A few weeks ago the Sweet family finally bid good-bye and good riddance to the family Chevy van. It was way past time for it to go. The dog had eaten the back seat (literally) in a fit of car-sitting boredom. Although the engine was doing okay, the electrical system had repeatedly thwarted all attempts at repair, rendering the car interior as dark as a black hole after sundown. Taking kids to evening events was a bit of a seeing-eye exercise. The moss that grows happily on most Pacific Northwest cars had long ago taken up residence inside the vehicle as well as outside. With added fertilizer from five years of cookie crumbs, various spilled liquids, and assorted fallen foodstuffs, the vehicle was becoming an organic entity, returning itself to the earth from whence it came.

When we went t…