Note: I am reviewing this based on its use for cats. Using this fountain for small dogs may be a little different as far as frequency of cleaning, etc. But it might still give you something to consider.

Pros:

• Cats loved it. Even my more shy cat loved it. I do think that one also drank more, at least at first.
• Quiet.
• Holds a decent amount of water. I did use this indoors.
• You do not really need to buy the extra filters for the cats. They do not get as much crud in there as a dog would. The maintenance this fountain needs takes care of fur that gets trapped.

Cons:

• Plastic. Many cats are sensitive to plastic. One of mine is.
• Plastic breaks easy and this one seemed to get more brittle with time.
• I also kept a ceramic bowl available. The fountain grew bacteria (that slime) quicker. I wonder if it due to more pores in the plastic?
• You need to clean it a lot to keep the bacteria down. All pet bowls should. But this one is not user friendly for cleaning.
• The biggest problem for cleaning is the way the motor is installed. You need to remove the motor to submerge the base in soapy water. The motor is placed in a way that you have to hook a finger in a tight spot and try to use leverage to twist the motor up. You need small fingers and the small space does not allow you to get the proper leverage. Even with lubrication, it is difficult to get that stupid thing out. I edited out the curse words I wanted to use to describe this portion.
• The plastic did become more brittle and finally cracked while trying to get the motor out. I tried being careful to avoid this, but it still happened. It is now useless.
• You have to buy additional brushes to give it a good cleaning. The thing is expensive enough.
• You do have to be near a plug. I did not find this a big deal but I just wanted to remind you.
• If you use the carbon filters, you must remember to change them after awhile or they will make the water bad.

The other thing to keep in mind with any fountain, you have to keep adding water. Below a certain level, you will hear the motor grinding away in protest. This can damage the fountain. Something to consider. You can get an additional reservoir so it holds more water, but you have to clean this thing often enough that I am not sure how much that would be worth it. At least adding water every day makes you check the condition of the fountain for the health of your pets.

I will eventually get anther fountain, either a different model if it addresses some of these problems, or just a different brand. I also have enough accessories from fish keeping to build one of my own. I am not sure I have the time. If I do, I will post it.

Anyone out there have a fountain they love that is also budget friendly? (No retail people trying to sell, please.)

1.  Personal review of Drinkwell Pet Fountain. It is good, but……
2. How to make your own pet fountain for less money, easier upkeep, and better hygiene.
3.  An article dealing with cats that vomit any dry food given to them, even though they were fine with it for years. There is little out there about this but I have found I am not the only one that has had this happen. I might have fixed the problem by switching to wet (spoiler!) which is pretty much better for them anyway-but these guys hated wet.  I want to wait a little longer and see before I give details.

I am sorry I have hardly posted or updated much lately. I have also wanted to polish up some pages because I often write these in a hurry. I cringe when I go back to read some of these. Others I have needed to add tweaks to projects that I find work better or simply work on reviews where I have more info to share since the original post. I am working a few jobs and that has been taking up my blog  and hobby time. This site, though I am glad I can share some ideas free, gets bumped back in favor of earning my meager money.

I hope all is well for you!

Status as of last update January, 2012 (at the end):Batteries about dead.

Are you starting to think you might want to try a robotic vacuum cleaner despite knowing better? This post will be about my experience over time with one. Likely, it will not be the most helpful, outside of links, until I have had it for awhile. I thought I would update and share anyway as time goes. I will give my initial thoughts, the type of home it will be working in, the model, and various other input. The input on my actual experiences is a little further down if you need to skip ahead (have run it in every room as of this posting). I will make notes in the body of the post, as well, on whether what I researched actually holds up to actual use. So this site is still in the works. Updates will be added as time goes. This will be updated for at least a year, barring the unexpected.

The lead up: I always thought the idea of a little robot going around cleaning seemed like a splendid idea. Well, anything or anyone cleaning for me is a splendid idea. I will take what I can get. But when I first heard about Roomba, I was skeptical. And yes, it seemed like I should be. I had not heard much of anything good about them and the few I have seen in action, was lacking. Bad cleaning and they break easy. So I wrote it off and moved on. Years pass and then the other week I see them for sale in our local Bed Bath and Beyond. I grew curious and started to research them online. My thinking was that if they are coming out with new ones after all this time and all of the bad reviews, they might have fixed something. And I mainly started looking because I am a nerd and I was curious. Really, I cannot afford to go buy something like this and it turn out to be a gimmick. But darn it, I want something to clean for me AND a new toy!

Want to post a comment? Feel free! But give enough detail about your home, model, and anything else that might help someone trying to decide on whether to buy one if it is an opinion comment. Have a question? I will try to answer realistic questions in a timely manner and as best I can based on my little bit of experience. Also see the link to a forum below. I posted this early to get people jump started. Take it for what it is (not a professional opinion). No spam will be allowed.

Quick research results (prior to owning one): I will post links of some of the useful sites I found as I go. But in summary , here is what I have found so far. Do not take this as expert. I tried to summarize what I found that agreed and do my best with a few fuzzy areas. For more information, see my “links” section further down. I am assuming that if you are reading this, you have the basics of what a Roomba actually is. I will not go into that in detail.

The originals (400 series) are not really worth getting though the price tag, compared to the new models, is tempting. They break and really under perform. They are also not good with change in floors (hard to carpet) cords and tassels. Generally they cannot find their charging station. Though I have read exceptions to this. I will not be able to do a personal comparison. I bought a 500 series model as my first.

The newer 500 series (there are newer yet but I definitely cannot afford those so I did not look) solved some of these problems, so they say. They still break a lot. But they adjust to floor changes, spit out cords and tassels, are a bit better about finding their home base to charge and a better battery life.They are also built so less crud gets inside. As far as breaking, they are now put together in individual units. So if one part breaks, you can pop it out and replace it. Heck, there are sites about hacking and rebuilding them if you want to go crazy. The warranty is a year (new, not refurbished) and they are apparently decent about replacing items in that time (this varied on where you read). There are a variety of 500 series. The pet series does not seem to be worth the extra if you are getting one for pet hair. Slightly different brush, maybe, and that is it, other than a higher price. From what I am finding, all 500 series perform about the same. It is the bells and whistles that differ. Among the biggest difference between a low 500 models and a higher is the ability to program it so it starts to clean at a preset day and time. Other than that, you can pretty much upgrade by buying parts later if you would like them, I will describe one that mine comes with in another section. I think you may be able to add the programmable feature too, but I am not sure. This is something I stopped worrying about as I will explain later. Also, there are brushes that reach out from the unit to sweep debris under the device as well as reach edges and corners. These too easily break, at least the original six armed brushes, rather than the newer 3 armed. It is also supposed to detect areas that are more dirty and focus on that. Charge time is around 3 hours. Battery time lasts perhaps 2 hours? I am still determining this. Basically, pay attention to what comes in the box when you are comparing. This can vary with the same model between different sites/stores. To extend the life of the unit, you have to do regular cleaning and maintenance of the Roomba. For some, this is not worth it. For me, I do not mind tinkering and it is faster than vacuuming constantly and a more interesting task.  

