Well Rick, he THINKS he's a chachaua (sp?)....He really is a good boy...he can just fly...he'd never hurt anyone but it does scare the you know what outa them cuz he is so big... bobbi, yes it's almost been 2 years since Tony has been off of all meds, we did catch it early, because he was actually paying attention to his body and the warning signs were there...Thank God he told me...he has always been the one to ignore this disease and never wants to talk about it...so I was shocked when HE called me and asked that I schedule him an appt...whew... I use to have the electric fence because my female boxer, believe it or not would squeeze her big ole' body out them tiny rails...Boy did you bring back memories..LOL....I do remember taking metal buckets out to pick berries and being so careful about getting our body under the hot wire..only to touch it with the metal bucket...lol!!! It really won't work in his case because he absolutely clears the fence .. never even gets close to it....Amazes me that he is so big and can jump so high....I don't have a dog I have a horse...LOL I was thinking even if we do resort to the lattice, I can actually still plant some vines to grow up them...hmmmmm...And yes...if jim wanted a vacation, I know where he could come, I would have the lumber waiting!!..Oh and his wife is welcome too!!!...LOL I don't think you offended anyway, I know I wasn't and have used the electric wire on several occasions, and to keep the dogs outa my flower beds too, they do learn, and it really does not hurt them! Thank you so much for asking about Tony, he was diagnosed in 2003, and it was hard to watch your son living only because of a machine...it was a long hard road, but with ALOT of prayer he lived and is really a very normal young man...I know that you have been thru alot also in your life and totally understand where I am coming from. In my daughters case, is there any other agencies out there that help a single mother (besides welfare) she doesnt want to quit working, and her first child, Colby, his father actually killed himself about a year ago...he never worked enough for Colby to qualify for any social security, so sad..so we have always provided for Colby. She has applied for daycare assistance, yet there is a waiting list....she also has wick to help to purchase the baby's formula...I just wish there was some type of aide to help a single mother, when the other parent is deceased..... One more question...Im so sorry this is soo off topic, but I know the people here know so much! IF the father of Maddi (the baby) were to go to jail or prison, does the state cover his child support? or does she not get any help with her either? So far they have been seperated for 3 months, and he has given her a total of $400. and daycare for her alone is $550. a month..Soo many questions...lol..Im sorry, but any other advice would be so appreciated! Dena

Skuba: Sounds like you are hoping that somebody will have a simple and reassuringly clear answer to whether you should or should not buy that Frigidaire range. Unfortunately, there is no way to give you that kind of answer. The closest we can come to that is the kind of report that sleevendog just gave you. Beyond that, you've discovered the essential difficulties with reading and interpreting user "reviews" about appliances and manufacurers and trying to match those perceptions with the minimal survey and performance testing data available from the likes of Consumer Reports. First, it ain't just Frigidaire that gets negative press. Every maker produces some lemons and some bad products. This is inevitable in large scale manufacturing. It is not hard to find postings about every manufacturer saying: "I'll never ever buy another product from those #$@%&!." Second, while 92% of Frigidaire gas stove customers may be happy with their ranges, the other 8% -- or some of the 8% --- may be very unhappy. Poor warranty service and customer support can turn a disappointed customer into an irate, vitriolic campaigner. Third, this is a problem compounded by the near universal outsourcing of warranty and service support to low cost bidders of sometimes dubious competence. (See the long running thread here on complaints about A&E, the Sear's subsidiary which provides warranty service nationwide to many makers.) Fourth, some people start out at angry to begin with. Some are posting to put pressure on a manufacturer. And some posts (positive and negative) are bogus. Fifth, consider this. If Frigidaire sells, say 200,000 gas stoves in a year and 8% of those customers have warranty problems, that's 16,000 customers. If 10% of them are treated shabbily, that's 1600 very angry people many of whome can and likely will post to protest. That can be a lot of hate mail. So, just because there are angry posters does not mean the product is a highly unreliable or bad one. But those kinds of postings should motivate you to check on local service and support and factor that into deciding what to buy. At the outset, I mentioned "interpreting" what you read. If you see patterns to the complaints --- that is if a lot of the complaints are about the same thing, as with self-cleaning cycles toasting the electronics in Whirlpool/Kitchenaid ovens a couple of years ago --- there may be a bad product. Also, look for trends. I'm remembering a problem with some of the early GE Cafe ranges where oven heat could overheat the burner control knobs. Numbers of posters said they would never buy another GE product. GE moved quickly to modify the design and the problem has been solved. But those, "I'll never buy another GE" posts are still out there. Sometimes those posts are well deserved. When GE outsourced its refrigerator manufacturing for a few years (to LG, I think), the dfect rates skyrocketed. At one point, the defect rate for GE and LG fridges (and the Kemores made by LG) was well over 20%. Talk about negative press! And, yet, at the same time, GE/Hotpoint stoves were running an industry leading 4% or 6% defect rate. About five or six years ago, Viking gas stoves infamously reached a 33% serious defect rate according to the Consumer Reports membership surveys. Combine that statistic with the many reports and cautionary tales here, and you could get a clear picture of why you might want to avoid the VIking products. So, the bottom line? There is no simple answer to what to make of those negative postings about Frigidaire. You'll have to sort through them. And, if you do, it would be a service to us if you could report back. :>) This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, May 16, 13 at 11:23

