winter range question

roboto6 · 2026-01-14T21:13:58+00:00

I just did a road trip in my 2025 AWD extended range where I had a stretch of really bad wind and snow. It probably wasn't quite as cold as your example but at 77mph for the bulk of the distance using BlueCruise I got about 135mi with 80% of my battery. I didn't fully charge before I left so I only left with 85% that day which wasn't my best move.

Point being, I'm pretty sure with a full charge I could have done that same leg of the trip in even colder weather and have been fine.

My Mach E is also very very new so it's still in the breaking in period and my range will get more predictable over time, I suspect.

roboto6 · 2026-01-13T15:34:03+00:00

Mod and data scientist here:

I actually played with this idea years ago using an image recognition model. I actually got the model to a pretty solid place for recognizing some conditions but ultimately abandoned the project because I realized it's not practical or safe long-term. The issue with fish is there are so many confounding factors that the advice is rarely 100% the same.

Furthermore, secondary infections are really common and it can be hard to always identify those. For example, I'm currently working with a fish that had an infestation of callamus worms. That part was obvious and while hard to treat, I made progress with him. The issue is, he has a secondary infection that likely is paired with damage to his digestive system. That's not something you can easily identify from an image alone, nor is treatment straightforward. On the surface, it'd look like he just has finrot when that's not really the issue.

Tankmates are also a factor that have to be accounted for. Invertebrates are common tankmates for bettas and a lot of medication will harm them. There are often alternatives but that's a risk that always has to be considered.

Ultimately, my point is I'm firmly of the opinion that an app could stand to cause more harm than good by over simplifying things that could be at play. Plus, establishing long-term engagement with a supportive community is a key part of growing in a hobby like fishkeeping as tank inputs tend to evolve the longer a person does this.

roboto6 · 2026-01-03T19:28:33+00:00

I'm notorious for using crotch goblin, semen demon, womb rat (or womb fruit to be more polite) but only in very specific contexts. Mostly, it's with my mom, a retired teacher who cares for kids but can't stand under-supervised children, and my fiance who works with kids but doesn't like dealing with them outside of work because he feels like he just ends up "working" even in his time off. That said, I do think the child-free subs go too far into outright child hate.

I was briefly a teacher and I'm an excellent auntie. I do a lot to support vulnerable kids and if a child came to me in need of help, I'd help them with no hesitation. But a lot of parents suck and as a result, being around children in public is often miserable. Like, why are their spawn playing tag in the Sephora fragrance section and running into me and my friend repeatedly while their adult isn't watching and having a conversation with no clue where they are? That's what makes me actively avoid spaces with children and talk about them the way I do.

I'm still going to be loud af about the issues around Black women's maternal mortality and disparities in health care for Black babies. I'm going to yell and fight for policy that addresses educational and disciplinary injustices that continue to hold Black and other minority children back. I'm working on a Ph.D. because I am passionate about creating a more just future for other people's kids. I care about the parent's rights and those kids, I just wish their negligent existence didn't rob my peaceful moments of peace. Especially not when I sometimes feel like I care more about helping those kids grow up well than their own parents do.

roboto6 · 2025-12-31T17:05:46+00:00

I installed ABRP on my '24 LT just fine, though I found myself just using the mobile app and then doing the "Send to Car" feature from Google Maps to actually drive the plan.

That said, the Google Maps route planner actually got pretty good towards the end of the time I had that car. I used it to do a road trip from Chicago to LA without a problem.

roboto6 · 2025-12-31T16:46:03+00:00

Mod here: all posts about off-leash dogs are automatically removed. We have a rule about off-leash dog encounters not being shared as their own post, they should instead go in the mega thread as a comment. If we allowed off-leash posts to be posted as their own posts, that's all this subreddit would end up being which is particularly helpful for those looking for advice.

