Author: jeanbeanappy

Wife of a CJF Farrier. Live in the horse world, wonder why sometimes.

Jump over January

I’ll just get this out there.  I hate January. Bad stuff always happens in January and I’ve come to dread it wondering what expensive and frustrating dilemma we’ll face each January.

Starting in 2015 is when I noticed January really kind of sucks.  Following is a list of the stupid that has happened in January.

January 2015  – We had just bought our place and moved in in November of 2014 so I was still part of the crowd that thought “yay, a new year full of promise”.  My mare Boody was pregnant with what was supposed to be the last horse of my show career.  Boody had suffered career ending injuries in 2012 at the Appaloosa World Championship Show and I’d been really disappointed for her and me.  In 2014 I’d decided to breed Boody in the hopes for my next show and all around horse.   All went smoothly and Boody was confirmed in foal in June of 2014.  I was so excited.  I have had Boody her entire life, I had her mom and her grandma.  Skip to January, we’re getting all settled into the new place and I’m happy for the future.  That morning we discovered Boody had aborted the fetus at 6 months along.  It was so sad.  What was going to my attempt at a world title and the excitement, fun and promise of a new foal was gone.  I won’t go into the rest of the long story but suffice it to say that many thousand dollars and 3 years later we realized Boody is just not meant to have a foal.  I’m still dealing with the disappointment of what could have been with that baby but that won’t get me anywhere.  Picked up those pieces and moved along.

January 2016 – We dealt with a stupid expensive plumbing/water/well issue.  When you live in a rural area and are on a well things don’t always go smoothly.  I’ll just say after a week with no running water and a few thousand dollars later, we had water.  I’m starting to think January is a big jokester.

January 2017 –  In the middle of one the snowiest winters in decades under 3 feet of snow and temps of below zero our shop burned down.  Again, we live in a rural area so fire response is a small volunteer department.  While the fire department was excited for a “real” structure fire I was fairly upset.  We had to scramble to save our tractor and my husbands work van that is our livelihood.  Luckily there were no injuries and we saved the two biggest pieces of equipment that make our lives much easier.  However, we lost a lot of irreplaceable stuff with sentimental value that is just gone.  We were lucky that we some insurance and were able to rebuild a much a better shop.  Dealing with a fire and all the water the fire department used in minus zero weather made for quite the messy ice rink and made clean up a real pain.  Again, no injuries human or animal wise so I’ll count it as lucky but still it was a very stressful start to the year and again I’m thinking January just sucks.

20170112_211816_1.jpgHere’s a pic of the shop on fire.

January 2018 –  Ok I think let’s see what this January can provide us.  Low and behold another water problem in freezing temps!  This time we discover rats and mice have gotten into our cistern and it needs drained, cleaned, sanitized, etc on top of having to find and repair another clog in a water line.  Of course we had a real plumber out to help find the clog but they swore it was frozen pipes when we knew it wasn’t.  After a $500 bill to useless plumbers we got to cut up our deck and dig down to the waterlines underground and fix the clog ourselves.  Yay us.

While none of these things are devastating in the scheme of life, they sure are frustrating.  With January fast approaching I wonder what will go wrong to cause us to file bankruptcy or something.

I’ll be grateful for the new year in February.  I hope everyone has a safe,  happy holiday season,  and a prosperous, healthy new year.

Headtrips, Random Thoughts and looking for signs

This is a long post, mostly rambling my thoughts out in no real order and I don’t know why I can’t get the line spacing to change on the last half!

Something I don’t talk about much is my head trip issues.  I’m one of the millions who deal with depression, lack of confidence, etc.  Most of the time I deal with it ok and some days I feel like I’m running in quicksand against a gale force wind.  While I know my life is soooooo much better than a lot of others I seem to dwell on the ones whose life mine doesn’t appear as good as.  The old cliché of count your blessings runs through my mind on the hard days and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  No matter how we try, those of us with head trip issues have no control over what will trip our emotions that day.

