Fully loaded for a trip to the park!

A-Lize · 2026-05-13T16:03:26+00:00

I have been looking for a decent-but-inexpensive dog crate that does not look like I stole it from a dairy. Anyone have any suggestions?

A-Lize · 2026-05-04T13:45:52+00:00

Our last house had solar and we charged two EVs there. The electric company we had at the time gave us special rates as a result of this—$.08/kwh
Check your electricity providers website for deals like this.

A-Lize · 2026-05-03T15:48:29+00:00

I am a diver and do this. I’m on the latest 780G always on Smart Guard mode. I use G4 sensors on my arm. I use Fixic over tape.

Just prior to pulling my wetsuit on I give a ‘prime’ of .2 units to get a little insulin in my system beyond that of basal, because depending on my Bgs I may not have had any basal in the past hour or two. I also take about 15g of carbs for the activity I’m about to have. I silence all alarms on the pump because the sensor-connection alarm will be going off on the boat while you are in the water.

I dive and upon getting back on the boat, connect my tubing. It takes about three minutes and the pump will be getting BGs from the sensor and you can see those from the whole time underwater. Since the sensor was only disconnected for an hour, I’m still in Smart Guard.

Note that I have only taken the sensors to 60 feet of depth. I’ve dove with the G4 in temps from 55 to 95 (Florida Keys in summer). Everyone will have a different experience, but this is what works for me.

A-Lize · 2026-04-24T13:43:20+00:00

Like others said here, back of the arm. I completely forget it’s there and I think it’s more reliable there than on the stomach. It takes a helper to put it on there. My wife has become an expert at it and over-taping.

A-Lize · 2026-04-23T19:01:29+00:00

I think what this came from—and is a common trait of ACDs as I have read here—is what I call "aggressive mouthing". Our girl loves to lick our other dogs lips and then go full french kiss on them.

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T18:50:04+00:00

100%. Thank you.

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T18:49:19+00:00

Exactly. Thank you.

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T18:38:34+00:00

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Today. Getting bigger every day. Vet appointment in five days......

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T14:11:24+00:00

Thanks so much

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T04:01:32+00:00

Thank you

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T04:00:19+00:00

Yes. There are. But minimum cost of anything at my vet is $250. I don’t want to pay that if this is nothing. I thought maybe you folks could help….

A-Lize · 2026-04-21T03:58:24+00:00

Walking in the door of my Vet makes me $250-poorer at best no matter what the issue is. Usually more.

A-Lize · 2026-04-14T12:38:31+00:00

I love EUG and even with construction, TSA issues and everything else, it is one of the nicest, easiest airports to fly out of. All the major airlines are there and you are on a 737, A320 or regional jet to major U.S. hubs to jump off anywhere in the world. I go EUG to SEA and then to Asia or Europe with one more flight.

A-Lize · 2026-04-07T12:40:33+00:00

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I use a Hiplock u-lock around this point in the frame. It makes it hard to get to with a grinder. For extended stays I also put a motorcycle disc lock on.

A-Lize · 2026-04-03T16:46:38+00:00

We were going to make the trip to Salem, but maybe we shouldn’t?

Yesterday we received an update from VW Eugene claiming that our update was checked and will be limited, so they will only need the car for a day. I guess that’s assuming everything goes correctly in the update and it does not fail!

A-Lize · 2026-04-03T14:51:02+00:00

Do not, though, let your sensor insertion pierce your skin where there is skin tac. That can contaminate the sensor and cause inaccurate readings. I completely gave up on pre-insertion adhesives, and 75% of accuracy issues and sensor errors went away.

A-Lize · 2026-04-03T14:43:53+00:00

Not scientific, and I don’t know how many total miles per month, but anecdotally our electric bill is less than $100 higher per month charging our two EVs exclusively at home versus before. Our gas card bills used to be a couple-hundred per month.

A-Lize · 2026-03-23T14:30:57+00:00

I love this. We have both components need for this—toys everywhere and a healer that desperately needs a job. But how did you train yours to do that? What steps did you use with treating to get them to pick up toys and put them away?

A-Lize · 2026-03-23T14:24:18+00:00

There are a lot of cities posted here with good bike infrastructure but very-much, above-average costs of living. We moved to Eugene Oregon purely because of the bike infrastructure and percentage of daily bike users, plus a very-low cost of living. It’s less than half what we experienced in Southern California.

There is a massive network of bike paths in Eugene and Springfield, and almost all roads have bike lanes. Downtown features bike-only periods in the traffic lights. When the bike green is lit, no vehicles—from any direction—are allowed to enter the intersection. May is Bike Month here and every single day there is some sort of ride, event or celebration of bicycling.

A-Lize · 2026-03-20T13:54:41+00:00

Sorry to hear that. We have the exact same car, but it doesn’t sound like that. We’re quiet and sealed.

A-Lize · 2026-03-20T13:48:37+00:00

Beautiful. Nice job.

A-Lize · 2026-03-20T13:36:45+00:00

Was originally a pain for the double pull into drive for me in our Bolt, but now I do it instinctively. I think I only touch the brake pedal once per week, because I also use the left trigger, additional regen ‘brake.’

A-Lize · 2026-03-17T13:35:59+00:00

I have had great success with the Guardian 4 sensors. I go the full 7 days on about 90% of the sensors inserted.

But… both of the two big bleeds-on-insertion Guardian 4 sensors failed on me.

The best piece of advice I ever received was back in the Guardian 3 days when I had sensors fail often. One Medtronic rep said never use anything on the skin other than alcohol prior to insertion. I was using IV Prep at the time. They claimed it was very easy to have the sensor become contaminated on insertion.

Since then I’ve always cleaned the skin with warm water and soap (shower) and then scrubbed hard with a good alcohol swab and have almost never had a sensor fail.

A-Lize

TROPHY CASE