By Lee Scott

I have had my silver car for three years now so one would assume that I would know the actual color of it. However, when I walked out of the grocery store yesterday, I could not find it. Looking around, it appeared that there were a lot of yellow cars in the parking lot but no silver cars. So I did what most of us do when we cannot find our cars in a crowded parking lot. I took out my key fob and started to press the lock and unlock buttons over and over, pointing it in several directions. There she was in the corner under a bunch of pine trees. She was blinking her headlights and taillights as if to say, “Hey, Idiot, I am over here where you left me!” It was hard to see the lights going on and off because even the headlights and taillights were covered in yellow dust. Thank goodness there is a horn that accompanies her blinking lights.

I walked over and looked at my “yellow” car and said, “Birdie, you look TERRIBLE!”.

Of course, what do you expect when you park a car under pine trees this time of year? There is an incredible amount of pine tree pollen in the air turning everything a shade of yellow. I opened the trunk to put in the groceries and the surrounding pine needles and oak leaves fell into the trunk along with more yellow pollen. Getting into the car, I decided it was time to give my car a thorough cleaning. I patted the dashboard. “Not your fault girl. Time for a bath”.

I headed over to the Boundary Street car wash where you have the option of cleaning both the inside and outside. There were about ten other yellow cars in line already. I sat debating how long I was going to wait when I decided to listen to the local weather forecast. Sure enough, rain was on its way in two days, so I could wait for the rain to wash off the pollen. But my poor car really needed a good cleaning, both inside and out. My little vacuum cleaner at home could not handle all the pine needles and oak tree leaves in the trunk.

We made it home after the car wash and she looked good for about two hours before the yellow dust started to cover her again. The good news is that the interior and trunk were perfectly clean at least for a little while. Plus, the Pine tree pollen will not last much longer. Thank goodness.