We purchased the lawnbelt products beginning of July and are incredibly disappointed. I had to rent a machine to do the canals for the hoses because my lawn is by no means as soft as what they show on their website so; Try to make a sample canal for a few feet to see if you have the same problem as I did. They do not ship their products in a timely manner, everything takes at least one to two weeks to deliver and if you need to order additional items or return something, well, with my situation, I returned a product on July 27 2014 and ordered the correct part while I had them on the phone, (Yes, I was pissed that this process is taking so long and mentioned they should make their web page a little easier to maneuver), the rep assured me they would mail out the replacement part and credit me the RMA as soon as received, so I ordered the replacement part via paypal while on the phone with the rep and told him I just ordered it, to date my lawn is still all torn up into canals and I haven't received the replacement parts or received any type of credit for the parts returned. I called their support line and they do not return my calls. All in all, I recommend what my landscaper said to me, if you are going to do it yourself, buy from a local store that way if anything goes wrong with a part or you need additional parts or need to exchange something, you're not looking at an additional two to three weeks.. Now my kids lost out the whole summer because the lawn was torn into canals and they couldn't play soccer or run around in the yard. Now I'm stuck with hundred of dollars worth of parts and the return policy is over and done with so I am at their mercy. And if I tell you how much I really spent; I know now there are no savings using LawnBelt's products. Sounded like a great idea...

This is a final follow-up to my experiment freeze drying with dry ice. I rate it a dismal failure. It may be theoretically possible to freeze dry foods with dry ice, but it certainly is neither convenient nor cost effective. Another way of freeze drying in the link above was to flash freeze with dry ice, then put the frozen foods on an open tray in a frost free freezer. I did that with a tray of apple slices. They are not yet at the dehydrated bendable stage after six days in the freezer. I don't know if they will ever get to a dry enough state to snap when bent. I do not rate this system as practical either, because it takes the purchase of dry ice and use of lots of freezer space for the process. The third method of freeze drying was to flash freeze with the dry ice, then put it in a vacuum chamber to draw out the moisture. Wartach astutely noticed the $15 harbor freight vacuum pump. The acrylic for the top is available from Lowes. I was planning to use a large stock pot for a chamber and a cut rubber mat for the gasket. I would still have to figure out the line to the chamber from the pump. Thanks, Rick for the reminder to be careful with dry ice. At the moment, I am so disappointed in the dry ice, I may not even proceed with the vacuum chamber experiment. Its interesting that people put processes on line that they have never tried and then do not report any results of their own experiences. I don't want to leave people with a false impression so am supplying this report. On a pleasant note, I just finished reading the biography BIRDSEYE, The Adventure of a Curious Man and I highly recommend it. Birdseye learned about flash freezing while living in Labrador and preserving food for the winter. He wondered why foods frozen in mid winter stored so much better than foods frozen in fall or spring. When he returned to the states, he used EXISTING knowledge and technology to invent a practical way to flash freeze foods and store it. Unfortunately he was ahead of his times. There was not distribution or storage available either commercially or in homes to appreciate what he had done. Never the less, food storage world round has been transformed by his success and perseverance. After succeeding in that venture, he turned to dehydration as the most practical way to preserve and distribute foods. He did not live long enough to discover that his original flash freezing was also the key to quality dehydration. Carol

Dave1812, what you said about Bridget Helm may be true, but then the same could be said about men who come on so strong on the web that they label anybody's complaint as "total BS". Do you talk to your mother that way? How do we know you're not just a troll paid to defend the manufacturer? I happen to know that Bridget is right. Some of these HE washers do retain a puddle that one can't reach. I have a Samsung HE front loader with the same problem. Wiping out the tub and the puddle in the seal with an old towel won't cut it. It stinks of mold even when we leave the front door propped open. SO, I can totally believe that Helm had a problem. Our Samsung has a small drain hose in the lower left corner that's intended for use when clearing out the adjacent lint filter. The label says to clear the filter once a month. Haha! Better slide a cookie pan or some other flat tray under there when you unplug that hose because more than two cups of water will pour out onto the floor when you pull the plug––and water will continue to dribble from both the drain hose and the pan for quite a while after. A well-designed appliance would suck this water out into the pump and down the drain. Failing that, it should provide its own fan. But no washer should require the customer to drain it every every single wash day. That's bogus engineering, creating a new problem, where old tubs had none. And that's just the water that I can drain. There may be other nooks and crannies I can't reach––and I don't know where you're at––but this ain't Arizona. Two cups of standing water is plenty to get mildew going here, and once present, even bleach loads or vinegar loads won't take it away. Bridget may have overstated the case a bit wondering if all HE washers are this way. I don't know. But after paying hundreds of dollars for a turkey? I'd say she was entitled to vent & seek advice. Also, this WF210 Samsung front loader boasts a super-fast spin so that clothes dry quickly. Our experience is that you can't use it on any flat square cloth, be it a napkin, hankie or queen-sized sheet. The high spin (and possibly the angled tub?) results in hard pleating or rumpling along all edges. These pleats are spun in so hard that even tumble-drying and ironing won't eliminate them. Clearly, Samsung rushed to market with a bad beta. Would daily hand-draining & a fan & occasional bleach loads help? I suppose. Should an "automatic" appliance require so much care & feeding. No.

I may just do that. I am bored and sick and tired. :( Lucille, the place is a lovely resort/ town and their Arts Institute (funded by a mandatory assessment on all homeowners!) is hosting this first ever event. There will be a multicourse dinner at a very, very nice restaurant, the party/ mystery, and afterwards we will change into casual wear for a bonfire, smores and cocoa or warm adult beverages. Breakfast the next morning and then away. I am going with a dear friend I haven’t seen in several months. Ironically we were both in the Netherlands at the same time but DH and I were on a boat and he was in a bike trip. His schedule is very busy and we are carving out this time to carch up.