Steffanie

I drive a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid and for the last several months on rare occasions(maybe once every couple of months) when I go to start my car it hesitates to start and the red battery light on the dash comes on once it does. The battery light will go on and off as I drive, usually on when moving under 10mph(including every time I stop) or in the 40-55mph and off when accelerating at speeds out of those ranges. When driving it with the battery light on it seems to drive a little 'weird' but it's hard to describe that any further. If it starts up with the battery light on, if I turn it off and leave it off for several hours before starting it again it will start up as normal, the battery light does not come on and all seems normal until the next time.

I went to autozone and had the 12v battery checked a while ago when the battery light was NOT coming on and car was normal and nothing appeared to be wrong with the battery. However, today when I started my car to leave work the red battery light came on and car was being a little funny so went to autozone and again had the battery checked and for a second the reading seemed normal before it came up saying "Bad Battery" and "Replace Now".

I honestly have no idea when the battery was last replaced and did go ahead and buy a new battery, but as I know very little about cars I just wanted to ask if this sounds about right for a 12v battery failure? Could there be other underlying problems or is it most likely just an issue with the old battery that the new one will resolve?

It is a hybrid car, so it also has an IMA Battery, but that appears to be functioning normally and I believe it has it's own distinct separate warning lights on the dash for when it has issues.

This is kind of a weird situation but I'd like some advice on how I should handle this. I apologize that it's a little long, but it'd be hard to make sense of it if I cut down the story any further.

Last night I parked in a vacant lot just to set my GPS to get me home from a different city and I figured it'd be quick so I didn't think too much about it but I guess I really wasn't supposed to be parked there. It turned into a big situation because I had dog vaccine and a couple of syringes on my back seat - I had mistakenly left them in my pocket at work(animal shelter) and didn't realize it until I had left for the day. I did not return them to work because they have to be refrigerated until use so by being in my pocket all day they were nothing more than trash at that point, something which happens pretty frequently between all the staff. I tossed them back there and totally forgot about them.

I tried to explain this to the officer, but he wasn't hearing it and after clearing his initial assumption that it was for drug-use and showing they were not illegal to possess he made some comments that implied he thought I was stealing these items from my job. He asked if he were to call my job and speak to a manager there if they would say I was allowed to have these items in my possession and I told him yes, that we are constantly using these items for our job and I had just forgotten them in my pocket. He told me that wasn't what he asked, then walked back to his car and wrote down all the information from my driver's license and my employee ID badge as well as my phone number on a notepad.

After proving I had nothing on me or in my car he returned my items but took the vaccine and syringes saying they did not belong to me, then told me to get out of town - I did not get any warnings/tickets or anything.

With some of the things the officer said & did, some of the assumptions he seemed to make and what information he wrote down, it seemed like he was intending to contact my job about me having those items. Is this a likely thing an officer would do? I had been pulled over for a broken headlight before with those items in my car and while there was initial suspicion, I am relentlessly polite and cooperative and once I explained and showed it was work-related it was not an issue at all. I have no idea why this officer made it into a big situation or what to expect out of it.

Because of this I was thinking about talking to my manager on Monday to explain what happened and the whole situation just in case the officer does contact my job, I would have already taken responsibility and nipped it in the bud, dismissed any false assumptions the officer may have and made the situation clear with my manager. Plus I could offer to make a donation to cover the cost of the wasted vaccine&syringes(worth no more than $2) so that if it were to reach any 'higher ups' my manager could easily say it was already handled. My manager would probably give me a weird look, but I'm sure she'd understand and wouldn't think it was a big deal at all.

Any opinions on the whole situation? How likely is it that the officer will contact my place of employment? Do you think my plan of talking with my manager first thing Monday would be best in case the officer does contact my work?

Thank you for any feedback

I recently moved to a different state and found out that currently my license is invalid(driving privilege is NOT suspended/revoked, I just need to go in to apply for a new license). Didn't know my license wasn't valid and ended up getting pulled over the other day. I received a 'Uniform Traffic Ticket' for No Driver's License Issued(section 56-1-20) which carries a fine of about $240 and the car got towed since I had no license to drive it away. I can either pay the ticket and be done with it or go to court on the day scheduled; the fine being the only penalty for this violation(they could have arrested for this offense the officers just chose not to take me to jail).

Does this count as a criminal offense(as in, is it a misdemeanor?) or does it just count as a traffic violation like speeding and such?

I used to live in Colorado and due to a car accident I'm now living in South Carolina for estimated 6months to a year, and in Colorado I hiked all over the state with my dogs and never had any problems with ticks or any other bugs for that matter and never worried about insect repellents or anything like that. I've been in SC for about 4 days now and while walking I've flicked at least a couple ticks off my pant legs each day then tonight I also had to remove four that had bitten me.

