Snow!
It's been snowing here lately.
It started on Thursday. Here's a tree outside our kitchen window at around 10:30 that morning:
And here's that same tree a few hours later:
Of course, we had to go out and play in it. One of our neighbors has a sloped driveway that opens out into the cul-du-sac for perfect sledding. There's also the private driveway that ends in a water retention pond, but we'll save that for when they're older. Here's are a couple of shots of children covered in snow:
In other news, we bought a new (to us) car a couple of weeks ago.
Here's the old car (a 1997 Saturn SL-1). It won't pass the Washington state emissions tests without an expensive repair, and it's old enough that we don't know when the next expensive repair will be.
And here's the new car (a 2006 Toyota Corolla CE):
Clearly, it's a big improvement.
I realize I'm part of the problem in that I bought a used foreign car instead of a new domestic car, but I figured that I'm already going to be giving a bunch of money to domestic auto makers whether I want to or not, I might as well get the car I want. Besides, I wasn't going to buy a new car regardless of brand - it's supposed to get me to and from work and occasionally shuttle a child around. So there wasn't going to be any money going to an auto maker anyway. I suppose an argument could be made that I should be supporting domestic car dealers, not just manufacturers, but that's kind of like saying we should protect one species of mosquito over another - in the end they're all disease-carrying pests.
Though truth be told, this was a painless car buying experience precisely because I went with a brand-independent dealer. They didn't so much sell me as a car as procure one to the specifications I gave them. If you're looking to buy a used car in the Seattle area, I recommend Auto Connections Seattle.
The only warning is that they have a sort of drink-no-decaf style to them that you'll either love or hate. If you're thinking about maybe buying a car someday, don't call them. They assume that you're dealing with them because you want to buy a car. Really. In the immediate future. And they'll act as though this is a priority for you. This is not sales pressure. They don't care if you buy this car or that car but once you've given them criteria they'll start coming up with cars...in my case, they were coming up with cars within hours of my filling out a web form. So if you want to dither around and take a bunch of test drives and think about it a bunch, go bother dealerships. When you have chosen make and model and want to get done with no pressure and very little fuss, give these guys a call and tell them what you want.
It started on Thursday. Here's a tree outside our kitchen window at around 10:30 that morning:
And here's that same tree a few hours later:
Of course, we had to go out and play in it. One of our neighbors has a sloped driveway that opens out into the cul-du-sac for perfect sledding. There's also the private driveway that ends in a water retention pond, but we'll save that for when they're older. Here's are a couple of shots of children covered in snow:
In other news, we bought a new (to us) car a couple of weeks ago.
Here's the old car (a 1997 Saturn SL-1). It won't pass the Washington state emissions tests without an expensive repair, and it's old enough that we don't know when the next expensive repair will be.
And here's the new car (a 2006 Toyota Corolla CE):
Clearly, it's a big improvement.
I realize I'm part of the problem in that I bought a used foreign car instead of a new domestic car, but I figured that I'm already going to be giving a bunch of money to domestic auto makers whether I want to or not, I might as well get the car I want. Besides, I wasn't going to buy a new car regardless of brand - it's supposed to get me to and from work and occasionally shuttle a child around. So there wasn't going to be any money going to an auto maker anyway. I suppose an argument could be made that I should be supporting domestic car dealers, not just manufacturers, but that's kind of like saying we should protect one species of mosquito over another - in the end they're all disease-carrying pests.
Though truth be told, this was a painless car buying experience precisely because I went with a brand-independent dealer. They didn't so much sell me as a car as procure one to the specifications I gave them. If you're looking to buy a used car in the Seattle area, I recommend Auto Connections Seattle.
The only warning is that they have a sort of drink-no-decaf style to them that you'll either love or hate. If you're thinking about maybe buying a car someday, don't call them. They assume that you're dealing with them because you want to buy a car. Really. In the immediate future. And they'll act as though this is a priority for you. This is not sales pressure. They don't care if you buy this car or that car but once you've given them criteria they'll start coming up with cars...in my case, they were coming up with cars within hours of my filling out a web form. So if you want to dither around and take a bunch of test drives and think about it a bunch, go bother dealerships. When you have chosen make and model and want to get done with no pressure and very little fuss, give these guys a call and tell them what you want.