Yes, guides with arrows pointing to field marks aren't the ultimate in identification. Guides with notes about other birds with similar characteristics and then explanations about what to look for the tell the two apart are helpful. I have found that in most cases where IDs are difficult it's really beneficial to research more than one resource. We really have some tools now that weren't commonly available even fifteen years ago and that's access to the internet and cheaper digital cameras. I keep a digital right by the regular birding window. I take rapid frames of the birds in question from as many angles as I can. Sometimes you don't have time to focus and be fussy. Getting a less than perfect picture is not always a failure. If it helps you to catch the target sitting next to a known bird, immediately you have a handle on size. I also prefer real photographs I find on this forum, because painted representations just leave too much to artistic license. LOL. I sometimes wonder how many really cool sparrows I missed by logging them as something common? So many folks just causally dismiss them because they look similar. This is where you sometimes find your lifers! Keep a notepad handy to your observation station to mark down anything you notice on field marks. I have a good memory but the image in the brain can play tricks on you quickly. Draw a pic if you must, and try to catch some photos. Document, document and document.

American Range double hybrid. Gas oven works well. Electric is still not working. Repairman is supposed to be coming. I love the gas oven and its amazing boiler. It is like a mini flame thrower. Garlic bread toasts perfectly due to the long shape of the broiler. It is also easy to clean. I can't remember what spilled, but it continued to bake on the two racks and bottom of the oven for 2 hours. It wiped off with a damp cloth a couple of days later. (I had forgotten about it.) Maybe one day I can tell you about the electric oven. The store where I ordered it from ordered the double gas so they had to reorder it. They didn't want to. I think they didn't order on purpose so I would have to take the wrong one. (they offered $1000.00 if I took it.) so after waiting 8 weeks for the wrong oven, I waited 14weeks for the second. I Called American. They did not have any orders for hybrids. When I told American what had happened They rushed my hybrid. I got it one week later. So maybe because it was a rush order something didn't get checked.

Although it seems a tangent, bear with me: I recently purchased a stick blender for my mother's birthday, the one I gave her years ago having bitten the proverbial dust. I started research on Amazon, only to find similar sorts of problems with this small appliance as those outlined in the original post here, i.e. so many brands either got glowing reviews or horror stories for the very same product. Quality seemed to be a roll of the dice, no matter how much you paid. I finally chose a popular brand, knowing that the blender could suddenly tank, but also knowing that reviewers said the customer service was outstanding. So, if we're left with mediocrity from the more accessible electric wall oven brands (like Bosh or Electrolux vs the costy Wolf), which have been most responsive when people have had a problem? Kitchenaid seems to have failed roundly in this respect over the past few years, so even if they've solved their problems, they aren't the brand for me. Comments from the trenches?

Don't know if you have an IKEA around, but if you do, check out their cushion covers (I think you can also order on line for many of them). They have some amazing choices for a very reasonable price, and their feather pillow stuffers are terrific, again at a good price (they are not down, but fowl feathers, and are a great deal - I have a ton of them). The Alvine Lov pillow is wonderful, all embroidered, and a good size for your couches. I have two of those - shades of yellow, green and a blue-grey. The Urusula could be a perfect neutral for in there, and is 26x26, so a good corner pillow, with something more colorful in front of that if you like. I also like the Benzy Land.