Charging Rabbits and an Expensive Repair
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| A. I. Generated |
My apologies to reader T.B. about the above picture and part of the below post.
I haven't taken pictures of the garden but do have an update of sorts. Our peas, both crops, are now up and looking well along with our lettuce. The radishes and two varieties of carrots however never came up. The strawberries were looking great until they weren't. Presumably a rabbit is getting in there and eating them down to the ground. I thought with all the hawks around, it wouldn't be a problem and I haven't seen a single rabbit, though I saw a nest with a few babies in it earlier this spring not far away. I hadn't wanted to do so but bought a fence that could be electrified. So I bought a solar fence charger to give those rabbits an incentive to eat elsewhere. That is my job this afternoon.
This morning, I was at the local repair shop getting my van diagnosed for what will be an expensive repair, all thanks to my dang gas powered chainsaw that I recently replaced with a battery operated one. In my attempt to start the gas powered one during the week long struggle, I got rid of the old fuel and bought some new fuel. As I have done for 30 years, I dumped the old fuel which has a bit of oil mixed in with it, into the tank of my minivan. Chainsaws work best with fresh fuel and cars can burn older fuel a lot better and without problems.
Whether coincidence or as a result of the 2.6 oz. of oil mixed in with a full 20 gallons of gasoline, at what amounted to a 1000 ounce gas to 1 ounce oil ratio, my car threw a check engine light the following day. Immediately suspecting the fuel and not really noticing anything sounding or feeling wrong with the car, I have continued to drive it and kept the tank topped off to dilute the fuel even further. But for the next week, the code continued to remain even after I deleted it several times. Then yesterday, a weird noise, like a pump running loudly started becoming noticeable especially when the car was at idle. Not wanting to get stranded somewhere, I immediately took it in for an official diagnosis where as I suspected, I was told I would need a new fuel pump. The technician says it shouldn't have been the chainsaw gas that caused it and this was all a coincidence. Toyota does have a history of fuel pumps going bad and has recalls out but my vehicle is not included on their list. Whatever the case, I'm down a vehicle until most likely tomorrow which gives me plenty of time to install my new fence charger to keep the rabbits at bay.
I still regret not having bought my battery chainsaw years earlier.
The re-used fuel and your vehicle problems seem to be too closely related to be coincidental.
ReplyDeleteIt does but I have been doing that for thirty years, twice a year, without ever having a fuel pump issue. Then again, cars are tuned to run leaner all the time so perhaps a threshhold has been hit. Regardless, I don't plan on doing this again ever in my life.
DeleteHow old is your Toyota? I am just curious because Tim has made up his mind that when we replace my car, he wants a Toyota so he can compare it with his Suburu. And, as you know, he would not buy new if his life depended on it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a 2017. Google Toyota fuel pump recall and they have a list of affected vehicles. I seem to remember most were from 2017 and newer. Unfortunately, my model of Sienna was not included in the recall. I have had Toyotas for over a decade now and haven't had any issues with them reliability wise until this one and it may have been my own doing. I usually just count on driving them forever, or until a child is old enough to take one.
DeleteI was afraid you were going to say there was a rabbit nest under your hood!
ReplyDeleteNot out of the realm of possibility since on a previous vehicle, I found a ground squirrel nest under the hood.
DeleteToyotas are great! I've had a couple of them and loved them. I almost bought a RAV 4 but didn't like the colors (so superficial!) and the visibility out the windows wasn't as good as the Subaru's. Hope the electrified fence keeps the rabbits away!
ReplyDeleteThis will be the second week in a couple days and I have yet to see any signs of predation since installing the fence. However, I have nearly touched the fence myself several times and only at the last second realized that I might get a shock. Hopefully that urge goes away before I get shocked.
DeleteAh, the joys of machinery. Can't live with it, can't live without it.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't the best of timing but all things considered, things could always be worse.
DeleteI hope your electrified fence does a better job of deterring the rabbits than the one in the AI image above. Fortunately we've always had dogs that are pretty good at keeping them away. I finally planted some tomatoes and herbs/peppers yesterday. And my moonflower seeds.
ReplyDeleteI was telling my wife that animals can sense an electrified fence. I don't know if it is feeling, smell or something else, but I have watched many animals go right up to one, pause, sniff (which leads me to think smell is involved) and turn away without ever touching it while they readily go up to other strange objects and touch away.
DeleteThat photo reminds me of a traumatizing movie I saw as a kid about a bunch of giant rabbits coming out of the ground and taking over the world. Or at least, killing people.
ReplyDeleteOr cat mostly takes care of any bunny nests that pop up. But then she thinks the raised bed is her own luxury-sized litter box. 😑
I must have missed that movie. I have seen giant ants, giant spiders and even one with giant lobsters, but never one with giant rabbits.
DeleteThe cycle of life, something I experienced readily on the farm but which my kids will never know. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
Thanks for the advisory Ed! I would be the first to admit that rabbits are destructive in gardens (they have nibbled at mine in the past as well).
ReplyDeleteSorry about the van. How frustrating.
Whether they got zapped or just moved on, I haven't seen any sign of them since installing the charger. I didn't install it to start with because with as many hawks as we have around, I figured rabbits would be scarce. I was wrong.
DeleteI do hope the cute little wabbits don't get zapped to death.
ReplyDeleteIt is high voltage but very low amps so it shouldn't do any harm to them. As I mentioned above, I think most animals have the innate ability to detect electrical currents and avoid getting zapped at all.
DeleteCool AI image. I had a fuel pump go out on my Jeep Wrangler, and it was very expensive to replace. Unfortunately, the pump is located on the gas tank. They had to remove the entire tank to get to it. Big time and labor expense for a relatively cheap part.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, my minivan had the same setup and required the entire tank to be removed.
DeleteThe poor rabbits were really hungry!! I bet your fence will keep them out!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to have worked thus far.
DeleteI hope your fencing will keep the bunnies out. I remember what pests they can be to the garden. No rabbits in our area here in Hawaii... so far. I think. We have deer though not on our island. I think.
ReplyDeleteIt has worked so far anyway. The only other pest I've worried about are moles which are all over the lower parts of our yard. But so far, they have steered clear of the garden.
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