Help for Pam... Finally

So... Pam was stuck in the mud in my backyard for a couple of weeks. I was waiting for it to dry up outside so I could move her, but it only caused me to tare up my yard a little more each time. So one sunny  Sunday, I had a mini-pep rally in the house and I ran outside with hopes of moving her...

And it didn't work out.

So I called the local tow truck company.

Back up, now. I called a tow truck company a week prior to this, but they said "Nope! We're not playing in the mud today."

I told them that they only had to move it a few feet. They didn't care. I called another company and they said it was too late. (It was near dusk. And I live in the hood. They are definitely not having that!)

Anyway, I called the same company back on the following sunny Sunday, and they came out and towed my car out of the mud.

How simple was that?

It took all of 2 minutes to tow my car out of the mud.

And here's how my yard looks afterward.

Ugh. So I will spread that out and go buy some grass seed and hay and work it out. It should be a good learning opportunity. Can an oldgirl grow fresh pretty green grass where there once was grass? We shall see.

Oh, I tried to get my car out with some cardboard leveraging. No, I didn't have rocks and plywood.  Only cardboard. And cardboard looks like plywood, right?

And look what it caused:

Wet cardboard stuffed all under my car. Yuck.

Then I finally manged to get it out from under the car.

I tried to wash water off my wheels with my water hose. That didn't work out.

The wheels are still muddy.

Oh joy.

My driveway is muddy. 

Oh joy.            

And I did something silly: I used a pushbroom to push all the muddy water off the driveway. And you see the results.

Ugh!!

So you know what and how I feel about all of this...

...It's a high class problem. 

I think back to my mini-pep rally in the house, singing hard and fast about how I was gonna get my car out of the backyard. No, I didn't go back there and simply get it out. I had to call a tow truck. It costs $75  to do so.

Any which way it goes, it is out. Pam is out of the backyard.

I haven't driven her yet. And it's been two weeks since she's been out of the backyard. No I haven't driven her. I just wanted to have her back in the driveway.

Now if that ain't a high class issue, I don't know what is. In other words, there is no need for me to gripe and complain about it. No indeed.

She may need a repair. I'm not sure. She has to pass emissions. The engine light goes on and off. So I have to get the emissions while the light is off. This means that I need to sneak and drive her for a week without the police chasing me down and giving me a ticket.

I will work that out.

I'm just glad Pam is no longer stuck in the mud!

Of Pam and Motorcycles

So my car Pam has a few isshas from time to time.

That's her from her good side. The other side... well the tires have no hubcaps. I need to drive her more. Right now I may put around 500 miles a year on her.  I am sorry, but I have become a little more high class now. I like Lucy Jr. the Lexus' leather. Yes I do. But I jump in Pam every once in awhile.

Recently she needed some new front tires. It looks as if there were some dry rot issues.  They were REALLY old.  I bought some new tires a few years ago, but I like to buy two at a time.  That same day my brake switch broke. That's not that big of a deal. It is responsible for the brake lights going on and off. And with it broken, the lights stay on.

I could drive it, but I would have to unhook the battery for the night so the brake lights wouldn't drain the battery.

No big deal. I just order the part off of amazon. It is only $40.

So my cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre's father "Daddy Cre" takes care of that. Here he is the last time.

I am not limber enough to take care of all that. So when it broke this time, I called him up early on a Saturday morning. He told me to come on over. So I had to jump out of bed and shower and hightail it on over there before he left out for the day.

They only live 10 minutes away. So I made it over there in 9 minutes, lol.

Anyway, I like to go on in the house and chat it up with Momma Cre while Daddy Cre fixes my car.

And I like perusing the beautifully framed pictures on the dining room wall.

If you go in many black family homes these days, there will be pictures of the Obamas up on the wall. There is a nice one on the wall there:

That is nice...

But the pictures that draw me like a magnet are the ones of Daddy Cre... on his motorcycle.

That's a cool picture right there.

But this next picture is the coolest of all...

Now that is an awesome picture. I love it!

"I think I took those pictures," Cowgirl Cre said, when I asked her permission to post them.

I can believe that. And I can hear him now. "Hold on Cre, let me put my foot up. Let me lean over. Now take the picture."

*Cre snaps picture*

And that was long before the advent of digital cameras and cell phone cameras. Those pictures are from cameras loaded with film. And the film had to be developed by the drug store's photo department.

Those pictures will never get old. They are full of character and originality.

And Cowgirl Cre said, "That's how I remember my Daddy."

That's how I remember him too. I know he doesn't ride his motorcycle anymore, but those photos are timeless.

And I hope they will always keep those pictures up on the wall.

Lucy!!!!!!! Uggggh!!!! *faints*

Lucy!!!!

Oh my beloved Lexus Lucy!!!!!!!

