First EV road trip: Cannon Beach

To get a sense of our new ID.4's handling, advanced driving assist features, and - most importantly - getting a sense of its range, we set out to Cannon Beach. Well, Ecola State Park's Indian Beach to be precise, but we did stop by Cannon Beach for a quick snack on our way back.

Handling turned out to be a delight and we quickly came to appreciate the adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and most of all, the travel assist. Range also turned out to be a non-issue: while we had mapped out several DC fast charger locations depending on how far we could actually go, we made the entire round trip (~190 miles) with plenty of charge to spare despite running the AC full blast to keep the dogs cool and going over the cascade mountain range.

Good times!

Meet Rayne

While we're still missing George a lot - he was such a sweet and loving cat 💙 -, we both felt that we were ready to let another furry kitty in our lives. And as the summer is quickly coming to an end (*sniffle*), it was really now or next year. So we settle for "now". The CAT shelter in Sherwood, the same shelter we got George from back in 2008, had a cute little female cat named "Adella", and so we decided to go check her out. She very quickly wiggled her way into our hearts. So everyone, please meet Rayne (formerly Adella), our new furry family member. 

Initially a little shy, she very quickly warmed up to both Jan and me and started exploring the house. George's favorite spot - the cat tree above the entrance door - is now one of her favorites as well. 

As an aside, the name "Rayne" means "good counselor and friend". Exactly what we needed. And naturally, she now also goes by Ray (or RayRay) ... what can you expect from two physicists?!

The initial introductions to Pepper and Skittles were a bit ... rough. Rayne felt very intimidated by the two dogs, probably because she had been living on the streets before she was taken to the shelter, and had probably had her fair share of annoying dog encounters. There was a lot of hissing and full-out charging (Miss Fluffikins turned into MISS MURDER MITTENS!). But with time, patience, and lots of yummy treats we're now a peaceful three-pet household.

And as I was looking for Rayne pictures, I also stumbled across these super-cute Pepper and/or Skittles photos. You're welcome :). 

Laundry room remodel

The first picture is ~5 years old, but the only reference I could find. We had updated our washer/dryer and doggy-bath since then already, but it didn't solve two more fundamental problems: The dryer vent tended to clog and needed to be professionally cleaned about once every one to two years as it was far too long, being routed pretty much underneath the entire length of the house, and the dog bath drain was too high on the wall, necessitating a heavy lift each time the dogs needed a shower. [Added by MK - guess who did the heavy lifting 😁.]

While we originally wanted to get this done in 2020, we first put it off due to the pandemic, then contractors were hard to find as they had to work through their backlog, but finally, in June, we got our little project in:  

And now it is as it should be: a lowered dog bath and a dryer vent that goes straight through the wall to the outside.

We also used the opportunity to have a level 2 EV charger installed in the garage - works well with our new ID.4!