Barns and Gremlins

So last week Secret Agent Man and I took a much needed trip to see my folks on the south west Washington coast. We took the long way there and back, by car, because we like road trips and the weather was nice. We had lots of snacks and an iPod with 12,185 songs on it (I know, crazy, right?) on "random play".
We went through a little farming community called Lamont that has this sign as you come into town. I love how they keep track of their population!

We then took a dirt road through some farm country for a while and saw lots of old buildings, some standing, some not so much.We found this little building we think was maybe an old schoolhouse at one time.
(I tried a couple different "actions" on it (courtesy of the Pioneer Woman). Hmmm, I may still have to play with it a bit, but I kind of like the middle "sunny" one.)



On the way home we drove a different direction and found this neat old covered bridge, the Grays River Covered Bridge, which is being preserved by some hysterical historical society. It's in really great condition and was kind of fun to drive through. I warmed up the photo a bit to try and make it pop a little more.

We also found, on our way home, a great big wind farm near Vantage, which was really cool, those turbines are freakin' huge! The picture, alas, is not mine, as I was tired and did not want to drive on up in there, but next time, for sure!


It was nice having the drive time with S.A.M. We always have stuff to talk about and he loves maps and odd routes so we usually end up seeing some interesting sights.
I wish we could go back to the beach, however! It's hot hot hot here! It's very nearly 100 today, which makes me glad I'm sitting at my air conditioned desk, but I'd rather be looking at waves, even if it's chilly and rainy. The one good thing about my shift is that with being off late, my car has a chance to cool down before I get in to drive home. Which brings me to the other half of the title of this post.

Yesterday I was driving home from work and as I pulled off the highway and onto the street that runs up my hill I heard this horrid hissing noise. My first thought was that something was wrong with my stereo - sunspot interference or some such.

So I turned the radio off.
No good. I could still hear it. For a split second I thought there was a snake in my car, but then my common sense kicked in and I decided the chances of that were slim to none (thank God!). Marmots maybe. But not snakes.
So then I thought maybe I had a flat tire, but I wasn't noticing anything odd with the steering or that the car was listing to one side or anything. At this point it's getting dark and I'm kind of freaking myself out a little, so I called S.A.M. and told him to meet me in the driveway, which, being the awesome hubby he is, he didn't give me any guff about. I pull up and he gets in and that's when I notice it: I cannot hear the hissing any more.
Just to be safe, however, I back out and we drive around through the neighborhood.
Nothing.
We drive around some more.
Nothing.

At least S.A.M. is not laughing at me. In fact, when we pull into the driveway again he gets out and checks my tires for me.
Nothing.
So I'm starting to think I had Gremlins in my car.

Not this kind:
This kind:

Then S.A.M. says to me, "Did you have a bottle of water in there or something?" I said, no. Then it dawned on me. Remember the aforementioned "snacks" we had on our drive? We had some sodas (and chips and cookies) in the backseat. *head slap* I had forgotten one partially empty soda back there. In the 90+ degree heat we've had here, it all but exploded , with the soda hissing out all over the upholstery.

Phew!
I'm so glad it wasn't really Gremlins. I hate those bastards.