Everybody who knows me has accepted that things seem to happen to me. I have been asked to write down these stories for years. This entire blog is an attempt to recall as many of these occasions as possible in short entries. I could write about car accidents, horse accidents, or that one time my house was struck by lightening and burned to the ground with all of my material possessions, but those seem too obvious. There was also the poo pit incident...but you can look in the
travelingvettech.blogspot.com blog for that and my other Rwandan adventures. Sure, I could write an entire entry for each one of these incidents, but I would like to complete this blog before I am 90, or at the very least leave time for new stories as they occur. Here are some slightly abbreviated versions of my friends' favorite "Andrea Effect" stories. If I have missed one that you would love for me to retell, please let me know. Always happy to oblige.
Weird things have always happened around me, to me, or because of me. I used to think that I must somehow cause these situations...yet, some remain impossible to find causation. I like to think that I am just super observant. It is hard to deny that I am the common denominator in each of these stories. Perhaps if everyone had more situational awareness, they would see all of these things happening around them as well. Some of these happenings are horrible, some are great strokes of luck, some are scary...yet all are funny (or at least character building) in the end. I am known for being in the middle of a stressful situation and saying, well, at least this will make a good story later. Life became much easier for me when I learned to laugh at myself- I strongly recommend learning this skill if you have not. It has been the single most useful adult skill I have acquired.
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| Ready to load up! |
A few weeks ago my friend Hannah and I decided to compete in a judged trail ride with her baby horse, Rigby, and Quinn (a 10 mile trail with "obstacles" every mile or so- some scary some technical- you are judged based on your communication with your horse to effectively complete said obstacle). Hannah has a stronger truck than mine, and a brand spanking new trailer, so she generously offered to drive us the hour to the competition. Hannah arrives, we load up all my gear, squeeze Quinn next to her horse and off we were! We got about 3 miles from my place when we noticed the truck having some trouble. Tried to ignore it for a few more miles, but of course realized that wouldn't work. (Strange, mechanical things do not seem to fix themselves- yet I will try to ignore every time.) We found a safe place to pull over to take a look. I am unfortunately experienced in being broken down on the side of the road with a horse trailer, so I thought we could look for some obvious issues. Unfortunately, everything obvious seemed fine. We decided we should cut through the road we were on to get back to my place and we would just swap rigs and be on our way again. Sounded like a great plan...until we needed to get up a slight hill. The truck said no thank you and just quit. Hannah was able to semi safely pull off into a grassy ditch. At this point, the brakes on the trailer were smoking, although the emergency brake was not triggered. I called everyone I knew in the area, hoping that someone could come get me, take me home to get my rig and then somehow, on this 2 lane road, we would have to unload and reload the horses and leave her rig. Not one person was around to help. I was about to hitchhike home, when I had a stroke of genius. I suggested we simply unplug the electric on the trailer all together in case it was shorting out. Bam! Success! We were able to limp home. I actually ran down the driveway to grab my keys and truck...anyone who knows me knows how I detest running. Not like a normal person dislikes it, I have a real hatred for the act. I refuse to run unless whatever is chasing me is much larger than me. I am a fighter not a flighter. I yelled over my shoulder "Hey Hannah! Look I am an athlete!"
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| Long day |
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| Team Wholesale Eventing |
In record time we had hitched up my trailer, only to find the emergency brake on mine was snapped off (likely caught in a weed whacker). At least it was usable. Hannah's amazing off the track thoroughbred just reloaded like it was nothing and off we went! We ended up having a fabulous (although long) day and both horses placed highly! Turns out, Hannah's truck just had a clogged fuel filter, and the trailer problem remains a mystery...but all seems ok now. No big deal, just another day...
