The Second Annual (and Unintentional) January Adventure Part 3

After our long journey home, we were whooped. We fed the dogs, took off our footwear, took hot showers to warm up and ate chili for supper. In the 5 and a half hours since we left home we were not having good times. On the other hand, we recognize that it could have been worse. It could have been raining instead of a couple snow flurries. It could have been 10 miles instead of 6. And honestly, there are few people in this world (as in no one I can think of) that I'd rather have that particular experience with than KB.

When we woke up the next morning, the battery on our other car was dead. Nice. KB put it on the charger and we went back to bed until noon. When we drove to beginning of the driveway where our truck was stuck, KB told me to sit tight and walked up the muddy mess of a driveway the 20o yards to survey the damage in the daylight. Less than a minute after KB was out of sight, Josh the Mystery Guy walked past, waved and headed up the driveway to see Kent.

Where does this guy come from?

KB decided to let the road dry for one more day and try to get it out on Sunday. Josh the Mystery Guy had given KB his phone number and told him to call him on Sunday. He had an idea involved 2x12's and a jack.

On Sunday, we went back to the head of the driveway and called Josh the Mystery Guy. The woman that answered was like Uh, who? Oh, uh, yeah, he's not here. KB is still not convinced he is real. KB was unable to get the truck unstuck. We wound up calling the local tow truck who charged $150 this time instead of the $400 he was quoting on Friday. Hmph.

We were just grateful to get the truck home.

Anti-climactic huh? :-)

The Second Annual (and Unintentional) January Adventure Part 2

Sitting there, watching that big, beautiful tow truck drive off into the dying light, my heart sank. I watched my silhouetted husband walk back toward the truck, the mystery guy by his side. After I unlocked the door, KB opened it and said that the AAA Tow Truck said it would have gotten stuck trying to get us out, so he left us. KB and Josh the Mystery Guy were going to see what they could do. Somehow, that just didn't sound encouraging.

They walked back down the slippery, muddy lane. I sat with a dying battery on my Blackberry and spotty signal. Daisy had started this low growl about an hour and a half earlier and it continued. I couldn't let the dogs out of the truck because I didn't want them bringing it back into our already dirty truck. So, we sat. And we waited. Me and my dogs. One of them growling at nothing that could be seen and the other one completely wigged out and jumping around (and farting).

KB sent me a message and let me know that they had called the local towing company. Great, I thought. We just spent money we didn't really have on renewing our AAA membership and it didn't do us a bit of good. Now, we get to pay the local guy to pull us out.

The local guy showed and I saw the group of men standing in the lights of the tow truck. After a while, I saw that tow truck drive away. It's 7:30PM, cloudy, windy as all get out and cold. Yay! I was so excited to see that truck drive away too. KB came back to the truck, without Josh the Mystery Guy this time and said "They wanted 400.00. They got stuck too. They were going to have to go and get a second truck and chains and everything else."

I said that we would just walk and deal with the truck in the daylight. Josh the Mystery Guy had told us that he was the only one that used that driveway, so the truck would be ok. KB called the Sheriff's' Department Dispatcher and let her know that we could use a ride. He says he could tell by her tone that she had no intention of calling one of the deputies and asking them to give us a ride.

I crawled into the back and looked behind the seat and found a tow strap to use as a leash. We only had one with us. I also found: two leather work gloves, one fleece glove, a headband thing that has a spot for a baseball cap bill and a pair of KB's rubber boots.

Did I tell y'all that when we left the house at 4:30, I had wet hair and was wearing yoga pants and a pair of Merona brand (Target), flat Mary Jane type shoes with a thin pair of socks? My hair was dry now, but my clothes had not morphed into cold weather gear. I donned KB's rubber boots, tied on my Mary Jane's, buttoned up my pea coat, put a vest over that and got ready to go.

This time KB prayed safety for us, our dogs and our truck. We set off squishing and sliding all the way to the county road. Once we hit the county road, I put on my Mary Janes because walking in men's size 13 rubber boots is no easy feat (or feet, arh arh arh) and we set off.

At this point, KB suggested I call my parents. I told him that I was 40 years old and that I was tired of calling my parents to come and rescue me. Then, I reminded him that his mom lives in the same town that my parents do - same distance for her...

It is sad that we've lived here for 6 months and because we thought it was temporary we have not made a single friends. We did not have a single person we could call for a ride. Pitiful really.

We walked 6 miles with the stupid dogs pulling us. The wind was so bad at one point I thought my head was going to explode from the cold. We had approximately 75 cars pass us throughout our 2 hour journey and no one stopped. I guess they thought we were just some nut bags out walking our dogs in the cold. The Sheriff's department never did come through for us, though we are pretty certain the Sheriff would have wanted them to come to our aid.

At one point, I hurt my foot and was in question as to whether I could continue. I did. 6 miles is a really, really, extremely long way in those circumstances. By the time we got home, even the dogs were tired.



(to be continued, I've run out of time)

The 2nd Annual (and Unintentional) January Adventure

Y'all may remember that last year in January, we had a Cold Weather Adventure in Oklahoma's Red Dirt. That particular adventure caused us to renew our AAA Membership just days after it had expired.

Our AAA Membership expired this January on the 15th. That should have been our first clue not to do what we were thinking. Ha! We laugh in the face of AAA expiration!