What you should expect from it (again, from research, not experience-I will modify this after owning mine for a bit): Not deep cleaning. This is what your main vacuum is for. You run the Roomba on a regular basis to keep the crud down and deep clean here and there with the regular vac. In other words, it should reduce the number of times you run the regular vacuum. This means this fragile thing will get run a lot. It has plastic parts. It breaks. But to use better, metal parts, it would cost too much. We shall see. It will miss some bits of your floor but, from what I read, it really does help. You will have to keep up the clutter or it will not do as good of a job or may get stuck. If you have high furniture, it will go underneath. The first few times you use it, you should stop it and empty out the bin before it finishes. Watch it and learn how it works so you know how to arrange your place. As you use it on a regular basis, it will not fill up as fast. Makes sense. We shall see.  

Why I am trying one: I have too much going on to run the vacuum as much as needed to keep up with pets and other things/work/hobbies going on in my life right now. It is driving me crazy. I saved, I ordered, and now I am hoping I did the right thing. It will hopefully force my husband and, yes, myself to keep the floor clear.  Also, I have a vacuum that I was talked into getting during a week moment that caused me to give up my Dyson rather than fix a part on it. I regretted it since. I hate this thing (Simplicity = Rip off). Costs too much and does not do what was promised. The teeny bags are expensive too. I also have to deal with the often irritating sales people when I have to go in and buy them at the Vacuum Center. (No I am not a dumb blond. No I do not want to schedule preventative maintenance on this thing and so stop pushing it every other minute!….OK…focus….). Why this side track and rant? I hope the Roomba will reduce the number of bags I have to buy. It will pay for itself right there if so. (One of these days, I am getting a Dyson again. Best vac I ever had. Just did not take punishment…or something. Sigh.)

House setting that the Roomba will deal with:

• 2 indoor cats = fur, lots of it. Kitty litter. Toy clutter (spoiled kitties).
• 3 birds = seeds and feathers. Mostly around the cage but they do come out of the cage.
• dense, short carpet
• linoleum floors in bathrooms and kitchen
• Shoes not worn in house (besides the dirt, these things have been in public restrooms, just saying. I have cultured the bacteria on the bottom of these suckers……bathrooms).
• Husband and myself (yes, my husband really is very helpful around the house)
• lots of hobbies that create debris
• We could dust more, ahem….
• Sand often gets tracked in as much as dirt (Florida)
• no kids and no indoor/outdoor pets
• I do not mind tinkering with it to keep it maintained
• Furniture is not quality so we do not worry about any wear (We rent. We hope to find better jobs. So “dorm decor”)
• stiff, plastic vertical blinds (fine if lower than the vac or closed)

Model I ordered and why:

• iRobot® Roomba® Vacuum-Cleaning Robot with Aero-Vac™ Bin.  Model 536.

This is a 530 with the Aero-Vac Bin. I sacrifice one wall for the bin (a 530 usually come  with two walls). The 530 does not have pre-programmable ability or otherwise it is much like the 560s. But that is fine for me. Cat toys all over will slow it down. If I preset it to run on its own, I will forget to clean clutter ahead of time. It is easy enough for me to come home, put it in the room I want, and then either go out and do my next thing or work in another room. The price difference was not worth getting that feature for me, but may be excellent for you. From what I read, the Aero-Vac Bin improves the Roomba’s cleaning so that it pulls up more fine particles and reduces how many times you need to empty the bin. I can improvise the wall ( infrared beam that prevents it from trying to clean an adjoining room) by shutting the door or putting something in the way (also there are mats that fools it into thinking it will fall down stairs and therefore prevent it from crossing-again, not cheap). The light houses seem to be offered less so I am suspicious of those. I really wanted this bin. The only other unit in the 500 series that comes with it is through Costco or some unheard of online sites that look like garage operations. I am not a member of Costco (must maintain membership to keep warranty) and the online sites (unknown types) may be selling refurbished, I was warned. I do not always mind refurbished items but as fragile as these are, I figured I should not push my luck, nor do I want to pay full price for one. There are many refurbished through trusted sites, though, that are much less expensive and worth looking into. So I hunted and compared prices. Some places I had coupons and others not. I had to determine how much it would cost to add the bin later, taxes, what accessories I could do without, etc. This one seemed among my best bets. That, and I was just sick of looking and guessing. I ordered through hsn.com (sold out as of this posting). My first purchase through these site. It was still more than I wanted to spend (when unsure if it will work) but if it works, I will not regret it at all. I did not get their extended warranty because if I have to constantly pay to ship the thing when it needs work, it will cost me more in the long run. I might as well order parts on my own (irobot.com sends out a coupon for a percentage off of an accessory when you register). This is something else to consider when buying one of these. If you get it through a place where you can walk in, you can save on shipping. Best Buy, for instance, has warranties you can buy and you can drop the vac off there. But this worked best for me as far as budget and getting the gimmick….I mean….Aero-Vac Bin….that I wanted.

• There is a competitor, Neato, that you may want to look into. I hear both good and bad. From the what little I could gather though, this will be a serious competitor after a few models down the road.

Links: Here are a few useful links I have found. These are not all of the ones I have read. Just a few of the most helpful in one sitting. Robot Reviews. This forum is by people who own these things. Type in your question/problem/or what models to compare. These are people discussing those same things. Takes some digging but you learn a lot. Look up the accessories too. http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewforum.php?f=1 iRobot. The home site. http://www.irobot.com/

• More soon. The links are on my computer at work. (shhhhhh…)

Also check Youtube for videos of it in action. The hsn link within the post also has a video.

Roomba Diary, My Personal Experience with a 536 Model:

The following will be updated over time for at least a year, or until it blows up (ha…um…ha). If you want to see some real time dealing with this, check back. I expect to have several initial entries and then a gap as I let this thing work for awhile.

• March 19, 2011: I got an email that it has shipped. Now the wait. I will post pictures and my first experience after I get it. I think I will name it.
• March 22, 2011: It is out for delivery. To come today! Yay!I am home from work today so I can feel like a kid waiting for a present! <looks out window again>

It came!!!!! Yay!!! Drat. I have to charge it over night. Husband thought it was neat. Good!

• March 22, 2011:  DAY #1 ! Up early to play with it. Purposely left cat toys and other obstacles out to see how it handle them. I could not test the wall. I did not realize I was out of “C” batteries.  

Location for first run: Large central room with dense carpet. Lots of things to go around. I expect bigger than the average room that the Roomba indicates as an average size in its manual. No cat litter to test it on yet. But fur and bird seed is present. Vacuumed with the regular vac a day ago. Expect to have a full bin this first time around regardless (I did). So far I love it. Right now there is a learning curve on my part so I have to be fair.

Good:

• Well, it cleans for me. No complaints.
• Quiet. It makes noise but it is much quieter than expected. Can stand to be in the same room.
• Cats stopped worrying about it
• goes over cords and low obstacles well
• generally handled cat toys well
• does clean up fur and seed
• with one reasonable exception, handled the vertical blinds just fine
• little side brush gets into nooks
• does not bump into things hard
• handled throw rugs fine
• It is cute
• Error messages tell you what is wrong or what to do
• Seems to take punishment that it gets itself into, impressed
• Removing the bin to empty it does not require you to pick up or turn over the Roomba (you will need to for further cleaning though, but this is less often than bin emptying)
• Docks itself for charging
• The Wall works great, nothing to trip over
• Docks fine now that I put the charging station in the right place

Less Good, but not all bad:

• If it gets turned off, it starts over (but cannot blame it)
• throws cat food
• When it needed to dock, it was away from the dock beacon. Went in circles trying to find the beacon until battery died. (may need to move the docking station) – fixed! Docks fine now.
• Did not finish the large room on one charge. (Again, probably not its fault. It had to start over due to a boo boo, see later)
• Higher vertical blinds hit the off button (fixed by closing the blinds first)
• may need more walls which = more $$
• Batteries start to die in under a year.

