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hi, all. yes, i am still alive. i lurk a lot. since i moved back to the minneapolis area a lot has changed, and i may have to abdicate my crown as sorceress.....

the good news is that i now only drive maybe 75 miles a week, quite a contrast from the 500 i was driving when i worked full time. work is 2.5 miles from home and i only work maybe 25 hours a week, so i don't go every day. the barn is 6. most of my driving is under 40 MPH. i hardly ever visit a gas station. and i don't have to go into the city, since i am on the outskirts of the metro area.

the bad news directly correlates to the good news. i never drive far enough to totally warm up the car. i use the engine block heater if i am going out in the morning, but i didn't manage to get the grill block on. when i work it sits out in the parking lot, and of course doesn't warm up on the way home.

minnesota is having a REAL winter for the first time in recent memory. we have record snow, and now we are in the deep freeze. i am struggling to maintain even 40MPG. my only saving grace is that i hardly drive that much, so perhaps that offsets that. it just bugs me to see the display hovering around the 40 mark and i just can't do much about it. guess i better take the 60MPG sticker off my bumper. :o

I feel for you, Laurie!! My numbers are in the toilet, too... but look at it as a huge step up in reduction of fuel usage. That's what it's all about after all, right?

I can relate to that...short commute, snow, cold, and for me, the short commute is uphill to work. Hard on the fuel economy, but at least I know this car is doing twice as good as my old car did under the same conditions.

Try the grille block, it only cost me a dollar at Home Depot for the foam pipe insulation. It seems to help the car warm up more quickly. I find with these cars that after stopping and having it parked for a short while, the engine cools off rather quickly, so it helps to have the grille block in for the next driving segment.

Did you get rid of your truck, Laurie? I don't see it in your signature anymore.

Being 1000 miles farther south on I35 is warmer, but still notice that when the air temperature is below freezing, Honda's lean burn is just about gone.

Let's hope the cold weather also kills the bugs along with the fuel economy, so we can avoid the pesticides.

Chuck - fire ants? I sure hope they're gone (ha!) or at least set back a little. Last year was my worst ever for all kinds of garden pests, even some that I've never faced before.

I'm more concerned with carpenter ants.

Ah, yeah, those. :( I'm currently patching a wall where they came in and ate the paper facing from the drywall, behind the paint. Touched it one day and poked right through.

Laurie, sorry for the diversion. I'd say you're doing better than most of us. Nothing to brag about, but using far less fuel. That is the final goal, but it's easy to get caught up in the numbers, isn't it?

Yeah we're having a "real winter" in NOLA also, but real winter here doesn't mean quite the same thing.
How are the tiny horses doing? What do they think of winter?
40 mpg all short trips in 20 degrees is pretty good!

PS I planted tomato seeds 1 week ago-outside. It is a big chance(well maybe $1 worth of seeds), but I'm going to cover the ground(or shoots) and put a trouble light under the plastic if we have any more freezes.
I'm hoping to get some by late April early May. Normally I'm lazy and don't plant until March.

Nice! Rub it in! :p

I'm hoping to start my 'maters inside this weekend, for a march plantout. Gotta get them big enough and put out early enough for a crop before the heat shuts them down. Ironic, isn't it, that we have a short growing season?

This is the time of year when I get rid of my fire ants by going around in the late afternoon and scattering the mounds (with all of the ants at the top of the mound enjoying the late afternoon sun). Any fire ant that can't make it back underground before it frosts is toast.

My earliest tomatoes are the ones that come up from self-sown seeds in my cold frames, even beating the tomato transplants placed in those cold frames to fruit. The self seeders usually start popping up in Feb in the frames and start ripening fruit in mid May. They continue producing fruit in the frames until Dec. The Matt's Wild Cherry type of tomato will keep bearing even though the heat of summer when all of the domesticated cultivars stop setting fruit. And once you get them established in your garden, you never have to resow them again since they prolifically self-sow throughout the garden.

So far I haven't reached a minimum outside air temperature when my lean burn engine won't enter lean burn once it is fully warmed up. Lean burn down to around 0 degrees F so far.

I'm not doing much better here in NY. After commuting through 3 snow storms in two weeks and some frigid temperatures to boot I'm barely above 43mpg. If I didn't have a garage I'm sure it would be 40 or below.

I have a colleague who drives a Tacoma and doesn't care much about fuel economy.
I have a Prius and care a lot about fuel economy.

Who uses less fuel? My colleague. He lives closer to work, cycles the 6 miles when it's not completely crappy and consequently only drives a few thousand miles per year. We drive over 20k miles per year.

Congratulations on your reduced fuel consumption.

I've been getting low 40s to low 50s. I get the better economy going home, mainly because the temperature is generally higher.

We have a few colder days coming with lows -12 to -15 and highs of 9. My morning mileage is going to suck. Then it'll warm up with highs in the 20s but with a chance of snow. At least when it snows I have an excuse to slow down. :p

Fewer miles is great, but sorry about the numbers!

I can respect the difficulty of achieving good numbers in a REAL Minnesota winter. I just spent 12 days there, and only achieved 29mpg over 3 tanks in my rental Versa, barely beating the EPA (27mpg combined). Driving in snow and zero-ish temps really takes it out of your tank.

Try the grille block, it only cost me a dollar at Home Depot for the foam pipe insulation. It seems to help the car warm up more quickly. I find with these cars that after stopping and having it parked for a short while, the engine cools off rather quickly, so it helps to have the grille block in for the next driving segment.

Did you get rid of your truck, Laurie? I don't see it in your signature anymore.

thanks. i have done the grill block in other years, and used that insulation, but this year i just didnt get to it in time. maybe if it warms up enough to stand outside long enough to wire tie it on, i can still do it.

i did sell the truck last summer. i no longer live in a spot where i need the 4 wheel drive or carrying stuff. my landlord and his sons all have pickups for farm warm, and if i need something, i am pretty sure they will help me get it. they moved me into my new place and are a great family.

Nothing to brag about, but using far less fuel. That is the final goal, but it's easy to get caught up in the numbers, isn't it?

absolutely, andrew. i fill up less than once a month and when i came home tonight i noticed gas is at 3.19. yet people were still idling their trucks in the parking lot to warm them up.



How are the tiny horses doing? What do they think of winter?
40 mpg all short trips in 20 degrees is pretty good!


the horses do fine. the tiny little one went back up north to live on the farm with my ex. my big horse is norwegian bred and lives outside 24/7. he looks like a shaggy yak, and sleeps outside the shelter in his pasture.

the temps all week have been well below zero, with some spots up north coming in at -35. remind me again why we live up here. :eek:

It been a winter thus far. It was only -20 this morning, an improvement over the -23 of Friday (from weather .com). When it is this cold all the car wants to do is charge to try and warm the battery up even when it has been plugged in. Wonder how a Leaf would do?

I have started some lettuce seeds. Not quite the same as starting tomatoes. If I lived 350 miles farther south I would be gardening all year. I did over winter a cherry tomato plant. So may be by end of April I may have fruit. Here the lack of sun is the limiting factor. (I will not waste energy by growing under lights.)