So…recently I decided to really work on remembering that cliché and try to focus on the good and not dwell on the not so good and try to be grateful for what and who I do have in my life.  I have a few really really good friends who will be on my side no matter what stupid thing I do or say (and I’ve had some doozies).  I have a husband who tolerates my mood swings, emotional freak outs and odd inappropriate  humor with nothing but love and attempt at understanding.  I have family who loves me and thinks I’m awesome most of the time.  I have my animals I love so dearly and I have opportunities to ride my horses, travel some (taking my dogs and horses  with me a lot of the time).  I have other good things but these are the biggest to me.

Also recently I decided to buy a new colt.  Do I need a new colt?  No.  Can I afford one? Not really.  I saw him in an ad.  I wasn’t even looking for a horse, I have plenty.  I was struck by him and kept thinking of him. I don’t even usually like colts or geldings, I’m a die-hard mare person.  So, I went about finding ways to justify getting him.  There’s a lot of boring back story to chasing my horse dreams that would take another 14 posts to explain so I’m not going to go into that now.  I sent the sellers a message asking price of colt.  They didn’t respond for a week and I was a little relieved and also a little bummed.  They did respond with a price that is a great deal as they are dispersing their herd and want to get the horses sold.  I showed my husband and some friends and asked opinions.  I went through all the reasons of why not.  Then I started looking for signs as to why.  I wanted a big glaring flashing neon sign telling me what to do.  I’ve never been so stressed out about buying anything, even the house.  My husband supported my decision no matter what I decided and he was almost as excited about the colt as I was.  So the signs I was looking for were right in front of me and they are:

We called to get our horse trailer winterized, the guy who does that for us is out for another 2 weeks hunting.
Hubby happens to have a week off in November. Just the way his schedule fell and I’m lucky enough to have a job that’s flexible and since the office is closed around Thanksgiving time I’ll only miss a day of work.  We also have people who live on our place that take care of the horses while we’re gone so I don’t worry at all about them. 
A couple of weeks ago after having my nails done ( I work shifts a little local market so I can have my nails done).  I went to this little jewelry store  for watch batteries and to see if they wanted to buy a necklace a friend has.    There’s a gal in there who’s my age or probably older.  She had on the best of her rattiest clothes and was close to breaking down.  She was asking the store owner if they were interested in her grandma’s silverware set as she needed money. The silverware was wrapped in cloth inside plastic bread bags.  She was also asking about if any of us knew places hiring as she needed a job badly.  She had been taking care of her ailing mom the last 3 years in a tiny rural town and now she was back home (in not a much bigger town).   She was sincere and was trying, not looking for a handout.  So the jewelry store owner said she can give her $135 for the silverware but she would give her 60 days to come back and pay it as she didn’t want her to lose her grandma’s silverware. The lady started to cry which made me almost cry, I had to turn around and look at the store displays.  So I’m thinking to myself that here am I with my fresh nail job, designer hand bag that was a Christmas present, bringing watches that aren’t cheap (more gifts I’ve received over the years) and an expensive necklace.  I’m wearing nice clothes and am not worried about a place to live or if I can eat that night.  At this point I feel about an inch tall.  I wanted  so badly to take her to the thrift stores and buy her better clothes for looking for a job but as I stood there with all my luxuries, I had $7 in my wallet. The lady was very grateful for my ideas of places to go apply and was barely holding herself together.  After she left I wanted to pay the $135 to the store owner and tell her to give her silverware back when she came in for it.  That whole scene really affected  me.  I thought about it and am still thinking about it and I decided that screw it, I’m getting that colt.  While I’m not financially stable, I am able to do it and for that I’m super grateful and I’m going for it just because I can.  I’m not in a position like that poor lady and I’m able to enjoy my life, ride my horses, etc. Hubby is in support of it.  If things go south and I have to sell him or another horse  then I’ll do that but I’m going to try to enjoy life to the fullest because I’m lucky enough to be able to even if it is on a tight budget.  I’m lucky in that I even get to have a horse, a lot of people wish they could.  I’m not going to let seeing what other people have bother me anymore.  I see some the hubby’s ultra rich clients and I’d feel like a failure.  I know we’re not supposed to let that stuff bother us but it does and I’m going to work really hard at appreciating how good my life really is and not what it isn’t.  I’m picking up extra shifts to help out.  And, the seller threw in another small incentive (justification maybe).
I can’t pinpoint what exactly switched in my brain after that but something did and since then I’m looking at life differently and keeping my stupid thoughts at bay.  Smiling at the little moments that won’t happen again, not stressing out so much about the vacuuming  and laundry that needs done.  There are tons of details and thoughts in my brain (racing around at 1000 miles an hour) but the gist of it is: Life is what you make it, enjoy the ride, and my favorite quote  “Life is not meant to be a journey to the grave in a pretty and well-preserved body but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up,totally worn out and loudly proclaiming Wow! What a ride”.  
This morning was fairly stressful but I got through it without my usual “why does my life do stupid shit like this” thoughts.  So, late next week we’ll take off with 3 of our 4 dogs on a 6 or 7 day road trip to Canada in November to buy a new colt.  If you’ve read my post about the road trip from hell then you’ll know I’ll appreciate any good vibes and thoughts you can send our way while travelling.  Please welcome this new little addition to our critter clan.
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And because it seems appropriate:
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Random Thoughts on getting old

