What's everybody doing today?

[sonya123]

got my Temu order, everything was there and as expected and it arrived when they said it would too. Computer still working. Will see what my credit card statement looks like when I get it....

Took dog for a hike up the mountain in the snow, it was cold and windy but not as cold as a few days ago.
Tried taking a photo of all the beautiful birds at my bird feeders but I guess I am not that good at taking photos. I keep missing the cardinals and woodpeckers . Had like 20 birds at each one earlier. I feed them black sunflower seeds, chickens get some too. Barn pigeons get a handful of corn

Our club meeting got cancelled tomorrow ( weather) , and I am happy about that since I really wanted to go It will happen some other time now

 

[Bluedanube]

Worked for a few hours this morning. Took mom to the hot springs for an hour and a half. The dog has misplaced his collar, he had grandpa looking for it while we were swimming, but no luck. It’s probably in a snow drift. Got home to find the menfolk doing open heart surgery on the pellet stove. Apparently the last couple of bags of pellets had enough sawdust to plug the auger and make it unhappy. They cleaned it all out and it’s working happily again. I’ll get dinner started in a bit, the youngest works tonight so it’s an early dinner.

 

[kenv1950]

Going to go pick up the new car this afternoon (wife's new car ) . Road are really slick here and 2 mountains to go over .

Finaly made it home 2 mountains and icy roads ... web pic Outback Onyx

 

[Mountain trapper]

I just took a bottle of lamp oil off the shelf to fill a couple lamps. It was froze solid. I guess it has too much paraffin in it. I need to find something else for use in winter.

 

[Bacpacker]

Worked from the house again. Saved plenty of gas not going anywhere this week. Next week is gonna be a killer though. Just can't do everything I need to from home.
Once that was done, took care of the chickens, and took a shovel out to the end of the driveway. When they plow the road it is just thrown over on the driveways. It got so cold here the berm froze. It had warmed up to around 30 yesterday and overnight. Today hit 33. By this afternoon it was starting getting slushy. Didn't take it down to the road, but knocked the berm down to level.
Decided to spend some time in the basement after that and had a smaller cigar.
Gonna be about 7 tonight and 3 tomorrow night and won't go over freezing before Monday afternoon. So good timing on the driveway

 

[kenv1950]

I just took a bottle of lamp oil off the shelf to fill a couple lamps. It was froze solid. I guess it has too much paraffin in it. I need to find something else for use in winter.

I'm going to put one of my jugs outside to see if it freezes , didn't know it did that.
I've got 4 gallons , got it because I hate the smell of kerosene I worked with it for years .

 

[Spikedriver]

Finaly made it home 2 mountains and icy roads ... web pic Outback Onyx

I love the idea of an Outback. It would be nearly perfect for my travels for work. But, the Subaru CVT transmission scares me. I know several people who have blown them out between 120,000 and 140,000 miles, and it's an $8k fix. I love the car though. That AWD system is fantastic!

 

[INresponse]

I actually joined a new forum today!

(Mods, don't worry, I am not going to steal any members ).
DW's 2017 Acadia has been having this problem for over a year and dealers and GM are clueless.
https://www.acadiaforum.net/threads/p0128-code-power-steering-assist-message-temp-gauge-not-working-no-ac.33620/page-3?nested_view=1&sortby=oldest
Don't make me come help.

Well, since I learned stuff regarding my GF's 2016 Acadia I will share. She has about 150K miles, mostly highway but we do have some decent size hills here in the mountain southwest. Last year it started "shuddering" a bit when shifting gears and it got worse as time went on.
What I learned? If going up hills ( or pulling a trailer) shift down a gear or two and don't leave it in "over drive" as that is hard on the transmission and torque converter. But, if you did what we did and it starts to shudder use Lubegard 19610 Dr. Tranny Instant Shudder Fixx
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00337DUEU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
It worked miracles and I also used it in my Dodge Ram that had a similar problem. It adds "friction additives" and stopped the shudder putting off the trans rebuild off for hopefully several months or more. I plan to rebuild the trans on my Dodge in a few months and the trans in her Acadia mid to late summer, but I didn't want to do them now.

