Random Tuesday Things

– Look at Beany, bravely trekking through the snow. The weather was SO nice today that I had to let her out. She didn’t seem to take notice of the snow, but I suppose that was because she could pretty much just walk along on top of it. She also went up and down the back path a few times, until she realized she’d stepped in a puddle. This seems to be a cat thing: she was walking along the damp path, looked up ahead and noticed there was puddling, and then looked down to realize that she was already standing in water. Much distasteful lifting of paws and awkward rerouting ensued.
– Speaking of thaws and the resulting puddles, late winter is just a bad time to get your car washed. I treated mine to a gas-station car wash that left it very shiny indeed, which meant that I had to drive on tip-toe all the way back home. That was yesterday, and when I went out to the supermarket today, an oncoming van splashed into a pothole and threw dirty water right across the hood of my car. Heart breaking! So even though I knew it was completely ridiculous, I grabbed a sponge, a bucket of soapy water, and a towel when I got home and wiped it off. Completely normal.
– Also completely normal? That guy who was wearing short sleeves while chipping away ice from a parking lot today. That’s how we do it in Minnesota!
– I was setting up my automatic estimated tax payments today (I already filed my 2009 return ages ago and got my refund), and as I was filling in the amounts for my MN state income tax, I actually had a pang of, ‘But that’s not enough!’ As in, how can that measly amount possibly cover my share of what it takes to keep the state running? Not that I have extra money to be paying them, but I did feel a bit bad. I should sponsor a loon* or something.
* That’s the Minnesota state bird, in case you haven’t brushed up on your MN trivia lately.