WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

Oh, the joys of driving in the country...

Best wishes for your recovery, Jean.
I was up this morning at 4:15, to get ready to take the Academic Team to a competition. (This is kind of like "Jeopardy," only done orally and in teams.) I dashed out of the house at 5 minutes after 5, and was well into my drive up hill and down dale, when I came around a curve, in the dark, and hit the horse? pony? donkey? that was standing there. I literally did not see it until a split second before I hit it, and I was not driving too fast. I'm not sure exactly what I hit, but I saw a side profile, and it was definitely not a deer. Unfortunately, it wandered off, and I was busy taking care of other things and did not notice, not that I could have stopped it even if I had. I know it had to be fatally injured, and the small town police and county sheriff's deputies all wandered around in the fields nearby for a while, looking for it. If I had to hit it at all, I wish I had killed it outright rather than have it stagger off in pain. There was a dead horse in the road 2.5 miles further down the road, but it was black, and I'm sure whatever I hit was not black. I have a vivid image of a medium grayish colored horse-like animal imprinted in my memory. So two large animals were out on the roads last night.
Fortunately, I was wearing my seat belt. My air bags did NOT go off, but I think I'm glad, because other than being very shaky, I'm fine, praise God. I don't even think I'm bruised. My car is not fine.
The team went off to the competition with the other teacher who was going, but more than 45 minutes late leaving. She had to come meet me to get the paperwork on the kids (legal stuff), and of course, I was so rattled I did not give her the cash for gas or the check for the fees at the competition. I'm sure they'll let us mail the check, and I'm sure we can reimburse her for the gas, but it's still annoying.
The county sheriff's pushed my car into a nearby driveway, where I waited for the state troopers and the tow truck. The accident happened at around 5:40 AM, and the tow truck pulled into the dealership at 8:30. It's not really cold here, compared to the weather up north, but if I had not been dressed properly, I really could have had serious problems. I did not have a blanket in the car yet, and really wanted it for the last hour I waited. I was wearing my heavy coat, with a hood, and I had gloves, but all I had on my legs was a pair of jeans.
So now I get to replace a car (probably), and not the car we really wanted to replace! That was the "good car," on which everything worked. The car had 140,000 miles on it though, and I will be really surprised if the insurance company is willing to fix it.
There is no quilting going on here...It would be a lot more fun!
DH is driving a rental to Montgomery tomorrow, so that he can pick up a car from my parents. Dad is still not able to drive because of his shoulder, so his car hasn't been driven since the end of October. Mom doesn't like driving that car, so they don't need it for a few more weeks. Dad is walking on the knee, but the specialist wants him to leave the arm in the sling.
Laura in Alabama

posted by Laura in Alabama @ 6:03 PM