NOTE: I promised Linda to post this on Saturday, but was simply too worn out from Friday to actually accomplish the task. I admit to some feeling blue about the listing for sale of the Mountain Farmlet, and to a bit of inconvenience after my hand surgery. My hand is very much better now! So here it is Monday and I am posting to you after a month-long blogging hiatus. Thanks for the nudge, Linda. 🙂
About Friday
I got up with Bob at 3:30. He’s been getting up that early to do my chores, and then kept it up even after I was able to do them myself so as to beat the heat here. His shop is not air-conditioned and it has been sweltering there! (110 deg. on one day) And why did I get up so early? To go up to the Mtn. Farmlet and clean floors before a potential buyer arrives at noon.
So I got ready and let the animals out at twilight. Trust me the geese were very confused! Then I got the dogs into the car and was driving away. Only I forgot to lock the front door. Normally I would have turned around, because it is the sensible thing to do, but being so early I didn’t want to disturb my neighbor by using her driveway. So I backed down the street. Great I thought as I slipped of the pavement and missed the barrier that keeps others from doing the same to us in driveway that was and is no more. (Yes truly and it was once a night with high beams into the bedroom window!) Anyway, I began turning the wheel to get the truck back onto the street, I really should have pulled forward, and instantly I heard the horrible sound of metal on metal. I FORGOT THE MAILBOX! Now I pulled forward. Needless to say the pole is a bit tilted, the box is crushed and I now have a three-foot, blackened scratch over the wheel well and leading to the back of the truck.
So at least the 100 mile drive there was uneventful. 🙂
At 8:30 I parked out front under the shade of the big oak, grabbed the house keys, put my purse on the seat, told the dogs they would have to wait till I unlocked the house, my hand is still too weak to handle them and unlock the house, and then I would be right back for them. I punched the lock out of habit and slammed the door shut. Old habits die hard. Now my purse, my phone, the truck keys, My AAA towing service card and the dogs are safely locked up inside the truck .
Looking for a phone I hiked a quarter-mile up the hill to see if my closest neighbors were at home. Nope. So then I walked downhill for about 3/4 mile to see if any other neighbors were home. I finally reached a neighbor at the bridge who was home and she let me call Bob long distance to let him know what had happened. He didn’t answer because he didn’t recognize the number. However, he did get my message. I hung up and called the sheriff to see if they could help and let them know my dogs were locked in the car. The dispatcher said she would send someone out… It is now about 9:00 by the clock on the neighbor’s wall. I thank her for her kindness and leave to make the hike back up to the truck.
I wait for a very long time. I’m getting very hot sitting in the shade of the font porch and keep checking the dogs to see how they are doing. The are sleeping but wake up when I get to the truck window. They are panting but their tongues look good; *not turning dark. I am getting panicky because it has been almost two hours and no one has shown up yet. I’m looking for a big rock.
I hesitate, find a rock that looks like it will work, hesitate, think of the best window to break, hesitate again, and then hear the roar of a very large vehicle coming around the bend. “Tow truck?” I thought; It was! It is now 11:10, the dogs are saved, the window is not smashed and I am ready to do battle with cabin floors. On the back porch I let myself in and I ear a man’s voice shouting hello. It is the Sheriff! I tell him that AAA had just left and that everything is now OK.
“OK, Mam”, he said and turning he left.
I was not prepared for what I found. Because there are no kitties left up there, and because we have not been there for several months to work… the rats came. I will not go into details, but gloved and armed with broom, mop and many fresh buckets of bleach water I set to work. I finished about an hour and a half later and was bringing a large lawn and leaf bag of stuff out to the garbage cans, when I saw the people who were there to view the property.
Yikes! I was glad I got done in time, but I was a sight. My shirt was sticking to me, my hair was hanging in wet strings, and my face was red, salt streaked, and over all I was just dirty. I was a hot mess. Oh well, I thought, they didn’t know me from a cleaning service and besides they came to see the property not me. Right?
Up pulls the realtor and getting out of the car yells over a friendly greeting to me, “Hello, I see you’ve met the [viewers] already! Maybe you could show them what you’ve done to the place and what your plans were for it.”
I smile, “OK.” I said.
I told them about the house, some of the more interesting trees on the property, the deer that pass through regularly in season, and about the lovely neighbors. In my mind I am thinking that anyone who buys this place will take a bulldozer to it and start new, but once they sign on the dotted line it is theirs to do with as they will…
Hot, sticky and tired beyond imagining, I load the newly hydrated dogs and myself into the car and head for home. Two hours later I pull into the drive, look at the tattered mailbox, sigh, and let the dogs out before locking the door. Bob greets us on the porch tells us that he called AAA for me. I smile and think, what a sweetheart. ❤
After a good hot shower I go out to gather eggs and found this.
I think one of the chickens has sent me a message. I take her point and cheer up.
~*~
And because you should know this – here are the
12 Signs of overheating in dogs:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/06/08/pet-overheating-symptoms.aspx
Life on the Farmlet 