Yay! It's snowing!!! -- Wait.

[weaselmom]

It has been snowing like it means it since about 9 p.m. and we currently have over four inches of the stuff. S and I holed up in the computer room and cranked the heat, which frankly didn't do much to warm up the place because I insisted on having the window wide open three feet from us so I could watch the snow fall. It alternated between the small, stinging flakes you get as the temperature drops and the fat, lazy feathers that are big enough to cast a shadow as they near the ground. S promised me that at 1 a.m. he would stop gaming and we could go outside and play. True to his word, he took me out for over an hour to go Walking in a Winter Wonderland, or as close as you can get in a suburban apartment zone. Nevertheless, it was so beautiful and peaceful. Of course we had to shatter that peace with late-night goofiness:

• Obligatory snowball fight, in which no harm was done because quite honestly we both throw like girls;


• Laying odds on which vehicles would fail or succeed in making it up the hill in front of our place;


• Waving at the snowplow crews, who honked back, no doubt shaking their heads;


• Trekking up to the Park-n-Ride lot, where we made strange little snow kami figures and left them on top of vehicles to greet car owners whenever they make it back;


• Making the world's most spastic snow angel, which didn't even have a head(!);


• Walking past the woods and speculating on how the squirrels and mice are holding up in the weather.

Today's lesson: Do not stand under a snow-covered tree and look up, as S is biologically incapable of not shaking the tree really hard and then running away, giggling.
Some of you may remember that S's truck broke down during Fragfest on Saturday, and he had to abandon it in north Seattle. On Monday we had it towed to Greg's Japanese Auto. Today (Tuesday) they informed us that his timing chain had broken and completely destroyed the engine. This isn't something that can be fixed--they have to put in a new engine. He decided that he didn't want to dump any more money into the old truck, as our Cunning Plan was to buy another vehicle within the next 12 months anyway. This just forced our hand, as it were. He had already done most of the research and knew he wanted a Dodge truck. We visited a couple of dealerships and ended up buying a 2004 Quad Cab. We looked at some used ones, but really they were expensive enough that we wouldn't save that much money, and we would possibly be buying somebody else's problems, and the vehicle would have a shorter lifespan, and it wouldn't be exactly what he wanted (features, color, etc.). And you know what else? S has never had a brand-new vehicle, and damnit, he deserves one. We were able to benefit from year-end pricing and rebates and had a good down payment, although no trade-in, of course. We both feel as good about the transaction as we could, considering we were forced into it by circumstance and the economy is still a scary place for making major purchases. It would have been nice to do it on our own schedule, and this will put us very tight financially, but those are the breaks. Also, I don't think we'll be getting ferrets this year, because I want to make sure that we (S, really, but it affects both of us) can make the car and insurance payments and then see what the budget looks like...

However, here is the issue (for those of you who are still awake): This dealer didn't have exactly the truck S wanted, so they were having one driven up from Portland. Tonight. The same tonight in which it is snowing all over the Pacific Northwest. I don't think we'll be seeing this truck anytime soon.

Comments

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

A new truck! So cool. So what color and all? I still think you should get the ferrest and set them to sewing shoes for Nike or something.

We had snow a few weeks ago (about four inches of it -- which is almost as rare as it is out there), and Chris threw snowballs at me. I also throw like a girl, but he throws like a major-league pitcher, and with similar intent.

Tell Sean one of his presents is coming late. Late-r, I mean. Later than the rest of the stuff. I comefort myself with the thought that in olden times presents were exchanged on Twelfth Night, and the presents were all rocks found outside the cave entrance.

Or the ferrets could have paper routes!

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

The truck is a dark red metalflake called "molten red" which is not nearly as evocative as the color's name last year, "dark garnet pearl." The interior is dark-medium gray. And because it's a Quad Cab, it has four doors and seats four. This is a little more truck than we actually wanted, but the '04 model years don't have the cargo doors on the extended cabs, which would have given us the extra behind-seat storage we wanted, but without the necessary mini-doors to access the stuff. Feh.

If Chris is going to throw MLB snowballs at you, he should have some handicap, such as having to do it barefoot.

Re: Or the ferrets could have paper routes!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's sooo cool! Those would be suicide rear doors, right? Congrats to your boy -- tell him hi for me, and give the truck a spin when you get it. I mean literally -- half the fun of driving in the snow is "accidentally" spinning out >g<

Hey, I hardly threw the snowballs hard at all. I think she means "with the accuracy" of MLB pitchers. Feh. And I didn't even pack any rocks at their core. Sheesh, girls.

Happy New Year!

Hugs,
Chris

Hey! you stole our master plan!

[woadwarrior.livejournal.com]

J and I were planning to replace our blue truck this summer. Guess we spoke too loudly around it as is developed a pin-hole leak in the gas tank. So we will also be moving out vehical buying up a notch. (gotta have something to haul bikes to the track with!)

We're very excited to see your new truck, mostly because one or both of you will be in it! Give us a call we'd love to get together!

Scott