My first truck and trailer breakdown happened on one of the hottest days in July a few years ago. I had Quinn all tacked up in the trailer and Bax riding with me as we headed to my friend Colleen's barn nearby to go for a trail ride. As I headed up a slight hill on a main highway, my truck just completely died. I mean, no electric, no AC, nothing. Fortunately I was right next to a huge turn lane and shoulder and was able to safely pull off. I called for a tow truck and Colleen. Nobody driving by (even those with empty trailers exiting slowly on that ramp) stopped to ask if I needed help. For the record, I have never passed a broken down horse trailer without checking. Finally a police officer stopped. He was able to put some cones up and give me a little more of a safe space while we waited.
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| Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do? |
Colleen was able to come with her truck. I was really worried about Bax in the heat, so the police officer was kind enough to let Bax hang out in the cruiser. The entire ordeal was worth it for that picture. Meanwhile, the tow truck arrives. The plan was to unload Quinn (on the side of a very busy highway) lead him down the exit ramp where he would wait with Colleen while we disconnected the trailer, got my truck towed, and pulled my friend's truck up to hitch up to my trailer. No big deal (major eye roll) Meanwhile, her truck is a lot higher than mine, which led to some pretty athletic antics by the officer and tow truck guy, but we finally managed to get hooked up. Quinn was a super star. Ignored the traffic on the way out, and loaded up perfectly to go back home. I was pretty happy for all of our bombproof training when he was a baby at that moment. Needless to say, our ride was postponed to another day.
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| Go Quinn! |
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| Lacy, New friend Krista, and I braved the rain |
Just last week (one week after the Hannah incident) my friend Lacy and I decide to go do the next trail competition. This time, she drove us from her farm. As we turn off of interstate 81, we both see a gentleman sprinting across the road. She noticed he dropped his cell phone. Being a much nicer person than I am, Lacy insists we pick it up. With rain falling, and semis honking at us, she does a rolling stop...I jump out, grab the phone and realize that Lacy has not stopped for me. As I run (yet again) and somehow grab the truck handle, and pull myself in, I made the comment that the guy we were trying to help was probably running because he robbed someone. We swing into the gas station we watched him go into. Nowhere to be found. We asked the cashiers if they saw someone matching that description. Sure enough, yup, that was the guy that just robbed them. Although I had many questions and would have liked to hang out to figure out the mystery, Lacy is always thinking. Grabbed my arm said "Here is his phone, we gotta go!" and we hoofed it out of there as quickly as possible. Again, we had a great day with Quinn doing very well!
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| Not from that evening, but typical for these two |
Not all of my "only you" stories are horse based. I was housesitting for my friend Jenny the same week that my job position had changed and I was to be on the road cold calling all day everyday. I was a bit nervous about this new routine and went to be early so that I could ensure a good night's sleep. At 1am, I was awoken by two drooling shaking dogs making the "SPCA faces" at me. Then I heard it. The unmistakable beep of a low battery in a smoke detector. Somehow in my sleepy haze, I managed to find 9 volt batteries. Now the trick became to find the right detector. I had somehow never noticed before, but this house must have had 97 smoke and CO2 detectors. I literally had to grab a stool and stand under several groups of them before I found the culprit. I then managed to somehow not fall off the stool and replaced the battery. It was now 2am, and I could not go back to sleep. Fine, I can accept that it was bad luck, bad timing etc. I got through my work day and came home exhausted. As I got into bed I joked with my friend that it better not happen again. Guess what woke me up at 1am? In my deepest sleepiest state...the dogs once again came to get me. At least this time I knew where the batteries were. Grabbed one and a stool and off I went for the hunt. I wish I had taken a picture from the stool. I looked over and these 2 large tough dogs (Bax and Bella) sharing this tiny piece of rug and staring at me while shaking uncontrollably. Both sad and ridiculous. As I tried to get the cover off of the smoke detector that I eventually identified, the old battery fell out and cracked me in the forehead. Yay. Now a bruise on my face to go with my new job. After that housesitting job was done, I came home and was so excited to get some rest. Guess what I heard? Yup. The smoke detector, not in my apartment, but in the hayloft next to my bedroom door ( I live above a barn in a really lovely apartment, but the other half is still used as a working hayloft). I went to see if I could change the battery, but nope, it was about 30 feet high in the rafters. Had to wait for my landlords the next morning. Bax was one unhappy pup all night.