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I don’t know why this cartoon makes me chuckle.  Maybe because while I’m not “old”, I’m definitely older.  Why does 1990 seem not that long ago? I see people my age now and I see them as “older” adults, like I’m still 25 or something.  Why is that?  Is it because at almost 50 I still don’t feel like I have my shit together and probably never will.  I had my shit more together at 23 than I do at 49.  When do we feel like we’re fully functioning adults?  Do we ever?   What constitutes a fully functioning adult?  I pay my bills on time, I show up for work on time, I’m not in trouble with the law (but I will be someday when I finally freak out on a driver at a round about) so why don’t I feel like I’m a real grown up?  I’ve been noticing that a lot of my friends are younger, like half my age, and I feel comfortable with them.  I have some friends who are older or close to my age and I feel comfortable with them too, consider them some of the best people on this earth.

I’ve noticed too that as I get older I start to think more about faith and wanting to find something that helps guide me spiritually.  I’ve never been a religious person.  In fact, I use to buck up against any organized religion.  Now I find myself thinking about trying to go to church.  But why?  What is it I’m needing?  I know the basics of being a good person (do unto others and the like) but my life motto has usually been more of the “don’t be a dick” attitude.

I’ve also noticed my husband getting older and he’s younger than me  (I’m not a cougar, he’s not that young) and I’m thinking of other things he can do not that far into the future.  He’s a farrier which is hard on the body.  And dealing with horse owners can be really hard on the mind sometimes.  His body is breaking down at the ripe age of 46 due to his job (which he loves most of the time).  But now he and I are thinking of other ways he can make a living when he’s to broken down for farrier work.  He’s thinking of teaching, maybe opening a farrier school, maybe go back to learn silversmithing (something he started in the past).  I feel like we need a plan but have no idea what kind of plan we need.  We have so many goals we want to accomplish and sometimes I feel like we’re running out of time.  I know that sounds ridiculous to people who are “old”.

Even my damn dogs are getting older.  My old precious Elly Mae doesn’t have long left in this world and we have another one not much younger than her showing his age.  It seems like yesterday they were puppies.  My horses are getting old at 17 & 18. Geezus, they were just babies running around the pasture.  My other horse is young but she’s aged me!  Time really does go fast, a hard concept when you’re 30 and younger.

I used to drive sports cars.  I love love love fast cars.  As I get older I find myself wanting my old sports car back.  Is this a beyond-mid-life crisis?  Is it because I drive sensible vehicles now that I feel even older?

So, I’m not getting any younger and wondering when I’ll feel like an adult.  Worrying about my old dog, worrying what my husband will do that he loves as much as being a farrier, worrying about how my siblings and I will handle our parents getting old,   worrying about how I’ll be able to retire, and on and on and on…..

Please tell me I’m not the only one who worries about stupid stuff like that at my age.

As my mom always says, “getting old ain’t for sissies”.  It’s sure not.

 

How my life usually goes

I’m going to share a story from a couple years ago that pretty much sums up my life and how things usually unfold.  This is a long read so get a cup of coffee or whiskey or whatever your vice is and enjoy……..