Hopefully you don't have this problem. And if you don't yet have the problem remember to downshift when going up hills or when pulling a trailer or loading a bunch of people or heavy stuff in the car/cross over/minivan.

 

[kenv1950]

I love the idea of an Outback. It would be nearly perfect for my travels for work. But, the Subaru CVT transmission scares me. I know several people who have blown them out between 120,000 and 140,000 miles, and it's an $8k fix. I love the car though. That AWD system is fantastic!

First I've heard of that , I've heard of motors going out but most of them were from poor maintenance . Couple friends are well over the 200,000 mark , guess we'll find out . My wife is a maintenance nut , there's a place that picks up her car at work when ready , txt her when its ready for oil change and each time they go through the whole car , even oiling her door hinges. Pretty good for $65.00 Not bad for a small town.

 

[Supervisor42]

Well, since I learned stuff regarding my GF's 2016 Acadia I will share. She has about 150K miles, mostly highway but we do have some decent size hills here in the mountain southwest. Last year it started "shuddering" a bit when shifting gears and it got worse as time went on.
What I learned? If going up hills ( or pulling a trailer) shift down a gear or two and don't leave it in "over drive" as that is hard on the transmission and torque converter. But, if you did what we did and it starts to shudder use Lubegard 19610 Dr. Tranny Instant Shudder Fixx
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00337DUEU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
It worked miracles and I also used it in my Dodge Ram that had a similar problem. It adds "friction additives" and stopped the shudder putting off the trans rebuild off for hopefully several months or more. I plan to rebuild the trans on my Dodge in a few months and the trans in her Acadia mid to late summer, but I didn't want to do them now.

Hopefully you don't have this problem. And if you don't yet have the problem remember to downshift when going up hills or when pulling a trailer or loading a bunch of people or heavy stuff in the car/cross over/minivan.

Well, just be glad you got one before they started to put the 'glitch' ECMs in them (2017). In 2021 they made it so you could upgrade their crappy software using "IntelliLink"... but not us.

 

[INresponse]

Worked today. I had to do "service" on a 2023 Can Am Defender side by side. It took me an hour to change the oil filter. Supposedly you need to unbolt and take out the rear seats and then remove the decorative fake carpet panel and then remove the screws holding the plastic panel to the back of the cab and then try to reach in through this awkward opening to remove the 3 bolts to remove the cover over the oil filter .... and then reverse the process. Well, that would be a very time consuming task so I took the "easy-ish" way and shoved my hand and a small socket and ratchet around the wires and hoses to remove the 3 bolts to remove the cover the pull out the filter and reverse the process with the new filter. One full hour of cussing out the darn engineers who designed this pathetic piece of donkey dung.
Moral of the story, do not ever buy a Can Am or Bombardier. They may not be junk but they are the most difficult pieces of poop for doing what should be simple repairs and maintenance.
After work hung out with the boss and his wife and his friend and BS'd for over an hour. Fun "happy hour" burning through several adult beverages and some old oil in the smudge pot behind the shop. I am hoping for early to bed tonight. I might even have a productive weekend this weekend. If I am lucky.

 

[INresponse]

First I've heard of that , I've heard of motors going out but most of them were from poor maintenance . Couple friends are well over the 200,000 mark , guess we'll find out . My wife is a maintenance nut , there's a place that picks up her car at work when ready , txt her when its ready for oil change and each time they go through the whole car , even oiling her door hinges. Pretty good for $65.00 Not bad for a small town.

