By Renee Lorenz Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Mar 09, 2011 at 10:09 AM

I have a serious love/hate relationship with marshmallow cars.

Living in a winter climate, it's impossible not to see one, or in some cases even be guilty of crafting one of your own. I'm talking about people who, for whatever reason, brush the snow off of their car windows but leave every flake on the top, resulting in a fluffy, marshmallow-esque car hat.

I can understand (slightly) if said marshmallow vehicle happens to be a tall truck or van. Not being able to reach all the way to the roof at least explains why the driver left the towering pile of fluff up there, even if it means I get hit in the windshield with it once we hit 50 on the freeway.

What confuses me are marshmallow cars. These somehow end up being the most impressive, with their snow toppers reaching heights that almost defy physics. Especially with a sticky snow like today's, that stuff can really pile up.

For me, spotting these cars on the road is the equivalent of a kid eyeing an out-of-state license plate on a road trip. But at the same time, I'm wondering how in the heck such a thing even happened. Was the driver too busy to take an extra two minutes to brush off the top of their car? Did they think it would melt/blow off? It's like I'm in a Tootsie Pop commercial: The world may never know.

So, I was pretty excited when I snapped this picture on my ride in to work. It's jump-started my quest to get into the mind of the marshmallow car owner. Do you do this? Do you have a friend who does this? What are your thoughts on the marshmallow car phenomenon? My inquiring mind wants to know.

Renee Lorenz Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Contrary to her natural state of being, Renee Lorenz is a total optimist when it comes to Milwaukee. Since beginning her career with OnMilwaukee.com, her occasional forays into the awesomeness that is the Brew City have turned into an overwhelming desire to discover anything and everything that's new, fun or just ... "different."

Expect her random musings to cover both the new and "new-to-her" aspects of Miltown goings-on, in addition to periodically straying completely off-topic, which usually manifests itself in the form of an obscure movie reference.