How do I keep the ticks off altogether? Any products(short of dousing myself with RAID) or any other recommendations? they kind of disgust me and I know they can carry all sorts of diseases

My 5.5 year old German Shepherd was diagnosed with hip dysplasia a year and a half ago and while he would always limp after exercise as long as I have known hip(he has been my dog for 1.5yrs, but I was his dogwalker for about 3yrs before then), he is now completely lame, limping all the time regardless of exercise. He is on joint supplements but they only help so much. Because of his age TPO is not an option, and due to his size/weight I feel that after reading up on it a FHO is not a good choice either, so I'm really left with the total hip replacement surgery. One side is not too bad while one side is very bad, so I'm thinking could get by with surgery on just one hip.

About how much does THR surgery cost for just one hip? I know it varies, but just figured I'd ask, I'm in Colorado if that is of any use.

I'm gone for work at least 10hrs a day, would the surgery be reasonable given the extended recovery time and being gone that long a day? I could take a few days off work immediately after, but that's it.

Those are the only two specific questions I can think of right now, but any other useful information(that's not just copy-pasted from a website) would be nice.

On my way home from the store this morning I picked up a stray dog after a driver INTENTIONALLY tried to hit her, she's like a border collie mix and she was a bit timid but with some patience I was able to coax her over and load her into the back seat of my car. I work at the local animal shelter so I intend to just take her into work with me when I go in an hour.

When I got home I parked my car in the garage and let her hop out and was going to bring her inside but she started growling at me when I got close to her and won't approach me now so I just pulled the seats in my car forward and left the door open so that she could hop back in. She did, but she hopped in the driver seat and made herself comfortable, growling at me still.

Any tips on how to coax her into the backseat? I put a bowl of dog food on the backseat hoping that she might be hungry and go back there but so far no interest and I don't have any tasty human food to offer her. I'm comfortable driving with her in the car, she just needs to be anywhere in the car other than where she is right now. I know she's just scared and am trying to avoid pushing her into a bite or making her even more fearful, so don't just say something like force her or poke her, if push comes to shove I might have to try spraying her with water or something, but I have 20 mins before I have to leave so gentle techniques are more welcome at this point.

Any advice?

Say I and an acquaintance met on private property just to fight, box, hit eachother fists only no weapons no crying foul and both participants willing, if the cops were to somehow catch wind of it would it be illegal?

I have a friend who says he needs to get some frustrations out and once to post an add on craigslist looking for someone to box with, thinking that there may be someone equally as willing as he is to get punched. I'm trying to discourage him but he seems determined, so i just want to be prepared with info in case it is illegal, but if it's legal he has my blessing.

I made an important phone call earlier and it gave the leave a message thing and as I was leaving the message I think someone picked up the phone but I kept talking and then hung up, not realizing until afterward. I didn't have the battery or service to be able to call back but I want to make sure the message got left.

So since there was a minute plus of talking before the person(may have) picked up the phone, will it still record a message for that time before they picked up?

Just took home a new foster cat today, a very obviously pregnant female who came into the shelter as a stray.

I went ahead and set her up in my foster room and built a nest box out of a cardboard box and some extra comfy towels which she seems to like, but while I've seen plenty of pregnant cats and plenty of cats give birth they typically aren't in the shelter system long enough for me to really mentally keep track of their pregnancy because I had no reason to pay attention to it before.

Many times when we see cats as big with pregnancy as this foster they give birth at the shelter, during their stray hold, but that could just as easily be stress related or coincidence.

She's very big around, you'd know she was pregnant the second you saw her, abdomen somewhat hard, nipples pink and large. Obviously since she was a stray cat that came into the shelter I have no idea what her behavior was like before pregnancy and don't even know how she was the first few days at the shelter. Currently she is very affectionate, rubbing, purring, loves bellyrubs and spends about 98% of the time meatloafing or laying on her side.

Anyone with more knowledge of cat pregnancy able to give me a rough estimate of when I could expect her to give birth? A day? A few days? A week? More?

I have a large(a 4x4 gauze barely covers all of it) scrape-like wound on my shin. It's deepish, certainly lost some flesh on it and for several seconds it was just white with little red dots(open capillary blood vessels I assume) before it really started even bleeding and oozing. I guess it appears more like a burn. The edges are tapered and the wound itself is large and inconsistent so it appears unstitchable. It was caused by some dirty yard equipment, so I'm mostly worried it will become infected so have been cleaning and dressing it obsessively, though I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.

