SNAFU

[TddWil@aol.com]

Y'all know what that means - well I almost went back to bed today, but that wouldn't be in the endurance spirit... I got up on time and things looked good, both horses still had 4 legs and no trees had fallen on the rig. So I packed up and waited for my 'rider' to show up. Then the phone rings, she overslept. So I tell her to meet me 4 miles from my house at the farm where my friend boards, so we can pack his stuff and load his horse while we wait. So then I turn the key on my state of the art only has 235,000 miles truck and it just won't start. Turns over almost too fast like the timing chain (belt, gear, whatever) has gone to the great beyond. I check the obvious but pronounce it dead on the scene. Call friend to say I will be late, he says his wife took car to store, he has no way to get to barn (dead truck), I say I'll pick him up if she doesn't get home soon.  OK, so the horses are in the trailer and they are in need of a tow... how convenient, hubby took the minivan (an even bigger pice of s%$# than the truck) and left his shiny 1999 E350 work van. So now to move the dead truck, no biggy, put it in first and turn the key - what idiot put this stupid safety switch on my clutch! So I'm gonna push a 4600 lb. truck, not! So, tie rope to truck and tow out of way with van, with help of unsuspecting neighbor. So, now we look for the hitch, need the one with a slight drop, one on the truck won't work. Still looking, and looking... call hubby and ask where did he put it- "if its not under the pile of junk by the shed door, look around the pile of junk next to the shed." There it is, perched on the pile. Hook up lights, don't work. Decide to drive 4 miles to barn anyway and use arm out window to signal. Get to barn, friend pulls in, load 3rd horse and pack stuff. Cell phone rings, rider is lost. They just changed our county roads from 3 digit numbers to names. I know the numbers, but not the names. So she's looking at signs at a crossroad and I have no idea where she is. Fortunately, someone listening did, so they told her to stay put and they retrieved her. My friend got the lights working. So, off to get some caffeine and hit the road, to where we hadn't decided yet. Get a soda, and on the second sip the lid comes off and dumps a 'super jumbo size' Mr. Pibb all over me and the floor of hubby's van. &%&^!  Pull over and sweep the ice out with a wisk broom, dab up the lake with some napkins. OK, so lets go somewhere good to ride if thats how life is gonna be today, so we decide to go to Tuckahoe, which has a lot of steep but short (around 50 ft) ups and downs as it runs along a river. Lots of mud, knee knocker trees, water crossings, and the worst part of the trail is at the beginning, when the horses are fresh and crazy, and the end, when a tired horse would find it hard. And I had a great ride. Go figure. Rode hard and the horse never was pushed. I didn't get tired either. Actually got home in one piece, and my travelling companions found some Absolut nestled in among the tools and junk - medicinal purposes - I stuck to Mr. Pibb. And when I got home my husband said the 'dead' truck started right up. I don't know if he believes my story...

                                          Shelly in DE