The First REAL Day of Spring!

Today was the first day that has really felt like Spring in Portland. The temperature was a balmy 62 degrees. The sky was blue (with some clouds). The birdies were singing. The dogwood trees were blooming. The grass was growing. The mountains were showing off their 20 feet of snow. It smelled really good outside…like warm sunshine. I sure wish it was a day I wasn’t working!!! It was so nice out. I sat in my car and ate my lunch with the windows down. Heavenly! We should enjoy it while we can, because the weather forecast called for rain all the rest of the week. But then, when have the Northwest weather people been able to predict the weather?

As preparation for my scrapbooking weekend, I decided to spiff up my car. I took it in to have the oil changed yesterday and today I took it in and had it washed and cleaned inside and out. I love doing that. For $17 I get all the nose prints cleaned of the windows, the floors and seats vacuumed, the dashboard all cleaned, the doorjambs and edges wiped down, and everything is fresh and clean. I could do it myself, but it is such a pain. And I really don’t enjoy it. So, yeah, I’ll take an hour’s pay and spend it on my car. Of course that meant that this morning I had to drag all the crap out that I normally carry around in my car. For a car that is advertised to seat 8 people, I don’t often have room for 3!! I was amazed at all the stuff I took out:

• 2 300 sized dog crates
  1 bag of whippet racing gear
  1 bag of dog toys
  1 Mexican blanket (covering the back seat to keep muddy footprints off it)
  1 chuck-it
  1 hiking stick
  1 pair of rain boots
  1 backpack with letterboxing items (tarp, poncho, first aid kit, etc)
  1 letterboxing bag
  1 file bag with letterboxing clues
  1 box of bottled water
  1 dirty tennis ball that fell out of the toy bag
  The stamp from one of my letterboxes in Orchards park that I pulled two months ago
  Various loose (and empty) poop bags
  .37 in change
  Several paper clips
  Several hair ties
  1 old banana peel (????)
  6 empty water bottles
  2 empty drink cups

And this was AFTER I cleaned the car out last week! It’s a good thing I don’t have kids. I doubt if there would be room in the car for any of their stuff, what with all the stuff I drag around.