I just had a super lucky and fun start to the month, with one of my best friends Hales (or "Lauren," as she prefers to go by) coming to visit me for almost a whole week. Hales said that she would write about our adventure on her own blog, and since my camera battery died shortly into the week, I figured I'd just wait for her post, then link it here for you to read about our adventures :) (way to be an extremely lazy blogger, eh? ha). However, here is a teaser pic of us in San Francisco to prove that it really happened:
After Hales left, I had to give all my finals and enjoy a week of end-of-the-quarter paperwork (I swear, I'll never get used to the quarter system!).
On Weds of this week, I decided that I needed to get out of my office and enjoy the sunshine by helping Fletcher, one of my student managers, move some yearlings to their new pasture. We decided to take 4 of them at a time, which, in hindsight, was probably not the best idea. Since we were moving them to a new area of the ranch, they were a little spooky. Throw in an impromptu flock of ducks, and the result is bolting horses that drag you across the gravel and step on you as you are trying to let go of them.
So I rolled my ankle pretty badly in the incident. I had the foresight to remove my boot before my ankle started to swell too much so that the ER wouldn't have to cut it off (horse people: never underestimate the ability of the ER staff to want to cut off your very expensive boots! I think it gives them secret pleasure, because it always seems to be their remedy for everything!). After a while of debating whether or not my foot always looked that crooked on my leg, I decided an X-ray probably wouldn't be a bad idea.
The good news is that nothing is broken! The bad news is.....that nothing is broken. Which means that things are sprained. Pretty significantly. So I have been on crutches for the week (still not even close to weight bearing) and have an appointment with an orthopedist on Monday for a follow up since this is what my ankle looked like today still (I think it looks hilarious, by the way....like an elephant leg or something!):
Before "the incident," I had made plans to travel north on Saturday (today) for a secret mission. It's secret because I don't want to reveal the purpose of this mission until it is successfully completed. However, today was a major failure.
I will tell you this: the mission involved a horse trailer and our Cal Poly farm truck (an F-350 flatbed crew cab). Now would also be a great time to mention that this truck JUST got back from the shop LAST WEEK for transmission issues.
The day started out fine. Angie (one of my students) went on this quest with me (since I am on crutches still). We should have known this would be a failure from the start. Angie accidentally ate moldy bread and freaked out thinking she was going to die, it rained cats and dogs (literally so strong that I couldn't see 3 feet in front of the truck) for about 30 minutes straight, and a highway patrol car watched me fly by him and followed me for about 20 miles (thank goodness for State of CA plates!).
So it was no surprise when the truck all of a sudden decided that it could no longer move forward while we were climbing a low grade in the middle of Mexican farm country. Seriously, in the middle of the hills. With tumbleweeds (they exist!!) and not a soul in sight. Oh boy.
Fortunately, it chose to die right at a pull-out area, so we were safe from traffic and out of the way. At this point, we are about 2 hours north of SLO/Cal Poly. So we arrange for another truck to come get us and the horse trailer, and I call around trying to find a tow truck company in the area that speaks semi-English (not joking).
Once our rescue plan was established, Angie and I realize that the tow company can't come get us now....we would be stuck on the side of the road with just a horse trailer for two hours. So I brush up on my Spanglish and tell them to wait until we call them.
Three hours later our ride finally arrives (due to some errors on our part in giving directions....whoops...). Thank goodness Angie had her computer with her! I finally got to watch the movie "A-Team." Stellar.
While unhooking and rehooking the trailer, I am trying to convey to the Spanish-speaking tow company where we are located, which is difficult, since I didn't know where we were exactly. Now would be a great time to point out that if you got a call from me on Saturday afternoon and did not answer your phone, I am slightly ill with you. I think I seriously called about 15 people in a row with NO ANSWERS trying to find someone near a computer to help us figure out where the heck we were on the map. Thank the Good Lord for Sarah Elzinga and her ability to answer the phone :)
Needless to say, the tow truck company didn't understand me, and we had to wait about another hour for them. Once they arrived, they did not speak ONE WORD of English. So trying to convey that we were not following them to the shop and that the university-owned vehicle was NOT to be worked on at all this weekend took some time (and possibly a drawing in the sand with a stick.....).
We did end up safe at home (9 hours after our departure....), and I learned a few things this week:
1. When horses are bolting, just let go of them. They are, after all, bigger than you.
2. I hate ducks.
3. I forgot how awesome Percoset is.
4. Crutches give you an excellent excuse to go home early from work to watch some NCAA basketball tourney action.
5. Forget my 2012 bucket list item #6 "Become fluent in Italian." I am officially changing this to "become functional in Spanish," because I swear you have to know this language to survive on the central coast of CA.
Hasta luego amigos!
Alaina
Food for thought:
Leave an encouraging (and anonymous) post-it note for someone this week (maybe on the bathroom mirror at work, or in a coworkers mailbox!)
What do you know about the history of St. Patrick's Day?
No comments:
Post a Comment