I baked brownies with home-grown walnuts. That almost didn’t work.
I forgot to set the timer so after about 5 minutes, or 10, I opened the oven to look. A brilliant spot flared on the front of the heating element. Oops! Bits of food, sauce, or grease – that is, keeping the oven and its elements clean – will create hotspots that lead to damage. Did I know this? Sure. Have I cleaned the oven? Maybe 10 years ago. 
Because the oven had been on for some unknown minutes, I closed the door and allowed the hot oven to continue its job. However, a had a couple of pieces of chicken ready to go when the brownies came out and that wasn’t going to work.
I managed the chicken with the low setting of broil, turning it off and on about every 5 minutes.
After the oven cooled, I reached to the spot that had flared and gave it a little tug. There and at another spot the element separated as can be seen in the photo.
To order a new element one needs the model number. The web helped me find the information, and then I had to find a source. Searching, I found Appliance Parts Pros in Cleveland, TN (just east of Chattanooga). Apparently, they have distribution facilities elsewhere because the package arrived sooner than I expected – from Fresno, CA. The element claims to be made in Mexico. Now I have to clean the oven and install the unit. The company’s web site has videos of doing such things. Something to do before I bake again.
The local BI-MART store’s flyer offered an electric chain saw with a price reduced from $200 to $150. That was for the saw, battery, and battery charger. On Amazon, the battery is $139, the charger is $56. The full kit on Amazon is $219. 
Color me confused, but I don’t have an idea about how these numbers work. Well, I went to the store, examined the demo on the shelf, and decide to buy the kit.
I already have a 16″ Stihl gas saw. It is a bit of a trick to get started but does a great job on the trees that I work with. For small limbs it is more than needed. A lone operator has to saw, stop and clean up, then start again. Letting the gas saw idle for a few seconds is reasonable, but for 5 minutes? That seems a bit much. I’ve now used the electric one three times for, maybe, a total of 1.5 hours. It is lighter than the gas one, and stopping, starting, and carrying it around is easy. I think of it as being a more friendly option.
Registration: The company has a 3-year warranty for home owners (that is, not commercial types). Registering within 30 days of purchase up that to 5 years. I couldn’t get the web site to work so had to call. That went well but I was required to send an image of the receipt. That didn’t go well. Three (3) – actually 3.5 letters on the left side did not print. Example: it has THANK YOU on it, except only the K is fully printed. Similarly on the last of the word “October” only the “er” is there. The date appears as “er 16, 2025”. The registration team at SKIL objected to this lack of clarity.
I went to the VISA credit card site and copied the billing info from the store. It had only the total billed (not all 8 items) and the following day’s date – the 17th. The SKIL folks accepted this, that I had legitimately purchased the saw kit. Did I mention I had to provide the model and serial numbers for the three parts of the kit?
The weather: The wind gusted to 64 mph on Friday at 1:53 pm. That’s more than the 50 mph speed limit on Naneum Road and the 60 mph on State highways. A steady wind of 44 mph was recorded; 36 to 40 was common. About midnight the wind dropped and went to zero during the night. Unfortunately, I have Black Walnut trees along the driveway and hundreds of the nuts came down. I’ve pushed them to the side and now have to load and cart them off. 
Rain happened. After about 5 months of very little rain, this morning the barrels are nearly full. I will give the trees a drink.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John