Good morning!!!!

[scootr]

Passed that along to The Woman.

Personally, the smell of fish don't bother me ... unless it's rotting and stinking to high heaven. And I have smelled plenty of that.

Different story with The Woman: Her Mother never fixed fish for dinner apparently and as a consequence She doesn't like anything about it.

Oddly enough, She likes shrimp and tuna fish ... go figure.

Me, I could eat fish seven days a week ...

Careful eating a lot of fish. Some have high levels of Mercury

 

[daugen]

Scootr, would be nice if someone made a product you could spray down the air intake that cleaned the sensors.

 

[pennwalk]

"Did it have a CV transmission?"

Wow. Google said it did. I had no idea. The magic just worked.

Chris

 

[Popgadget]

Congrats RNG, did you get the hybrid? I'm wondering how the hybrid gets so much better mileage than the regular engine? Does it have that big of a battery to aid propulsion?

Most of the mileage comes from recovering braking energy that is normally turned into heat and worn brakes. Unless it’s a plug in hybrid, all of the energy is created by burning gas, it just wastes less. As a side benefit, my first Prius had 150k on the the front brake pads when I changed them, and even then, they still passed inspection, but they were off to replace the wheel bearings, so I figured why not..

 

[Thomas]

31F partly clear sky for the day low 40's for high going to be windy day.

Outside chores done E muffin time.
Several red wing black birds stop by for dinner last evening first time this year yet to see robins bouncing on the lawn. 12 deer between two fields stop by,5 youngsters were chasing each other back and forth field to field.

Plans for today...AM fill propane tank for gas grill must I was told,2 critter food stops,check maybe purchase trimmer setup with paddle head help clean lawn driveway sides of gravel I plow up PM try raking cleaning around the house and date night.

Enjoy your day all.

 

[daugen]

have one last tray of bright yellow pansies to plant, probably in several planters.
but while I'm happily getting dirt under my fingernails, I'm still trying
to hold this thought:

 

[wngsprd]

57 earlier, going to 53. Nice t-storm last night but less than 0.2 in. We are in the gap alot, too, riptides.

Glad Sophie's eyes are doing better.

Made my wife happy yesterday by edging around her flower garden. I had picked up a cordless edger to work with my batteries, and it did a pretty good job, once I got the hang of not bogging it down. Did a dump run, and got in a good maintenance hike before the rain hit.

 

[check]

Good morning, and happy upcoming Easter everybody!

Power went out for two days due to the ice storm on Wednesday. Couldn’t do much of anything outside, but the electrician came yesterday, and we got great things accomplished in the basement. Bad news was, since we only have 100 amp service, the inspector will not let us install a second electric stove. So, it will be propane gas in the basement.. Will definitely install an exterior vent for the microwave.

Looking forward to getting most of it done when he comes back next Wednesday, and then, next Thursday, heading down to Toronto and will pick up the flooring for the basement.

Meanwhile, more and more snow is melting and the creek is now roaring. Lake has ice on it still, but the lake level is rising so I have to get some work done on the boat house over at the rental property before the water gets too high.

IKEA basement plan for the kitchen.

Meanwhile, the family is up, and Daughter and I will be going over to get and change some of that up that was taken down. Then, splitting wood with that gas powered wood splitter that I got from the dump. then the in-laws come up tomorrow, and it’s turkey time!

Have a great Easter weekend, everybody!

Hound dog on guard.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Congrats RNG, did you get the hybrid? I'm wondering how the hybrid gets so much better mileage than the regular engine? Does it have that big of a battery to aid propulsion?

I passed on the hybrid, Kyle. Four wheeled vehicles in my garage tend to sit more than they get driven, and that's bad medicine for the big battery in a hybrid, even worse for an all electric vehicle.

Here's what Toyota has to say about the engine in the gas car:
2.5-Liter Dynamic Force 4-Cylinder DOHC D-4S Injection Dual Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i) and Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes; 203 hp @ 6600 rpm; 184 lb.-ft. @ 5000 rpm

And here's the same info about the gas engine in the hybrid (almost word-for-word the same):
2.5-Liter Dynamic Force 4-Cylinder DOHC D-4S Injection Dual Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i) and Eco, Normal, Sport and EV drive modes; 176 HP @ 5700 rpm; 163 lb.-ft. @ 5200 rpm

To which they add:
208 combined system net horsepower
And here are the ratings for the electric motor in the hybrid:
HP - 118, (88 kW)
Torque - 149 lb.-ft. (202 Nm)

Seems to me, combined HP should be 203 + 118 = 321 HP, but apparently the relationship isn't additive.

The gas car weighs 3310 lbs., 3480 for the hybrid. At 170 lbs. that's not as much a battery weight penalty as I'd have thought, but it's still like carrying around an extra person all the time.

Now here's what all the fuss is about, the MPG rating and cost (base model LE figures).
City/highway/combined MPG of 28/39/32 for $26,220 for the gas car
City/highway/combined MPG of 51/53/52 for $28,355 for the hybrid

It's also worth noting that the local dealer had 15 gas Camrys to choose from, but only 1 hybrid. And they're not advertising the price of the hybrid, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a very healthy "Market Adjustment" being applied in their favor.

So for me, who does almost no city driving, a gain of 14 MPG highway at a cost of $2,135 and a lot more complication, stuff to break, and much more difficulty to purchase, wasn't worth it.

 

[daugen]

the tale of two back yards.
one part thick and luscious grass
another part ruined by grubs and critters trying to get them.
Put down one dose of grub kill last Fall, about to go out and do another this afternoon.

got bagger off mower and put away, then struggled to grease mower deck but got them all.
Lock n'lube can't be used, not enough clearance.
Then mowed front and part of back yards.
hit a lot of pine cones, bumper year this year, not that many last year

taking a break before planting rest of pansies.

very pleased and thankful for next door neighbor who while I was away transplanted a willow tree he grew
from a clipping on a larger tree. It should look wonderful there. I drowned dozens of plants to the right of that spot, so sited
willow just outside flood zone.