snow tires!

Hooray - who knew buying snow tires could be exciting? Usually, I hate spending money on my car. It's one of those things, like dish soap and toilet paper, that should never run out or demand attention.

But up here, snow tires are definitely necessary. I've been on borrowed time for a while and the resulting excitement from driving on snowy roads is completely unnecessary in my life. *Note: the above picture is just the result of a Google image search.

So yay snow tires.

But yay even more for the guy - Art - who got them for me. Art owns a used car lot and garage in the village and he's really a nice guy.

When I told him I needed the tires, he promised me that he'd order them and call me back when he knew when they would be in so he could put them on. He gave me the impression that he'd order them that minute and call me back that afternoon. Well, he didn't. Nor did he call the next day. I thought something must have come up and he forgot. On my day off that week, I was going to call him and see what was going on.

That day, I was getting out of the shower at the crack of noon when my intercom went off. It was Art, who had just popped by to tell me that my tires were ordered and would be in later that week. He remembered where I lived from a conversation months ago, after I moved in. He'd written down my cell number wrong - he said he got some number in Texas - and came by to tell me the ETA of my tires.

Granted, his business is only about a half a mile from my apartment, but what mechanic would do that south of the Adirondacks? It was so sweet of him - just made my day.

Things like that almost make up for how bloody cold it is up here.

Scarecrows ... or BUDDYcrows??

At least a month ago, I was driving around the north country, and happened to pass a farm - not, in itself, surprising - that was swarming with guys putting up scarecrows. But they weren't putting them up in the fields, in the hopes of scaring away deer or crows or whatever other animals plague farmers. They were arranging them in scenes - painting the barn or sitting next to it or looking at other scarecrows and one clearly about to fall off his ladder.

Needless to say, I was amused. And curious. And then life got in the way and I forgot all about it.

Then that farm and I crossed paths again, and I stopped to see what was going on. In addition to a great story, I met some of the kindest people I've ever met in my life.

It seems to be a theme here that despite having a slight - and hopefully benign - superiority complex, I somehow get sucked into the culture up here and end up loving it. Well, this farm and the people creating a whole new city of scarecrows were no exception.

It was a Friday afternoon and I was all about going home and getting my weekend started right, but I ended up hanging out with the Maslins for at least two hours. And trekking all over their fields in two-and-a-half-inch heels. Because I'm really good at planning, sometimes.

But I digress. In my two hours hanging out with this family - which consists of five sons and six grandchildren - I really felt like I became part of them. They were telling me all about themselves - their past, which is colorful, to say the least. And how Andy Sr.'s wife died tragically and suddenly of cancer over the summer and how all they want to do is make people happy. But people say that all the time and you can tell they don't mean it. The Maslins do.

To that end, Andy Sr. takes all the crap he's accumulated over the years - he's a pack rat to the nth degree - and makes games and attractions out of it. So the old exercise equipment becomes a couple scarecrows working out at an outdoor gym. And a bunch of old saws become an exhibit on wood chopping through the years, as demonstrated by scarecrows. And an old washing machine and a big tub are a history lesson about dirty laundry.

Scarecrows are sitting or leaning on fences along the path of the wagon ride - I thought one looked like Tom Sawyer and a friend thought another looked like it had drank too much tequila. Both observations delighted Andy, because he wants people to come up with stories about these silly hay-stuffed people dressed in old clothes he couldn't bear to throw away. So much so that he's been talking to a writer about doing a children's book about his buddycrows, as he calls them. So named because he doesn't believe in all the scary stuff that has come to be synonymous with Halloween.

The next week, Andy called me to thank me for coming out and talking to them. He then told me that I should consider myself a part of the family and feel free to come over and hang out with them whenever I want. I've already done it a few times, and had a great time both times I saw them.

When my friend Kaitlyn went over to do a story about Scarecrow Fantasyland, Andy sent her home with a box of organic apples and pears for the two of us to share, since she mentioned we were friends, and a similar invitation to be a part of the family.

I also can't wait to go back and see the site, now that it's all completed. I'm most excited for the corn maze. The Maslins, of course, were amazed when I told them I'd never been in a cornfield before. I wonder if I'll meet Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Things like this would never happen downstate.