{"id":467,"date":"2026-05-03T01:22:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T01:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madelinestrum.com\/blog\/?p=467"},"modified":"2026-05-03T01:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T01:22:58","slug":"my-sad-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madelinestrum.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/03\/my-sad-car\/","title":{"rendered":"My Sad Car"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Or a lesson about parking under oak trees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, my car is not sad. I bought a 2015 CX-5 when my downstairs neighbor vacated the driveway spot and it was obvious I should get a car to take my oldest to school. I\u2019m happy with the car. I\u2019m just not happy with city parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I was at storage and thought the dents from acorns were especially vibrant. 2024 was a rough year to have a parking spot under an oak tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Google, \u201cOaks do not produce high volumes of acorns every year. This is a survival mechanism: by skipping years, they keep predator populations (mice, deer) low, so that when a massive crop arrives, the animals cannot eat them all.\u201d So I went from a few acorns hitting my car to an abundance of extra thick projectiles raining on my car 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first learned about mast years while cleaning a park that included a tour of the grounds. The woman leading the hike noted how many and how big the acorns were acorns, saying what Google would also tell us:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOak trees often synchronize their masting, meaning all oaks in a region will have a high-yield year at the same time, overwhelming local wildlife that eat them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her take was no one knows when is going to happen. I guess I lucked out it was only once in the six years I had that spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"grid<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The phone wasn’t really doing a good job of showing off all the dents. (Although, looking at this on a desktop, you can totally see where the grid is interrupted with obvious dimples in my car’s hood.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The other fun of parking under an oak is how much goo ends up on your car. It\u2019s not sap. I like the explanation that it’s tree sweat. \u201cDuring extreme heat, trees may sweat, producing excess sap to manage stress,\u201d according to Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount of bugs that show up to feast on sap and then smaller bugs is stupid. When we moved and I started parking in a garage, I had to wash the car thoroughly to make the bugs go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually my car is not so clean because this city is gross, but the day I took this picture with the smiley face in dirt was insane. I had literally just washed the car and the next thing I knew the car was covered in dust. Like I said, I park in a garage. I wondered if the whole building would collapse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I too hopeful in thinking I can get away with washing the car once every three months?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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