Ditch Visitor

Let's just say the day didn't work out like I'd hoped.

When I got up in the morning, I called the weather hotline to see what was up with the schools. While the temps were high, the ground was ice, and as it turned out, buses were delayed by an hour. Darling would be happy with an extra hour of sleep.

While I normally would drive her around the corner on these dark, cold mornings, she walked to the bus stop on late arrival days, and this morning was no exception. Once she left the house I got busy with my routine. Feed horses, come inside and check email, read a few blogs, post on facebook. And in the middle of my routine I received a text message from Darling.

"How long do I need to stay down here and wait?"

What? She was still at the bus stop? I told her to come home, thank you. The bus ought to have picked her up 20 minutes ago. All we could figure is that her driver was running early. I took one look a the roads and decided Darling could have an ice day. I do not drive on slick as snot, icy roads, thank you.

The morning slipped into afternoon before I knew it, and it was raining a sleet like substance when I went outside to clean stalls. I figured it was too nasty to do much work with Tika, but that I'd pull her blanket off and brush her once I finished my chores.

While loading up my wheelbarrow, I heard a big thud from out near the house. I peeked out the window of Tika's stall, thinking I'd see the UPS truck or something, as it'd sounded like a door. But there was nothing but a pick up slowly driving past out on the road. Silly guy, driving on the ice...

I went back to picking, then started out towards the compost pile. THUD. What the heck? I looked out toward the road. While there are few leaves left on trees at this point, we've still got a brushy barrier up between us and the road, so I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Was that the roof of a car? Or was I simply seeing a snow covered patch on the other side of the road?

I set the wheelbarrow down and walked closer. Sure enough, there was a car in the ditch, laying neatly on it's side at a 45 degree angle. The young driver had just climbed out and was attempting to call a tow truck. I asked if he was okay, and yes, he was. Did he need anything? No, but thank you, just trying to get the truck to pull him out.

I went back to cleaning. Once done, I thought I'd put on some hot water and offer the ditch visitor a hot chocolate. With the water on, I ventured back outside to see if he'd like a cup, but he declined...though he said perhaps his girlfriend would. What? You've got a passenger in there? Well, get her out of that lopsided car and come inside to wait for the truck.

So my afternoon was spent entertaining a quiet college couple, learning all about them, and trying to put them at ease as they sat inside a stranger's house. By the time the tow truck came, I'd lost my desire to stand outside in the rain with my horse. Besides, she was looking way to snug as a bug in a rug inside that blanket of hers. I surely didn't want to remove my coat, and I doubt she wanted to remove hers!