spyburn

Been saving my pennies ever since the hubs mentioned he would like to have a plasma cutter thing. They're pricey, so I never figured I'd be able to surprise him with one. But if I add this check to the change I've been hoarding from the washing machine, I might just be able to pull it off. Now I actually have to go read up on this plasma cutter thingy so I can speak intelligently about it while trying to find out how to decide what's a decent one! Thanks Ford! It should be a good Christmas!!

What's in my C-Max today? Right now, a fan and a lot of febreeze. It was beautiful this morning - cool and sunny. I went outside to make the trek out to the chicken coop and stopped to feed the cats on the back porch......and there was one missing. At least there was one missing until I noticed her sleeping on the dashboard - inside my locked car. It seems that when I got home last night and unloaded all my stuff from the back to carry in, one of the cats decided to investigate the inside of the stealth-mobile that sneaks up on her when she's napping in my parking space. When I returned for the last load of stuff, she had apparently already leaped over the seats and was investigating where I couldn't see her. That new car smell has been replaced with that litterbox smell. Ewwwwwwww. Fortunately, she feels about my work the same way I do - and she crapped on the backpack full of work stuff rather that on the carpet or the leather. I still shampooed the carpet and cleaned everything.

Not sure when mine arrived - was out of town for a few days but it was there when I got back last night. Woo hoo!!! Money!!! $$$$

There's a Ruby Red that lives sort of near me, and before I started working these insane hours, we were often on the highway at the same time.......I was NEVER able to catch up to him. I tried waving as he blew past me but I don't think he ever saw me.

It means the aliens have returned and they are slowly, systematically isolating you from everyone. Soon your phone will begin calling the preserving and canning helpline no matter what number you dial. You navigation system will only direct you to Area 51. And you will only be able to get the ABBA station on your radio.

My best ever mpg on my morning commute. Granted, I spent the last several miles traveling at around 15 mph on the highway in ridiculous traffic. Usually I get between 44-46 mpg.

I agree it was worth a trip to the dog house.....I spend a lot of time there actually so I'm used to it!

Mine too, fotomoto - plus I have a rattle behind me I can't identify. Really annoying. And I don't want to take it in to have it looked at because I don't want to leave it with them.

You're welcome to come take care of mine for a week Robertlane....I could use a vacation!! (Fair warning.....we're weaning calves right now so there is no sleeping due to bellowing bovines.....still want a hobby farm?)

And don't forget those of us who live 20 miles from a gas station don't necessarily want to test the Miles to Empty assumptions! It's a looonnnggg walk to the gas station in 100 + temps when there's no cell signal!

The first 15 miles or so of my daily morning commute takes me down a rolling, winding highway with lots of blind curves and a 55 mph speed limit. Even at 55, it’s a fun road to drive (as long as you are awake). This morning was foggy and cool, in the upper 60’s for the first time in months. I was happily tooling along at the speed limit, in no particular hurry to begin the daily grind, with plenty of time to arrive at work before my staff meeting. :arrive_alive: As I was approaching another blind curve, a black car comes flying up behind me and passes me in the blind curve (a no passing zone of course) traveling at least 85. I don’t know what kind of car it was – the badges had all been removed and the car was painted flat black. It sounded like a chainsaw. Knowing this road is heavily traveled, I slowed considerably in case the “little chainsaw that could” encountered a car coming around the curve in the other direction – which it did. The chainsaw car never even hit the brakes and the other car ran off the road and into the ditch. :gaah: I stopped and ran across the road to check on the officer sitting in his patrol car in the ditch. My first thought was “when did we start giving licenses and side arms to 12 year olds?” The poor kid didn’t look like he even shaved yet, :baby: although I think he aged quite a bit at the close call. On the positive side, if your life flashes before your eyes in moments such as this, his flashback sure didn’t take long! His hands were shaking on the wheel and he was blinking a lot, but he started to get a grip shortly. He was fine and he called it in. I stayed with him for maybe 10 minutes until I was sure he was okay, then headed down the road toward work. I was thrilled to find the “little chainsaw that could” about 10 miles down the road, surrounded by 4 patrol cars. A rather disgruntled-looking handcuffed young man glared at an officer who was holding up 2 baggies – one appeared to have an oregano-like substance inside and the other a white powdery substance. :yahoo: So boys and girls…..what have we learned from the events of this morning? That driving like a maniac will get you arrested for drug possession? That speeding and passing in a blind curve is a bad idea? That running a cop off the road isn’t smart? Why no! What we’ve learned is that stopping to render aid to an officer who has been in a wreck is not a good enough excuse to be 15 minutes late to a staff meeting and you will spend the rest of the week in the doghouse. :dogwalk: Sigh…..no good deed goes unpunished. But I am comforted by the knowledge that one more maniac is off the road…for a few hours anyway. On the positive side....while not paying attention in the staff meeting I think I learned how to use emoticons and I entertained myself! :woohoo:

Glad this old thread is still here. Just got a letter from RDA Group asking me to fill out a survey.....no dollar included this time and the pre-paid Visa gift cards are entries to win 18 gift cards - largest amount $1,000.