DADDY CAN YOU BRING ME A HORSE

This is a true story of a road trip that did not go as planned.  To preface, daughter in college several states away.  After 2 years without a horse we agree to bring her a horse (one of my all time favorite horses), hence the reason we even embarked on this trip. To make sure we are safe for a trip of this length, I take the truck into a shop for a safety check.  I did this because I think I’m a smart person.  After work on truck to the tune of $2500, we believe we are road ready.  I should have known better. Following is a daily account of our trip.

Day 1 –           Leave on time, no issues.  We have 3 horses and 4 dogs with us.

Day 2 –           Arrive at daughters in the evening, no issues.

Day 3 –           No issues, haul hay for horse in 95 degrees handling a total of about 18 ton between moving and re-stacking.  Hot and tired we go to dinner that evening with daughter, her friend and daughter’s boyfriend.  We go to Denny’s for dinner.  We are seated and our waiter’s name is Ben.  Ben is a nice kid who at least is working and trying.  However, poor Ben doesn’t seem to be quite up to speed. Husband asks if they happen to serve beer.  He proceeds to tell us that no they don’t and if they did he wouldn’t work there. We let that sit and didn’t even want to ask why.  After we get the order all taken care of, which took much longer than it should have, and are waiting for our food we strike up conversation with Ben.  He informs us in his really slow way of speaking that his name is Benjamin (cause the daughter just had to ask) but his friends call him Ben, Cocoa Puff or my now favorite name ever, Ben Jam In.  Ben is now my most favorite waiter in history and I will never meet another person named Ben and not think Ben Jam In.  With many giggles and chatter we have a nice dinner.

Day 4 –           No issues with the exception of my shedding some tears to leave my beloved horse behind.  All on schedule and according to plan.

Day 5 –           We say our goodbyes to daughter and friend, load our 2 horses and head towards,  the Grand Mesa National Forest to camp and ride.  We make the big pull over the mountains and coming down a 7% grade the truck makes a noise so awful I totally expected to see parts strewn about the road behind us.

