard on one of those 'wonderful' retractable leashes. To me that's trespassing, plain and simple. On more than one occasion I have flung open a window and shouted quite loudly 'CAN YOU KEEP YOUR DOG OFF MY GRASS PLEASE', and then slammed the window shut so they got the hint that not only didn't I appreciate it but let them know they could be seen. I mean, what is it about windows, they think you can't see out?? And I don't care if they pick it up, it's STILL there. If you doubt me, go step on the grass where someone has just 'picked it up' and then sniff your shoes. Nice, eh? It's still on the top of the grass and you're gonna track the smell everywhere you walk. My favorite is what happened recently - I walk a treadmill in the evenings after dinner when many people walk their dogs, and I can see out two windows, one on the side of the house and one in the front. One evening I see a couple come walking two big dogs, a couple I've seen before, not every day but off and on. Never really paid much attention to them, I just see them through the window when they go by. On this particular night I'm walking, and I see them coming back from the end of the street, and I saw a bag in her left hand and thought, Oh, well that's good, at least they're one of those walkers who picks up. And as I'm looking at them - and this all happened in a matter of seconds - she suddnely turns towards her husband (which meant she was turned away from my house so I'm just seeing her back), she kind of leans in towards her husband, like she's saying something to him, then straightens back up and continues walking. As they continued walking, I notice a bag at the edge of the neighbors grass across the street and immediately looked at her hand. No bag. So here you have someone who probably picks it up but then will simply drop the bag somewhere so they don't have to take it home. As hubby said, not only is that a really low thing to do, it's littering. So I got in my car and followed them to see where they lived - which was in a completely different neighborhood than ours so obviosuly they come to OURS to do this - and then after dark I retrieved the bag and 'returned' it to them by tossing it up onto their driveway. I was really hoping it would still be dark when they left for work in the morning and they would drive right through it. At any rate, no one has seen them since, which I would hope is because they're too embarrassed to be seen on our street knowing they were caught doing something so unkind, and also because they now know WE know where they live. And like my husband says, we're pretty sure this probably isn't the first time they've done this, they just never got caught before.

Simplicity does make for less technical issues down the road, but I don't want to trade my iPhone for my old flip phone either. I feel your pain, but this would have happened (i.e. moisture in the panes) with a poorly sealed clear glass unit at some point if the seal is the issue. The Low-e has failed here and in a vast majority of the cases, it is because of the introduction of moisture (i.e. humidity) into the sealed unit. There should be a warranty sticker with a serial number on the window that should provide them all the information that they need. Changing out the fixed units is a PITB but swapping out the operable units is pretty easy. If they provide you with replacement units, that is really all you can ask of a manufacturer. I can't condemn them for that. Now...if they are turning out a bunch of crap product and it is failing left, right, and center...that is a poor example of quality and execution. That said, we have had bad batches of glass from even the best of suppliers. Keep us posted and hopefully they don't the process too ponderous. It shouldn't have to be that hard and you are 100% right about that.

The OP said, to put it another way: "they could do the job in a smaller kitchen," those folks with huge kitchens. This may be the core focus the OP was interested in, when he asked if they "really use" their large kitchen. Too great a distance and you've got a space that is hard to work in. Too many steps. Ancillary question 1: About eco footprint: The more high-quality your refrigeration capacity is, the longer your produce keeps; organics spoil sooner in cheap fridges. The more refrigeration capacity you have at home, the less strain you put on the refrigerated distribution retail system. Ancillary question 2: "Huge kitchen --> wealthy homeowner --> eat out, or eat "delivered food" Disgusting. Oh, please. Please, people, let's remember that the wealthiest don't go exposing themselves to restaurant situations as a general rule. Food prepared by strangers presents risks, unknowable, un-evaluat-able. Also, crowd situations present risks, social interaction risks of all kinds, and the wealthier one is deemed to be, the bigger these social risks become. Whether one eats out or not has little to do with one's wealth. --- OTOH, people who just LIKE to go to restaurants or have food delivered certainly are limited by their available cash or credit. People who like to spend are not savers and are not wealthy. They may have enough to spend, today, but this is temporary affluence, equivalent psychologically to a day laborer blowing it all the same night. So a "desire and means to eat out often, or get expensive take-out" can be said to have a ($, in cash or credit) Limiting Factor. This $ limiting factor is not correlated to the number of steps between the sink, fridge and cooktop. And also not correlated to the quality of the appliances. ----

Hi y'all -- sorry this thread got away from me and I never looked back after a certain point. I know there are fellow inveterate plastic-rescuers around. But it's ironic to find myself in this position because there are few who hate plastic as much as I; I hate it so much I can't throw it away because that will generate more pressure for it. It's the bottomless cup-paradigm - if you don't like the drink, draining the cup won't put a stop to it. Or something. I have confusion about the issue of safety and plastics. Much of what I read I believe is not true. I would never heat any plastic-encased food, really, in a MW. Having no kitchen for a while I've resorted occasionally to premade costco foods in plastic containers that can nominally go in an oven. But they melt. How scary is that?? However the stuff about washing bags leeching vinyls or whatever it is that's claimed -- I don't believe that. I think age can start vinyls to fall apart, but washing? nuh-uh. Food grade plastic: did you know most of those "tshirt bags" are not rated for food? You're not supposed to put food in em. I gave up worrying about that long ago; life's too short. Everyone does it. I try to remember not to, but frankly that particular scare has been pushed out of my forebrain at some point. BTW I love how the ones most vocal in "sharing information" about how washing plastics results in unsafe plastic to use are ... water bottlers. My kids regularly get scolded by teachers for reusing water bottles. It makes them feel badly. And I try to spare them the public humiliation the teachers sometimes put them through regarding this. I think the humiliation is likely far worse for them than the supposed vinyl slough-off. I think mold in plastics can certainly be a problem; it can be hard if not impossible to adequately clean plastics of mold if not food residue. But disintegrating plastic? I don't think so, not usually, not unless heated. Much of my feelings on this subject are generated by a friend who is a much-awarded materials chemist. Anyway... there are lots of good hints in this thread that I thank one and all for. More tales from the war zone of neurotic inability to throw-away: I have been - not once or even twice but several times in the past - been threatened with arrest for refusing to take a bag for goods purchased at a store. My kids don't believe me about this, but it's true: not so very long ago (and more so in certain parts of the country) it was considered just shy of insane, certainly unpatriotic and utterly criminal, to wish to leave a store without one's purchases in a bag. When I forget to bring a bag into a store or don't bring a large-enough one, my "punishment" is to leave the store with everything in my cart: I tell the cashier that my car is a big-enough storage vessel for it. This usually gets a smile. BTW, part of this neurosis is wanting to avoid purchasing a container when there are so many orphan-containers around. If you have recourse to a perfectly acceptable in-want-of-reusing container and instead go out and buy one, that's generating unneeded demand and pressure on resources. That's how the neurotic argument goes.... And finally: books. They are clearly their own species and worthy of building houses for, are they not? (another primary reason for renovating here!) But I have recently discovered PaperbackBookSwap. If this isn't better than sliced bread I don't know what is. You can swap your done/disliked books for someone else's. There are so many books out there I'd like to just have around in case I ever found time to read anything again -- this is the way to do it. I cannot tell you how much fun this has been. It's not just for paperbacks either. If you want me to send you a signup link, I think you or I or both of us get a free credit or two. Email me and I'll send you the link. No worries if you'd rather sign up independently; I have more credits than I can likely read through before I die! Here is a link that might be useful: Book exchange site