East Wenatchee

[Drunk Monk]

Running the border with guns and alcohol. Nice. 

You've still got it, cf. D00M is proud.

[Greg]

I wasn't going to say anything because of the inevitable subpoena document request for the court case.

[cranefly]

Could have posted this on Chariots of Doom, but chose to post here, because I'm here.

A little more on the Prius.  It's 17 years old now, so I was very worried about the battery.  They typically last 5 years with heavy use, 10 years with little old lady driving.  I'm the latter.  17 years is ... just out there.

So, like I said, the Check Engine Light came on with 3 hours to go, but I told LCF to drive onward.  We made it.

I tried to order an OBD reader to get the trouble code, but blundered and got a Ford-specific one.  So we bit the bullet and took it to a Toyota shop.  For $200 bucks they read it as a bad air fuel sensor. It would cost $900 bucks to replace, but they said we could probably nurse it home.  We opted to nurse it home.  But we did get an oil change.

A couple hours into the drive home, the Check Engine Light went out.  It has not shown up since.  I bought the right OBD reader, but haven't found out how to get a history of past codes.  Seems like that should be possible.  Then I used a Dr. Prius app to load-test the battery.  The gas engine always starts well before the battery test completes, invalidating the results, and I get a message of a bad block.  So I think the battery is on its last legs--though it still performs well and is mostly symptomless.  When I bought the Prius, I was getting 47 MPG city driving.  We had the Prius loaded down with heavy stuff on the drive home, and we drove 75 MPH most of the time, but we still got just over 40 MPG.  So it still seems to perform well.  But I don't trust it and feel lucky on this past trip.

If I was smart, we'd buy a newer used Prius for about 17K.  But this one has brand new tires ($600+) on it and a new oil change, and I'm tempted to have a new battery installed for $2500-3000 (you can get reconditioned ones a lot cheaper, but careful reading shows that they're a very short-term patch).  Still, more than the battery will likely need fixing (the clock and other meters are starting to act up).  Trying to decide which way to go.

Oh.  One more thing.  The Prius has lost its new car smell.  So the matter is especially urgent.

Okay, after a couple of days of research, I'm leaning towards getting a new car and going full EV.  The leading candidate is a Nissan Leaf.  There's a lot of choices out there, but so expensive and always deal-breaker shortcomings.  Seems best to go minimal until things settle down and there are better deals.

[Greg]

I think if you go to any auto parts store, they will read your codes for free. I know they do at my auto repair place. I must have done it at least ten times this summer. I did it today as a matter of fact because my check engine light is still on......

[cranefly]

Yesterday LCF got a text message update from older brother Mitch that his dog had shat some fur.  That's good but insufficiently good news.  He was hoping for some bone.  You see, a couple days ago his dog Corbu (Romanian for "raven" -- it's a long story) ate a deer hoof and ankle.  Now I know what you're thinking -- that maybe Mitch ought to keep a closer watch on his dog.  But I think I know how it happened.  Mitch blinked.

Mitch didn't take Corbu to his regular vet, because that vet can't perform surgeries, and he was pretty sure that might be required.  So he took him to a specialist vet.  Apparently vets share stories, because this vet had heard of the legendary Corbu from the dog's previous freakish feats.  Anyway, the vet recommended monitoring the situation for now.

LCF and I didn't get to meet Mitch and Corbu on the trip up north.  There was supposed to be a big gettogether In Washington, with Mitch driving up from Idaho.  But Mitch miscalculated a charging station stop in upper Idaho, and his new EC started warning him he wouldn't make it unless he turned off all accessories -- including heat -- and he was cold and miserable getting to it.  On top of that, it was bad weather, raining, poor visibility, and then some idiot driver hydroplaned next to him and nearly took him out.

So he bailed in upper Idaho to retreat home.

Up in Washington, we spent about a week with LCF's older sister, Terri, and her hubby John, and their dog Frankie.  I get the feeling Frankie couldn't quite figure us out, because we treated him like a cat.  Not intentionally, but I get the feeling that he wasn't accustomed to that type of petting.  Not that he objected, or avoided us.  He spent a lot of time with us.  But I had the feeling he was always a bit bewildered.

There was one point halfway through our stay when Frankie barked on sight of me and kept up a ruckus for some minutes.  This surprised Terri, who kept telling Frankie, "It's Cranefly.  What are you barking at?"  I had just come upstairs carrying a rifle in a gun case.  The sight of Cranefly with a gun is an entirely incomprehensible sight, I admit.  In the field of mathematics, it's equivalent to a divide by zero.

Needless to say, Frankie has acute hearing.  I was worried about leaving the Prius out front for fear of its catalytic converter being stolen again.  We've had protective cladding put on, but the mechanic warned us that it's not an absolute deterrent; it just slows them down.  But it soon became apparent that Frankie hears everything in the whole neighborhood and quickly sounds the alarm.  It's often harder to turn off that alarm than a smoke detector.

John and Terri have to be careful with Frankie in their jeep.  They mustn't accidentally bump the rear wiper lever, because he will go bezerk. 

