Monday, October 12, 2009

Where did that tree come from?

Looking at this pic, taken Saturday in the sunshine, you are not immediately alarmed, are you? The only obvious damage I see here is a shattered light fixture between the second and third windows. And I just know to look for it.

This all started on Friday when a tree got all uppity and picked a fight with Mack Daddy.

What tree, you ask? So did I. I met it when it attacked the Mack Daddy trailer on Friday.

It is not like I have not met it before. Hell, I planted it when we first moved here. I made Barry trim it when we got this trailer--as it is way too big for our driveway, and the trees made a canopy over our driveway. I made him furrow them out so the trailer would be safe. We also had to have the driveway widened to make the turn to get on the property at all.

I must have forgotten all that.

When I was trying to leave to go camping Friday, I was being SO careful with the left side of the trailer so I did not get off the driveway and get stuck in the mud. It was not the first unfortunate episode I had with the trailer last week, trying to avoid mud interference. The first one was just a pain in the ass, but this one is going to cost.

Somehow, in all that being careful with the left side, the right side of the trailer went berserk. I was creeping around the turn of the drive, and straightening up--going very slowly---when I saw in the rear view mirror that the trailer seemed to be hanging a little wonky. Being all super careful, like I am--I stopped to see about it. Despite the raining, I stopped.

And that is when I saw that the trailer had slid off the right side of the drive and was buried in mud halfway up the tire. Much more damage was being done by the tree that had jumped out and assaulted the awning on the trailer. It ripped it right away from the trailer--the awning was still rolled up like it should be, but the rear arm was ripped off, a huge spring was sticking out-it was a hell of a mess. The front arm was folded forward so that it was parallel with the nose of the trailer--I still cannot figure out what that was about.

I could feel the panic attack coming on. I absolutely HATE that feeling. I know I have to let it come, then talk myself down from it, and it won't kill me, but I hate that spinning out of control feeling I get when I have really f'ed something up.

I called Barry in Chicago, who had very little to offer than asking me WTF I had done, as he could not comprehend the situation. That might have been due to me freaking right the hell out squealing and squeaking and trying not to hyperventilate, but I am pretty sure I failed at that.

Next, I called Head who was already gone. He made his regular sounds he makes when I pull a stunt, but had some suggestions on how to get the rest of the hardware off of the trailer so I could move it. But for that, I would still be there.



Miraculously, this appears to be the only significant dent--it is above the rear window in the stud stall. And you cannot see it in this pic, but that window is shattered. As is at least one more, maybe two more. To the right of that window, you can see the discolored part--that is a dirt track where the awning used to be attached. You can also see how the frame of the mid-tack door is jacked up. It could not be opened.

This is the following day. See the remnants of the awning? Those are there because the only thing holding the awning was the material, so I had to cut it off. Because I can never find anything that I need when I need it, I used a handy dandy steak knife to cut that bad boy off. That is the same knife I used to stab myself in the thumb all the way to the bone last week, but that is another story.

Anyway, since the awning was high up in the air, I had to drive the lawnmower over there and stand on it to hack away at that fool awning to get it to come away from the trailer. I thought the weight of most of it coming down would help me bend the other remaining wrong. I was wrong about that.

In the midst of it, Madison called and asked in the saddest voice if I was still coming to get her. I am telling you, had she not been looking so forward to this trip, I would have left it all in the drive and gone inside and gotten drunk and gone to bed. But she was, so I had to plug away. I asked her to have her mom bring me some bolt cutters and she did. And thank God--between my secret stash of wrenches that I bought for just me and hid from Barry so he did not lay them down and lose them somewhere, and the heavy duty bolt cutters, I chewed through that remaining arm and got that thing off of there. Still in the rain--and still freezing, of course.

Oh- did I mention it was raining? And cold? so by the time I got to that stage, my boots were soaked through and of course my workout pants were not much protection from the weather


So I got there. No more incidents. Even got the notorious questionable loaders--Hawk and Hammer--loaded in the trailer in the road (you don't think I was driving into another driveway do you?) in the rain with every jackass in the country side driving by at Mach 2. It was dark by the time we arrived. I got there, pulled up, put it in park, got out and walked away. Head took care of everything for me--he situated the trailer for me, already had the picket line up just waiting for my horses--he did it all. And thank God, because I was so relieved to be there I could have collapsed.

Saturday morning, he worked on the mid-tack door so it would open. The frame had to be beat around a bit, so he hammered and chiseled and made it better. He could open it then--me not so much, but I could not put a huge amount of oomph into it either as my elbow is still pretty weak. It just sets off sometimes. I just left that open, and used the screen door, and forgot all about it.
See the frame and the gouge in it? and how it is bent down at the top? Does not look like a big deal but made it completely inoperable. Since I had chucked a bunch of stuff in there to avoid standing in the rain, and planned to organize when I got there, it was a Godsend that he could get it open for me. Otherwise, I would have been dragging saddles through the bathroom or the stud stall--whose connector door is acting a little wonky too. The trailer dealer said that I could not have wacked it hard enough at less than ten miles an hour to have caused that problem, so I am putting that out of my mind for now. Let them deal with it later.

The rest of the weekend was nice. I have lots of pictures of the goings on, but am so busy trying to get ready to go on my trip Wednesday nite that I do not have time to play with them tonight. I worked an extra 3 hours to catch up on things today, so I am hours behind tonight. On a good note, after I got the insurance claim started--and man was it nice to remember I pay those big premiums for a reason--and the dealership contacted to make plans--I was able to put it out of my mind for a few hours. Until I came home and saw awning carcass littering the lane, that is

9 comments:

BS said...

well it use to be my fancy new horse trailer. Res ipsa loquitur

Unknown said...

Aw, BS - Now it is just 'customized'!

Sorry this happened paige. Glad you did have a good weekend afterwards and thank goodness for Head - everyone needs a friend like that!

Holly said...

ah well, stuff happens ya know and nobody got hurt so it's all fixable.

Easy for me to say, hard for you to deal with. Good thing you've got a job and insurance...that's what they are for!

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Wow what a crappy evening!!! I'm glad your weekend got better!! Hope you have a good trip this week!!

Anonymous said...

A friend in NEED is FRIEND indeed!

Good grief! wha a weekend! ! !

Enjoy anyhow Carol

Ice Pony Girl said...

Goodness! I lost the awning on my RV a few years ago, but it was the darn wind that attacked my RV!

The Wife said...

Oh my! Hate those evil trees!

"awning carcass" LOL

Shelley said...

You sure have left your mark. :) Well, at least you were the first to put a dent in your new trailer.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Ack! I'm amazed that you were able to put it out of your mind to have a good time, most of all. I would have been so upset I'd have been sick and stressed and unable to enjoy myself at all. I'm glad you did have a good time, though. My! You're an accident waiting to happen. You stabbed a knife into your thumb, too?!

Where is that Do-Over button when you need it?!

~Lisa

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