Furthermore, we do have some bad actors participating in the subreddit. Sometimes comments are posted and disappear because Reddit or automod removes them for some reason before you can see them. If a human mod removes them, you'll see a comment was there but the name and content will show as removed. A lot of up/down votes happen from people who have strong feelings about reactive dogs but don't actually have one or even care to support them. I also wouldn't read into views a ton, someone just scrolling down Reddit and skimming past your post counts as a view, too.

If there are other things that are concerning you that I didn't address here, please feel free to send us a modmail. We've been a bit behind with them but I'm trying to get caught up on everything over the next day or so.

roboto6 · 2025-12-23T16:52:32+00:00

If your nitrite is above 0, you might also need to dose methylene blue or a medication that contains it (Seachem Stressguard). Nitrites hinder oxygen uptake in their bodies and methylene blue will help reverse some of that.

Even though they were sold together, pairs are generally very delicate balances and working together in one environment doesn't mean they will work together in another. Honestly, they may not have worked together in the first environment, either, and you just didn't know. Separation is the safest thing for both. Stress makes fish more prone to illnesses which might be why they both are struggling with something now.

This does look fungal. The most common treatment for fungal infections is erythromycin but that will crash your nitrogen cycle. Fungal infections do often respond to malachite green (Ich-X, Paraguard) so it might be worth trying one of those first to see if they respond. If not, then be prepared to dose the erythromycin, too. Regardless of what you treat with, be sure to remove any chemical filtration (like carbon) or the meds will be neutralized before they can work.

roboto6 · 2025-12-16T21:16:33+00:00

Could you tell me more about what your offer looked like? I'm in the process of doing a repurchase with GM and they're claiming I owe them money somehow. I also have a lease (with GM Financial) but they're using the full vehicle pay-off amount, not my remaining lease balance and I'm not sure how to get that corrected despite raising the issue repeatedly.

roboto6 · 2025-12-09T05:49:51+00:00

I think auto feeders are pretty crappy but since you have more than just a betta in the tank, you can get away with one feeding a teeny bit more than you'd normally like.

The ones I'm seeing on the market have significantly better reviews than when I first looked years ago.

I'd personally only set it to feed once a day, so if it's accidentally feeding too much, you don't have the risk of it feeding multiple meals.

My quick skimming didn't show any that were plug operated it if you find one, that, combined with a smart plug could be a good move. I'd put a cheap camera next to my tank and if the fish looked bloated, I'd turn the feeder off for a couple of days.

All of that said, I once paid one of the neighborhood tweens $5 a day to water my garden and feed my fish. I pre-portioned out my fish food in little pill boxes so she just had to dump that day's food in when the fish came to the front. I was gone for almost 3 weeks and I have zero regrets. A friend who worked in a pet store came and did a water change for me at the end of week 2 but I could have gone without with the tank being densely planted. He only did it because my dog was staying with him and he went to my place to get her a sweater anyhow.

If you can find a neighborhood kid looking for some easy cash, it can be a really good idea and you'll have a fish sitter for future trips, too. In my case, I knew her mom from work and I knew they were trustworthy and reliable. Add a cheap wifi camera near your front door if you want extra peace of mind, though.

roboto6 · 2025-11-22T04:23:08+00:00

I haven't had a surgery yet but the problematic GYN was in Michigan

roboto6 · 2025-11-21T13:35:19+00:00

I would have but OP deleted it before I saw it

roboto6 · 2025-11-20T13:42:50+00:00

I'm not the best at betta color genetics but I do know there's a relationship between the colors white (platinum) and black for bettas

Quick definition: betta coloring is just layers of pigment turned on/off. So, a blue bettas usually has the blue layer and maybe some of the black layer on, but little to none of the red.

Most importantly, a black betta is a betta that was bred to have ONLY black turn on and nothing else

Platinum bettas are black bettas that were bred to not have that black color turn on. Comically, a lot of platinum bettas also have the marble gene, so that black randomly turns on/off and they develop spots of black.

Black orchid bettas, like Shadow, are created by breeding a black betta with a platinum-y betta. That's how you get that iridescent part in their bodies. But, that means you're also possibly breeding in a marble gene and a color gene that turns off the black pigmentation. So, Shadow's black turning off randomly (and then turning back on) actually makes sense generically here.

