Shit You Should Know

Monday, April 18, 2011

Can Anyone Else Feel A Breeze?

Oklahoma weather is insane. I thought the weather in New Orleans was unpredictable. Jeez! Thursday evening the wind began to pick up. It seemed to come out of nowhere.


My baby girl had a Girl Scout egg hunt. The boy was able to participate since he’s been dubbed an official Girl Scout Brother and has been unofficially adopted by the girls…except my daughter; she wishes they’d all take him home so she can be a “lonely” child (I think she means “only”).

During the egg hunt, the wind blew up the dust and made the leaves on the ground whip up into spirals. The air was heavy with the smell of smoke from the grass fires that raged in the distance and a milky haze filled the sky causing the mountains to resemble ghosts. It resembled early morning fog. The evening sun struggled to shine through. None of this stopped the children from their hunting game. They ran carelessly around the fields finding their brightly colored eggs filled with sweets and trinkets, oblivious to any danger.





Later that night, the winds blew violently with gusts up to 50 miles per hour. Many times during the night, I awoke to the howling of the winds whipping through the trees as branches were snapped and thrown against the house. My daughter ended up coming to the door to ask to sleep in my bed. The commotion outside had woken her up as well and probably scared the shit out of her.

The next day as I was running errands, I noticed trees ripped from the ground by the roots and fences toppled over. Branches were everywhere. Many homes were missing shingles but the wind was relentless. It was still bludgeoning the landscape with fury.

After school, I dropped my son off at a friend’s home for a sleepover (is that what you call what boys do??). My daughter and I headed to Wal-Mart in search of a futon to put into Buddy’s old room. The wind was still blowing around something terrible and when my daughter went to get out of the truck the wind snatched that door and nearly flung her onto the pavement. Luckily, there was no vehicle parked next to us or our door would have crashed into it causing some awful damage.

As we exited the truck, my daughter called over to me that she couldn’t close the door. When I came around the truck to the passenger side, I had to jerk the door nearly as hard as I could to get it to become unstuck. I assumed the door had been whipped open further than it was supposed to and had just needed to be yanked back into place. We went ahead into Wal-Mart and I didn’t think another thing about it.

When we returned to the truck, girl child went to get back in and called me over because she couldn’t open it now. I walked over and gave the door a quick tug and the awful sound of metal filled my ears. I looked over in the direction of the hinges and saw that the door was slightly over the corner of the fender. There was chipped paint and I could see where some of the metal was bent. I could tell that the door was crooked too. On the drive home, I could hear the wind coming in through the door. It sounded like I was driving with the windows cracked.

After we returned home, I called the insurance company and they set me up with a local body shop to get an estimate. Today, I dropped by the shop to have them take a look at it. They are going to need to replace the entire fender which is going to run roughly $1400 and once they remove the door it is possible that the hinges will need to be replaced as well. Thank goodness for insurance! I will only need to pay my deductible.

The guy at the body shop was able to make a minor adjustment to try to prevent any water from coming into the truck. Although the great state of Oklahoma hasn’t seen a good rain in I don’t even know how long, I was sure the door was leaking.  Why?  Because being the genius I am I decided it would a good idea to go through the carwash to clean my dusty ass truck.
Each time the water jets came across the door, water trickled down the window. Sometimes my genius shines. I’m telling you!

Now I wait. Apparently from what the girl doing my paperwork told me, I’m not the only person that was lucky enough to get some vehicle damage from the crazy wind. It looks like it will be the beginning of May before they can get me in.

One good thing is we had an existing dent on the fender that I was planning on getting an estimate for anyway. Since the wind messed up the door on the same side, I was told that the fender needs to be replaced anyway.
So although it sucks that I can’t use the door right now, at least, I can kill two birds with one stone. Also, for the time being, I don’t have to listen to my children bicker over who is going to sit in the front seat. Thank goodness for small favors.

13 comments:

  1. While I may not get to post much over here, I must say that your blog always puts a smile on my face. We just did a road trip and broke down in Arkansas - so something of ours got fixed along with the breakdown. I'm trying to see it as a "blessing in disguise" sort of situation, but I can't stop chomping at the bit by how much money we had to come out of pocket for.

    Get this too- it snowed in Chicago today. :-| I quit!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad she wasn't hurt and that you are able to get it fixed.

    I love that button that says, "I have the dumb today." I am definitely going to print that out, blow that up, and put it on my board at school. If I can figure out how to manipulate all the technology required.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Craziness! The weather has gone bipolar lately!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool. I notice you have a link to the "motel" as well as AR. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Firstly, regarding Concours, there's always May, and I posted my thoughts about your participation on your foodie blog.

    Secondly, once, while changing a tire, I wound up doing the same thing to my door, though mine involved a 5 speed, telephone pole, and my occasional lack of common sense. It happens. Luckily, you get a new fender outta the deal!

    Thirdly, I apparently need your email or something. My mother just texted me in response to your sperm comment on my blog, freaking out. "Are YOU pregnant?!? Please tell me I'm reading that wrong!"

    Hilarious.
    ~K

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for joining Follow Me Friday! I'm following back a bit late. Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Lonely Child" I like that. It's cute when kids get things like that messed up. My daughter used to call Root Beer "Fruit Beard".

    "I can't Brain today. I have the dumb." That's a classic. I'll have to remember that one.

    That must have been some wind. And didn't you just say that you paid the truck off the other day? Isn't that always the way?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like that she calls it the "Lonely Child." It suggests that, subconsciously at least, she knows that she would miss her brother if he were to suddenly up and move in with a new family.

    Terrible wind! We've had it howling around for days, too! No car damage on our side, although I did noticed a street sign on a stop light that had been pushed so hard by the wind it flipped over so you couldn't read it!

    If only the wind would just blow all of these stupid grackles away...

    Wind insurance...everyone should have it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @N. Let me know when you find that silver lining. ;)
    @Heather Good luck with that.
    @Kelli Agreed!! Put that bitch on some meds fast!
    @Scott Gee, thanks for the advice. We are so insightful today, aren't we? :) As for the motel, your're welcome. I like to share the blogs that I follow closely with anyone who pays attention to me. Lucky you!
    @K I promise I'll do the May one. Also, tell your mom I'm sorry for freaking her out. It's hard not to when what you are good at in life is messing with other's heads. Oops!
    @Dana You're welcome. I'm glad you made a visit.
    @Bryan Wasn't Fruit Beard a pirate? No, wait. That was Jack Sparrow. Oh, yes. I went there! And, yes, I just paid the fucker off...earlier the SAME DAMN DAY!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, boys have sleepovers. We are too cool to have slumber parties. Even though the name "slumber party" sounds much more fun. Now I'm pissed. Why don't boys get to have slumber parties?

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Chanel I have USAA. I love them...seriously...I would marry them...the whole damn company.
    @Doug Thanks for clearing that up. You're right anything with the word "party" in it seems like a place I'd want to be.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "I can't brain today...I have the dumb" This should be my mantra!! lmao - awesome!!

    I have to say that you send your weather our way, luckily we haven't had those kinds of winds just yet. Just the other day they were squawking on the TV about the potential for 70 mph winds. Luckily it didn't get nearly that bad!

    Sorry to hear about the truck, but more happy Milan didn't end up face first on the pavement!

    BTW *hands you dunce cap* Go sit in the corner with this on your head for taking the truck through the car wash! And I'm holding on to the Reese's Pieces until your time out is over. *snort*

    ReplyDelete

We have all got opinions. What are yours?