Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Due to everything going on, I haven't been able to get on the email much, so for those of you who've emailed with moral support - many thanks to you!  I'm not sure just how many groups my friend, teammate and boarder; Cheryl, had posted the events of Thanksgiving week too - so here's a brief rundown of what occured - and how we're trying to move on....

As some of you know, my husband is a very big-hearted man - who as director of the large christain camp system 'Mountain top' for ten years, made the habit of helping deserving homeless and poor couples/families get back on their feet. And for all those ten years of hireing them at the camps and giving dozens of families/couples food/lodging - he had only reaped the benefits of watching them go from poor/homeless - to working, and proud homeowners.   It'd been almost a decade since he'd been able to do this, and for him, just donating money to organizations is not fulfilling... So he decided to do this on our farm...

So we 'hired' a homeless couple, bought them a camper to live in. They were very hard workers, and the man was a real handy man... With jobs from us, as well as odd-jobs from friends of ours, they were building up a decent amount of cash - and they were both now talking about future plans of careers - instead of just how to survive tomorrow..

Well, while the lady was staying with my father-in-law (having medication change issues - so she took over the running of his home and kept an eye on him)... The man 'David', decided to pay us back for all of our hospitality... We came home to our beautiful Dodge 2500 gone and with it - most of my saddles and most of Danny's extensive tool collection...

So Thanksgiving was a wonderful week of police reports, insurance forms - and making arrangements for the lady to go to a rescue mission (police/father-in-law don't think she was involved - but we just couldn't take the chance that she might call him when we'd replaced everything....) We haven't finished the process, so we haven't gotten a replacement truck nor tools yet - but with my 'emergency CC' we went to Bedford Tack that Friday and purchased enough saddles so that I could give my riding lessons on Sat (my only source of income)  The owner of Bedford Tack is a truly wonderful man!

A few things to be thankful for: We had changed our homeowners just a year prior to include 'replacement cost' - and Farm Bureau is replacing the saddles as well as the tools.... We had kept full coverage on our two 'most valuable' vehicles - one of which was the '99 Dodge.. Geico has been very prompt - and after 20 days, we'll receive our first 'settlement proposal' - which can be negotiated if we find enough same model/mileage Dodges for sale for more....I do feel, that our horse trailer and some horses would've been gone - had the horse trailer not had so many memorable, humorous and somewhat obnoxious sayings painted all over it - along with the farm name, phone # (w/area code).. So the replacement truck WILL have the farm name/# professionally done on the doors....Maybe a funny saying as well..

So now, instead of giving to 'human charities' - This has convinced my husband that I was right about 'animal charities'.... We've just rescued three kitties from 'death row' - and after the insurance settles - the small local humane society will receive catfood every month when I purchase the farm's feed.... After all, cats/dogs can't drive off in my car!

- Laura