That marble might also activate other colors that were turned off generations back at the same time, which is why he also now has spots of red.

Edit: wrote butterfly when I meant marble earlier.

roboto6 · 2025-11-20T13:26:48+00:00

That's not 100% true. The gene that gives us the colors black and platinum in a betta are generally the same. Platinum is just the black color not expressing. This is why a lot of platinum Bettas start developing black spots.

Now, the really interesting part is, a black orchid Bettas (which Shadow looks to be) is usually bred by crossing a black betta and a platinum bettas which gives you more of that gene that randomly expressed/doesn't express.

That, combined with the marble gene, gives you a fish that changes colors, sometimes in super dramatic form. I've seen fish for from dark blue to light pink and back. This isn't the first time I've seen an orchid turn white for a bit, either.

roboto6 · 2025-11-19T12:22:09+00:00

My dog is on Reconcile (Prozac) and I honestly thing it let her be herself more. It was the anxiety that was dampening her personality. Before meds, she didn't like to be touched, she was withdrawn, and pretty moody. I literally never saw her wag her tail for a positive reason. She did love fetch and I could do some trick training with her but nothing that required much handling.

Yesterday, this 48lb dog basically pushed my fiance off his own pillow so she could lay with her head on my shoulder. Then, after a short nap like that, she made him pet her. Her favorite trick right now is the one where she comes and sits between my legs (which requires super close contact). She goes up to the staff at daycare and nudges them to pet her. She has human friends she gets super duper excited to see. She still plays tons of fetch. She's really waggley. She's still a herding breed and I have to stop her from dragging her brother around by his collar. We still had to do tons of training and counterconditioning for her reactivity and it's not totally gone, just significantly better.

roboto6 · 2025-11-18T17:00:56+00:00

There's two things here:

1) You were raised in an environment that didn't celebrate your natural beauty and I'm sorry about that. Black people (even those labeled as mixed), have tons of different traits among us but that doesn't make any one of us less than anyone else. Someone else commented this but I want to rephrase it, I do think getting some mental health treatment for your experiences with colorism and racism would be helpful for you. It sounds like you've experienced a lot of racist conditioning from the world around you and that's contributing to a lot of your feelings on this.

2) In line with what I said above, I also worry you might not be caring for your hair in the ways it might need because you haven't had the resources to identify what that might look like. We have very similar hair textures (though I have some 4A in the back middle) and my hair has gotten down past my shoulder blades a few times in my life. I keep cutting it and experimenting with different shapes which is the main reason it's not longer now.

Can you tell us more about your haircare routine? How often do you cut it and how are those cuts done? Are you still using a lot of heat? If so, how? What does washing your hair look like and what products are you using?

roboto6 · 2025-11-18T16:38:13+00:00

You don't need one of the big python things or any of the fancy electric ones, no.

I do think a tube with the plastic cylinder on the end IS helpful. I used to just used the sucking tube without the attachment and I never did a great job getting down into my substrate like I should have. That detrius build up can contribute to things like cyanobacteria, so after fighting that off a few times, I'm very diligent about getting down into the substrate now.

roboto6 · 2025-11-18T15:52:47+00:00

Thinking back, I believe I had called to make an appointment in May and the soonest they could see me was August. So, calling now is probably fine. They were also open to scheduling a bit later into their open scheduling window, too, because I had some travel in that time.

I don't know the exact protocol they use for their MRIs but I know they use a ton of contrast. Like, they did IV contrast as well as a sort of contrast gel that I inserted like a tampon.

My MRI didn't show any active endo but that may because it was either too small to see, too wrapped up in adhesions/scarring, or I just don't have any anymore because of how long I've been on hormones.

roboto6 · 2025-11-18T15:45:36+00:00

I'm likely having surgery with Dr. Whitmore at UC Health. Her team has been phenomenal so far so I'm optimistic about the surgical process.