I believe I may have said a few choice words at this moment with an exclamation of WTF, are you kidding me right now. This is not part of my plan whatsoever.  After the awful noises we realize we have no gears (it’s a manual transmission) and are now coasting down a 7 % grade.  Luckily we have brakes and exhaust brake (for those of you who pull a trailer, invest in an exhaust brake).  Okay, now sitting along side the highway pointing down we take a few seconds of stunned silence to assess the situation.  Walk around truck and trailer, completely surprised to not see pars scattered everywhere.  Scratch our heads, say humph a few times and wonder why we can see nothing obvious.  Get back in truck, starts and goes fine but we know it’s not fine and we need to find a place to take a closer look at it.  We limp into a small mountain town (the most expensive and inconvenient place to break down I’m told) and find a service station that we can take a closer look.  Of course there’s not enough room to park a horse trailer and horses there so we limp on down the road a few blocks to a wide spot, drop the trailer (removing horses) and take truck back to station.  Not wanting to leave my horses unattended tied to the trailer on the side of road I grab a lawn chair and sit there looking like some middle aged buckle bunny hoping for a miracle while staring back just as inquisitive at the people starting at me as they go by.  We’ve determined at this point that the transfer case (that I just had serviced) is in bad shape.  So, now begin my calls to the shop who did the work to get the truck road ready asking just WTH did they do and how do they suppose they’re going to fix this mess????  I’m sure the looks on my face were priceless and I’m glad there was no cameras around.  While trying to maintain my crumbling composure I learn the truck will not be driving on its own accord from this point.  Ok, says I, I guess I need a tow. We also determine through countless calls to different dealers the best place to take my truck is 150 miles away.  Oh wait, I have horses, a trailer, 4 dogs and a truck that need a tow.  Swell.  I call the roadside assistance for horse people (like AAA for horse traveling) and tell them my plight.  This is all at least 2 hours after we limped into the tiny town.  They get right on finding me two separate tow companies for the truck and trailer.  A man named Rudy, who apparently has no ideas his Levi’s are not buttoned, shows up to get the trailer.  Upon his arrival I must have looked like I was in a state of disbelief.  His truck is old and beat up but runs which is more than I can say for mine at this moment.  He has to uncover all the junk in the bed of his truck to find the gooseneck ball, this is not instilling a great amount of confidence in me.  He has trouble backing up to and hooking up the trailer so my husband takes over from there.  There is another guy on his way for the truck.  After seeing the condition of the truck taking the trailer and horses and dogs I opt to stay with the pickup and wait for that tow truck.  Hubs ends up driving the horses the entire 150 miles in the tow truck that he learns has no 3rd gear so he’s shifting from 2nd to 4th and back again.  I feel better with him towing the horses than I would have if Rudy had driven.  I watch them go still in a bit of a state of worry and stress.  The tow truck shows up for the pickup.  Seems like a nice guy whose name is Billy but I never knew this until I just now when looked at the receipt.  I’m still in a bit of shock mode especially after being told it’s 750 to tow the pickup and 350 to tow the horse trailer.  It’s only money right? At this point I have no choice I just want off the damn mountain and a safe place to park my animals.  So, I hop in the tow truck with Rudy and off we go.  Rudy is a nice guy who never stops talking, ever. I really mean ever.  As I’m texting people of my plight and working on details of where I’m going to put my horses that night he proceeds to ask me why I’m on the phone so much….really Rudy??  Really???  You’re going to give me a hard time about not paying attention to you when you’ve just told me I’m paying 750 for the privilege of riding with you for 3 hours in a damn tow truck??  I determine I’m doomed but then I discover he has 80’s music on his ipod.  Maybe there is a God I think since I love 80’s music. But then Billy starts to sing a long all the while asking me all kinds of inane questions about nothing I want to talk about.  I’m starting to think this would make an awesome episode of Pranked. There just had to be cameras in this truck right? Along the way Billy informs me that he’s going to drop me the next off ramp at the Kum N Go (yes, it’s really called Kum N Go, WTH) while he attends to someone who’s locked their keys in their car.  He’ll be right back to get me he says.  Whatever I say, leave me at the Kum N Go in God knows where, take my dead pickup and leave. Is this really happening?  True to his word Billy comes back and gets me.  In a way it was a good thing as it gave me time to dine on the fine food out of the Kum N Go hot case and it probably saved Billy’s life that I didn’t go hungry.  Back on the road and my calls taken care of, Billy and I start talking about our dogs.  We each have a few dogs and we tell stories of the antics our dogs have done over the years.  This isn’t so bad I’m thinking, maybe I’ll make it to the repair shop after all.  Then Billy starts to tell me how one of his dogs used to chew on his underwear when it was a puppy.  Funny I think to myself unprepared for what came out of his mouth next.  He proceeds to tell me that he didn’t know the dog chewed on his underwear til one day as he was walking along his left nut fell out.  Yes, these are his words. Thinking great I’m stuck in a truck with a dude who’s going to tell me about his left nut.  Do I really need this at this point? I sigh and think that’s it, this really is an episode of Pranked.  Where is the damn camera?  Moving on with our conversation he then tells me a story about how he ended up in a gentlemen’s club one night and boy was his wife mad.  Really?  Your wife was mad?  Hard to believe I think as I’m starting to watch the road signs for how much farther.  The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful and we got the pickup dropped off at the dealer.  He’s nice enough to take me to the fairgrounds where hubby and the horses and dogs are hopefully finding accommodations.  I’m in luck and as we pull in I see the horse trailer being parked.  I take a breath of relief but I’m sure I still had a dazed look on my face.  The fairgrounds people are very nice, show us where horses can stay and where we can park the trailer. I’m thankful there’s a place for the horses.  Turns out Billy and Rudy know each other and I’m not even a bit surprised to see Rudy putting his truck onto Billy’s bigger tow truck and head off down the road together.  Probably going to a gentlemen’s club with his left nut falling out I think to myself.  So, here are. Staying in the trailer for the night with no transportation.  Of course, I no longer have the trailer with AC and it’s 98 degrees.  Our attempt at sleep that night proved pointless.

