Hi Deb! Here is what I wrote to a friend's sister recently: Raw feeding your dog is not difficult, contrary to what you may read on some web sites, where ultra-high maintenance type people act like it is rocket science. Think about it, we feed ourselves pretty well so why can't we feed our dogs without a doctor okay or pet food company okay? It's all marketing! To start a newbie dog out, put down an old towel or plastic mat - I use a vinyl outdoor tablecloth - and give her a chicken leg. I warm up chicken pieces in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes since Odo doesn't like it cold out of the fridge. See how she reacts. If she doesn't pick it up or looks unsure what to do, pick up one end of it and hold it up to her to sniff and encourage her to eat it. if she is a food gulper, you might have to hold the end and get her to eat it more slowly. don't be afraid, dogs can swallow much larger things than we can. You do want to supervise any feeding of meaty bones, just in case the dog swallows too much and tries to hork it back up. �Sometimes a dog will do that. If Odo is hungry and excited, he might swallow too big a piece. He will hork it up and break it into more manageable pieces. Ideally, the dog will crunch the bone and scissor the meat and skin into pieces they can manage to swallow. Dogs don't really chew - they don't have molars. If she doesn't want to eat a chick leg, cut the meat off for her instead. If she is not accustomed to eating bones, you can feed her other raw food and meat-and-veg table scraps. You can also buy premade raw meat patties that contain ground bone, but this premade stuff is expensive. You can make your own patties and freeze them. �I did that in the beginning. Now I just give Odo the stuff separately. The ideal raw diet is mostly meat, bones, organ meats, eggs - dogs can eat egg shells too, cooked veggies, raw veggies. Don't feed garlic and absolutely no onion, which is deadly for dogs. Here is a list of food I feed Odo: Chicken legs, wings, necks Beef meaty bones Ground meats Turkey necks Pork chop bones Eggs - Odo doesn't like raw eggs unless they are mixed into a meat patty. i will give him scrambled egg when we eat them. Cooked veggie scraps like squash, green beans, broccoli, carrot, sweet potato, asparagus - whatever you are having. Feed starchy vegs like sweet potato and carrots sparingly since they are high in calories. Raw lettuces - Odo like this with salad dressing, he won't eat it plain! Dogs do have their likes and dislikes just like we do! Organ meats like liver - this is very nutritious but very rich. Try tiny portions first. Red meat like beef is richer than poultry, so start with small amounts. Regarding doggy taste buds - they do appreciate tasty stuff like we do, so sometimes when Odo looks longingly at our aromatic grilled meat, I'll do something extra like rub his raw chicken in my plate juices (after dinner!) or put a little cooking juice or broth on it. Dogs don't need grains. Dogs don't need dairy so don't feed yogurt or cheese, even though, like us, dogs love all that. Meat and bones should be 80 percent or more of what you feed. Dogs notoriously get sick with the runs when introduced to new foods. So introduce one new food at a time, a small amount at a time. Keep a can of unsweetened pumpkin onhand - it helps with diarrhea. If you give your dog bones that she gnaws on but doesn't eat up, that's okay. Some bones may be too hard for her to break. In fact, many raw feeders give their dogs bones that are too large for the purpose of gnawing on, which is good for the teeth, gums and jaw, and keeps the dog occupied in something that wild canines do. Just be sure to supervise, train her to keep bones in one place so she doesn't carry raw bones all over the house. Don't feed any commercial treats, edible bone treats, and absolutely no rawhide products. These are bad for dogs. For treats, those dried chicken breast pieces are good, and Kong toys stuffed with ground meat/egg mixtures (maybe a touch of peanut butter), then freeze the Kong. it will take her a while to work the stuff out. Odo is 20 lbs and he eats 2 chicken legs worth for dinner, and doesn't like to eat breakfast, just a couple of treats during the day. Best of luck!