From what I have learned this past year on 2 of our vehicles is that different driving condition can make or break the various parts on any vehicle. We live in a mountainous area and we are constantly driving up and down steep grades. Leaving the transmission in "drive", or technically overdrive, is bad on most all vehicles when going up hills and it puts excessive strain on the overdrive clutches and the torque converter. Yes, they will do fine for a few years but if you want to keep it longer you need to learn and remember to downshift when going up long grades.
I assumed my big bad Dodge Cummins diesel could handle the simple "little" upgrades because it is capable of towing big, heavy trailers but once the problem started and I started researching the problem I learned it can "handle" the hills but if you want it to last you should be smart and down shift instead of leaving it in overdrive. I also learned it is not just our Acadia or the Dodge Ram, it is something to consider doing with any vehicle with overdrive if you are regularly driving in hilly or mountainous areas. Perhaps if someone is trading the car out every few years they may not need to worry but if you want it to survive 6 or 10 years or more you might want to err on the side of caution.

 

[LadyLocust]

Going to go pick up the new car this afternoon (wife's new car ) . Road are really slick here and 2 mountains to go over .

Be careful!!!!!!

@Hooch welcome back to the land of the hot water bath.

 

[Spikedriver]

First I've heard of that , I've heard of motors going out but most of them were from poor maintenance . Couple friends are well over the 200,000 mark , guess we'll find out . My wife is a maintenance nut , there's a place that picks up her car at work when ready , txt her when its ready for oil change and each time they go through the whole car , even oiling her door hinges. Pretty good for $65.00 Not bad for a small town.

That is a fantastic deal. The transmission thing only applies to 4 cylinder Outbacks made after 2012 or 6 cylinder/turbo 4 cylinder ones made after 2016, I think. Subaru used to use a regular transmission with gears and it was quite good. They changed to the continuously variable transmission, which I believe has a chain on variable size pulleys, because it allowed 2 or 3 more MPG. I've heard that they improved the CVT in 2019, but most 2019 cars don't have so many miles on them yet so it's hard to know if it's fixed or not. As far as I know, the CVT is the only weak point Subie has. It feels really weird when you drive it, because there aren't any shifts. It just keeps building RPMs until you reach the speed you want. The Onyx trim is super nice too. I'm a little jealous!

 

[LadyLocust]

There is an inversion: we were going to go skiing today but this morning is was 21 here and 35 up on the mountain which means slush
The perk is I got a peaceful day of stitching. Got some cleaning done too which was nice. The day of peace was much needed.

 

[Hooch]

@Hooch based on the coolant shown it looks like it is leaking in a centralized location... Now for the bad new, my bet is that your water pump is going out and is leaking out the seep hole in the water pump housing... I would put some coolant in it, see if the heater works, then start chasing down that coolant leak... It is always less expensive to have coolant leaking on the outside than having it leaking through the head gaskets . Trying to put a positive spin on it...

Oh! I almost forgot. When you add the coolant add it directly to the radiator (not the overflow tank) with the engine cold, as often the overflow tank can still have fluid in it because the leak with let air in the system and there will not be a vacuum to pull coolant from the overflow tank back into the radiator...

If it is low, fill the radiator, then with the cap off start the engine, when the thermostat opens it will go down again because it is displacing the air in the heater and engine block, finish topping off the coolant, put the cap back on, and now start looking for that leak....

Well..turns out my coolant in the truck is orange colored. I know the other oils are not lime green. So I'm stumped on what was leaking.
I asked my mechanic neighbor to check it out and he said he couldnt figure out what it could have been either. He put it up on his lift n looked it all over. Maybe I had a soda in the bed that thawed ??
Since he had it he got the air to work again. He checked the wires , made sure it was connected n it ran again.
I'll still keep my eyes out but that's a mystery..

 

[Hooch]

That is a fantastic deal. The transmission thing only applies to 4 cylinder Outbacks made after 2012 or 6 cylinder/turbo 4 cylinder ones made after 2016, I think. Subaru used to use a regular transmission with gears and it was quite good. They changed to the continuously variable transmission, which I believe has a chain on variable size pulleys, because it allowed 2 or 3 more MPG. I've heard that they improved the CVT in 2019, but most 2019 cars don't have so many miles on them yet so it's hard to know if it's fixed or not. As far as I know, the CVT is the only weak point Subie has. It feels really weird when you drive it, because there aren't any shifts. It just keeps building RPMs until you reach the speed you want. The Onyx trim is super nice too. I'm a little jealous!

