First you charge him up (I named mine Gary) He has a power pack that took about 15 hours to charge the first time.
You put him in the middle of the room and he starts out going in small circles until he hits a piece of furniture. He has bumpers that allow him to "feel" the furniture and go completely around it. It goes up on area rugs (as long as there is not fringe) and under furniture. If he finds and area that he feels is really dirty a blue light flashes and he stays on the area until it is clean. He seems to really remember where he has been and gets the entire floor. He has a cliff sensor so he won't go down the stairs. He will go from room to room but if there is an area you don't want him to go there is a virtual wall (that takes batteries) and you can set it up across a door way and he won't cross it.

There is also an edge cleaner which works great on getting the cat hair that seems to hug the walls.

All in all I highly reccomend it. While I did follow him around the first few times I used him now I just turn him on and leave and he cleans the floors while I am doing my morning outside chores.

It's great when you have guests as they can make themselves a cup of what ever they want when they want and you don't have a pot of icky coffee cooking on the burner for hours.

You can use regular tea bags but you need to buy pods for the coffee. I have tried making my own without success. I do not care much for the brands of coffee that you can get at the grocery store so I usually buy my pods online. If you google coffee pods you will find several sites that offer really good brands and flavors by mail.

This particular unit is an older version and can be found pretty cheap. They were $60 originally. I got this one for $30 and you can find them on ebay starting at $20.

I like it because it is light and easy to load. Believe me, after a few hours of putting up trim you appreciate a light tool.

There are many styles and colors to choose from. We choose a stacked stone. While it was challanging to get the stones stacked close I was pretty happy with the results. It was harder than I first thought it would be but very doable.

There are other companies that make this type of stone and you can see them at your local home shows to find one that you like best. Deciding to choose a manufactured stone you have a lot more choice in style and color and you don't have to worry about the weight of natural stone.

Once we were not getting hot water we thought there may be a problem. At this point we were not overly concerened.

I went out and bought several of these Nighthawk Carbon Monoxide Detector at the urging of my brother. He had several friends die on a boat where they were taking a nap as the a/c ran. Carbon monoxide built up and they never woke up. As soon as I plugged it in on the first floor it read 30! When I took it out to the garage it shot up past 100!

This Nighthawk unit has a really easy to read level indicator. It will sound an alarm if the levels rise. They have a 9v battery in case of power failure but they plug into a wall socket.

We had the water heater cleaned of soot, put a detector on every floor and are back in business. Don't skimp on these, if you have gas appliances. Put one in every area where you have the appliances.

This magazine has not only a regular issue but lots of special issues on single topics like kitchens or decks or flooring. If you are a visual learner like me you will find the abundance of photos helpfull in learning how to do a project.

I bought the one that was meant for installation in islands because I did not want a clock or gauges on the top so it has a Black Porcelain Vent Rail Cap. The burners are sealed and I highly reccomend that since it makes it easy to clean.

The cast Iron Grates are nice and heavy and cover the entire top. They can be removed to put a griddle in the center and I use that almost every day. The griddle came with the stove and is cast iron and non stick.

It has an electronic Ignition but it can also be lit with a match during power failure which is nice since we live in an area that looses power a few times durring the winter
.
There are high heat burners and simmer burners. The simmer burners are really nice for slow cooking a roast or stew and the high heat ones really bring a pot of water to boil fast.

There is a separate Broiler Compartment with a smokeless two piece pan and tray.

The best part about this stove is the price. $1100. Compare that to the well over $3000 to $5000 or more price for some of the name brand stainless steel stoves out there.

There is only one thing that I find annoying about this stove and that is the fact that the burner grates can slide on the top because there are only two indentations for them to sit in and four would have been much better but for the price that is something I can live with.

.

So far I have tiled the kitchen floor, kitchen counters, fireplace hearth and now the entry and bath floors without having to change the blade. I have a spare blade standing by and they are $70. It's easy to clean, you just take it outside and hose it off.

Some things I have learned using it. It's messy. You fill the bottom with water and it shoots out the front of the blade. Now there is a cover but you still get wet so I wear a large garbage bag when I cut tile and that keeps me dry and clean. The other thing I learned is that if you put a tray (I used the lid from a storage tub) under the saw it catches the drips so the floor won't get wet.

When I have to cut odd shaped pieces I approach it like paper piecing in quilting. I used the cardboard that came between the tiles to protect them and I cut a piece that fits and place it on top of the tile and cut around it. It works really well.

The only con about this tile cutter is that the measuring guides at the front and back are impossible to read once you start cutting. They are just etched in the metal and disappear once the dirty water from the tile runs over the top. You just have to wipe them off each time you need to line something up. That's not too annoying but I think it would be better if they were a different color.

So I ask you, have you ever tried Spam?

Whenever I go camping, I bring Spam. And when I start to cook it up, the same thing happens over and over. People make fun of the Spam, they make jokes at my expense about the Spam. Then they notice that Spam smells quite a bit like bacon. Then I serve it up and after poking fun at the strange pink meat, (the same pink as ham, I might add), they try a piece. Then they try another. Over the years, I have heard every bad joke about Spam, every negative comment and in that entire time, I have never thrown away an uneaten piece. Because the honest truth is, people love Spam. They may not admit it at first, but they love it.

It seems everything these days has some scary sounding name in the ingredients, Spam remains simple and straightforward. It's ingredients are: "Pork With Ham, Salt, Water, Sugar, Sodium Nitrite." That's it. It's the same ingredients it has had since 1937. Take a look at the side of the can of almost any competitor and it looks like a science project.

The beauty of Spam beyond it's simplicity is that it doesn't go bad. If you want to have meat on a camping trip, pop a few cans of Spam in the car. If you forget about the Spam, use it on the next camping trip. No refrigeration is needed. In fact, you do not even have to slice it up to cook it. Spam can be cooked in the can. In fact, thats how it is cooked in the factory. It is sealed up, then cooked in the can. Thats why it has such a long shelf life.

Next time you camping, don't forget the Spam.

Hormel Spam