Day 6 –           Start off trying to be thankful we had a place to put the horses, etc.  Even more thankful when we discover the fairgrounds has showers.  You never realize the luxury of a shower until you have a day and night like that.  Get a hold the dealer where my dead pickup is and start a plan of action.  They are super nice and send their shuttle driver over to pick us up.  The driver is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and after hearing our plight offered her home to us and yard for our dogs. What an exceptionally nice thing to do.  I thank her profusely and take her number just in case.  Upon arrival at dealership they bend over backwards to try and help us.  There is not one rental car to be had in town and they manage to find a loaner car for us to use while we’re there.  They can’t look at my pickup until the next day so we’re now stuck  but at least our horses, selves and dogs are safe.  We kill the day by driving to the area where we originally had planned on camping and riding the horses.  It was a beautiful area.  Staying in the trailer again is not even an option for me so we find a hotel to try for a decent night sleep.

Day 7 –           Hanging out  trying to communicate with dealer who serviced my pickup and the dealer where the pick up now is.  We bum around town most of the day.  We’ve now talked with the people at the fairgrounds and learn that where our trailer is parked is in the way of the upcoming carnival fairway for their local fair that starts in a few days.

Being told we need to move the trailer we just stare as we have no pickup and I highly doubt the loaner car (Dodge Dart) is going to move it.  They offer to move it and for us luckily.  That night Scott dreams we wake up in the trailer and we are in the middle of the carnival like an exhibit that people look at as they go by.  We get info that the pickup isn’t going to be an easy quick fix as we had hoped.  We are now starting to worry about getting home in time for work, etc. We also learn that the parts the pickup needs are not easy to find and it looks like we might as well just find a house and move in.  We have people offer to come get us which is greatly appreciated but we are getting anxious to just get going and maybe salvage some of the trip and ride in some other places we had planned to along the way.  Hey….since we’re at a dealership let’s take a look if they have any used pickups that we could buy to get us home.  Of course, salesmen being salesmen they assure they can fix us right up.  We look at a few pickups and find one that will work (or so we think).  Salesmen work with us and we come to agreement.  We aren’t ready to just sign away so they offer to let us drive it around that afternoon and see what we think.  Great, we think that’ll give us time to really drive it and check it out.  We even think we’re being smart (why do we keep thinking this?) and have an independent mechanic take a look at it.  Runs and looks good he says.  Runs and looks good to us as we’ve owned pickups forever and think we know what to check out.  We’re thorough, we check the Carfax report, we find the original paperwork see it was a one owner pickup with all service records.  What a cream puff we think so we sign away and take it to get the proper hitch put in to pull our horse trailer.  Hubby ends up doing yoga and other acrobatics helping get the hitch installed.  The same hitch the place said would take 10 mins at the most.  At this point I don’t know why I’m believing anything is going to be easy.  The shop stays late for us to get the hitch in.  Of course it’s a Friday and no one is open the next day so it has to be done now.  So, 40 mins and a lot of sweating and swearing later we have the hitch. Yay…I’m almost feeling a bit relief but I should know that it was going to be short lived.  We head back to fairgrounds only to see the carnival is moving in and we are now neighbors to a mobile curly fries truck.  I take a moment and just enjoy that because it seems appropriate for some reason.

Day 8 –           Yay…we’re on the road….sweet….we make it Bryce Canyon in Utah which was one of the places we really wanted to ride.  We joke about how we hope the ride is worth the cost of the new old truck.  We find a place to stay which turns out to be a resort style tourist place full of summer tourists, mostly foreigners.  Planning ahead like the smart person I am (there I go again with the smart thing) I know the horses can stay at the local rodeo grounds.  We find that and while it’s a little hokey, it’s a safe place for them to be.  We drop them and trailer and head over the hotel/resort.  I feel like I’ve been transplanted into a Chevy Chase vacation movie.  Tourists everywhere and I can’t understand anything any of them are saying.  I’m starting to wonder if I’m even still in America at this point.  Eat at the resort enjoying a buffet (who doesn’t like a good buffet) while trying to figure out what languages are being spoken around us.  Excited to get up early and ride Bryce Canyon the next morning we go to bed early.  We even luck out and get a room right by a pond for the dogs to play in and for the mosquitoes to live so they can feast on people dumb enough to let their dogs play in the pond.

