Saved by a Stranger at a Bar

I traded cars with a friend so that I could travel to a cabin that is at the end of an un-maintained forestry road.  I made it to the cabin without issue. It was a beautiful drive.

As I unpacked the car, I realized that I had forgotten one of my bags.  It had any medicines and supplements that I might need during the trip. What I was really upset about was the coffee and chocolate that was missing.  I decided that I needed to make a run to a local shop and headed out.  About a mile from the cabin, I ran into this hole:

Holey Mud

Depth marker

 

Depth marker with camera lens for perspective

I tried a few things to break free but it became clear that I was truly stuck.  When I got out of the car, I realized that the left back wheel was off of the ground.

I first called AAA.  They told me that they do not travel dirt roads and they had no suggestions for me.  I have been a member for decades and they have always been really good about helping me out of whatever jam that I have been in, however, I guess this was too big of an ask.

I called the very nice lady who had shown me around the cabin and checked me in.  She lived nearby and came over to help.  Mrs. D had a small, older truck and it was not able to pull the car free.

She suggested that we call a local bar in the small town.  Sure enough, the bartender called out to the patrons for help, and a young man agreed to come to my aid.

The right front wheel seemed to be sinking as we waited and the left rear tire was rising.  Nope, I wasn’t freaking out at all.

Mr. T showed up and knew just what to do and executed his plan flawlessly.

The car was free! And…I did not have to call the car’s owner and tell them that I rolled the car in a mud hole.  The coffee and chocolate made me feel better.  Hehehe

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Independence to Choose Civility

Our independence and freedom have come at no small cost.  Most can agree that we are enormously thankful for the sacrifices both known and unknown that have been made to supply that independence and freedom.  

We have an obligation to treat this gift with some level of reverence. What shall we do with this freedom?

~ Who Do We Want to Be ~

Toasted Road Trip

• To the young man at the convenience store that just found out he won $3000 on scratch off ticket.
• To the baby deer that only made it across 4 lanes of a six lane road.
• The the sheriff that was behind me on the tail end of a speeding caravan of cars but did not stop any of us.
• To the trooper that passed me just as “paranoia strikes deep” danced from my speakers.
• To Jefferson Airplane for bringing me down but not sleepy.

“When the truth is found
To be lies
And all the joy
Within you dies”

• To the signs warning that bridges may ice first making me smile as I remember a time when I watched cars getting stuck on a bridge from my apartment window.  And how I now live too far south to see these signs on my commute.
• To the GPS lady that welcomed me to Georgia but did not seem to care when I left for South Carolina.
• To all of things that I forgot because, well, I was driving.  Can’t stop to take notes.
• To the rain that hugged the sky until just now.

How to Identify Mad Cow Disease

Just as I was about to go on a Twitter tirade over all the blind hate tweets, I remembered something I saw 20 years ago.

As luck would have it, YouTube has everything.

Always remember to laugh.  

 

How to Talk to Women

…or teach anyone anything.

Teach them the part they don’t know. What is obvious to you may not be so obvious to them. 

After decades of struggle, I have made a life changing discovery. How to avoid tangles in extension cords.

http://www.homedepot.com/

I have mentioned my struggle to men in the past. Each one of them was happy to help and as if handing down sacred knowledge from Yoda himself, they all explained in detail that one must be careful when coiling the cord for storage. I thought I had been. Each time I listened carefully because each one seemed so sure that he had the secret. Some seemed a bit amused. Not that I was a silly girl asking a stupid question. It was more like they discovered that I had not been let in on this secret. A sudden realization that guy code secrets have not been leaked. As these were all honorable men, they decided that a lady in need who had bravely wondered into the garage, must be let in on the key to a happy extension cord. And so, the tutorial on how to neatly wrap began.

After decades of trials, my issue was not proper cord storage.  I had been wrapping the cord neatly. My problem was in the un-wrapping. No one ever mentioned the unraveling process. The wrapping was supposed to be the secret. So, in my mind, how you unwind it should not have mattered. Well, I guess they thought that part was obvious.

Or maybe that was the sacred guy code bit they were not allowed to speak of in mixed company. 😉

The Broken Circle

The ecosystem in my garage.

A few years ago I witnessed a spider eating a mosquito. As he finished the meal, a lizard stepped in and had his own. 

Yesterday I spared the life of a small spider and told him to eat lots of mosquitos.  

Today, I find this: 

 

I just got bit by a mosquito and the snake is still in the garage. I guess I should be happy the bear did not stay.  

Apologies to the man who didn’t steal my trimmer

 

A few weeks back I took a nap.  I was in my car.  The car was in my open garage.

I woke to a noise but did not look.  I was comfortable. The car was locked.  I wasn’t moving.

There was news of a bear prowling around the neighborhood.  The bear had made the noise.

The next week I could not find my hedge trimmers.   There were multiple reports of stealing out of unlocked cars.  There were reports of items disappearing from porches.

My policy for lost items is that they will come back to me eventually.  The lost item suddenly appears.  It may take an hour. It may take a month.

Three weeks later I could not find my trimmer.  My plants are overgrown.  Maybe the neighborhood thief took the trimmer.

I spent a week thinking ‘the guy’ took the trimmer.  The noise was from him.  It was not from the bear.

Guess what I just found.