Another competitive shooter here....well....I shoot in competitions....I'm not really terribly competitive! Skeet shooting for us. The gun cases fit in the CMax just fine. We have a small grass fed beef operation and free range chickens too, so it leaves little time for leisure activity. I usually garden in the summer, but this year it got so hot so fast, everything just withered and died. I read my Kindle a lot, quilt when I have time, and I love to drop a line in the water and see what swims by to clean out my bait!

The mom is indeed a boxer. The dog was bred intentionally to another boxer, so I was kind of surprised at the all white ones myself. 5 are white or white with brown spots and 2 are brown with white rings around their collar area. This morning we found she had packed up the puppies and moved them all into her dog house. She's licking and cleaning them all the time and she had them in a dirt filled hole she dug....guess she got tired of licking dirt! The owners will be back tonight so I'm going to have to manufacture excuses to visit the puppies every couple of days, because Adair is right...puppies are the best medicine!!

So I live on a small farm and our neighbor trades off with us taking care of each other's animals when we go out of town. Every time he goes out of town, something unexpected happens - injuries, births, floods, lightning strikes, etc. So when he went out of town this week and said, "Not to worry, the dog isn't due to give birth for another week or so," we said to ourselves....yeah right. So vet on speed dial...check Canvas back in place in the CMAX....check Old towels in CMax in case we need to rush the dog to the vet.....check Emergency vet kit in the CMax....check Sure enough.....puppies! A week early. Fortunately, mother and pups (all 7!) are fine and we did not have to turn the CMax into a canine ambulance. I guess the CMax will have to wait for the next animal crisis to be pressed into service this way. My last new car was christened running a sick bull calf to the emergency vet shortly after I got it!

I have a fear of running out of gas, and rarely let my gauge go below 1/4 tank. I will probably never hit the 600 mile club....but I did go over 500 this tank! The car said I got 45.0 MPG. Fuelly said I was at 45.7.

Recipes? Hell.....send the finished product!

Once in a while mine does some funky things - like show up on MyView with gauges I've never set up in there. I'll turn it off and back on and it's back to normal. Has happened twice.

I'm sorry others are having issues with their updates. Usually I'm the one that has issues (knocking on wood here). I have been very fortunate - no reduction in power, no A/C issues (I would be the LOUDEST complainer if that were the case!), clear gain in FE. I got my best mileage ever on my way into work this morning - 48.4. It's 29.2 miles each way, lots of hills and about 3/4 of my daily commute is on the freeway.

I predict you'll buy a Prius! :stirpot:

I had the update done a couple weeks ago. I posted early in this thread that it changed the way the car drives, and thought I'd have to re-learn how to drive it. For the first week after getting the update I was getting around 42 - 43 on my drive to and from work (30 miles each way). This was an improvement on the 40-41 I had gotten in the past. Today I got 47.1 on my way to work and 47.9 on the way home. This is the best MPG I've gotten on my commute since I got the car at the end of June. I think several things contributed to this improvement. First, I am driving differently. I rarely use cruise anymore unless I'm really ticked off (which tends to make me drive a little too fast). I've gotten a lot better at figuring out how to maximize the charge for when it does the most good. By driving differently, I do NOT mean that I've given up A/C or started driving 20 MPH under the speed limit. I still run the A/C almost non-stop, and I still drive the speed limit, or very close to it. I mean I'm adjusting to the way the car runs most efficiently (at least that's what I'm telling myself!) Second, I'm over 2000 miles on the car now....I really think that break in period makes a difference. I was pleased with my car when I was getting low 40's. Driving at freeway speeds and getting almost 48? I'm thrilled. I LOVE not stopping for gas every 4 or 5 days.

I just did some fuzzy math myself. Lowering the rating from 47 to 43 combined, using my last gas purchase of $3.63 per gallon and my approx 18k miles driven per year means the $550 covers my "losses" for about 4.25 years. That being said, I love my C-Max and I'm happy with the FE I'm getting (but I certainly won't turn down some cash!). I never expected to get the EPA rating due to the number of highway miles I drive, but I must admit I feel a little better about being only slightly under the new EPA numbers!

I got one - but it was really bad - rode hard and put up wet! Stunk too! But I shouldn't complain - I had wheels to get me around.

When I knew mine was a few days away, I reset my expectation level to a full week away (because I don't do disappointment well!!). I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived the next day. That was about 6 weeks ago and I'm STILL loving my C-Max!!

I find that with the update there is a bit of a hesitation to drop into EV at highway speeds - I'm getting the hang of "forcing" it. Rather than temporarily turning off the cruise control, which I find then forces the car to try and "catch up" thus coming out of EV mode, I accelerate slightly. I'm talking increase my speed by 1 or 2 mph, then let off the gas and the car drops smoothly into EV and, depending on the terrain and SOC in the battery, stays there for as long as 1.6 miles at 70 mph.