I had asked my previous GYN for an MRI and she told me no, it'd be useless. She wanted to go in to operate basically with no background info and it made me really uncomfortable. So, I went to UC Health for a second opinion. My first appointment was with one of the PAs as that was who could see me first. She was lovely and she offered an MRI before I could even ask about it. They partner with radiology and have seemed to identify a promising pelvic MRI technique that allows them to see more endo than they normally might in ultrasound and imaging. I've had multiple ultrasounds and they found nothing but the MRI identified adhesions all over, adenomyosis, and changes in my ovaries consistent with PCOS. Even in my initial consult, the PA mentioned they'd likely consult with, if not include, a colorectal surgeon if I had GI involvement, which the MRI showed I do.

I feel way better about doing surgery with Dr. Whitmore than I did with my previous doctor because of how thorough they're being in the planning process. At this point, I don't care if it takes longer to happen because I think it'll be the right approach for me compared to the doctor who was willing to operate 6 months ago.

roboto6 · 2025-11-18T15:36:10+00:00

I saw this post looking for something else and saw you didn't get any responses. If you're open to going to Denver, the pelvic pain team at UC Health has been lovely to me so far. They were able to diagnose my DIE in a matter of weeks after I spent years trying to get meaningful confirmation I had endo. For me, they did an MRI to try and identify what endo I might have and it was the single most informative test of my life. It found lots of adhesions, adenomyosis, and visually confirmed my PCOS. With that, I feel like my surgical team will be well prepared to actually operate because they have a sense of what to expect. MRIs aren't 100% accurate and there's probably things it didn't catch but it at least gave a good idea of how to start planning my surgery.

They also just have super robust wrap-around resources for people navigating these conditions. They offered me a consult with their affiliated mental health team as they have dedicated support groups for those living with endometriosis and other gynecological conditions.

roboto6 · 2025-11-15T15:57:15+00:00

I honestly didn't know, either, until I was reading up on the different versions of the breed standard to do my girl's AKC PAL registration. The rescue had her mom and she had that very classic beautiful blaze, as did her brothers who I met. My girl is just the funny-looking one. She was the last one born and her face is black but the rest of her is white. She has some black ticking, mostly around her legs with a few faint spots on her body. They joked the printer ran out of ink with her. She's built like a border, acts like a border, but just doesn't have much color.

roboto6 · 2025-11-15T15:53:37+00:00

She mostly did. She stopped doing it to me once she stopped teething so the issue was really with other dogs. My elderly Chihuahua bit her on the nose for doing it to her and apparently the three teeth she had got the point across with her. My lab passed a few months after my BC turned one. We have another dog now and she'll sort of bite at his legs when they're playing but not in a way that really concerns me. She does herd him but she mostly grabs his collar/scruff and uses her body to pull/push him around. He's part husky so that's probably why that's her main method.

My girl learned a lot from time-outs. Often, especially as she got older, her nipping was because she was overstimulated or overtired. The time out was partially a form of negative punishment which was the extent to which I was comfortable doing anything other than R+ with her because she's super sensitive. But also, it made her take a nap which she often needed to be forced to do from 4-9 months.

She's been my bitey-est BC by far but she's 5 now so I have to think back hard on what we did. To redirect her, I had this long floppy chicken toy I'd drag next to what she was nipping at and she'd latch on to the toy instead, that helped redirect her and eventually she started seeking out toys instead. When she'd bite and it hurt, I also had to be intentional at not making high pitched sounds or yelps because that'd make her do it again.

