Good morning and welcome to Summit Up, the world's only daily column that's angry at ourselves for letting some snow sit on our windshield over the weekend. By the time we fired the car up again on Monday, not only was the weekend snow welded onto the windshield, there was some kind of frosty condensation-y stuff on the inside. As we've noted before, we're always loathe to do the ol' inside scrape, since it creates a mini blizzard inside our car and leaves weird marks on the windshield.

But what's a winter driver to do? Well, always keep your windshield clear, we got that. Also, if you have a garage, you should not fill it with a bunch of crap you'll never use; you should use it to store your car overnight. That's just plain common sense that we, alas, cannot follow.

There's more: We read on this www.stylelist.com website that you can spray a mixture of three parts vinegar to one part water on your windshield and it'll keep it frost free for weeks.

Anyone ever tried that? We doubt we will cuz, even though it sounds interesting, vinegar is a bit of an embarrassing liquid, we have to say, and we'd hate for someone to saunter by our car, wrinkle his or her nose and say: “Is that vinegar on you windshield? What, did you douche your car?”

We'd be mortified. So out with the scraper it is! Come May, we'll take a break (maybe).

By the way, perusing the Wacky Encyclopedia of Our Mind, we found these other uses for vinegar:

> Combined with Sierra Mist, serves as an effective rocket fuel.

> Poured into the eyes of a tiger, will cause said animal to speak ancient Aramaic. His first words will be “you're dead.”

> Stir in a shredded copy of a millionaire's tax returns and you'll get a free bowl of soup!

MILLIONS OF SUMMIT UP READERS: Dude, that totally makes no sense.

SU: OK, scratch that one.

> Applied to the bottom of your skis, vinegar makes a nice salad if you can immediately ski over some extra virgin olive oil, some spices and a head of lettuce or two. Try balsamic vinegar for even more flavor!

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The haiku keep rolling in. Here's one from Meg Jimenez, who writes thusly:

“I was driving to work from Park county today fourth in a long line of cars and this haiku popped into my mind”:

Cars on mountain roads

Are you leading a parade?

Time to pull over!

Thanks Meg! If you've got a haiku that inspires you, send it our way at summitup@summitdaily.com. We'll take them on any topic, but this week we're giving preference to these subjects:

> Ski boot removal

> Tourists in the grocery store

and, um, err ...

> Math tests and/or math teachers and their eyeglasses

Can't wait to see what ya'll come up with!

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OK, we're a little late on the uptake here but we need to mention that the Chinese New Year started on Monday, and it's now the Year of the Dragon!

(sound of a zillion firecrackers going off/image of one of those parade dragons you always see in movies during chase scenes)

Yep, the Chinese have an animal for ever occasion it seems, but as the guy at the China Szechuan restaurant in Frisco told us on Monday, people in China actually try to have their kids in the Year of the Dragon because it's so obviously better than being born in, say, the Year of the Fart Beetle or the Year of the Dumpster Dingo. Or even the Year of the Rat or the Year of the Chicken, which are actual Chinese years.

Anyway, the Year of the Dragon is supposed to be a lucky year, so if you were just born, well, lucky you!

That's it for today, folks. We'll check ya on the flip-flop ...