Picky, picky, picky: Its voice that tells you what it needs reminds me of the announcer in the movie “Airplane” telling you what the white zone is for. Would be neat to choose among voice types. But I am being finicky! The voice is pleasant. But…the white zone is for……

Long version:

So far I love this thing. Part of it is the nerd in me loving this sort of thing. I have a robot!!!  Too soon to say if this will be a long term love.

I got up early and wanted to watch how it worked so I would better know how to arrange and pick up ahead of time and know what it could handle. It is unfair to expect no changes in the place and expect it to work perfect.

Blue pom-pom in brushes

It told me to remove object (toy). This was easy to do.

Cat toys: It only sucked up a small pom-pom toy. All others it pushed aside or went around. The pom-pom bothered it as it became stuck in the brushes. The Roomba stopped and told me to take it out. Easy to do. The down side, which supported what I read in forums, was that if too many cat toys caused it to go around, it seems to throw it off a bit and extend cleaning time. Fair enough really. But now I know I can forget to pick some up and it will be OK.

Cleaning: It cleaned pretty good! Hair came right up. Its “Dirt Detect” mode did cause it to focus on some areas more. Bird seed was not a problem. It did not like cat food  pellets as well. The side brush tended to throw the pellets away. But if the Roomba came across the pellets just right, it did suck  them up. Because it died before finishing at the first run, I do not know if all cat food would have been sucked up (it did on a later run). To be fair, I had more than the usual amount on the floor. I am mixing in a new food for the cats and they picked out each pellet and spit it out. Usually they clean up the food that gets out of the bowl so the Roomba would only have to deal with smaller particles that would not get thrown. But I wanted to see how it would handle the big pellets. Maybe it is just the food, the cats hated it and so did the vac.

Cat: WTF?

Cords and obstacles I w anted it to go over: Very good. It spit out cords (realize it may drag a few out first) and climbed over the bar under the bird cage. It even climbed up on the base of one of the cat scratch posts and cleaned that. It was half on and half off when it did so. It also cleaned along the wall where vertical blinds were hanging. Throw rugs were not a problem. It went right over them or backed off if they tried to tangle, then would go over them in a different direction that did n ot tangle. (More obstacle pictures further down.)

Vertical blinds: Handled these great except where they were hung a little higher so they were just a little big below the top of the Roomba.

Freak situation. Blinds just tall enough to turn it off.

(I rent so I have to live with these quirks). The blinds are the stiff, plastic type. The little guy plugged on through until the blinds got trapped in the concave power/clean button. This turned it off (picture). This caused the Roomba to start all over. I cannot really blame it. Maybe if the button was a different shape or protected, it would be avoided.

I fixed this by shutting the blinds before letting the Roomba go again. Second run went great.

Bumping: It slowed down before hitting anything. The bump really was gentle. It then backs up a little and turns. It only rubs if it cannot back up for some reason.

Side brush: There is a 3-armed, spinning side brush on this model that extends beyond the body of the vac. This thing did pretty good getting along walls, under doors, and in nooks. It also swept  more under the vac so it could suck them up. I hear these break, but so far no problem.

Fragile?: I hear reports of this thing being fragile. But what it climbed over and dealt with, I think it really does pretty good. Anything made of plastic is going to fall apart after too much of that. But we shall see. It also took a hit when something landed on it. No marks. No change in behavior.

Docking: In the manual, it shows how the beacon on the docking station (an option for it to self charge) extends in a cone so the Roomba can find its way back. When the vac needed to doc due to low battery, it was located behind where the beacon extended. It then just went in circles where it was, trying to find the beacon. It ran very low on power. This was just a test run and I think I really had the dock in the wrong spot. I will see if I can improve this next time. But, for my purposes, I do not mind plugging the thing in myself. I can live with it. It is just neat that it will do it. BUT, I did bring it to near the station (before totally running out of power)  and it had trouble lining up with the charging pegs. It died before it finally managed to dock. I suspect the sensors for this became very dusty. I have yet to check.

Second run – yep, dock was in a bad place. Moved it to where the beam would take up more of the room (you cannot see the beam) and it is now back against a flat, solid surface. Now the Roomba docks itself fine.

The dock: The dock itself is very light weight. You must have it backed up against something flat or the Roomba will just push it away from itself. I say flat, because I tried a quick fix by putting the dock against a table leg. The dock then turned at an angle when pushed. Again, I need to put this in a better place. (I did, see above. It is fixed.)

Walls: My wall could not be tested at this time due to not having batteries for it. I improvised by placing shoes and square dowel rods across entrances. I could not shut all doors in case the cats needed to hide. These obstacles worked but I forgot about them and tripped a few times (it is early in the morning for me). I may have to purchase more walls or other accessories that block the Roomba without tripping me. But first, I am going to see what I can make (later).

Battery life: The Roomba lasted for around 1.5 hours. Less than I thought. But it also had to use a lot of power climbing over a few things and dealing with cords. I will see if it lasts longer in easier rooms later. I suspect this will be enough time to clean when I get things arranged better.

Cats: How did the cats react? Very well! I have one outgoing cat that hisses at the normal vac and one shy cat (Tabby on the right)  that hides when I walk near the normal vac. These two were very curious at first. The outgoing one (calico in most pictures) followed it around, but no hissing. The shy one kept a distance at first then stopped worrying about it. Both ignored the Roomba in short time. The outgoing cat even let the Roomba bump up against her. It was a gentle bump. The Roomba then turned and cleaned down the length of her and moved on. Ha! So now I do not need to worry about keeping an eye on this.

Overall: I am happy so far on Day 1. Obviously this is not enough of a test. But I am feeling better about this thing. It was nice to drink my coffee and watch the thing clean for me. When I stop watching it, even more time will be saved!

Here are pictures, that did not fit above, of Aelfgifu (husband named her, ha) watching the Roomba get over the bar of a bird cage stand….

Going in and under...

Climbing over, takes a little work...

And over it goes. It continues on. The cat is amazed, I am sure.

First Clean:

Full of dust and cat hair...and...ick.

• Bin: I emptied the bin and now it is going again as I type this. The bin was packed mostly with dust and cat hair. It did a good job! All I had to do is reach down, grab the bin while pushing down a button, and pull it out. There is a little door (black thing across the front in the pictures to the right) that flips open and you dump the contents. The filter easily snaps out to give it a knock ortwo against the side of the trash can. Then it just all popped back in. I ran the Roomba again today in the same room. Still picking up plenty!

Brushes: I inspected the brushes and decided I did not need to do a full clean yet. I did clean the ends of fur though. The brushes just lift out after lifting the little green door holding them in. Easy.

• 

  Empty now. On to the next run!

• Dust: Dust clings to the underside. I brushed off the sensors but decided it did not need much else at this time.
• Charge time: I could not watch this time how long it took to recharge. But I believe it was 2 hours or less.

March 24: Still loving this thing. My floors feel very nice. I have had it in every room now.

• Kitty litter: Fantastic. I use the clumping kind so it is fine much like sand. It was not tossed around, but was sucked right up.

• Floor transition: goes from carpet to linoleum and back again without trouble. Handles throw rugs well.