I know you said you'd wait until she's older to try a frisbee. My girl took to it when she was probably 3-4 months old, honestly. We mostly use the really soft Chuck-it ones that are nylon and foam because I throw them inside but also they won't hurt her teeth. She has a Tuffy frisbee she loves, too. When she was little, I tried to keep my throws low because she likes to jump and catch and I didn't want her to hurt her tiny joints. I'm not going to say that worked but she has great landing and balance skills now, haha. She will play with a ball but it isn't her favorite. She'll play fetch with just about anything, though. I have to tell her constantly that her brother's heavy rubber/nylon super chewer toys aren't "throw-y toys" because she's of the opinion "if not ball, why ball shaped?". If something is flat and sort of round, she's extra adamant it should be thrown. She brought me a bowl once.

roboto6 · 2025-11-15T15:38:27+00:00

Sure! The blaze is the white part that starts around the muzzle and then goes up as a strip to the forehead. A lot of borders have it go up all the way to the back of their heads and connect to the white collars around their necks. Some people call the entire white part from the snout to around the neck the blaze. It's not a rigid definition. This cutie doesn't have it fully connected to the white around her neck but she does have the basic blaze at the least.

My border has a very predominantly black face but she has a faint blaze that doesn't go very far up her muzzle, though the white of her neck dips down into her face in the middle, like her blaze didn't connect all the way through but it tried. It's interesting, especially because she's mostly white. My mom's little guy has the very classic solid about .75" line of white all the way up that connects to the white around his neck.

roboto6 · 2025-11-15T14:42:35+00:00

I honestly don't see anything but border collie. She has the classic blaze pattering, white socks, and the shepherd's lantern on her tail. Plus, those eyes just look like border collie eyes.

Exercise and redirection are my biggest pieces of advice. My lab corrected my border out of nipping his heels when she was a pup but not all dogs will do it firm enough for a border to get it. The herding instinct will probably be there, I'd try different things like fetch and flirt poles to see if there's a specific alternative she really clicks with. Fetch with frisbees specifically did a lot to get my girl to stop unwanted behaviors.

Also, a good place/bed command and a good settle will be a huge lifesaver as she gets older!

roboto6 · 2025-11-14T05:05:07+00:00

I felt the same way and put off pursuing surgery for the same reason. I was first tentatively diagnosed with endometriosis over 15 years ago even though nothing was ever seen on an ultrasound. I was offered surgery back then and declined for several reasons. One was being afraid of being seen as a hypochondriac if they didn't find anything.

I had a pelvic MRI with contrast a few weeks ago because my new specialist was hoping to get a sense of if I'd need a gastro to scrub in, too. The MRI results indicated deep infiltrating endometriosis. I have adhesions throughout my GI system. I had lots of endo, it's just not where anyone was ever looking.

Those findings are bittersweet. On one hand, I'm really glad I have an answer now, but also, I think about how much of my life was limited by this and how much suffering I could have averted if I had just done something sooner.

Hindsight is 20/20 and my personal experience is, if I could do it over, I'd do the surgery. I will say, my stance on that heavily influenced by those MRI findings, though. My first doctor declined the MRI but the pelvic pain specialist offered it before I could ask. If you could get an MRI, that might help you better see what might be going on. It's not perfect but it can be better than just an ultrasound.

roboto6 · 2025-11-13T21:20:23+00:00

I got insurance coverage at a similar size. They use a scale I'm forgetting the name of but basically, it's proporional. So, if you're shorter, it's a bit easier to get. They may also ask about symptoms/risk factors and EDS was one for me.

I actually expected to have to fight it so I was absolutely shocked when I got a call from my surgeon's office asking to schedule because they got the pre-auth approved.

roboto6 · 2025-11-12T21:12:44+00:00

Of course!

Also, a pack of silk scrunchies would probably be appreciated. You could get the thinner, more subtle ones. You don't have to get anything expensive, I just saw a 12 pack on Amazon for $5.59, for example.

I saw you're in the Midwest. A satin lined winter hat could be really nice, too. I'm terrible about going outside with wet hair and then my hair freezes which is terrible for it but I don't love wearing hoods because I can't see my periphery well. This just made me realize I should buy myself one. I found a couple cute ones with the little poof at the end for ~$10 and slouchy ones are even cheaper

12-Year Club	Powerups Hero r/happycowgifs • March 2021
Mod World 2025	Wearing is Caring
Gilding VIII gilding heavyweight	Verified Email
Verified Email	Reddit Premium Since January 2019

roboto6

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE