December

For this month I thought I would use this lovely snow scene for my Meandering photo.  I took this shot on December 23rd, last year, of the Cramond Tower just down from our house.  This was the first monumental snowstorm since 1914, which brought the capitol to a dead stop for nearly two weeks.  I loved it the first few days, but when the temps stayed in the freezing zone and the ice kept building to the point you couldn't walk anywhere, it got old very fast.

This year, Scotland, and virtually all of Great Britain and Europe are buried--a month earlier than last year--under more snow than ever before.  It's a mini-ice age, or a scene out of Day After Tomorrow.  Their temps are amazingly cold, with snowfall after snowfall; airports closed, trains barely running...and again, the capitol nearly shut down and unprepared for another winter like the last.  Suddenly makes southern Oregon look pretty good.

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We had to take the car in for its 30K service this morning.  Hopefully they will treat my baby with the care he deserves.  Yes, it's a he.  Have you ever noticed how cars can be gender specific..??  Most of my cars have been she, but the Trailblazer is definitely a guy.  (Uh.  I'm not the only one who genderizes their car...am I??)

Alrighty then...quickly moving on.

I was worried we would have to take out a loan for the service charges, but actually, compared to what we paid in Edinburgh on the Land Rover (anywhere from L1,500 to 2,000), I was totally pleased the bill will only be a bit over $600.  And, we got a loaner for free.  It's a Camry, which seems to be a good enough car, though after the Blazer I feel like I'm scraping my butt along the road; way too close to the ground for me.  We stopped for a coffee on the way home, and at the drive-thru I was looking at the bottom of the building, rather than directly into the order window.  Weird.

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Hey, remember the garage??  It's not finished yet (what else is new?) as we still need the weather stripping stuff put in along the bottoms of the doors.  The rest of the floor had hardened, so last weekend we were finally able to put the car in the garage.  That was a miracle in itself after six weeks.  Today, as we're leaving for the service deal, Alan asks, "Is this paint?"

I look on the driveway, and sure enough it looks like streaks of paint.  "What the hell?"

"It looks like tire tread, with paint," he says.

We look at each other, then slowly turn to look at the brand-new, immaculately painted garage floor.

"(&^&%#)_)+_$*(^$#&%^$@&&#(*)#@*)(^%*(#&," I hiss, as my blood pressure mounts into the stratosphere.

There on the floor, right where the two front tires have been sitting, the paint has come off in a perfect CSI impression of Michelin tires.  Seriously, fingerprints aren't as clear as these tire marks...on the newly finished floor.  And along the driveway.

Needless to say, the trip to the car shop was brutal, both for Alan's ears, and my imminent stroke.  When we had checked the car in, and were walking across the service bay, I said to Alan, "Look at this effing floor!!"  Somehow, with hundreds of cars going in and out on a daily basis, their floor is flawless.  No bubbling paint, no tire tread marks.  Just the perfect garage floor.  Why can't we have that??  Is it out of the realm of possibility to paint a frigging garage floor that actually stays painted??  I despair.