• Wall: I finally put batteries in the Wall. It works like a charm. I can see getting another down the road. I do not have to trip over objects I use to block the Roomba. Why not let it do the entire house? It works better if you do sections at a time.

• Ramble: So far so good. Emptying the bin is easy. I do this when I have it dock. And it does dock. When I carry it to another room to clean, I bring it back to the dock when it says it is done with a room or if I decide it is done. I then put it a few feet from the dock and hit the docking button. It then teeters off and docks itself without a problem and sings a happy tune. This is when I grab the bin.

When there has been problems, the Roomba stops and announces what the problem is. I have had to remove the brushes to clean out my hair at one point. This was easy. They are easy to take out and I just run the cleaning tool over it and they are set to go. Problems have been few and easy to take care of.

I have not had to sit and watch it either. One time there was an error and I came in and just restarted it. It was fine. I now get clean floors while I do other things I need.

I have also noticed it is not random on its path. It reacts to different areas in different ways. I cannot really describe it but if you watch yours for a bit, you will start seeing patterns to how it reacts to different situations. It gets areas I would swear would be too tough for it.

I also had someone I know contact me recently to tell me she has a Scooba and a Roomba. Loves them both but did not say anything beyond that. It was a FB post. But I will take what I can get.

So far it cleans well. I just need to pick up a bit before or remember to keep more tidy (good). Time I put in for every day maintenance and moving it to where I want it to clean has been minutes. To do the vacuuming myself, much more time. Good trade off. I have yet to take it all apart for a really good clean, but I do not think it needs it yet. Also good.

April 23, quick update: I run this thing nearly every day. So far it is low maintenance. The worse is just picking up a bit first. I only have had to empty the bin, tap out the dust filter, and clean the hair off of the brushes. It has only stalled a few times to tell me I need to get hair of the brushes or pull a cat toy out (well not that specific but it does tell you to clean brushes). I plan to do a full clean soon but I want run it some more first. Floors look great. I run the main vac much less now (saves on buying bags) and I notice dust is a little more under control. Less cat hair!!!!!!!! It has great suction for something so small. The aerovac bin also holds a good amount. Packs it in.

So I am still happy I got this thing. Even the husband admits it was a great idea. hee hee

July 8, 2011: I still use the Roomba 1-2 times per week, mostly in the living room where we, and the pets, mostly hang out. I am still happy with it.

Our first glitch finally happened beyond having to stop it to unwind something like hair or string that got wound around a brush. Hair wound around one of the ends of the bristle brush between the little cap that comes off and the brush. The Roomba did not complain. When it was finished, I did my usual spot check of the brushes and found that the end cap became warped and warm. It did not seem change anything so I did not worry about it. I just keep an extra eye out.

I have used it many times since, no problems. The last time I used it, it started to make a skipping noise. Everything looked fine and I was confused. I finally realized that the warped cap caused the bristle brush to sit wrong and it was grinding all this time against its seating. Again, nothing seemed amiss. Now it might become a problem if the brush continues to sit wrong part way through cleaning.

So, yay. I now get to test out the 1 year warranty. I will let you know how it goes. From reviews I have read, this was to be expected at some point for at least one part. I was told their customer service was good. Lets hope!

I still love the thing!

 

???: Forgot the date here. The customer service was very good. I received replacement parts promptly.

January, 2012: I have noticed that the batteries were not holding up about a month ago and now the Roomba lasts for about 10 minutes at a time, if that. I had hoped they would last a year. Not an inexpensive replacement. Of course, their rare sales happen when I have to worry about buying holiday gifts and so could not spend on that. Sigh. The Roomba is mostly out of commission until I get a new battery pack. Not sure that this is covered.

 

Still love it but the batteries has me wonder if I would suggest one now. I hear that you can turn the power off of the newer models and that helps. I am going to have to dig and see.

So here goes.

I have had the Tetra, Whisper Filter systems for 2 years (already?)  now. Size EX 30 and 45. When I posted on how to convert the filters to something less expensive and customizable, a reader had asked if I noticed a difference in their performance when compared to older models. At the time, I thought I had but I had not had them long enough to be sure. Well, now I can definitely say. I do not like them. I continue to use them along with the older models since I already have them, but I would never use them alone.

I am comparing these to the use of Whisper 10-20, 30, and 40, as well as one TopFin 60 in fresh water tanks. These filter are also for the budget conscious.

I tend to use as many filter systems as the tank can hold and not blow the fish out of the water. I have recently added canister filters, that I like very much (but that is another post if I ever get to it these days).

For the Whisper Filter (EX 3o and 45):

Pros:

• It will self prime upon start up and pull water in by itself. You do not have to pour water into the filter to get it to get going.
• I suppose it looks pretty. All curvy instead of boxy. If you care for that sort of thing. Not what I look at when I see tanks, personally. I would rather not notice them.

Cons (In no order of preference):

• Does not perform nearly as well as the old model.
• Dismantling for cleaning is difficult.
• Hard to put back together without something coming off.
• If you want to do a full cleaning of tubes without taking the filter unite itself off of the tank, you will get wet.
• Does not sit right on the tanks.
• Expensive filters.
• The pretty lid often pops off when you open it, so what is the point of the pretty lid.
• The little indicators (extra cost) that you can insert to show you that enough time has passed between changes feel like a gimmick and will give new people a false sense of when to change the filter if they have messier fish than the usual (gold fish, Oscars…).
• The plastic thing for growing bacteria does not work as well as the sponge.

I have placed these filters in different areas of the tank to take into account that I often feed in the same areas, other filters that are nearby, and water flow. Each time, they do not have near the amount of crud captured as the others, yet they still back up as if they are over loaded.

Maintenance is a pain. I cannot easily pop out the tubes for a quick cleaning. Pulling the filter out is annoying. They designed the filter cage to capture water dripping off of the wet filter as you carry it to the sink (or wherever you clean) but it really does not work all that well.

For quick cleaning where I have managed to pull the tubes out without taking the unit off of the tank, you have to get your arms in the water, the tubes (especially the “U” shaped tube) does not want to snap back easily and often result in a water fountain. The impeller case rarely snaps back properly (this is in the tank). It is a dreaded struggle most of the time. Not good when you have several more filters and tanks yet to go.

Both filter units have had to get something wedged between the glass and the unit to get them to sit right for proper flow back into the tank.

I have several of the other Whisper models between various tanks. They all still work after many years (10+ in some cases). I have only had one wear out. They are basic and simple. Less to break and easy to customize the media. So what if I have to take one extra tiny step of pouring water into them when I restart the units. Less work than keeping the new model clean. And I do not have to go through converting the filter inserts.

The filter inserts themselves are expensive. Not bad in general, though the unit does a poor job bringing in crud to capture. But besides the expense, you cannot customize the media.

You have the option of buying little inserts that change color over a set time to remind you to change the filters. I can mark a calendar just as easy. If you know your tanks, you know when to peek in and keep an eye on them anyway. Each tank has its own rate of getting filthy. I feel this is just something else to waste money on, but this is just preference.

This is just me. Many of you may love them. But here it is if you are researching what filter units to buy that hang off of the back of a tank. Whatever you get, always get more filtration than the minimum suggested. Your fish keeping experience will be more enjoyable.

Maybe the durability of the old models were causing the company to lose money because you do not need to replace them as often or buy other frilly accessories.

Have a good day!

