Grease Monkey!
All kidding aside. This girl, Rachel, had some kind of day yesterday. She spent the day with her 9 year old cousin who is visiting here this summer. She took him out for a day of fun and made him dinner, college-apartment style. On the way to take him back to her grandparent's house, she had a blow-out of her front tire. On the highway. In the dark.
A semi truck in front of her flung something out from under his tires. To avoid an accident by swerving, she did the inevitable and hit it, causing her tire to blow. Thankfully, she was able to pull off on the side of the road safely. Also thankfully, not one, but two state troopers pulled over behind her and along with their flood light and flashing lights (and big strong muscles) assisted her in changing her tire. They discovered that the jack was inadequate and the other tools needed were missing from her car. Hmmm. Very kindly, they changed her tire to the spare and could see that it was low on air. So, they instructed her to take the first exit and fill it up. Long story short, that one was bad as well and wouldn't hold air. So, I met up with them to take my nephew on to the grandparents house and she called a friend that came to pick her and her room mate up. They loaded the tire and locked up the car, after we discussed the fact that we thought it would be safe parked there for the night. This morning, she got a new tire put on the rim, went and bought new tools and then her nice friend helped her to change her tire a second time. She is now heading back to the tire store to get the spare replaced as well.
It is somewhat ironic, because she posted her story to Facebook this morning, reminding all of her friends to check their spare tires and tools and to be sure they have a flashlight in their car for emergencies. The ironic part? She had not seen my post that I put on this blog about "securing the details" ! There is a lot of life education going on with all of this and I'm just so very thankful that they were safe during it. And, how nice were those state patrol officers to change the tire? And, I mentioned their big strong muscles...evidently, when they found out her jack wasn't going to handle the job, one officer lifted her car himself, while the other officer switched her jack for his. Strong and helpful! Thank-you Arizona State Patrol officers. We appreciate you!
After I got home and tucked myself into bed, some sort of noise woke me up. And then as the fan in our room stopped rotating and the air conditioner was shutting off, I noticed the very strange lack of noise. Nothing. I looked over at the clock to see what time it was. That is when it occurred to me that the electricity was off. In the whole neighborhood. I remembered being told recently that transformers will blow when the heat is excessive. So, at 1 a.m., in a quiet, dark house I used my very smart phone (they do come in handy sometimes) to call the electric company to report it. As I laid in bed and as the house got warmer and warmer, I could hear the trucks arrive and could hear some banging off and on until about 4:15 this morning, when thank goodness, the air came on again. Whew. So, this morning, when I opened the blind I see this view out my window.
No other trucks. No workmen. Just this set-up. Lemonade stand?
I walked outside to check it out. Here he is, at the end of our driveway.
And this at the base of the driveway.
I wished him a good morning and said I knew the electricity was out last night, so I'm pretty sure he was out there because of that. He said "Yep." And I had to prompt him a little more. He was busy and didn't really want to stop what he was doing. But he did and then explained that he was security and was guarding the two electrical boxes, one here and the other up the road. The barrier at the end of the driveway is covering a temporary cable so that I can drive over it if I need to. They don't know where the problem is yet and will need to come and dig things up to repair it. He said "who knows when that will be... whenever they decide it is priority." In the mean time, he will be there to guard the "open boxes" so kids won't get hurt. I asked him how long he had been there, he said since 4:15 this morning. I told him that made sense because that is when the power came back on. He will be here until 6:00 tonight, when his shift is over and then someone else will be here. They will rotate. Veteran's Security Company, the logo on his shirt and car said. He told me it could take several days. In the mean time, I guess I should feel comfortable because I have my very own security guard...
Yep. He has quite a set up. He gave me a "tour" of his space. A custom made stand for the rug material and little separate divided trays for the different color yarn pieces. A small side table with the color chart and pattern sitting next to him. A cooler with his breakfast and lunch and a water jug. He has his shade umbrella with a zip-down window. His safety vest and a comfy chair. He showed me everything and pointed out the fact that he was making a lion design on his rug. This is his sixteenth rug. He also told me he will not leave his spot unless he has to go to the bathroom.
Do you know how this is going to bother me all day that this guy is sitting out there, in this awful heat
(excessive heat warnings for the last few days by the way) guarding a cable and two transformer boxes, so that all of us can be cool and have unspoiled food in our refrigerators? Do you know how many times I have gone to the window to see him still sitting there, hooking those little pieces of yarn onto his rug? And then later, when I drive out the driveway and have to give him a little wave, how guilty I will feel that I can't wait for the air conditioner to cool my car off? I think I will make him some lemonade and cookies. Or bring him a slushie from Dairy Queen. Or offer to help him with his rug. I made one of those. In the seventies. Mine was a dog.
Technically, this electric adventure all started in the wee morning hours of Tuesday, but adding it to Rachel's flat tire episode on Monday...won't you all join me in singing along with Cindy Lauper? You know the song. The one about Monday's and kind of our last name and all.
It seems fitting.
And now, Rachel has the tire grime scrubbed off her hands. Her car is all back to normal with some brand new tire-changing tools. Hopefully, she won't ever need them again. I'm so very thankful that she was able to safely pull over to the side of the highway, keeping calm and in control of her car.
Our details are secure now.
Oh, my!
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