I will post some photos later but this year I tried bagging, apples, grapes and chums with either ziplocks or organza bags to keep the birds/bugs away. Organza bags being the nylon mesh bags used for wedding gifts and the like. I bought mine from: http://www.yourorganzabag.com/organzabag.htm. I used Moss Green as they are not visible in the foliage. I used the 6x9 bags but are they are a bit short for long grapes. Perfect for plums and apples and small bunches of grapes. I trimmed off the top of the ziplock just to the zipper part. Then at each bottom corner I cut off a triangle of plastic to leave about a 3/4 - 1 inch hole for ventilation. After 4 months there is a big difference. The ziplocks act like little greenhouses. There is nearly always significant condensation inside. The bags have a tendency to collapse and even with the drain holes there can be 5-10ml of cumulative water condensation inside. Earwigs like to crawl up via the condensation holes and hang out. The Organza bags have no issues. The are well sealed, no bugs get inside and ventilation is perfect. For apples, there does not seem to be a big issue with the heat/humidity. They seem to be growing and coloring up roughly the same no matter which bag. For the plums and grapes there are a huge difference. Once starting to turn color there is skin breakdown and rot formation in the ziplocked grapes. Coluration of the grapes also seems to be better in with the Organza bags. My Organza bags cost about $0.22 each vs $0.04/ziplock. However after 3 months they still look pretty much like new and as I am harvesting grapes I keep the bags for re-use next year. Another positive is the Organza bags have no perperation time (ziplocks you need to trim 2 corners + the tag) and are super easy to install. The Organza bags have a drawstring, you just open the bag, pull the string then tie a bow over the branch. For me, for the look (my trees don't look like they are covered in plastic), the ease of installation and the ventilation I will be using Organza bags from now on. Not sure for apples if you would see a difference with airborn fungus and scab but they work great for all insect and bird related problems. I think they would work awesome for peaches as they breath very well but keep the bugs/birds out. Just my experience up here in zone 4.

localhero, If the strip won't heat up when you push "seal," then I think the heater isn't working either. You should be able to make it stop vacuuming and start heating any time you want by pressing "seal" (if you are sealing things like bread that can get smushed by the strong vacuum, or things that are moist such that liquid starts to get sucked out, you sometimes want to cut off the vacuuming a bit early this way). One bonus feature I love about my FS is that I can use JUST "seal" to reclose things like chip and cookie bags. Z P.S. I have only had one model, I think it's a 2240---it looks a lot like the 850 picture but I have no bag cutter. The fancier ones seem to mostly have convenience: bag storage, upright design to save counter space. Some have an automatic bag "feeder" function, where I guess instead of placing the bag end in and closing the lid you slip it into a slot and it is fed in the right amount. But I knew I DIDN'T want that (I would have paid extra to AVOID it, lol)---that kind of thing always seems to be fussy and to break first in a machine. Does the 850 have "hands free"? Some of the really basic ones I guess you have to hold it down while the vacuum is vacuuming. With mine you close the lid and pull a little locking lever, then push the "vacuum & seal" or the "seal" buttons. Good luck! Z P.S. Do be sure to check out the SweetAttack site in earlier posts for cheaper bags. The brand-name FS ones are pricey. But with cheap bags you can really save $$ with this thing by putting up food when it's in season and on sale and still having it be top-quality. You do need to make sure the seal is perfect. I've had a few bags of things lose their seal and get freezer burn because I hadn't noticed there was a TINY wrinkle in the bag opening when I sealed it---the air sucks out and the package looks totally vacuumed, but a few days later it's all loose and full of air. Every time this happens I look carefully and can find the little wrinkle. Some of the folks here say they double-seal, just in case, and their failure rate then is pretty much zero. I'm thinking to start doing that for meats or fruits that I know I'll be keeping for a while. Z

Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods: Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place. Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff: - A personal letter to the two of them - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted. - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items. - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass. - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book. Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice. Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.

Our current house has a very small footprint for a fridge so I have a 21cuft French door because a whole-width door would block the entire hallway. The builders of the house, which was built in 1982 and 20 miles from a grocery store, shoulda known better than to have a tiny space that couldn't be modified grrr. So in the laundry I have a very old upright freezer (Gibson) for mostly meats, a small beverage fridge in the dining room, and a dorm/beer fridge in the garage (used to be in my tack room for horse meds). If there was a way to freeze lettuce, I would've done it to avoid having to go to town so often (and sorry, I have a black thumb so when I tried growing lettuce inside, several types of lettuce died in vain). My "new" house, built in 1970 so even older, has a HUGE space for a fridge and is only a mile away from the nearest grocery store, go figure. But it has half the total sqft for the house so I now have only one do-it-all fridge. A 36" 28cuft French door for only 2 people was my knee-jerk "I NEED a big fridge" reaction to the formerly miserly fridge space. It has a separate drawer for beverages, a door-in-door so DH can quickly get at his stuff that otherwise he pokes around forever to get out, and outside water and ice dispenser since it's Phoenix. The fridge shelves fold so I can stand up an open bottle of wine; I tried some caps that are supposed to allow laying down but I don't think they're meant to work with wine sloshing back and forth as the drawer is opened DAMHIK! Well, I don't know how many will read this far but thanks for letting me vent to other TKO's who understand these things lol!