Monday, June 15, 2009

My car vs my wife's car.

I have a Caravan. I love it. I fell in love with the mini van years ago when my parents bought one. They literally bought a model the year they were introduced by Dodge. Now, I had always liked vans in general, and always wanted one. The mini van was nice because it; offered more window view than some vans, drove more like a car, and wasn't overly big. What I like about them is that you sit up a little higher than in a regular car, and they're roomy. Also, with a little adjustment you can haul LOTS of stuff. AND, they're great in the winter.

On the point of hauling, my wife and I have often taken advantage. Be it huge TV's, carpets, lumber, appliances, kids, whatever, we really like that you can go from seating 7 people to hauling camping gear for a small army in a matter of minutes.

Before getting her Vue, my wife has owned a small sedan. We occasionally swap cars if she has a need for the capacity. Of course, this is all well and good but I've often gotten my car back smelling of plants, fertilizer, and/or some kind of fast food.

Now, I'm no weirdo when it comes to my car. It gets me where I want to go, it's comfortable, and it's utilitarian. I don't obsess each scratch or stain or over all appearance. I've got better things to do. But, something peeved me some this past weekend.

My wife was doing a landscaping project for the neighborhood. As such, she needed to pick up plants and such for the project. I expected her to ask to use my car as it's older, but she didn't. If anyone has ever seen her car you know very well she's also not one to obsess over its looks. So, it came as a bit of a shock when I went to help her load some items to find she had lined every square inch of the cargo area with carpets and plastic tarp! Then, when she gets the small tiller we own she wants me to wrap the business end in a large garbage bag to keep the dirt contained!

GIrlwithanewcar says what? Excuse me? I couldn't believe it! She took more time and care to make sure she didn't "dirty" the inside of her car than she did to actually load it with the stuff she needed.

I see how this works.

Actually, she did redeem herself. She had to haul away all of the extra turf, roots, and shrubbery from the area she worked on and used her car for that. While she did try to contain the mess with boxes, dirt did get all over the place. So, I guess I can't be too critical.

She's likely at the car wash getting it all clean today, though.

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