Luke and Erin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Well, I didn't wake up with gum in my hair, but I did wake up to the third day in a row of temperatures above 95 and high humidity as well. Let's just say high heat makes me feel sick and it affects Luke's brain in about the same way it affects my stomach... but off to work we both went, about 8:00am.

When we arrived at the barn Paladin had lost a shoe and the weekend had been crazy so the barn was a mess. The summer help we hired to work Sunday nights is not working out so well, so there were many things left undone and the things that had been done were not done well. Judy, our faithful morning person, was behind in chores from having to pick up the slack and already drenched in sweat from the heat, so I jumped in to help her and Luke agreed to come back later (after meeting with a vet about another horse) to put Paladin's shoe back on. Things out of place, a couple of horses with cuts and scrapes, mess everywhere... but we motored through and were finishing up by about 11:30am. There were some hay wagons parked in the arena and it was blazing hot outside so I decided to leave for a few hours, do horse laundry at the laundromat and go home for the worst of the heat, then return in the evening and ride. Estimated time of departure: 12:00pm.

Nope! Luke called and said he was on his way to put Paladin's shoe on and put hay out in the pastures, so I stayed to help. New ETD: 1:oopm. Just before Luke arrived, Eric (Jamie's husband) and some workers from the dairy farm arrived to stack the hay on the wagons in the hay barn, and they were using the tractor needed to put hay out in the pastures! So Luke decided to help them finish. I figured since I would be waiting, I might as well ride. By 2:00pm I had the horse groomed and saddled and my riding clothes on, and Luke was ready to do hay! So I help him, we agreed that he would come back in the evening when it was cooler to do Paladin's shoe, and he finally headed off to his "regular" Monday job of carpentry. I decided that since I was riding one horse I might as well get the few necessary horses done, so I'd have 3 to ride, head home for 5 hrs. or so and then return to do night check. New ETD: 4:30pm.

The horses were all very good, I happily packed my things, excited to be heading home to get out of the heat. Nope! The lock button on my ignition would not pop up. I fiddled and fiddled, but to no avail. I tried to call Luke, but only got his voicemail (his phone has not been holding a charge lately, so is often plugged into his truck where he can't hear it). I decided to wait for him to call when he finished work and started helping with evening chores since I was at the barn anyway.

6pm, still no return phone call so I called again, several times, without any luck. Fiddled some more. Yay, I got the button to pop up! Oh no, now it won't release back down for the key to turn and the car won't come out of reverse! More phone calls, still no answer. So, I decided to drag the arena since that needed to be done and I was there. Got halfway done, when the 4-wheeler started to run out of gas... run to the utility room, hmm, all the gas cans are empty! So now it's 7pm, the 4-wheeler is stuck in the middle of the arena, I'm stuck at the barn and still can't get ahold of Luke. I start cleaning stalls since I'm there anyway.

7:30pm, FINALLY the phone rings! It's Luke! "Are you still stuck?" "Yes." "Sorry, I didn't have my phone on me." No kidding.... =P Luke arrives and fiddles with the ignition. Checks the manual. Checks the repair handbook in the trunk. Takes everything around the ignition apart, but discovers you can't actually get to the ignition without putting the car up on a lift and getting underneath it (for those of you who are confused by this, the ignition on Saabs is in front of the middle console, in between the driver and passenger's front seats. You don't want to know what Luke thinks of this design...). So, we give up and go home, tired, hot, defeated. Luke is ready to break my car at this point. Actual time of departure: 8:30pm. Yep, my short day turned into over 12 hrs. at the barn in the heat.

10:30pm, we head back to the barn to do night check after Luke has done some online research. He manages, somehow, to get my car to start! Afraid to turn it off, we leave it running until we're done (I don't want to know how much gas that cost us...) and then head home, finally getting home for good at 11:30pm. I turn the car off but not all the way to the lock position and leave the keys in it overnight. Early this morning we drove it up to the Saab mechanic and left it there until he has a chance to work on it.

Luke vows he is buying me a new car as soon as possible, and he also vows that we will never own another Saab again. Too bad, I kind of like my quirky little car...

Looking back on the day now, it's almost comical - like a comedy of errors, or a "fortunately, unfortunately" day. I'm sure there are several lessons in there somewhere, probably at least one of them about patience.

Today it's supposed to be 100 here with severe thunderstorms this afternoon, chance of hail, winds up to 70mph and a tornado watch! No riding today! So I'm home cleaning house and remembering to be thankful for all the good gifts we have been given, even when they cause us frustration and angst.