Crash!! Not Me....But

Heart In My Throat

I came home from a play Saturday night to see flashing police lights right by my house.  My heart leapt into my throat as  my instant fear was that somehow the horses had gotten out and were on the road.  Then, when I got to my driveway, there were two police cars parked beside an SUV that was halfway up the 4-5 foot bank in front of my house. The truck had its front left smashed to bits and was not too far from hitting the telephone pole that sits atop the bank. Wires were down and although the electricity in my house was still on, one of the trees was sparking. 

My heart stayed in my throat as I pulled into the driveway.  What if one of the Boys had been out on the road and gotten hit? Or simply caused the accident.  I rushed out to the barn to see Toby and Tucker, perfectly fine, ready for their late night snack.  Chance was not in sight.  My heart was still pounding as I called and called.  Then, thank goodness, his white blaze appeared out of the darkness, and he was just fine too.  Whew!! Talk about a panic attack.  I fed the Boys, then headed back out to the roadway to see if I could find out anything. 

My mailbox was gone and the telephone/utility pole north of my one driveway was cracked clean through with the wires hanging precariously.  My neighbor was out with one of the policeman, searching around with flashlights.  We had to get off the road as cars were still careening happily over the hill just beyond, completely oblivious to the mayhem just ahead.  The policeman was obviously frustrated at that, but there wasn't much he could do without going far out from the accident scene to do some traffic control. 

Meantime, the other policeman was with the driver of the SUV who, thankfully, was not hurt. 

Now, here's the scenario.  The SUV was traveling south on my road.  Here in the USA, we drive on the right side of the road.  My house, however, is on the left side of the road.  The SUV had crossed the rode into the opposite lane, gone for a stretch along a very soft dirt shoulder, nearly gone off down the 2-3 foot bank into the hollow in front of my paddock, then sheered off the telephone pole, gone along another 10-20 foot stretch of very soft dirt, hit my mailbox, and the traveled another 150+ feet into my bank where he finally got stopped when the front end wedged into that dirt.

I will grant you, that, according to my neighbor, this was a Chevy Suburban, but still that's a lot of traveling and damage.  Just how fast was this guy going anyhow?  I didn't get any details, I although I may pick up the police report as I should have an insurance claim for my mailbox which did--by the way--show up in nearly one piece. (Rubbermaid!! I think I need a new one, though and will buy the same model if it's still available.) 

Anyhow, my mailbox is currently tied to the bracket with baling twine.  Kind of suits the whole farm image, don't you think?

Meantime, the tree people were in partial force again on Sunday, so the work the horse routine was again disrupted.  It was also rather windy which made me think twice about riding out in the woods as I have now learned to worry about flying branches and such. 

But I did give Tucker a good lungeing session and he was beautifully behaved, as well as sound!! Yippee.  I set him over a two jump combination that encouraged some more forward striding on his part and he really got into it, withe perhaps more enthusiasm than I would want were I riding him.  But, it was a joy to see him soar over the two fences set at just under 2'6".   Not big, but enough to require a little jumping effort instead of just a "stepover."  And, he was heading for them more on his own instead of playing around trying to cut out every time I didn't quite set him straight at the line.  I think he was enjoying himself. 

I am still working on the "catch Toby" routine and he is getting better about it.  Chance has been, I fear, a little left out again, but the tree distraction kind of set me off of doing much with him. 

Most of the trees are cleaned up at last, but I still have a rather large pile of maple chunks by the house.  Treeman did not quite get the job done to his usual standards due to some employee issues.  I am not 100% happy with the results as it looks as if I am going to have to do some cleanup work myself, but the biggest stuff is gone.  

Once more, order is slowly being restored at Follywoods...aside from all the dug up ruts, etc. from the truck accident. 

And, oh, yes, my Internet, telephone, and TV are all out due to the fractured utility pole, so I've been offline all since Saturday night. 

That's all for now!