I traveled up to Wenatchee with one hearing aid.  The other one had died.  Up there, when taking a shower, I laid it on top of my clean clothes.  But I forgot about it and it must have fallen to the floor when I got dressed.  I found it the next morning in two pieces.  Frankie must have found it and chewed it in two.  The battery was still intact, so I'm glad Frankie didn't swallow it.  Anyway, my mistake.

Frankie wears a collar with a red light in it.  In the dark he looks like a lightning bug floating low about the house.  If you remove the collar, he gets upset.  It's personal property.  You can ruffle his neck a bit, but then you better put the collar back on.  It reminds me of my cousin Brian who, as a kid, came back from the eye doctor all disappointed, because his eyes checked 20-20.  He wanted to get eyeglasses, because that would be a possession.  You know, like a toy.

Terri and John used to have a cat named Felix.  But it disappeared mysteriously one day.  Likely fell victim to a car, or maybe a predator. They live in a residential area, but we watched a mighty-healthy-looking coyote traipse through their yard one afternoon.   It surprised me a lot, because I didn't know coyotes could traipse.

[Drunk Monk]

One of my dog park friends, the one who does the crazy raw food for her dog, will feed fur and bone to her dog. She claims it's natural, which does stand to reason. Her dad is a hunter so she gets fresh game which she just gives to her dog whole. Once she gave him a whole deer leg. I don't even know how that works because she lives in a small apartment (and her dog is 70+ lbs). I'm just trying to imagine a freakin deer leg in her apartment. Her dog is in great health. 

Fur and hooves shouldn't be too much of an issue, unless it's an old dog. Hooves are commonly sold as dog chews. Bones can be a problem, but we've given Yuki an antler as a chew, which he loved to gnaw, but we eventually took it away because it was sharp and I was worried I would step on it in the middle of the night. 

Why is this travel log so much about pets? Not that I mind - it's actually a fresh perspective - I'm just curious if there's something you're not telling us here.

[cranefly]

I'm just trying to imagine a freakin deer leg in her apartment.

It'd make a great lamp base.

Why is this travel log so much about pets? Not that I mind - it's actually a fresh perspective - I'm just curious if there's something you're not telling us here.

There is so much I don't tell.  Actually, LCF is getting antsy for another pet.  Likely a cat.  Anyway, pets give her a much-needed fix.  I guess I'm overly aware of that fact, and it influences what I cover.

Or maybe I'm just a latent furry dropping hints.

[Drunk Monk]

There were too many furries at Lam Kwoon. That still bugs me and I don’t even know why.

If only we knew someone who fosters kittens in hopes of finding forever homes for them…

[Greg]

What happened to Corbu, dammit!?!?

[cranefly]

What happened to Corbu, dammit!?!?

Autumn is gutpile-hunting season -- at least for dogs.  Hunters in the area often dress their kills in the field, leaving gutpiles (including legs).   There's gutpiles all over the place.  If you come on just a leg, it's more likely a predator kill.  Anyway, Mitch parked his new Volkswagon ID.4 out in the boondocks and let Corbu out.  As he was unpacking his skis, intending to do some cross-country skiing, he absently saw that Corbu had found a deer leg.  Now Corbu, who's part Husky, has an uncommon sense of delayed gratification.  If he discovers something savory on the outward trek, he'll bury it, and only on the return trek will he dig it up to indulge.

Corbu buries it.

Mitch has special ultra-light cross-country skis, and Corbu just loves to pull him.  So that's what Corbu does -- happily pulls Mitch over level snow covered terrain for who knows how far.  Then they head back.

Norrmally, when Corbu digs up what he buried, Mitch intercedes before he can indulge.  Mitch will throw the leg as far off-trail as he can and will coax Corbu to move on.  But this time, back at the car, Mitch forgets.  As he's preoccupied loading the skis, Corbu merrily digs up the leg and begins to chomp down.

We talked to Mitch last night.  Still nothing but fur in Corbu's poop.  Mitch doesn't know what happens to hoof in the digestive tract.  "Does it just dissolve?"  We're not sure.  But Corbu is his old hyperactive self. and all seems normal.

[Greg]

Thank you for the update.

[Drunk Monk]

Cow hoofs are regularly marketed as dog chews - see https://www.chewy.com/bones-chews-cow-ho.../dp/183938

I imagine deer hoofs (hooves) are okay for them to eat. It’s probably just collagen. Might even be good for them. It seems like a natural part of their diet.

[cranefly]

Cow hoofs are regularly marketed as dog chews - see https://www.chewy.com/bones-chews-cow-ho.../dp/183938

I imagine deer hoofs (hooves) are okay for them to eat. It’s probably just collagen. Might even be good for them. It seems like a natural part of their diet.

I think the major concern was whether Corbu swallowed it largely intact.  But we weren't there as witnesses, and I don't know how much Mitch saw.  I'm assuming given enough time without a problem, it breaks down.

On a largely irrelevant sidenote, I remember seeing on nature shows how calves, colts, or fawns are born, how the hooves are encased in a membranous sac that protects the mother.