Thanks for all the answers & info. We're composting both to amend gardens & for ecology reasons. We've had standard cold bins for years. That website was great, Cowgirl2 - thanks! We're gadget geeks, so of course we had to have a composting thermometer. I bought ours at our local Agway (farm and garden store) and it's about 18-24" long. Core temps only got to 112 after the first four days, so I worked hard to scrounge more greens, turned the pile, and added them. I got so excited when core temps measured 150 last night - about 36 hours after I turned & added greens. And all of a sudden, the volume noticeably dropped. Depending on how intrigued my husband gets with the idea of having a CO2 or O2 meter, I can see him either getting one or making one. (I joke not - ever heard of Make magazine? He's a fan.) I'm aware of the aerobic/anaerobic issue with water, and have been monitoring the moisture level by touch when I turn it. We have a tarp for cover, if needed. I am enjoying turning the pile so far - good exercise, and I love the smell of compost (more and more so as it's bubbling away), so my plan for now is to turn it 2x/week. When we're on vacation that won't happen (imagine the conversation with the pet sitter!). My husbund built three attached units about 3.75 x 3.75 by 3.25 feet. The size had to do with the leftover & scrounged materials he had available. I think I'm going to try it without the pesky sticks - I'll take them out when I turn it next. I'm hoping to have enough greens soon to build another pile and I'll make it without sticks to compare. But maybe a PVC pipe or sticks when we're on vacation, for a little boost? Thanks again!

germ-phobic which is a dangerous position to be in This reminds me of the UK cookbooks from the 1950s that warned against the dangers of undercooking vegetables:-) It is not germophobic to pay attention to the science surrounding laundry, it is good sense. Now, I agree that there are many aspects of laundry praxis other than heat that can eliminate problems: you can wash undergarments separately from, say, face cloths, you can do multiple (3-4) rinses with spins between them, you can wash towels etc on higher heat and/or with chlorine bleach or phenolics, and so on. Many of these things you yourself already do. However, for most in the US "excessive temperature" includes 50C (and possibly 40C, since so many tags say "cold wash only"), and most are not as careful about sorting as you are, and people don't want to wash their colorful towels on anything warmer than "warm", and most conventional TLs are capable of at most one barely-adequate rinse. The popularity, in the US, of big washing machines is evidence of our essential laziness - rather than sorting our laundry into numerous small piles, and washing every day, we like to sort minimally (eg, whites from colors) and just jam everything in when the pile gets high enough. As a result, studies by microbiologists indicate that the average American washing machine is teeming with germs, and more recent studies suggest that there is at least a correlational link to acual illness (see Larson, Lin, and Gomez-Pichardo (2004) Predictors of Infectious Disease Symptoms in Inner City Households. Nursing Research, 53, 190 - 197, and other references cited there). The "lazy" ways to assure a germ-free laundry is to use an additive like LCB, or to use adequate heat. The difficult way is to buy a multiple rinse machine, and to sort carefully, and to tailor the cycle and heat and chemicals to the particular type of load. This is what you do, and frankly what I do as well, but when you post that excessive heat is not necessary for most loads, maybe the responsible thing to do is to carefully enumerate all the other fiddly procedures that you are implicitly substituting for the heat and bleach. - DR

I haven't met you or seen your photo, Ded.. but sleek, thin, straight is definitely my hair. If i do have volume or wave, it is the result of mega product and manipulation. Ive shared this photo too many times lol.. but it was taken on the day (the only day) I used the revlon brush dryer. No volume, no lift. I do better with my round brush and conventional dryer-- and velcro rollers if i want more volume at the top and sides. It may be that Mtn has more texture in her hair or that she's more adept with the brush dryer than I am. I don't want to slam the product-- just saying that with my single attempt, it didn't do a thing for me. I will give it another go one of these days. Or maybe we need a good old fashioned slumber party so Mtn can do our hair and teach us how to use it!

Lyban, sorry, when I tried to pull that site up again it had a scam warning, so I am going to delete my previous post. It looks like The big A, as well as Walmart, Target, etc have the dryer brushes made by Conair and Revlon and if I read correctly the John Frieda was made by Conair. Hope your search is successful.