Day 9 –           Off to Bryce.  After some questions of where exactly we needed to park the horse trailer, we are off and a glorious ride it is.  Still deciding if it was worth the price of the pickup but it’s amazing.  Done with ride we head to what we think will be the last night on the road with plans to overnight in Idaho.  So….it’s a busy Sunday morning in the resort town and we stop for snacks for the drive.  We get back in new old pickup to discover we now have no power steering or brakes.  I believe I just had a completely blank look on may face and sighed.  Really, what could I expect, to actually get to drive home?  We see a mechanic across the very busy street and while it’s closed we take a chance and limp over with flashers on hoping people aren’t dumb enough to get in front of us.  Held my breath and we made it across.  We found another nice guy who just happened to be in the shop for a little bit and had the belt in stock and offered to help us install.  He didn’t charge us labor for his time, just for the part.  He now has a thank you note with a token of our appreciation and a note to his manager in the mail. Ok….back on the road.  I have zero expectation at this point of anything, good or bad.  We cruise along for few hours like happy little campers when low and behold, and are you really surprised, the truck sputters and dies.  Yep…the new old truck with a clean inspection by dealer and independent mechanic died on the side of the highway.  I really do have nothing to say at this time, only racking my brain wondering what I did to deserve this.  I really have been on good behavior and have tried to be a nice person.  I’m thinking it’s because I’ve told the hotels I had one dog instead of 4.  That’s it, my trying to sneak in extra dogs is the culprit.  We limp along (we’re getting quite good at this limping on the side of the highway thing) and land in a town called Fillmore, Utah.  Of course, it’s Sunday so will there be anyone around who can help us?  We find a little gas station with a mechanics bay whose doors are open.  Yes, we think, someone who might help. Turns out the young kid in there had no idea about anything other than how to open the bay door.  Walk over to another gas station with a little store.  They know just who to call and in a matter of minutes a mobile mechanic shows up in a 1979 green Mustang with oversize rear tires and loud.  I am in Chevy Chase movie, I’m sure of it now.  We suspected the throttle position sensor (for those of you unaware, there is such a thing as a sensor that tells the motor when you’re pressing on the throttle and it needs to send fuel to the motor. I know this because I’ve dealt with it before.  Older cars are much simpler, think I’ll get an old truck at this point).  He believes as we do but lets us know that his shop won’t be open until tomorrow (Monday).  Meanwhile I’ve been on the phone frantically searching for yet another fairgrounds to put the horses.  As luck would have it, is it really luck at all, the nice little town of Fillmore has a fairgrounds with horse stalls.    Nice mechanic tells us how to get there and we’re only a few miles away.  Yet again setting off in limp mode we make our way to the fairgrounds, get the horses settled in, trailer dropped, etc.  The truck can limp along at a top speed of about 20 so we go through town at the warp speed of 20 and find a hotel with instructions to be at the service shop in the morning.  Where else would we be going?

Day 10 –         Find hotel and get dinner.  I’m pretty sure the hostess is related to Ben Jam In.  Next morning up and early moving along at our warping 20 mph we make it to the shop where we encounter more nice people.  Yep…low and behold the throttle position sensor is bad.  Also, the batteries are bad so new batteries are installed and a TPS is ordered.  Won’t be there til the next morning. At this point I have been on the phone with dealer we purchased truck from letting them know that it’d be nice that if they check off belts and batteries as being good on their inspection that maybe they should actually LOOK at them.  So, here we are in Fillmore, UT with a day and night to kill. With nothing else pressing on our schedule we decide to ride our horses and had a very pleasant ride, a small salvation to another day filled with disbelief and exasperation.

Day 11 –         Who Hoo….truck fixed and runs like a champ.  Still apprehensive as I load up trailer and horses not ready to believe that we might actually get home.  Yep…the one thing I refused to say out loud during the whole trip happened, blew a tire on the horse trailer. Not even remotely surprised we go about changing tire.  Luckily or not luckily we are well versed in tire changing and in had a new tire on and going in 7 minutes.  Ok…..holding my breath we go again.  Thinking I now have no spare tire for the trailer I better be smart (again) and stop at first tire shop I see and get the blown tire replaced.  On the road an hour or so into going there is some trash blowing around on the freeway, low and behold a white napkin gets stuck under our windshield wiper, almost like a surrender flag.  We leave it there for several hours afraid to remove it.

