Cottage in the winter

I went up to the cottage last weekend with a friend. It was a very pleasant outing, with lots of snow. Even with the snow Friday, Ottawa doesn't have very much -- but Lac Sam, it definitely has a full winter's worth of snow. She stepped out from the cottage without snowshoes at one point, and sank up to her crotch in the snow. And, the snowdrift outside the out-house was up to the top of the bottom door. We definitely needed the snowshoes for the trip. It really looks like every freezing rain storm we had in Ottawa was, actually, snow up there.

I also managed to almost get the car stuck trying to park. But, with a bunch of shovelling and some pushing, did manage to get it out again. I'm glad I decided to throw a snow shovel in the back seat just in case, otherwise it might have been far messier.

New? Car

It just might be time to think about replacing my car. There's a few things wrong with it right now -- all fixable, but some could be costly. I'm thinking I could hit the $2000-4000 range. (Something in the rear suspension, power-steering, tires are old, windshield is cracked, I think the brakes are drifting to needing overhaul, etc.)

There are advantages to new, and advantages to used. One of the big advantages to new is getting the car I want -- in particular there just aren't as many manual transmission cars on the used markets as there are automatic.

I would, once again, be looking for a small, 4-door, manual vehicle with moderate conveniences at a not-too-bad price. (I do really appreciate remote entry/exit, and power windows for the front seats are quite handy -- I like to be able to raise/lower the passenger window easily even if I don't have a passenger, and power-mirror adjust is, also, really handy for the passenger-side mirror.)