Recently I have had a lot of free time on my hands and I am limited to reading, using my laptop computer or writing (no I donÂt want to get into why). I have spent many, many hours (ok really many days) on this web site learning so much. There are so many wonderful pages and links. I must thank all of you wise and knowledgeable folks who keep offering advise, educated (and some not so educated) opinions; you are such a vast wealth of information. Every few posts I learn something new. Thank you again for all your wisdom and patience with us newbies. Personally I havenÂt yet canned, but I know so much, I almost feel like an expert...lol. Funny story for you; A few years ago I was determined to start canningÂI searched the Internet for a good canner, thought I found one and then there was a great deal on ebay. I waited, I watched and then put in a final bidÂyahoo, I won I finally received my new pride and joy and oh no!!! I have a second oven over my stove and my new pressure canner wouldnÂt fit, it is too tall there went my hopes of canning out the window for a while. I finally sold that canner, bought a new one last week, but I have since learned to go back and try to get the 3-part weight I also want to bump this post back to the front where it belongs so every one of the experts, who I feel I know personally, will see how much this site is appreciated!!! Thank you, Teri

I missed the spam, as I am just now reading this. Kevin used to work for a rental car agency, and so he knows all the ins and outs. He had the job in Austin, and it made it easy for him to move here and transfer his job at the same time. I had him quit that job as soon as I was able to cover both of our expenses so that he could get something different. On Maui, we bought the total coverage insurance from the company, and it was not that expensive. One of the guide books we had said that there were hostile natives on certain parts of the island, and so we didn't want to be bothered with worrying about parking in a sketchy parking lot. Plus, we were used to Venice Beach and were aware of all the incidents that happen there. Nothing happened on Maui, however. I made a claim on my insurance a few years ago, and my rates did not go up at all, and they are extremely low because my car is not worth anything. I pay less than $200 a year to State Farm for car insurance, and that includes coverage for damage from uninsured drivers. In California, insurance companies cannot raise your rates if you make a claim for this type of coverage, but in my case, I had run into someone's bumper and did a small amount of damage. We take pictures of cars that we rent, but have not had issues. If we did, I would probably make a scene, something short of throwing keys into a cornfield, however. I also would not hesitate to allow my insurance to handle it. If you have not made a claim in a long time, you do not have much worry from rates going up. Lars

I've got one, and enjoy it periodically. You can take store-bought yogurt and make it into frozen yogurt...I like taking the Yoplait Light's in various flavors and making frozen yogurt from them. The Black Forest Cake Yoplait and Raspberry Cheesecake yogurts are both delicious frozen! Also, if you want to make ice cream from scratch, try one of the recipes that comes in the little booklet. I changed one to fat-free half-n-half and it was delicious! Donna

There's a lot of truth to many of the things brought up, and people wax nostalgically about "the good old days" but not many people really want to go back too far. Few will give up their cell phones, cars, remote controls, cable/satellite TV, microwaves automatic washers and the like. I'll admit I sure appreciate a lot of the conveniences but I also enjoyed going "back to nature" at the lake. No electricity out there so you got a taste of what it was like 100+ years ago. And certain conveniences there too. But that's a different topic. And me, I really like a large yard. I don't like being where you can reach out the window and shake hands with the neighbors. One of the reasons I bought where I did. Nice large lawn. I much prefer grass to blacktop or concrete. Healthier too. Trees and grass absorb CO2 and emit O2. It's part of photosynthesis. My dad couldn't figure out why I planted so many trees in my yard. I run the a/c much less because the house is much cooler when it's shaded. With grass rather than blacktop or concrete, it's much cooler in the summer and the smell of fresh cut grass is a nice smell, quite unlike the chemical smell of "mountain freshness" or whatever they call that stench they put in the laundry detergents and softeners that people seem so addicted to. Used to be when the clothes would stink was an indicator it's time to wash the clothes and yes, back when, you could wear a shirt and/or pants more than an hour before changing them. Having lawns instead of hard surfaces also lets the water tables fill up again from the rains and snow. Look at the areas with water shortage issues. Generally they have far more impervious surfaces. We are doing our best to fight Mother Nature and can't figure out why she gets ticked off and gives a little slap on the wrists now and then to remind us to wake up. And FWIW, I haven't watered my lawn for over 25 years and have a much nicer lawn overall than most of the neighbors. The hottest part of the summer the grass will go dormant. When that happens you don't need to mow. If you water it, then you have to mow it! What's wrong with this picture? :) And the one I'll add is how people used to "cook" coffee at home. They didn't have to go pay $5 at Megabucks for coffee with a lot of milk in it! Used a mug or a cup and saucer (how many remember saucer and blow? Course the coffee was much hotter then too because women in those days knew that coffee was hot and not to spill it in their laps and run to a lawyer. You'd fix it rather than just toss it and buy new. And nobody bought all new appliances because the color trend had changed! You could get your appliances in any color you wanted, as long as it was white, possibly with some chrome trim. Home buyers didn't know the phrase "kitchen needs 'updating'"! And for the rare circumstance if the washer quit for good and was unrepairable, you surely didn't buy a new dryer to go with it! And back then if you didn't have that item you wanted needed for whatever, you didn't make a special trip to the store. You called a neighbor or went over and asked to borrow a cup of sugar or whatever. Or you would "make do" without. If clothes went out of style, you wore clothes that were out of style until they wore out. Although few would go back to those days, many sure could learn something from those days couldn't they?