Back in the deep freeze

Bone chilling cold weather has returned to the Midwest (and much of the country). I went out this morning to start both cars (yes, you heard right... BOTH cars) and the cold wind took my breath away for a moment. That was some cold front.

I stopped to once again look at animal tracks in the snow. A couple of days ago, Christopher asked me to check out the animals tracks in the front yard. There are a gajillion of them, all belonging to my neighbor's hyperactive "guard" dog. However... there amongst the paw prints we saw... hooves. Hmmm... is that how you spell them? Regardless, there they were in all their hooveness.

Deer? Most likely. Christopher nearly hit one on the gravel lane last autumn. I've nearly been hit by one or two since we lived here. However, I've never seen one in the yard... much less two or three. We live at the edge of a forest but there are dozens of houses in the area. Brave deer at that.

Well, both the guys received their bookstore paychecks yesterday and everything... I repeat everything... hubby has made working eleven and twelve hour days over a two week period (and the bonus)... combined with $200 from Christopher's hard earned Book Rush paycheck... and the check we received from the other insurance company for that dent the accident put in our car... all of it went to pick up the Buick yesterday. Almost $2,000 but well worth it if the car lasts many more years.

I told the woman behind the desk that I hadn't written such a large check since writing the down payment on our previous house! They handed me the keys but I had to pick up Christopher from his training session, the one that goes with his scholarship. As we arrived back to the transmission place and saw the Buick, I asked C. if he was going to hug the steering wheel. Instead he just sighed and replied, "My baby is back".

Which is probably filed under "Teenage Boys and Cars". He loves that car. I love the way it is a nice, big, and fairly safe vehicle for "my former baby".

Today he is interviewing and being interviewed by various Co-op houses on the University's campus. He left with freshly pressed pants and shirt, hair perfectly in place, his favorite coat that his sister and brother-in-law gave him for his birthday, and his "Miami Vice" stubble looking all nice and neat. His desire... to look cool enough for the nerdy co-ops but not too cool for some of the others.

It was my suggestion that he keep his Miami Vice stubble through today. He has to shave it off tomorrow. Since he represents the College at community functions, they want the clean shaved look. They don't care about cool, which I understand.

Last I saw him, he was wearing his heavy wool coat and gloves but he refused to wear a hat. It would mess up his perfectly coiffed hair. After all, we are being judged by our peers on campus. Sigh... I remember those years.

Picture: Good Morning; allposters.com