KB and I have been talking about settling down. Getting us a place that we can let our little wanna be roots grow. You know, something that is just our own. Our property, our fence, our house, ours. There are some things in the works, work wise for KB, that could mean we need to stay in this county we are in now. That would be just fine. Out of curiosity, we've been looking at real estate. Cool, right?

Yeah, right. It's us.

4:30pm on last Friday, the 29th of January (14 days after our AAA expiration, if you are counting and 18 hours since I posted on FB that our Rolling Mansion was turning into an Arc) I say: "Honey, let's go look at that property before it gets dark" KB says, "Ok" so we plug the address into Samantha (the GPS) and headed off 6 miles or so down the road onto a previously unexplored County Road.

As we are leaving KB asks me to pray us safety on our adventure. Lord, please keep us safe as we are looking at property today, our AAA membership expired and it would be bad to get stuck. Thank you for all your blessings. Amen.

We turn left and then right and then left and go around some curves and down a gravel county road and Samantha tells us our destination is on the left. We look at the mail boxes and with some concern up this driveway. Then, we made our second critical mistake after leaving the house - we went ahead and went into the driveway. Up the little hill we see nothing but mud. Texas Red Dirt road. Slippery as snot and almost impossible to get out of clothes. The driveway looked to be about 400 yards long. I knew we were in for it when KB said "well, it's too late now".

200 yards in, we were stuck. It was my fault, I know it. First it was my idea to leave the house and then I prayed the getting stuck in the mud into the universe. Don't ever think our words aren't powerful.

OH, OH, OH! And did I mention it was also my idea to take both the dogs? Yeah, I am good like that.

Here we are, stuck, no AAA, two dogs, no 4 wheel drive (or we wouldn't have been stuck) and dark is coming fast. KB hops out and tries to get us out. No love. We made it worse. I did what I did in January of last year: Renew my AAA and request help at the same time. I thrive on humiliation. AAA Roadside Assistance says it'll be an hour. It was an hour and 15 minutes.

During this time, KB is making jokes about hearing Dueling Banjos like a scene from Redemption.

Seriously though, I can't tell this part of the story; making a rare and highly sought after appearance on cindydianne.com is the one, the only, the love of my life... KB.

Howdy, Howdy, Howdy! KB here.
So as we were sittin in the truck my wife got stuck the dogs were barkin and fussin at every little noise outside. I was almost to the point of duct tapin their muzzles when I saw a figure dressed in camo slinkin down the drive. I looked at Wife, handed her my .45 and told her it was good to go as I stepped outta the truck.
Soon as I got out, this figure stopped walkin and just stared at me with little beedy eyes that seemed to shine from under his hood, I asked if he was the tow truck driver, "Nope" he said. I asked if he was the owner of this drive "Nope" I asked him if this was the correct way to the land we were lookin at and again "Nope"

We stood there for a minute sizin each other up, and then he approached. As he walked up in the dyin light I realized how cross eyed, buck toothed and big eared the was. Have any of y'all seen the comedian Bill Engval when he talks about a dork-fish? The face he makes durin that monologue pretty much sums up what I was lookin in.
This kid looked to be mid twenties, skinny as a rail, like a typical tweaker...Great, a hillbilly Meth head! Wonderful! Fantastic!
I introduced myself, and he said he was Josh. We engaged in a little small talk until I finally asked him where the property line was. As he walked up he looked at the truck and said "Ya know you ain't gittin a tow truck down here." He then pointed to the property line, and told me he was the only one that ever used this drive. He fed dogs on the property in exchange for huntin rights.

At last, common ground! We talked huntin a bit then he said he could show me the driveway in if I was interested. I followed him down the woods makin sure to stay with in sight of the truck. Still was worried about a hillbilly ambush, and figured maybe Violet could run to my rescue, or at least bite me quick and git it over with fast. (I was feelin like that Baptist Preacher who was chased up a tree by an angry bear. He prayed "Lord if You don't help me; Be sure Ya help that bear!)
Walked back to the truck and just small talked about this n that. Finally I saw the tow truck and we walked off into the night to greet the driver as a light snow started to fall...

Back to Cindy, who is not rare to post here, but still Wonderful none the less.

I was SO excited to see that tow truck. Time elapsed since getting stuck? 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was starting to get cold. It was a cold winter day in Texas. The high had been around 38 and the wind was blowing 30 mph, even with the setting sun. I dutifully sat in the truck and let KB handle the AAA tow truck driver. I sat there. I sat there. And then I saw that beautiful tow truck driver off into the dying light!

(to be continued, I've run out of time)

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Just in case y'all missed it. I thought I would tell you I have a new header!


HAHAHAHAH!

Here Deer, Deery, Deerie!

I haven't seen hide nor hair of the group of deer that were in our park for at least 6 weeks. This disturbs me. I loved coming home at night and seeing them in our "yard". I liked looking out my "office" window and seeing them cross the road. I liked going to our neighbors RV and seeing them while having morning coffee.

Hey! Did I tell you about our neighbors? My parents bought an RV, parked in close to us, became our co-hosts and come down occasionally to visit and when we are out of town and they need to be here. It's been kind of nice actually. It works out for us because we weren't really wanting full-time neighbors and it works out for them because they get a place to escape to when they are going stir crazy up in the metroplex.

So, um, I miss the deer.

Missed It.

Back on December 11th, I missed my 5 year Blogiversary. That's a big mile stone for me to just let slip on by. So, in honor of 5 years of typing tripe:

Go me!