We travel several hours of no issues…almost ready to breathe.  Know we are getting low on fuel so plan on hitting next station which is just 20 miles away when we hit completely stopped traffic on the highway.  So, here we sit in Idaho on the highway going nowhere and I’m running through the scenarios of how we idle for so many hours we run out of fuel entirely because why not?  Traffic starts slowly rolling and as we go by the completely burned out nice motor home I tell myself to be thankful that’s not us and I feel for the poor people whose motor home it was, I think their day was worse than ours.

Day 12 –         It’s after midnight so it’s technically day 12.  Still rolling along after playing the alphabet game so many times I don’t even know the alphabet anymore.  1am, home!  OMG…are we really home, I’m not convinced.

So here I sit a few days later still not convinced.  I’ve dared to venture out only for necessities like food.  The pickup I started with is still in 5 states away waiting for the two shops to coordinate the repairs. Not sure when I’ll see my truck again.  The dealer who did the initial service is responsible for the repairs. I won’t bore you with what broke, how and why it’s so damn difficult to find the replacement part.  New old truck is sitting happily in my driveway while I decide its fate. For now I need a truck so it stays but it better remain on good behavior!

One thing I take away from this trip is how many nice and odd people we met along the way.  Restored my faith in humans, or most of them.  While things could have been so much worse it was a huge lesson in character building and being grateful for little things like places to keep our horses, etc. However, my usual zest for road trips is somewhat dimmed. And to think it all started with “Daddy can you bring me a horse”.

Addendum:

A couple weeks after we got home we decided to go to a local horse show that’s close by.  On the way home as I’m following the hubby and horse trailer in my car I watch in amazement as one of the wheels flies off the horse trailer and flies through the air over the telephone lines and lands in a yard.  I was just sure the wheel and tire would hit a house or something.  My husband is unaware of this and of course his cell phone is dead so I can’t call and tell him to stop.  I stop to pick up the wheel and tire.  The entire assembly came off the trailer and there is no way I can pick this up by myself so I wait in the middle of the road with my flashers on hoping someone will stop and help me.  We live in a rural area so it didn’t take long for a farmer to come by and help me lift the wheel and tire.  I get home and ask the hubby if he noticed anything.  He didn’t so I pointed to the side of the trailer where two wheels and tires should be and now there’s only one.  So, the axle itself broke.  Not something simple or fairly inexpensive to fix, the entire axle has to be replaced and it’s not cheap.  What a fitting way to cap off the last few weeks.  I sold the new old truck a month later after I got my truck home.

 

 

WTF & Random Thoughts

Do you go through your day and multiple times think WTF?  I do at least a hundred times a day. It’s probably closer to a million times a day but I don’t want to feel completely insane.

Last night I had to get something out of the freezer in the garage and was too lazy to walk over to turn on the light switch.  I found my way to freezer just fine but then I opened the freezer and had to feel my way around which lead to the thought “WTF, why don’t freezers have lights that come on like fridges do?”  This is the kind of stuff that’ll keep me awake at night.

Speaking of keeping awake at night, my husband normally snores, really loud.  Well his snoring is staying right on track but now I don’t feel like I can nudge him to roll over since it’ll hurt (from a recent minor surgery) for him to move so I lay there silently wondering “WTF did I do to deserve this?  Is it not enough that coyotes, dogs, and random ridiculousness wake me up at all hours I also get to sleep next to someone who should have been a lumberjack?”

Another WTF I have is why do people freak the f out when they come upon a round about while driving?  You’d think they just saw space ship land they way they screech to a halt and stare blankly wondering how to proceed.  It boggles my mind and makes me murderous.  If you ever see a news story about some chick who lost her shit on someone at a round about, that’ll be me.

Share your WTF’s and random thoughts.  Please reassure me I’m not the only one who has random WTF’s.