How To Park A 3/4 Ton. Our 14-year-old has been driving for 8 months now and is especially glad that it is summer as winter's icy roads knocked out a lot of her driving time. Parking perpendicular to the curb has been a tough one for her to master, so this was an especially proud moment. See how perpendicular? She wasn't aware of the fact that she was taking up almost 2 spaces. And she actually is about 3 feet back from the curb. We'll tackle one thing at a time. This huge car is the only vehicle she's ever driven. I want to be there when she gets into a smaller car and realizes how much easier they are to drive.

There were two things I was going to point out about our car, that don't really show up well in this photo. See how the orange side lights are missing on the right headlight? That is because we hit a moose a few years ago. You can't tell, but there is a wire holding one headlight in place. The shield on the hood was actually put there to hide the dent the moose caused. And I can't believe our windshield cracks don't show up. Here's a close-up.
This huge hole in our windshield and the cracks that spiderweb all over the place were caused when a gravel truck passed me going the other direction on the highway and an avalanche of rocks slid off his piled-too-high load of gravel and cracked my windshield. Cracked windshields are a particular hazard around here because of the gravel business. Remember my picture of the gravel pit? We have resisted getting the glass replaced because the last time we did it lasted two months before this happened. But, it will have to go soon because it is right at eye-level to the driver, causing the eyes to fight over looking at the crack or looking at the road. I want to be there when Corinne first drives a car that has a clear windshield and realizes how much easier it is to drive.