As PP mentioned above, the average joe just doesn't care - they load the machine, drop in a dose of detergent (and in a lot of cases, actually overdose above what the manufacture states) comeback to wet clothes to move to the dryer and as long as look and smell clean - they're happy/not bothered. However, for those who do care, it becomes just like chemistry - everybodys laundry is completely different: detergent type, water type/temp/level, machine type, cycle type/temp, load size, fabric type in the load (and what's loaded in together or not), stain types and even down to how long an article has gone between last wash, what its been subjected to, and even what its made of (2 items of 100% cotton could be different due to manufacturing processes and dyes etc) - I'm waffling, but this list won't even be all that's at play. Detergent manufacturers are a business, they need to make money; they have stakeholders, employees, suppliers, contractors and marketers to pay - so they must drive value and revenues. Don't' suppose it'll ever be proven (or ever admitted), but it's in their interest to give customers what they're happy with/what is acceptable, whilst maximising revenue - end of the day, if they dont make money, what are they doing it for? I did read somewhere (and I wish I could remember where) that a certain big manufacturer of a very famous detergent was starting to see revenues drop to a level below what they were aiming for/happy with, and it was centred around the launch of single dose detergents - on the one hand, they carry a premium price tag and it guarantees that a user gets no more than the stated amount of loads - but what they actually found was customers weren't purchasing detergent at the store as often due to the fact that compared to when the same users were using powder/liquid format, the overdoing (just dumping 1 full cap in) was causing people to repeat purchase more often than that of pod users. And what do you know, the dosing recommendations for pods were increased - going from 1 pod for any load, to 1 for medium, 2 for large and 3 for high capacity/extra dirty. The same has now become true of liquids - dose increased - line 1 for medium, 3 for large and line 5 for "full he loads" as "they are a higher capacity than standard top loaders and of course more clothes = more dirt)" --their tag line-- All this in a time when detergents are becoming more "concentrated" and front loaders use as much as a quarter the amount of water than that of a TL. Now how can detergents be being concentrated, Used in machines that use less water (which is what will ultimately determine the strength of the solution that detergents are dissolved within) and the doses are going up? Add this to the fact that washer manufacturers often say use less than recommended. Makes you think.

I've tried all the "high quality" brands, and most of them are made in China. I won't feed my cat anything not made in the U.S. since one of my cats died of melamine poisoning. I feed my cats Purina and Good Life when I can afford it. I don't feed her store brands. When she was young, she had bladder problems, which we figured out was because of her food. The only foods other than Good Life that don't make her bleed are indoor formulas and urinary tract formulas. There is only so much I can do on a near-poverty level income. I give her the safest and best food I can afford, sometimes doing without myself so she can have the safest food. I'd gladly feed her canned food if she would eat it, but she won't. I've wasted I don't know how much money trying to get her to eat something other than dry food, so that is a moot question. She just won't eat it. Period.

Hi, Over the last 3 years I have installed the following casement windows. Summary: Of the 3 windows I have now installed I would probably go with the Marvin "Essential" All Ultrex windows if I wanted an All Fiberglass double pane window. Unfortunately they do not offer a triple pane option for the Essential series. If we ever build new or have to redo windows in our next home, I will likely go with the Marvin "Elevate" Wood Interior / Fiberglass Exterior Triple Pane windows. Or I would further investigate the other higher end triple pane fiberglass options on the market. Since I live in MN and Marvin is based in MN and they are really nice windows, I would probably pick the Marvin Elevate's triple pane still. The other higher end fiberglass options may have better thermal glass spacers, but I think with a triple pane, this likely matters much less compared to double pane glass spacers for condensation resistance. The real advantage of a triple pane window is you can use any window blinds/shades you want and still have no condensation. For my double panes I have to open our blinds around 12 inches so the bottom of the window is exposed to the room otherwise they get pretty bad condensation on colder nights which completely defeats the purpose of having fancy thermal efficient double cell cellular blinds. Crestline Acclaim Triple Pane with 366/272 coating Good Excellent condensation resistance, virtually zero even at -20 deg F Nice wood like side jamb visual design look Stiff frame that doesn't move based on summer vs winter Nice gaskets Cheap Bad Single Operator cranks are pretty bad, especially for a heavier triple pane Gives off a greenish hue tint due to the 366/272 coating I really wish they would update to a double operator crank and give more glass coating options, could be an excellent window with those updates!! Marvin All Ultrex "now called Essential" Double Pane with 180 coating Good Stiff frame that doesn't move based on summer vs winter Double operator cranks are nice and smooth Option for 180 coating Okay Mediocre condensation resistance, typical double pane Jam visual design Bad Kind of expensive No option for high transparent screens No option for self clean glass Anderson 100 Series "Fibrex" Double Pane with 272 coating Good Cheap Double operator cranks are nice and smooth Okay Mediocre condensation resistance, typical double pane High Transparent screen option very expensive Can't remember if a self clean glass was an option Bad Frame gets smaller in cold weather and larger in warm weather. I installed in summer and windows opened and closed great, then winter came and they would get slightly stuck due to the outer frame shrinking enough for gaskets on sash to get slightly stuck on fixed window frame. Likely due to the fibrex material's coefficient of thermal expansion and mediocore frame design that allows the thermal expansion/contraction to deflect the frame.