The Snow Beast

I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to properly blog about Arctic Blast 2008, which occurred in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. Now, I’m all about the snow. I like it. Heck, I LOVE it. We don’t get it much up in the Great Northwest. (Just to give you an idea of what it was like, this was the biggest snow storm here in 40 years.) Now that we live in one of the higher elevations in Portland, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing it on a more regular basis. Anyhoo, after Snowmageddon 08 (great word, Kally!) I don’t need to see snow again for a long, long time. Snowmageddon even prompted us to cancel our trip up to Mt. Hood with some friends. No, no more snow for me. But, thanks.

But, I did want to share with you all my favorite part of our recent white out.

The Snow Beast.

The Something in the Glass Household is a one car family. Hubby and I work only a couple of blocks from each other downtown, we commute together, we shop together. In case it isn’t clear, we’re always together. If we have to split up for an outing, event, etc., we just use public transportation. I love our one car. It’s soooo me. Here is what it looks like:












A couple of weeks before Snowmageddon, we brought my old car home. A little over a hear ago, we sold it to my MIL because it was just sitting at our house. It’s not like it was up on blocks with the tires off or anything, but cars that sit usually just look trashy. Anyway, MIL was going to give it to hubby’s Nephew S. for him to drive when he got his license. Cut to almost a year and a half later and it’s still sitting in MIL’s garage because S. hasn’t gotten his license yet, and probably won’t for the foreseeable future. It was requested that we remove it from MIL’s garage to give her more room.

This is what it looks like, except white:













The timing of this was all very fortunate because the Pontiac is front wheel drive…and the BMW is rear wheel drive…which means the Pontiac would be the car to get us around in the snow when necessary (like for runs to the store for ice cream or late afternoon trips to Taco Bell…you know, important stuff). The Pontiac was a champ and is henceforth referred to as the Snow Beast.

Of course, no story would be complete without the caveat, so here it is… The Beast has seen better days. The driver’s side mirror was knocked off in an unfortunate accident and has been duct-taped on since being sold to MIL. And the driver’s side window seems to be broken and won’t go back up once it’s is rolled down.

So there we were, toodling around in the snow in a car with a duct-taped mirror and the window down. We had to bundle up like we were in a blizzard and cover up with multiple blankets just to stay warm. I know now what it’s like to feel very white trash. Hubby even got heckled by some lame pre-teens for driving in the snow with the window down. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

So, for the better part of two weeks, I felt like I was cruising around in the rental car from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It was a humbling experience.

“Yeah, I know it’s not much to look at, Officer, but it’ll get you where you wanna go.”

I couldn't find a picture of that green and brown LeBaron convertible, so the trailer will have to suffice. I present for your viewing pleasure:

Planes, Tranes and Automobiles (Trailer)