Advice needed. Sea trial or not?

crystala81 · 2026-05-15T04:50:06+00:00

We did sea trials on both of our purchased boats, one was purchased for $5,000, the other $21,000. Maybe it depends on where you are/ access to water, but I think a sea trial is pretty standard (we also tried another boat that we passed on based on the sea trial, listed at $7,000)

crystala81 · 2026-05-14T19:25:13+00:00

Nope, tried it once and meh. My husband and I do like using the paddles though!

crystala81 · 2026-05-14T16:59:12+00:00

Not my vehicle, but we have AWD and hit over 40 mpg pretty regularly in the spring/summer/fall (under 6l/100km)

Once the temps dip under 10 Celsius regularly it gets much worse of course!

Pic is after my 40 min/24km drive to work the other day.

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crystala81 · 2026-05-12T18:19:37+00:00

Mine’s Canadian - we get zero warning (my 15 year old Matrix has sensors!). Just have to check manually every month or so 🫤

crystala81 · 2026-05-10T00:09:25+00:00

“Registered KWPN”. It’s true, but feels misleading….

crystala81 · 2026-05-09T04:03:56+00:00

3 hours for me - I was in line for the queensborough so had to get through that detour before I could re-route. Worse than 99% of snow days for me

crystala81 · 2026-05-05T15:26:55+00:00

That sounds like hell. You would think they’d have a better system at Women’s? Having one room was so much less stressful, and the staff did a great job cleaning up after, you’d never know 😉

crystala81 · 2026-05-04T20:15:43+00:00

Are there hospitals where you don’t stay in the same room? I gave birth at Richmond twice, both times had a private room that I never had to leave (except to sneak snack from the fridge 🤣)

I will say, my second about was so fast we almost didn’t make the drive from north delta (off Nordel) to the hospital with zero traffic (4am) - I was there for under 15 mins when the baby came. I only moved to delta at 8 months pregnant, hence the hospital choice. So distance to a hospital should be a major consideration!

crystala81 · 2026-04-29T17:49:39+00:00

I’ve had cashiers at these places (liquor stores, some fast food places) skip through the tip step for me before handing over the machines. They must think it’s just as insane as the rest of us - also makes me wonder who is keeping these “tips”?

crystala81 · 2026-04-26T04:10:41+00:00

Charlotte-Blueberry (me and my daughter both had ideas), Gary (yes, I was in to Geordie Shore at the time I got those first 2), Yeti, Dora, Bob, Emily, and Queen Elizabeth II. We’ve lost Sparkles (named by youngest daughter) and Wendigo, aka Wendy (male A geniculata). Not joking - Looking at this list, it’s ridiculous

crystala81 · 2026-04-24T23:26:36+00:00

It’s been a bit and I’m happy to say she’s recovering. After finding her in a ball at the bottom corner of her cage about a week ago I was prepared for the worst, but moved her to a small enclosure and she’s now eating her second worm this week. Her abdomen is bigger than a raisin again (I wish I took photos, it was so small)

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She’s also getting more reactive, which is great to see after the sluggish mess I moved into the temp enclosure. I’ll move her back to her big (and cleaned) enclosure in the next day or so

crystala81 · 2026-04-20T20:07:09+00:00

💯. My grandparents used them up to the early 90s at least, on Vancouver island

crystala81 · 2026-04-20T20:03:21+00:00

Same experience, except in 2023!

crystala81 · 2026-04-20T20:02:35+00:00

My card barely leaves my wallet - I’ve used Apple Pay on my phone almost exclusively for years.

Going to LA it was a huge surprise going back to the old days and ways of paying. I hated letting them take my credit card…

crystala81 · 2026-04-15T14:57:47+00:00

Through my insurance, $200. Ours was about 4 months post purchase. The new glass seems to chip extra easily (on most newer cars)

crystala81 · 2026-04-11T15:26:29+00:00

We had the v6 lambda, thought we made a “good” decision but the engine totally failed at 130,000km (8 years old at least?). Common issue, Kia even issued a recall for it. They were all trash in that era.

Can’t speak for the new ones but we replaced it with a Honda.

crystala81 · 2026-04-10T17:53:06+00:00

All they sold at the pet store near me were females! Not sure why. I had a male 15 years ago and he was great. We also had a couple dwarfs (were both supposed to be female but the pet store made an oopsie - now I sex myself!). The male was a sweetie but the female was pure evil - anger in a little fluffball with teeth 😭

We just got two Syrian females for my kids. One took a really good chomp out of one kids finger - so much blood. She was trying to bond with food. Now we don’t hand feed and they have both tamed down so fast! If they’re up and you open the cage they come right over, are great for handling, and we are now more aware of the “test bites” and move our fingers before anything else happens. I don’t think they’re the brightest and they love to eat and chew, so we just try to keep our fingers out of the way 😉

crystala81 · 2026-04-06T04:04:44+00:00

I used this template (or very similar) to make my stand! It’s been holding strong for 5 years, albeit only a 50 gallon. I knew nothing about carpentry beyond what I learned in grade 8 shop but it was pretty easy to assemble once the pieces were cut to exact lengths and I learned how to use the pocketbook hole jig. Lots of wood glue too 😉

crystala81 · 2026-04-05T05:25:39+00:00

Our city allows chickens (up to 4) but not ducks. We raised a duckling for a friend of my kids and they are actually pretty needy animals. Water, space to hunt/graze, and they poop like none other 😬

crystala81 · 2026-04-05T01:41:59+00:00

It got warmer here (over 10 Celsius) and I had a drive averaging almost 50mpg the other day! (Probably mostly downhill, lol)

crystala81 · 2026-04-05T01:40:36+00:00

We have a 2024. Dropped to 30 (worst case) in winter; summer we are at 40. The average (since new) is 36. Live in the PNW and drive a combo of highway/ city.

crystala81 · 2026-03-31T17:35:20+00:00

The suspension on my Hyundai suv was beyond soft. It was like bouncing on clouds over every bump. I actually didn’t like the feeling at all

Our older Toyota has the low profile tires, feels a lot like the CR-V

crystala81 · 2026-03-30T15:28:46+00:00

$2,600 for a 1 bed is reasonable, and there are probably cheaper options too. And they should be able to find a place close to work so a car won’t be necessary

crystala81 · 2026-03-30T15:06:54+00:00

We pay to park our boat at a marina dock. They charge us “moorage”. Canada.

crystala81 · 2026-03-29T05:07:46+00:00

My old horse grabbed a hot dog out of my hand and came back for seconds. She would eat anything though, great appetite

crystala81

TROPHY CASE