First of all, where did they come from (well mine)? My little visitors came from a bag of wild bird seed that I forgot I had in a closet. (I could not store it outside without it spoiling or critters getting into it. ) This  is not unusual and can be avoided if you freeze bird feed products and any other grains in the freezer for at least 24 hours. I would even do this with pet bird seed. This is a pain if you bought a big bag but find a way to do it before keeping it in your home. This will also kill off moth larvae and other nasties. This is not your source? Try looking at any grain based food you have in your cabinets. Otherwise I am not sure  where you got them or yours may not be the same critter.

If you find the source, just get rid of it. There will be more eggs and adults in there. Start over. Clean that location very well.

What to do?

Seal all of your grains in bags. Freeze them if you feel worried any got in.  This includes your cereals, flour products, chips, etc. These guys breed like wild fire. Let us not add fuel to it. Keep in the habit of keeping your grains sealed.

Look in every closet, nook, and cranny. If you find them, go ahead and spray roach killer along the edges if this will not harm your pets or kids. Vacuum the place and clean.. My thinking is try to knock out the first wave as best you can.

Since I was limited to where I could spray due to cats and fish tank air pumps, I tried the following with success thought it takes patience. Get roach motel-type traps. A lot of them. The black, plastic disk kind where the roaches go in one of several entrances to eat poison but can get out again. There are some that also come with packs that sterilize the roaches. Try those too. I know the poison works, but I had no way to know if the sterilizers work. But its worth putting down with the poison traps just in case. Place them as suggested by the packaging.

These roach traps will not say anything about weevils but it works. Go nuts with them. Do not forget to put them in cabinets as well. The poison is tucked away safe in these.  In the areas where you see them the most, put several along those walls. They get up into cracks and stay there. I also found that they like moisture. So the bathroom may be popular. You should soon start seeing dead little bodies all around the motels. Sweep them up and shake out the motels into the trash or they will build up in there. If your infestation is bad, you will have to do this for awhile. But eventually they do go away. It took me months and a lot of traps. It was a BIG bag of seed. Ick. And I do not have bug problems otherwise.

These guys do not suck blood or go after you and your pets so do not worry about that. They are harmless though creepy. They are not bed bugs either. But keep bedding off of the floor where they travel. They may accidentally end up in there.

Hang in there. If you do clear them out, continue to put down the traps. These guys are small so a few may still be around that you have not yet noticed.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

Recently, I opened an online shop for my handmade jewelry and other items. Right now, at the time of this posting, there is not much listed because I have had to learn how to take decent pictures of small objects that are crisp and clear for a potential buyer to look over an item (and the time spent learning this has kept me from making any advanced jewelry-ack!). Not so easy unless you can go out and buy everything needed for the best possible set up. I have to do it on a very tight budget. So over the next few weeks I will post a series of articles on some tricks I have learned or of sites I have found useful.

In this article I would like to talk about using glass under your object.

Materials:

• Camera (preferably with at least some sort of macro setting)
• Glass (from a picture frame in this case-keep it cheap!)
• Background (poster board, felt, scrap booking paper, etc.)
• At least two movable bright light sources (if shooting indoors)
• Tiny plastic cups or some method to make “legs” to hold up the glass (huh?…see below)
• Photo editing program (optional but really very useful)

This post has four sections.

• using glass to eliminate shadows (main topic)
• basic camera functions that are nice to have (point and shoot type)
• Minimum photo editing features that will let you take less than ideal pictures
• links

Note: I will be adding more pictures as I can. If I wait to post this until I get everything together, who knows when this would get out. I hope it helps more than confuses!

Glass (or acrylic)

I wanted to use something already around the house when trying this trick. If it did not work, I was not out anything more. So for glass, I took the glass out of a picture frame. If you do not have one you want to dismantle, you can get one at a Dollar Tree or Dollar Store or some variation of a store that sells cheap items…well…cheap. The only problem with this method is that some glass in pictures frames do have a slight grayish tint. But if you are liking this method, you can upgrade to optically clear glass later. Make sure the glass is clean.

Placement of glass:

Now you need some way to suspend the glass off of the table. Here again, I am using what I had around the house. Now that I like this method, I will improve on it later. I am sure you will see many better ways to do this. My solutions was grabbing 4 tiny plastic cups and placing one upside down under each corner of the glass (laid horizontal or flat). If the glass you are using is too small, it will be hard to keep the cups out of the picture so keep this in mind when choosing your sheet of glass.

This suspension of the glass will help cause shadows to be displaced from your object that you want to shoot. If your object is just laying on the surface of the table, shadows will be right next to it. The higher you place your object, the more you can rid yourself of the shadows. The cups do not get my objects quite high enough with my set up, but in some cases the displaced shadow looks interesting (left) and in others I can just edit it out with a photo editing program. More on that later. I will mostly be talking about taking pictures with the glass flat this way though I do want it higher up to around 5 inches. You can also prop the glass vertically to hang objects from the top edge. This makes the item look like it is floating.

Also, some objects have a nice reflection off of the glass in some lighting. A nice touch for an alternate way to show things. But you can get rid of this with your lighting placed right.

Background below the object:

Under the glass and directly on the table you will want to place your background. Your object will be suspended above this background but the background will show as if the object is resting on it. I tend to use plain white poster board so I can get rid of the background entirely and put focus on the object. Black is also good, depending on the object. If you want a back ground to compliment the object, a good source is scrap booking paper, cloth, or other flat items, with or without a patter. I have found stiff felt works well too (if you can keep the cat hair off). The picture here shows felt, dark, and no glass. Shadows were taken up by felt and good light placement.

Background behind the object:

If you are not going to shoot straight down at the object but at an angle, you will want your background to continue on past the glass set up and curve  up behind it. So essentially you have an “L” shape where the item sits on the horizontal part of the L and the rest of the background is behind the object. Try not to have the background directly behind but away to prevent shadows. Avoid creasing the background at the bend of the “L” as that my show up in your photo.

Optional but good: If you have white material (poster board for instance) that you are not using, form walls around where you are shooting (but out of the picture) to reflect light back into the photo area (sort of a light box). I will post links on building light boxes soon. But at the least, having white around the area is good.

Oh yeah, the thing I often forget to do is wear white if you shoot something shiny. Otherwise your pictures will have items reflecting…you.  You can set up a screen to shoot through but it is hard to get some angles or close up shots with that.

Light:

Flash is generally bad for smaller items.

Can you start taking pictures? Pretty much yes. Place your object on the glass and try it. But you will probably find you need more light. At the very least, have two lamps you can move around. No shade. Shop lights that can clip on to a stand or other objects are wonderful and inexpensive. I have one and will get more. In the mean time, I took a cheap lamp from another room and removed the shade. The best bulbs are daylight simulating bulbs, especially if you cannot set for the type of lighting you are using on your camera (see below). Otherwise go for very bright if you can.

Here you need to experiment a bit. Arrange the lights around the object and watch how the shadows fall. You may cancel them out or push the shadows away from where you are shooting. Or at least have them so they do not distract or hide your object. I have read about all kinds of ways to set the light but it comes down to experimenting for your particular needs. It is a pain. I need more than the two lights but I get by, mostly due to photo editing.  You also need to be careful not to wash out the object (hot spots). I am still learning how to take pictures of shiny items and will probably have to build a better photo box or photo tent.

Useful camera settings for point and shoot cameras.