Currently it's covered by a 4x4 gauze held on with ace bandage wrap. Clean it every 12hrs or so be changing the gauze(usually soaked in blood and ooze by then) and wiping the wound and edges with alcohol wipes. It stings like crazy 90% of the time, is painful to touch and walk, and can feel its warmth through the bandage. So far does not appear infected, though only happened yesterday, no surrounding redness, no puss, no smell.

Any further tips or corrections if I'm doing something wrong?

Two questions...

First, when is it appropriate to use your hazard lights when stopped on the side of the road? I thought that any time you are stopped on the shoulder you were supposed to use them because then you're a hazard, especially at night when it's harder for people to see you if all your lights are off. But everytime I've stopped off the side of the road for whatever reason a cop always stops to check me out, not that it's a big deal, kind of embarassing and inconvenient though. If I'm stopped and don't need help should I just keep all my lights off? Turn on my parking lights? Or is it proper to have the hazards on?

Second question...

Is it safe to put more oil in my car with the battery running, I mean like leaving headlights on but not running the engine? Or should everything be off?

Thanks for any help.

I'm having a carpet cleaner come today because the previous renter left some nasty stains and one of my dogs was recently sick and added to it.

I was just wondering, before the carpet cleaner comes am I supposed to vacuum, or is that part of their process?

I am currently fostering 5 kittens, 4-5 weeks old with no mom. I've pretty much got the information on everything for them, but do have one question. The way my house is setup the extra bedroom is attached by a door to a small bathroom. I originally intended to just keep them in the bathroom, but now I feel it may be too small(maybe 2.5ft by 5ft floor space), also I didn't realize before that the door opened into to bathroom, and there is no natural light. The bedroom is pretty standard size, I use it just for fosters so it has nothing in it at all.

Should I keep them in the small bathroom, or open up the door and let them have access to the bedroom as well both for light and space? Food, water and litterbox would still be kept in the bathroom. And I'm not TOO concerned about getting the carpet dirty because all the carpets in this house need a visit with a carpet cleaner.

I'm planning a short-ish road trip with my two German Shepherds, and I think it'd be a waste to pay for a hotel room(if I could even find one that would allow my pups) and think it'd be better to just stay the night in the car. This is Colorado by the way.

Is it legal for my dogs and I to sleep in my car?

In a parking lot, such as walmart or another area?

A rest-stop?

Parked on the road but well off to the side? (it'll be taking me through some rural areas and there may not be anything around to stop at other than off the road for many miles)

If it's not legal, what's the likelihood that the police would do anything other than rouse you to make sure you're okay/not drunk?

Over two months ago I was having some money issues and went to the cable company and told them I only want internet and to turn my cable off. Well, they never actually turned the cable off but it's not on my bill anymore either. I don't think it's a bad thing, but kind of odd as I have a relative who had their cable turned off(same company) and they came out and shut their cable off within a couple days. I like having my cable, so don't think that I'm complaining.

But anyway, do you think they forgot? As in it would likely be quite a while before they realize their mistake and shut it off?

Or should I expect that they're just taking their time, and that they know and will shut it off anytime now?

I'm fostering a cat from the local shelter which I work at. They sent her home with me saying that she was possibly pregnant and had an URI. They said she was very early along and likely would just be spayed once healthy instead of giving birth.

She does have a big belly, visibly LOOKS pregnant, but I cannot palpate anything and she has no other symptoms of pregnancy.

She does, on the other hand, act like a cat in heat - she is very VERY vocal, yowling all the time especially if she hears my cat meow(neutered male). She rolls around a lot, and is very affectionate. And the most pressing sign is that when touched near the back end, especially on back of back legs she sticks her butt in the air, starts kneading on all four, and kind of chirps.

If it wasn't for the possibly pregnant label and the large belly I'd say without a doubt she was in heat, but that confuses things. I admit that though I work at a shelter I'm not up to date of cat pregnancy/in heat behavior. She's quite gassy, could that cause the large belly? But I've never seen her without the larger than average belly, and she is not fat anywhere.

Would a pregnant cat act so much like an in-heat one? or would you agree that she is not pregnant?

I have a job where I cannot call in, simply can't. I have a job where the work HAS to be done everyday. Could be 3ft of snow and my work would still have to be done. Someone could possibly cover me, but it's unlikely, especially if someone higher on the totem pole were to call in. There's normally 6-7 people to do the work I do on any given day, it'd be very difficult for 4 people to do that work on time, and near impossible for 2 or 3 to do it without doing overtime + skip lunch. So yeah, it's pretty important everyone's there.

But I drive a 2wd, low clearance car and live in Colorado, they do not plow the first mile of my commute, 6 inches of snow would be touching the bottom of my car. Me getting to work in my car in 12" or more(very unlikely in my area, but possible) is rough to think about.

