I love perusing Lee Valley's website but don't buy much there. I'm too 'frugal' and have gardened long enough to know I don't need or want every gadget. One very useful item they sell is The World's Kindest Nail Brush. I have one near every sink and besides being kind to hands and getting nails clean, I also use them to scrub veggies, gently scrub at stains before laundering, and rest my natural vegetable oil soaps on them to dry so they last longer. I 'try' to always wear gloves when gardening but somehow my nails get filthy and these brushes work really well. Good for feet also for those, like me, who wear flop-flops. I agree those green plant tags from LV are not the best, I've broken almost every one I bought. I think they have tin inserts that aren't as obvious as the white ones, or at least they used to. They have some nice copper tags that are good for trees. I also like their velcro plant ties. I only use shepherd's hooks for light decorative stuff in the garden, otherwise I have to pick them up off the ground too often! My least fav garden cart is the one with small wheels and a deep bucket that does not wheel well over rough ground. Good thing I only paid $5 at a yard sale. I use it to hold my small tools, plant stakes, and empty pots and don't move it around much, it just contains things so I can find them easily. My fav 'haulers' are my 2 children's wagons. They don't hold as many weeds as a large wheelbarrow but are easy to move around. Especially good for moving potted plants or heavy bags of amendments. Also have a couple of large wheelbarrows. One's always full of soil/mulch/compost/amendments during planting time so need another for weeds. I'm a simple gardener, just need a shovel, rake, hoe, and a few small hand tools. Do like my big lopper for cutting branches and those willful aspen sprouts. Here is a link that might be useful: The World's Kindest Nail Brush

Hmmm. I recently got a HF chop saw... still in the box, waiting for me to clear more junk out of my shop so I can set it up. I couldn't resist the price: normally $99, reduced to $50, with the same HP rating as their other models. I guess we'll see if the thing has the oomph to cut through stuff thicker than sheet metal - although that is my intended application (cutting through stuff like conduit/pipe/gutters). For heavier stuff I'd probably want to use a band saw or cold saw, anyway.

I roast broccoli all the time, cut up in pieces coat with some olive oil, sprinkle with dry crushed red pepper and add some roasted garlic pieces (a lot for me) or just sprinkle with garlic powder, roast at 375 until it just starts to brown, it is delicious, sometimes I do a mix of broccoli and cauliflower. I don't usually roast asparagus but I throw it on the grill a lot. I just trim, brush with some olive oil and grill until very tender, sprinkle with sea salt and it's ready to enjoy.

Thanks For The Suggestion, exmar! <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I tried to get Our Local Habitat for Humanity to purchase that unit at Harbor Freight. I volunteered one morning a week for 6 years. Some mornings I would spend 4 hrs ripping ½” OSB shims to add in pre-built framing items (cripples, channels, headers, etc) to make today’s 2Xs full for framing. It was easy too fill a 55 barrel with saw dust in 4 hrs from the ripping. A 4’ box fan was the best I could convince them to do. It took me 6 yrs to get full of dust and volunteer my services at a cleaner healthier site. My point was that dust period was not good for us, plus we d/n know what chemicals were in the OSB. I would ck the directions of the wind as my exhaust when Hardiboard Siding was being cut. I ck the wind when cutting firewood also. Have you tried any attachments (2-4 or 1) with the software switch and was it successful???