I ended up having to drive my Subie this week after the defrost went out on my truck..
Ol Subie plodded along steady through the blizzards n negative temps like a champ and on my county road to my place through a foot n half of snow fairly easily.
When I got to my property it rammed through the old 2 foot berm , thankfully not setting the airbag off n squiggled into my driveway, buried up to the floorboards.
I've definitely found confidence in Subie after that. I admit I dug the tires out the next day n had to rock it a tad to get out. So I'd say about 2 feet of wet snow is its limits but that's pretty doable for around here.

 

[Hooch]

Be careful!!!!!!

@Hooch welcome back to the land of the hot water bath.

It's a joyful feeling to be properly cleansed.
I had bits of sawdust hanging out where nary dare venture..
I still might set up a redneck trough hottub outside..but that's just for fun.

 

[Pearl]

Hubby and I are home, focusing on firewood. I am setting up a few new areas for stacking wood we are cutting and splitting now. Hubby felled a big dead tree yesterday, three smaller ones going down today! Only in the 30's today, but sunny without much wind. Rainy week ahead, so outside projects are happening today! Also doing laundry!!

 

[snappy1]

Supposed to get up to 41 today, so will walk at some point. Probably around noon, if the wind isn't too much.
Fold one load of laundry.
Pressure can the tortellini and sauce.
Make a sugar free dessert with cool whip.
Make gumbo.
It's an inside kind of day!

 

[kenv1950]

From what I have learned this past year on 2 of our vehicles is that different driving condition can make or break the various parts on any vehicle. We live in a mountainous area and we are constantly driving up and down steep grades. Leaving the transmission in "drive", or technically overdrive, is bad on most all vehicles when going up hills and it puts excessive strain on the overdrive clutches and the torque converter. Yes, they will do fine for a few years but if you want to keep it longer you need to learn and remember to downshift when going up long grades.
I assumed my big bad Dodge Cummins diesel could handle the simple "little" upgrades because it is capable of towing big, heavy trailers but once the problem started and I started researching the problem I learned it can "handle" the hills but if you want it to last you should be smart and down shift instead of leaving it in overdrive. I also learned it is not just our Acadia or the Dodge Ram, it is something to consider doing with any vehicle with overdrive if you are regularly driving in hilly or mountainous areas. Perhaps if someone is trading the car out every few years they may not need to worry but if you want it to survive 6 or 10 years or more you might want to err on the side of caution.

Where I live your always going up or down hill . Our jeep we traded in had that shifter you just hit to the side to down shift , the Subaru has those paddles on each side of the steering wheel.
As soon as she learns where all the controls are I'll have her down shift , sounds like a good idea , I also have to learn .(i hate all this new electronic stuff ,I'm to old) mainly touch screens , I have a bad shake in my hands and I screw everything up on touch screens

 

[Amish Heart]

Going to do some catch up around here, after three straight days of docs in the other town. Maybe. Husband has to be at the hospital late morning for a midline bandage change, so we'll do that after animal chores. Only 3 degrees out this morning, and not getting a whole lot better weather wise today. Little granddaughter's mom is supposed to come out this afternoon and visit with her, she hasn't seen her for a number of months. I need to do a grocery shop and feed shop, but maybe not have time for it, we'll see. The pork I was going to can didn't happen, and is chopped, but back in the freezer.