Macro Setting:

***Note: I am talking about Point and Shoot digital cameras, not the high end and expensive professional cameras where you interchange lenses and have to take classes to figure the things out.

For up close shots (like jewelry) a “Macro” setting on your camera is very nice. If you are buying a camera for this, look for a macro that lets you get very close without blurring. Some let you get closer than others. You do not have to spend a lot on a camera for a macro setting. The button for macro is usually represented by a flower.

Other Camera Settings:

All of this is intimidating at first but after playing around with the above and the features listed below, you will find what you like and it will become much faster and easier to do all of this.

Whether it is close up or not, other settings will also make your life easier. You might have a manual setting that lets you set all of these ahead of time. If you are going to buy a camera, look for that. Many cameras will have at least a few of these. Likely the compact point and shoot you have have a few.

• White Balance: Allows you to choose the lighting you have. Often listed are fluorescent, daylight, cloudy, night shot, tungsten, halogen and so on. You can flip through these to see what looks best. This is a wonderful setting.
• Exposure Compensation: This looks like a +/- button. This allows more or less light in so you can go from very washed out to very dark. This handy button can help wash out the background or compensate for less than ideal lighting. This you need to play with a bit to get a feel for what setting to have under different circumstances (see why I am getting little else done?)
• Metering: This allows you to choose “spot”, “center weighted”, and “evaluative” settings. Spot and Center weighted are the two you will likely use most. These may be under other names but I have seen these names show up a lot when I was looking at low cost to mid range cameras. The camera focuses on your object a little different with these settings.

Do not have these settings or you do but the pictures are not perfect? See below…

Photo Editor:

Get a photo editor for your digital ppictures. You do not need Photoshop for most of what you need, though it is nice. There are free photo editors you can download that will work fine. Take many, many pictures and then edit the ones you like. Below are the main features I use. Keep in mind, if you are doing this to sell online, edit the picture to best represent the actual item you are selling. Do not improve the item into something it is not.

Different programs may have different names for each function so I will give a brief description (but not a tutorial at this time). Save the original picture as back up at least until you are done. Immediately rename the picture you are working on so you do not accidentally save over the original.

Eraser: This will allow you to erase items out of the picture that should not be there (like my upside down cups).

Crop: Crop the picture so the items is the main focus and you do not have wasted space around it. This also allows you to get rid of things you do not want that is near the edges of the picture.

Brightness/Contrast: You can brighten the image and adjust the contrast. I am sometimes able to brighten images with white backgrounds enough to eliminate shadows. Be careful not to wash out the item with this setting.

Clone (stamp): Allows you to copy a spot on the picture and cover another area with it. This can allow you to cover something you do not want in the picture by making it look like the surrounding area. Very handy but takes some getting used to. You do not want it to be obvious you did this. Again, only do these things to tidy the picture, not alter the item for sale into other than it is.

Color Settings: Too much red in the picture or blue? This setting allows you to adjust for this type of thing. NICE!

These are the main ones I use. Of course you can get more complex. Often I may only use the brightnesscontrast, crop, and color settings. But this allows you to take less than ideal pictures and still get something wonderful out of it. Therefore you can cheat a little on your set up for taking pictures. This means saving money for me.

Play around. Much time will be “wasted” but it will be worth it.

Links (these will open in a new window):

Below are some links you may find useful for adding to what I said or expanding beyond. Feel free to suggest more as long as they are not spam type.

My shop (shameless plug): Dizzy Whiskers Handmade Jewelry and Gifts http://www.etsy.com/shop/DizzyWhiskers

Camera use:

http://www.alzodigital.com/photo_guide/tent_application_guide_white_background.htm (this one is for use with photo tents but it has good advice that can still be used without one)

Photobox- make your own. (get strong lights-even if your order one):

Whether you filter your light (through tissue, a sheet, or whatever) or just put up white paper without any filter, the curved backdrop you see in most of these is  a must to make the item look like it is floating in its own space. A professional look for the cost of cloth or a poster board. Right now I just have the curved backdrop and white paper propped up along the sides. I need the filtration for shiny objects and will be making one of the below or some version soon. I have tried most of these but I did not have room to store it so I dismantled them.

Below are the links listed in no order of preference.

• Making a light tent out of a box (tried it…is OK but I did not like it enough-you may like it more) http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent or http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html actually there are many, many sites now for this one. I am guessing most people like this.

• This one has several ideas. (note: using a grid for support will cast shadows of the grid. Tried it.) http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

• This one uses PVC and a sheet. Works well. http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent If you want to try this before building it, drape a white sheet over a small table or chair and set up under it. If you like it, then a permanent frame is handy.

• This one is basic but will get the job done. http://photodoto.com/create-your-own-light-box/

• This one is a nicer version of what I am doing now. If you do not photograph shiny objects, this one is pretty good. You can leave the top off if you need to but play with the lights differently.  http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

Using glass, etc.:

Expensive set up but explains. http://blog.oldrelics.com/2008/12/24/taking-clear-no-shadow-photos.aspx

Several useful tips here. The author uses and expensive light box and under glass. If you can afford it, go for it. Otherwise use these tips for your home made box. Also, this author uses an expensive camera. You do not need it. Its best, but you do not need it. http://www.beadphotography.com/

You can buy some fantastic hoops online and I will share a few links  near the end of this post along with a coupon I found. But when you first start learning, you will be rough on your hoop. Building your own can be much less expensive in the long run and you can also experiment with different diameters to suite you. You may also feel less protective of this hoop, allowing you to relax and just have fun trying to learn.

There are several kinds of materials you can use (see hooping.org link below), here I used coiled PVC. It was all I could find in my area though it might be a little more difficult to use. Once you find the materials, making the hoop is easy. It is the connector that can cause some problems. It has to fit and not leave a flat spot in the hoop. Though, you can use a hoop that has a flat spot, it looks funny and may goof up a few moves.

Materials:

• Coiled PVC (see picture above). 160 psi rating (so it is not flimsy). I used 3/4 inch diameter. I have seen it in red and white at Home Depot. I bought the white. No reason. I covered it with tape later so I did not worry about the color. You can buy a large or short coils.  The large is around 100 feet long but you can make many future hoops from it or share/sell with friends and it is cheapest in the long run. So far I have cut 4 hoops and I still have enough left for a few more. The shorter (15 feet?) will cost less up front but you only have enough for one hoop. Once you add the cost of  taping  it, you might as well order a pre-made hoop for a little more.

• A Method of cutting the PVC -I used a pipe cutter. There are also PVC cutters. Both are inexpensive. I found the pipe cutter to have a cleaner cut.

• A method to cut PVC length-wise under the curve. Here we used a Dremmel with cutting disks attached.
• Marker that can mark plastic.
• Pliers
• Flat head screwdriver (optional)
• Pretty tape. I used colored duct tape (from a craft store). It is less expensive and strong. It will get scratched up while you learn but you can upgrade to prettier tape later. If you are not concerned with decorating your hoop right now, you will want a little bit of duct tape to hold the ends together.

Remember, I am new at this but I thought I would share a method that worked for me with the limited materials I could find. There are easier ways and that is why I suggest also looking further to pick a method that will work for you. This hoop is very solid and has survived a serious beating with my first lessons so you might find it worth it. In other words, this is not the only way to do this, this goes for all of my posts. I feel very enthusiastic about hooping and I just want to share what little I can so far.