How do people in passenger cars get to work when they have 12" or more to drive through? Even possible? No public transportation and no ability to get a better vehicle. Maybe call a taxi? But not sure if they run in bad weather.

Hiking a mountain tomorrow but I'm having the hardest time deciding which one I want to hike, help? All have low avalanche danger, snowpacked trails, and equal expected weather conditions.

Peak 1 - 11.5 miles roundtrip, class two(mostly steepish slopes plus a fairly short section of rock-hopping. 1.5hr away and can reach trailhead with my car. Even if I can't make it up road, can recover and go to one of other choice instead if it makes this route too long. Half through woods, half above treeline.Tried this one before but did not summit due to conditions, not too positive we could summit if we try it. I have covered about 75% of trail and aware of remainder. This is my first choice, simply because it'd be a new summit and is closer, but I'd feel kind-of dumb if we try and are unable to summit and thus miss out.

Peak 2 - 7 miles + road to trailhead is closed, so about 10 miles roundtrip. All above treeline, about 90% steepish slope, 10% rockhopping. About 2.5hrs away. Have summitted this one before, so know entire trail and views to expect.

Peak 3 - About 7 miles roundtrip, car can make it to trailhead easily. 50% through woods, 50% above treeline. All steepish slope, no rockhopping. About 2.5 hours away. Have summitted this one several times before, so would really prefer something different, but makes a good fallback as its a good workout but still easy enough to feel confident about completing.

Backup - If I fail on #1 at any time, or fail early at #2 or #3, I can go to a trail which is not a mountain, but is about 7 miles long, uneventful through forest and quite steep(steeper than any of the above), but has spectacular end view.

So regardless, I'm getting something, but I'm having such a rough time deciding which!

So which would you recommend and why?

Note: I want to just pay the ticket and be done with it, but I just want to cover all bases and make sure that there's no extra way I could reduce points or look better for insurance before I prove myself guilty by just paying it.

I was going downhill on a road that has frequent speed-traps, normally I don't speed but I was watching a car ahead of me that looked as though it was about to pull out in front of me and took my foot off the gas, accelerated by the hill and hadn't hit the brakes. Sure enough the car pulled out in front of me, I hit the horn and slammed the brakes, no accident and went around. The cop was sitting at that same intersection and had caught me as I was going down the hill, before I hit the brakes. Cop follows, pulls me over, gives me ticket for 59 in a 40. Yes, that's a lot, and yes, regardless of circumstances it was my fault for not slowing down. I'm always polite and courteous.

The ticket is a 4pt ticket, but if I pay it within 20 days it is only 2pts. Fine is $180, but I don't really mind paying it. If I go to court and am found guilty, it would be 4pts and $180 + court fees. Apparently it is hard to get out of a ticket through court here unless the cop doesn't show up, and my case seems pretty guilty even to me. From what I've read, driving school does not help with points or fines, it may only look good to the insurance company, but I'd think that if that's the case I could take a driving school/class at any time and still pay the ticket within 20 days.

What do you think?

The shelter I work at has acquired a few dogs that were seized in a cruelty investigation, the dogs were severely neglected and a few dogs on the property had died(over 100 total). The dogs are extremely thin and quite timid, but have already shown improvement. They went from shaking in the back of the kennel avoiding everyone as much as possible to the point where they will all come up to you, give kisses, two quite excited about it, one very timid but a lover and will ease it's way next to you, and one that is very timid, still shakes occasionally, flees from loud noises, will only half approach but also gives kisses and leans into touch.

Obviously it's going to be a long road to physical and mental recovery, but they are at no risk of being euthanized(not even food aggressive!) and we are going to work with them as much as possible.

These dogs cannot yet be walked outside - WAY too cold as they have no insulation/fat at all, and not sure if they can be walked around the shelter yet(disease risk, may still be too timid to have the volunteers near them). Today I brushed the two most timid as they had large chunks of fur and were very dirty - both were very tolerant and accepting, enjoyed the attention and hopefully feel as much better as they look. One of the others was able to be groomed a few days ago. I did not groom the 4th one because his coat isn't near as bad as the others were and I only had time for two, maybe tomorrow I'll get to him.

Just wondering if anyone had any other ideas on ways to help socialize them. Obviously just spending time with them, working on training(they seem pretty smart and want food very much), and brushing them are things we're already working on. They can not be walked outside yet, but once they can be they will be. Not sure if they can be walked inside to do meet & greets yet. They can not be with dogs other than eachother.

So yeah, we pretty much have all the basic ideas down, just wondering if there were any creative ones we could use.