 

[sonya123]

2 more days of below zero with the wind chill, just above without it , miserable weather
At least it has stopped snowing but the road is all ice now. I suppose we could throw sawdust on it or something
Monday we will probably dump hot water on the steep sections to get rid of the ice, done this before. We have just about an unlimited supply of hot water in winter so thats ok
So more water buckets to carry, 5 buckets 3 times a day , have to fill them from the sink since all the outside hydrants are still frozen.
House is starting to smell like a barn from bringing the barn buckets in, and not removing boots all the time. At some point in this weather we just give up on the floor. I will clean when the weather improves

 

[Amish Heart]

I hear you about the buckets and the kitchen smell. Ha. We do 10 in the morning, and same in the afternoon. They come in to the kitchen, and I put them around the wood burning stove. The ice loosens around the side of the bucket, we take them to the porch and dump out the ice block. It looks like a hundred ice sculptures off the porch. Then, we set the buckets upside down, ready to grab again. I learned not to stack a wet bucket into another one.
Oh, winter and animals are so much fun.

 

[Spikedriver]

I ended up having to drive my Subie this week after the defrost went out on my truck..
Ol Subie plodded along steady through the blizzards n negative temps like a champ and on my county road to my place through a foot n half of snow fairly easily.
When I got to my property it rammed through the old 2 foot berm , thankfully not setting the airbag off n squiggled into my driveway, buried up to the floorboards.
I've definitely found confidence in Subie after that. I admit I dug the tires out the next day n had to rock it a tad to get out. So I'd say about 2 feet of wet snow is its limits but that's pretty doable for around here.

I didn't know you have a Subaru. When did you get that?

 

[Pearl]

I hear you about the buckets and the kitchen smell. Ha. We do 10 in the morning, and same in the afternoon. They come in to the kitchen, and I put them around the wood burning stove. The ice loosens around the side of the bucket, we take them to the porch and dump out the ice block. It looks like a hundred ice sculptures off the porch. Then, we set the buckets upside down, ready to grab again. I learned not to stack a wet bucket into another one.
Oh, winter and animals are so much fun.

I use those black rubber Fortiflex buckets! They don't break. I just whap them with a sledge hammer and the solid ice block comes out! I have had these buckets since I was a kid up north, they still make them. I only have to lug water to the donkey, he won't leave the floating water trough heater in the trough!

 

[UrbanHunter]

I think I will end up sticking close to the house. After the snow this week it got up to 30 yesterday afternoon and we got some melting followed by single digits overnight and low teens today, so now we have a nice sheet of ice on the road in all directions. Our driveway has about an 8' drop to the road over a 30' foot run and I would normally go down the driveway and then have some momentum going up the hill, but a guy parked his vehicle across the street right in my path, so if I were to slide even a little I would make an unplanned introduction.

 

[Magpie]

So our funny week comes to a close- son's shoulder which he popped out is on the mend, just tender.
My Dad, having been better yesterday, looks awful today and has been put on oxygen.
My in-laws left to travel, and the boys and I were heading to town as they needed stuff. As we were leaving one said- is that water running down the yard? It turns out my septic tank had been blocked. Husband is at work, so I popped the lid to the access pipe and ooohhhheerrr. Shut it again quickly. Husband now clearing it. We could have done it, but he insists on dealing with it. I'll not argue. At least I can use the washing machine, the water is diverted to a barrel. Going to prep some dinners for the week, and looking for recipes for lunchbox bars. Began knitting a hat also, so have two projects on the go.

 

[LadyLocust]

Where I live your always going up or down hill . Our jeep we traded in had that shifter you just hit to the side to down shift , the Subaru has those paddles on each side of the steering wheel.
As soon as she learns where all the controls are I'll have her down shift , sounds like a good idea , I also have to learn .(i hate all this new electronic stuff ,I'm to old) mainly touch screens , I have a bad shake in my hands and I screw everything up on touch screens

I have tremors which means my hands shake (hereditary). I can’t express how much I dislike touch screens!

 

[LadyLocust]

We had freezing rain this morning so it’s lovely sheet of ice out there. I will go sprinkle salt on the walk in a few - don’t usually do that but it’s pretty dangerous at the moment and not expected to get above freezing until Monday.
@Magpie will you share your hat in the knitting thread please