As usual some of my pictures (below) tend to float around the page for some reason and mess up my paragraphs. I am working on it. Not sure if this is a Facebook issue or something I am doing wrong. I barely have time to post right now so I am going with it anyway.

The Hoop

Sizing:

Warning! Each end of a the coil of PVC will often have straightened out some. You will probably want to cut off about 6 inches or more from each end to avoid having a flat spot in your hoop. After removing the end, then start measuring for your hoop.

Measuring:

First of all you need to get the right size hoop. The size you used as a kid will not work.  For a beginner or someone who is on the heavy side, bigger is better than smaller. It will look huge at first. That is normal. Keep in mind when building the hoop, you can still pull it apart before you tape it and resize it if it is too big. Start big and go smaller if you need to. You cannot go from small to large.  Many people start with a diameter of around 42 inches. Another way to measure is leaning the potential hoop against you while resting it on the floor (you will have to hold the coil together). The top edge should land between your naval and chest. If you are very heavy, you may want to add more. Yes, you can hoop without a waste.

Have someone hold the coil of PVC open to the diameter you want, either measure across or hold it up against you, and make a mark with a marker where you wish to cut.

Cutting:

I used a pipe cutter (left) because that is what I had. You put it where you want to cut and spin the cutter around the pipe. With each rotation, tighten it a little bit.

Do not rush it, if you over tighten each time you go around, the cut will not be as nice. Practice on the bad end of your coil first. You can also use a PVC cutter or a saw.

The Connector

The connector is a little bit more work to make but not so bad if you have a good method of cutting it lengthwise.

I have tried several pre-made objects to hold the hoop together but I always ended up with a flat spot. This was our solution. You may come up with something else. There is no “right” way as long as the ends are held  together to your satisfaction. I do suggest not having much of anything bulging out, such as from a wrap-around connector, unless it is soft. You are going to feel bruised enough when you first start with a smooth surface rolling all over your body. If something is sticking out slightly, you will know it.

We chose this method because the connector has the same curve as the hoop and it fit snug.

Cutting:

On PVC you are not using for your hoop, cut off about 4 inches. This does not have to be exact. A little shorter is easier, longer more secure. You can always cut more off if it is too long. The piece shown in these pictures is too long. We cut it down later. This was our third hoop and we were experimenting with different connector lengths.

Next, you will need to mark off about a finger-width section, length wise, under the curve or arch of this piece. You will remove this bit from the center of the curve. The lines can be rough. They are just a guide and this will all be hidden later.

Now use the method you have chosen to cut out this piece. If you use the Dremmel, cutting disks work well. Wear eye protection and a mask. Bits will fly up at you and you can breath in fine particles. Do not press down to hard. Just lightly go over the line several times. The plastic will melt if you press too much and you also risk breaking the disk in the groove. Neither is bad but it is better to avoid it. You can cut most of the way through and then just pry up the rest with a flat head screwdriver.

A flat head screw driver might help pull that last bit out so you do not have to saw all the way through.

Here the piece has been removed.

You might want to experiment with other, lighter material for the connector, should you have it, if you have trouble cutting the strip out.

Preparing:

Now one edge needs to be curled under the other edge to decrease the diameter of the connector. No need to be fancy with any of this since the connector will be hidden. You just need it to fit snugly inside of your hoop.

Take your pliers and crunch down the one edge. You will just work your way on down. Keep doing this continue  to work the first edge under the second edge. Long handles on your pliers may give you better leverage to do this but it is not needed.

When done, your connector will be curled in on itself and narrower.

Inserting:

Now it is time to stuff the connector into the hoop. The tighter you wound the connector, the easier this will be.

First, mark the center (you do not need to be exact) of the  connector so you know when you have inserted the connector far enough into one end of your hoop. Again, the piece we cut for the connector in these pictures was too long. We cut it down later.

While inserting the connector, use the pliers throughout. Do not be afraid to crunch it more narrow as you go. The pliers will give you a good grip and you can rock and twist back and forth as you go. Do try to keep the curve in line with the hoop as much as possible. My husband found it helped to press his thumb against the pliers to help force in the connector.

When you hit the half way mark, stop. Now wiggle and twist the other side of the hoop onto the other end of the connector. Again, use the pliers to crunch the connector narrow as needed. If you need to shorted the connector the pipe cutter, etc an do the job even if the connector is curled up the way it is. We had to on this one.

The two ends of the hoop should now be flush and hopefully no obvious flat spot. You may notice a little wiggle room or gap on one side but that will be fixed with the tape. You are now mostly done! Whew!

Finishing the Hoop

If you do not decorate your hoop, you will want to at least secure the ends together with some duct tape. Tape the ends tight together and wrap a little more around that. This might be what you want to do at first if this is your first time hooping. You can play with the hoop awhile and see if this is the size you like. Be sure to give it some time before deciding unless you have plenty of PVC to make more hoops. If you feel you want a smaller hoop, peel off the tape, pull the ends apart, and cut some off of one end and put it all back together. You have to work harder with smaller hoops, this is why bigger is often better to start  (yes, you can get too big). In the picture, my husband found it was easier to wrap the hoop if he held it with his toes.   He made his black with some red stripes. Yep, he hoops too!

If you decorate the hoop, I still recommend some securing tape at the connector. I covered the entire hoop in a one base color and then added contrasting colors on top. It is all up to you. You can do spirals, stripes, dots, etc! I do not recommend tassels or anything else hanging off of the hoop. They snag in your hands.

Soon, I will post a short blurb about hooping itself and my newbie experience with it.   See below for additional links on making/buying hoops of various types  and to learn more about hoop dancing. The list is not long because I am just getting into this and I am still finding new sites to look at.

Additional links:

Here are some links I found useful or interesting. Unless I state otherwise, I do not personally know  the quality of any products listed at these sites.

Shopping:

http://www.hoopnotica.com Hoopnotica. They have DVDs, hoops, and other fun stuff. This one I found a coupon code for $5 off your order. It is AA0902. I do not think it expires. Let me know if it does, please, so I can remove this. So far I have ordered a DVD from them as recommened by a friend. I cannot tell you what I think yet because I am too new to be fair. I bought level 2 instead of level 1 since I had someone to show me the early moves. But they were fast with shipping and looking through the DVD, it seems to actually show you how to troubleshoot as well as how to do the moves so I do like that so far. Plus there is a work out routine you can follow.

http://superhooper.org Super Hooper. This site has hoops, supplies, tips, and listings on where to go for free classes. They will travel to various places and hold free classes if someone will host them. I was fortunate to recently attend a beginner’s class when they came through my area. It was a lot of fun. Lara, the lady who taught us, was very nice and a lot of fun. I learned much more than expected and never felt put down for being new. So do check that out. And no, no one wore funny outfits.   Also, if you attend a class, you get free shipping on an LED hoop. Also, the classes included more advanced hooping, LED, and fire as well.

I also was able to look at and play with their LED hoops and I found them to be very well made. I hope to treat myself to one later on.

General:

http://www.hooping.org This site has a little of everything, including making hoops of various types. There are tips, videos, links, and much more. It takes a little digging in a few places but it is usually worth it. I refer to this site before any.

http://www.squidoo.com/hulahooping Make a hoop.  Here is  a site that shows another way to make a fast hoop with the more popular materials if you can find them in your area.

http://www.myspace.com/mariethomas108 This is a link to Marie. She is organizing a hooping club or class in the Destin/Fort Walton Beach Florida area. As of December, 2009 it is still in the rough and not yet organized. But if you are interested, contact her. She is nice. Tell her Amy sent you.

