I had to take Diane’s 2005 Prius for a smog check before we could renew its registration. The mechanic did the test, told me the car passed and gave me the certificate – then he asked me if I knew that the car said it needed maintenance. I did – the light had come on a few days ago and I planned to get it done this week.

After that, he asked me if I knew the “Check Engine” light was on – that was news to me! He said it came on right after the test results were logged, so he didn’t have to fail the car but suggested I get it looked at.

I drove home (the car seemed fine) and called my regular mechanic at Auto-Tec to make an appointment. An unfamiliar voice answered the phone; the previous owner had sold the business! But the same mechanics are there, and recent Yelp reviews are still positive, so I made an appointment for Friday.

I wanted to take a photo of the problem for the blog, but when I started the car a couple of hours later, the warning light was gone. I hope that’s a good sign, but I’m going to wait to send in the registration until I know more.

Today was the first day of summer, and we’re having a spell of hot weather – not as hot as it was in Spain last week, but hotter than normal for this time of year here.

Normally, we’d’ve taken a morning walk to take advantage of the relative coolness, but our schedule didn’t permit it. By the time we were finished with our errands, it was well over 90F and we stayed home.

We did finally manage a short walk this evening after the temperature dropped back into the 80’s, but it wasn’t an enthusiastic walk.