Jenny gets a free pass for the smoke detectors in her house as she has had to be my hero on more than one occasion. I cannot count the times she helped jump start my truck. One time her hubby came and found that my battery cable had disconnected itself somehow? Anyways, I specialize in mechanical issues.
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| The ole Tahoe- broken again |
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| One of my fav pics of Jenny and I having a drama free adventure |
Two years ago, I began apartment shopping. I made an appointment to meet with an agent not far from where I was currently living. I woke up super early to go meet her. I arrived a few minutes early, before the leasing office opened so I wandered around. I quickly decided this was likely not going to be somewhere I wanted to live, but thought I owed this woman the decency of hanging around until she showed up. 30 minutes past when she was due to meet me, she still had not shown up. As I finally decide to leave, I find the only road in and out of the neighborhood completed blocked off. The agent who was supposed to meet me had somehow managed to take a super wide slow turn even wider, and hit a power line. She was carted off in an ambulance with minor injuries, but the power line was across the road. I was stuck. They said it would be hours before traffic could come through. Of course. So, who do I call? Jenny of course! Where am I she asks? Oh I don't know! As she is trying to explain to me how to use the GPS app on my phone (I am technologically a bit behind the times) she finally gave up and somehow still managed to find me based on my giving her some vague landmarks. Always an adventure when you hang out with me!
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Thanks Coco
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One time I was sitting at my friend Wendy's pool, catching up, relaxing, and getting some sun when one of her dogs came over to be pet. Coco sweetly rested her chin on my stomach. I was petting her, when she suddenly raised her head and puked all over me. Once again, who does that happen to?
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| Moon, the adorable colt |
Recently, a longtime friend, Debbie, whom I had not seen in awhile called and asked if I would come hold two miniature horses for their shots. Debbie had injured her shoulder and was unable to do it alone. I popped right over, no problem. What Debbie failed to tell me what that these miniature horses were only a year old, and had been shipped from England and then in quarantine for 30 days, and were thoroughly traumatized and scared. 45 minutes later, we finally have them both caught. To give you the full picture, these horses weigh about 20 lbs less than me, and are the same height as my dog. Watching them run and buck and try to escape capture may have been one of the more entertaining ways I have spent a morning. The vet comes in and explains that we will just get them into a corner of a stall and lean on them a little, like a large dog. We did the little colt first, no problem. Then it was Comet's turn. She had other ideas. I am not quite certain I have seen anything more adorable than a teeny weeny horse rearing and bucking. Poor thing was so upset, and as we talked softly to her, and tried to calm her, she somehow started running backwards and in a circle. I can't really describe what happened, and could not recreate it in a million years, but, well, somehow I ended up "riding" her- backwards. She slipped between my thighs. My feet were firmly on the ground, so my weight was not on her, but she immediately calmed down. Apparently my huge thighs were comforting. All three of us were laughing until there were tears. Of course I insisted we take a picture or there was not a chance anyone would believe this happened.
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| Riding Comet |
I will end this entry here, although I think I have enough material to go on for days. To fill in those who are not up to date, life has changed a lot for me in the last five months. I was laid off from a job that I loved and have had to learn to relax and enjoy life. I have been fortunate enough to be able to take this time as a real brain break and enjoy the little things in life. As I work through figuring out what I want to do when I grow up, (open to suggestions!) I continue to accidentally create more blog fodder. This has come with its own set of Andrea adventures. In addition to the stories above, I blew out a tire 1 week after the lay off, then lost an entire flock of chickens to a fox, and adopted a new flock including a ridiculous attack rooster...and so much more! Stay tuned...