*hand to forehead in grief*

I crashed my beloved Lucy the Lexus!!!!

Oh goodness. Ya'll know how much I love Lucy!

Oh Lucy!

It wss written up as being my fault. Myself and the other driver where coming around a sharp up curve on a thin laned street and I was cited for not maintaining my lane.

Mind you, the other driver was driving a HUGE tow truck. Not the one that tows cars, but the one that tows big vehicles. HUGE. So big that when it you see it drive down a street with skinny lanes you wander out loud..."What on earth is he doing on this street?? Let me stay back because that truck is too close to the lane line!"

Anyway, his wheel spurs hit the back rear tire of my car when we were taking that sharp upcurve.

Man... that was the worse sound I've ever heard in my life! There was construction in that area, and the big metal road bandaids were in the road. I thought one of those suckers had come aloose and I had fell through the ground. It even flashed across my mind that I was falling through a sinkhole!!

(funny the stuff that goes through your mind when the unexpected is happening!)

I pulled over and jumped out the car and looked at the damage.

"Lucy!!!!!!!"

*drops to knees*

"Oh my beloved Lucy!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Lucy, Lucy.... LUCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

*passes out on the hard concrete*

Oh, that hurt so bad to see my car all messed up like that... OHHH it hurt!!

*weeping all over again*

No, I didn't act like that. We called the police, and discussed what happened. I didn't see anything. I was busy trying to fall back a little from the car that was in the lane next to me. You know how it is when you spot a person who has NO idea where he is going... and you know that they might just get the unction to make a left hand turn from a far right lane.

UGH!!

And there were no witnesses.

And the tow truck driver looked like Santa Claus. How do you argue with Santa Claus?

Sigh.

He said I was on the line. And that is all jacked up since his Tow truck hardly fits in one lane. Sigh.

So I got charged with the accident.

The guy was cool, though. He rummaged through my trunk and pulled out my spare and change the tire. He knocked off some of the shrapnel debris. I gave him 10 bucks for doing that. (You know how I make sure I sow some seed. ESPECIALLY in the midst of some craziness. That dude coulda jumped out his truck and shot me.... but he didn't. Thank God for that.)

I didn't even know that I had a full size tire for a spare in the trunk. Imagine that.

But poor Lucy!!!

We had a most delightful conversation while waiting a hour for the police.

I drove Lucy home VERY slowly. It drives fine and straight, but when I went over a bump or through a bad patch of road, there was some scraping of the tire against the wheel base. So I decided that I will just park it until it it time to take it to the body shop next Thursday.

I have the full coverage, and that is good. I told the customer service rep that I want the type of insurance that if an alien fell out the sky and picked my car up and flew away with it... then I could get reimbursed.  LOL

(Couldn't you see me hollering and screaming when an alien snatches up my car.... then calmly calling the insurance company and saying... "Ya'll need to cut me a check. Thank you").

So it will get repaired. I hope they don't total it. The guys at work say that's not gonna happen. I hope not.

I would absolutely faint if they did. Because...

I LOVE LUCY!!!

Yes, I would faint. And tear my clothes and hair out. Then calmly say "Ya'll need to cut me a check. Thank you."

LOL

I went on home, and I said a prayer in the driveway while removing my things from the car. Then I went in and made up a praise song and had me a good ol' fashioned praise service around my kitchen island.

Oscar-Tyrone was staring at me as I sang and moved all about...

"Oh Lord I thank yoooooou... That I can walk, walk, walk, and I can kick, kick, kick, and I can twist, twist, twist... Oh Lord I thank you...."

*clap*clap*church shout*clap*clap*church jog around the kitchen*clap*clap*clap*

I just sang myself happy.

Because you know like I say all the time... People leave for work everyday...

And they don't make it home. Because they die in a car accident.

So even though I am inconveinced, I am alive. I walked into my house without injury. Lucy will be taken care of one way or another. But I walked away without a scratch.  Not one scratch.

"Oscar-Tyrone?" I said.

He meowed.

"I am calling a fast tonight. I am calling a fast of thanksgiving!"

He didn't look too pleased.

He was standing near his empty food bowl.

And he had that look that said "I don't care what fast you do. You just better be fast about popping a top on the cat food can and feeding me!"

"Dude, this fast is for me, not for you," I said as I mixed his special food with water and placed it in his bowl.

I sat his bowl of food on the floor. He was quite pleased.

And I had a very good evening, despite the car wreck. I took special joy in doing my nightly chores and the other things on my to-do list for the evening.

It felt good not to be laying up in a hospital somewhere after a wreck. I was thank for that.

It has been an interesting week. An interesting week indeed.

Hopefully we can get Lucy back right.

And if not... I will call up my sister...

And we'll just go buy another Lucy - Lucy, Jr.