Online Videos:

On Youtube, search out Hooping basics. They have a series on there I like very much because they will show you how to do each move as well as what  it is. Unfortunately it is not easy to know what order they should go in but you do have a general idea of the level of difficulty.

I hope to continue adding to these links.

If you enjoy juggling balls you might have had the urge to start juggling clubs but do not want to spend the money on a set until you have gotten the hang of it a bit. Or you do have a nice set but would like to have a set that can get beat up from practicing or lending out to people who wan to try it. There are inexpensive sets out there that are not comfortable on the hands but work fine. But if you have the time to construct  your own, you can get several sets for the price of even the inexpensive clubs. Also, you can customize them to look how you want. They work well and are not too terribly harsh on the hands. You can adjust the balance and how they look too.

These clubs are called Green Clubs by the person who came up with them because your can recycle old soda bottles and use items that may be around the house (tennis balls, dowel rods, electrical tape, duct tape, and a few others items). I did not come up with the Green Clubs. But I have made a set and they work pretty good. I think it is worth the time if you are on a budget.

Here I will follow his instructions and just provide pictures of the more difficult step, creating the handle.  Here is how I did it.

The instructions you need and the handle wrap template can be found here: http://www.juggle.org/howto/gcp.php This should open in a new window. If this link is broken or the items cannot be found, let me know. I have copies.

I am having trouble with the pictures not staying flush to the left side. So bear with me until I can do something else. Very annoying. I hope it is clear enough in the mean time.

Making the Handle

1. This is the beginning of making the club. The white paper is the template for the handle wrap you will cut from a 2 littler bottle. You should have downloaded this from the above link.

Here the bottle will be on the left end of the dowel.

2. I used masking tape to secure the bottle but I used a little duct tape to hold the beginning of the green plastic (from a 2 litter bottle). Duct tape held it very secure and it will be covered later but something better looking.You will already have secured the other end of the rod inside of the bottle and attached half of a tennis ball to the top as directed by the Green Club instructions.

The plastic around the dowel provides some cushion for your hand. Plain dowel smacking your hands when you catch these hurt more.

3. Here is the first wrap over. I took the green plastic you see above and just wrapped it over once. You can see the duct tape better here. Duct tape was used in place of the suggested nails.

Notice the green plastic is covering the end of the bottle below (above?) where the bottle nozzle flares out.

4. Continue wrapping in a spiral down the handle until it reaches the tip. Wrap tight. Secure with little bits of duct tape here and there if you hare having trouble holding it.

5. Here it is almost to the end. Just need the last bit. You will need to hold this tight to tape down.

6. Here I have it taped down with duct tape securing it. Again, the duct tape will be covered. The tip is ready for its cover.

7. Here the handle is finished with electrical tape. There are many bright colors you can get. This color was what I had on hand. Just spiral wrap the tape down the handle tight. The tip has not been added here. Decorate the bottle part how you like. Do not get too carried away though or it will be too top heavy.

………………

8. Finish the club following the instructions provided by the link I gave you above.

Kitty approved!!

Now do at least 2 more. Whew!

(that is black grout, not mildew in the picture-ha)

These hangers can hold up to 6 pounds so they are pretty secure. They are good for holding small wild bird feeders and hummingbird feeders as well. I have smooth tile in my shower so the hanger/perch sticks just fine. My parrotlet loves to sit on one foot, puff out his feathers and sing while I am in there (the perch is not in the spray). I also put one on a mirror so he can perch there too (make sure nothing is below that he can poop on – toothbrushes). I hang a toy off of the loop but he likes to unhook it and throw the toy. Maybe that is a hint?

I have also put a few outside near large feeders under my eves. They do not hold anything but provide extra perches while birds wait their turn at the feeder. I get to get a good look at them since they are attached to the window.

This idea definitely works for small birds and probably up to med/small parrots as well. True, they do hold up to 6 pounds but hook billed birds tend to like to chew on the suction cups. I found it worse for conure size parrots than for the small parrotlet size parrots. The bigger guys can pull the perch right out from under their feet before you can stop them. The conure I tried this with did eventually leave the cups alone. So the chewing is a drawback.

The other thing to remember is to poke the cups secure once in awhile. Just push on them to renew their suction. Often you will hear a “pop” as you push the air out. Sometimes a little bit of moisture or a light bit of forehead oil on the cups help them stick. Yeah, the oil is gross but it works better than water or saliva.

Timid birds might not take to the perch as easily. You may have to show them it is great by putting your hand on there and get excited and happy while they watch. Do not push it if the bird does not want to go at first or the bird will become afraid. Just try again later. Also, if the bird seems unsure about it all when on the perch, do not leave him alone. Stick around for support. Eventually he will relax. Bolder birds will take to it faster or right away.

Where can you get these? I have seen them at Lowes and Wild Birds Unlimited. Try garden departments/stores.

Have fun!

You might have noticed that a laptop computer can get very hot. It is a good idea to put it where it can get good air circulation to cool it down and extend its life. You can buy items for this purpose. Some simply elevate the laptop above the desk and others have fans built in to further circulate air underneath cooling off the laptop. With the latter you have to be careful that the computer fans connect to where the fans are located on the platform or they do not work as well. This can cause confusion for matching one to the computer and many are not cheap for what they do. The former version can likely be made from something laying around at home.

If you are on a budget (Me!) and do not care if your laptop looks like it has the latest doo-dad that people cannot see anyway since it is hidden underneath, you may want to consider the following or use something similar.

For some time I have simply placed a cookie cooling rack under my laptop and it has worked very well. Some sliding happens if I put it on a lap desk and then hold it in my lap, but not too bad. Usually, I work on a desk and I do not have any sliding. If you want to keep the cooling rack for this use always, take an old mouse pad and cut up some of the rubber bits to be glued or taped to a few spots on the grid to keep the laptop from sliding. You only need it in a few spots, away from the fans.

In the above picture you can see the little feet on the rack. These rest on the table, elevating the laptop above the desk. Air easily gets through the grid from the fans.

The cookie rack is also very light and can be easily stuffed into many carrying cases for the laptop and carted with it. No one has seemed to notice or care that I sometimes have this out when I use the laptop.

Another idea I recently tried is using one of the squares used to build storage cubes that I mention in my cage building post. If you have any of these handy, just leave on the connectors at 4 corners to act as feet to elevate the grid. Place the laptop on there and there you go! Air circulation.

The laptop still gets hot with these but not as bad. I have had funny things happening when it became too hot and now I no longer have this problem.

Maybe its worth a shot. I am sure there is something laying around you can try. You just need to have the fans free and allow the air to circulate underneath and yet still allow you to type. I place a rubber wrist mat in front of the laptop sometimes to raise my lazy arms.

This cube square is a little big compared to the computer so I will leave it on the desk. The cookie rack I will carry with me.

In the left picture you can see the size comparison of the grid and the computer. I meant to turn the square around so the corner connectors did not stick out. Oops.

The picture to the right shows (somewhat)  the clearance under the laptop when placed on this grid. The picture below, left shows the plastic connector that comes with the grid before it is attached to the corner.

These two ideas are a few quick solutions you might have around your house. You can probably come up with many other ideas or take the time to construct something if you have the time. All you need is to get air to the computer where you can still use the thing as well.