sr712 - I've can't remember anyone on this forum question the utility and intuitive usefulness of the steam fresh cycle. You suggest motivations and viewpoints by others that just plainly don't exist. With the coming Whirlpool "steam" dryer I suppose you could debate if this feature is better served in a washer or a dryer, but little is known about the Whirlpool implementation and no hands-on experience exists. The only area of concern for a steam fresh cycle I can think of is questioning the long-term maintenance of the steam generator. If LG built a flushing cycle into the steam generator this would much lessen this concern, but so far haven't heard anyone confirm how LG keeps the steam generator clean. This concern isn't raised because I think LG does bad engineering or the machine isn't a good one (aside from the steam wash capability I actually think it's one nice machine with many well thought out features but very expensive). The concern is from having other steam appliances and seeing what can happen over time if it doesn't self clean or if the user can't easily clean it. If LG has addressed this issue then the machine will provide a useful capability that is problem free. If not, those with soft water will probably never see much of a problem, but those with hard water will have problems, but it may take 1 to 3 years before it becomes an issue. Overall the debate hasn't been over the steam fresh feature in any substantial way. Maybe my science-engineering background makes me picky, but I'd term the observations reported here as "anecdotal" rather than "emperical". "Emperical" means you've verified or proven something via observation and that suggests you've designed a controlled experiment. Anecdotal observations may be valuable especially if many observations concur, but there is a degree of uncertainty to them which preclude them validating something. It's entirely possible the steam wash cycle on the LG does a better job than the non-steam cycle, but what's been debated is that this may add no additional cleaning capabilities vs heating the wash water a little more. If in fact that's what's happening it certainly doesn't discount that the LG may wash a bit better with steam. However, if true it's also hard to deny that LG was generating a bit of hype with the steam wash feature and is creating a pure marketing feature. Having steam fill the drum is certainly much more dramatic than saying they have a wash setting with a 3 degree higher wash temperature. Without question it's a simple talking point for sales people. Enough said - lets keep the steam wash debate on the other thread.

Last time I checked, the dining room doesn't have to have GU24 sockets. Like other living areas, it either has to be high efficacy (fluorescent or LED on the official CA approved list and in an approved type of non-screw-in socket), or be on a dimmer. So just use a dimmer and install Edison base cans and buy CR6/CR4 or the Home Depot Ecosmart version, and save $20 per can while keeping options open. Screw-in CFL doesn't qualify (unless on a dimmer). In the kitchen itself, adding a dimmer doesn't satisfy the T24 requirement, so you are stuck with fluorescent or GU24/LED for the majority of your lighting watts. There are adapters that let you convert a screw in socket to a GU24 -- these do not satisfy the requirement to not have screw-in in the kitchen, even if the conversion is "permanent". GU24 socketed cans are/were not T24 approved for CFLs either. The 4" CR4 looks (to me) a bit better than the CR6, but costs more. Also, the CR6 gives you the option of using the brighter 800 lumen version. As of today: CR6 575L about $45, both screw-in and GU24 CR6 800L about $55, both screw-in and GU24 Ecosmart 6 inch LED at HD (local, San Jose) $25 screw in, $40 GU24. There seems to be no difference from the CR6, except warranty is 3 years instead of 5.