Big mistake!

Tonight when I came home from picking Evie up from piano lessons, I drove into our parking area at the house and saw the empty spot where I park the 1992 Subaru Justy.  To somewhat justify the ridiculous mistake I made...I am usually the one driving the Justy.  Tonight, however, I was driving the Toyota minivan (not all wheel drive). 

O.K. now back to the empty Justy parking spot...I saw the empty spot and my brain told me to drive into the empty spot and park.  Within seconds I realized I was driving the Toyota minivan...I'll add again...without all wheel drive.  Well, well, well, I got that Toyota minivan without all wheel drive stuck deep in the wet snow.  I should mention that it rained a bit today and with evening approaching; the snow was starting to ice up.  I tried backing up and going forward and backing up and so on but I just kept getting deeper into trouble.

To make matters worse I was now blocking our big 3/4 ton blue Ford 4X4 truck.  Sadly there would be no help from that behemoth.  I called all the kiddos outside and we started to dig.  While digging I was wondering why Lindy took the Justy out.  Of course, it didn't matter why, just that the spot was empty and my 'ole brain clicked into automatic and my hands steered the wheel into that spot.  I could have kicked myself in the proverbial backside for what I had just done.

We dug and dug and we were no further ahead (or should I say behind) in backing the minivan out of this mess.  Lindy arrived home to see five of us digging and pushing.  She must have thought I had lost all my marbles to have driven the minivan in there.  I had!

We conferred and decided that we needed to see if the little 'ole Justy could pull the minivan out.  The kiddos got inside the truck and found the tow rope.  To complicate the matter the tow rope had one metal hook missing from one end when several years ago we were trying to pull a truck out of a tight spot and snapped the rope.  I had tied a loop on the broken end and we've used it that way ever since.

Towing the minivan sounded like a swell idea until we checked underneath both rigs and could only find toe holes but no tow hooks to slip the self-made tow loop around.  Then Lindy came up with an idea...slip the tow hook end into the tow hole in the minivan and put the tow loop end into the door of the Justy and close the door.  That should do it.  Right?  Wrong!  The minivan was stuck so tight that the tow rope just slipped through the door. 

Back to the shovels.  We dug and dug.  The snow was walled up around the running boards and the minivan was somewhat high-centered.  Every so often we stopped digging and Lindy would rock the minivan while we all pushed and then Lindy would put it in reverse.  We did make some progress doing that.  For the next 45 minutes or so we dug, pushed, dug, pushed, dug and pushed and indeed we continued to make slow headway.  Sadly we got to the point that we were so close to the truck that we could barely slide the shovel between the two vehicles. 

We admitted defeat and tried calling some friends...of course it's Wednesday night...church night.  No one was home.  While my sister was calling friends, Hammie and I went to the Justy.  Hammie shone the flashlight under the rig while I lay flat on the snowy ground and examined the belly of this little beast.  We found one tow hole that might be big enough to slip the loop through which would allow us to slide the hook through it, tightening it like a belt.

I hollered for the other kiddos to bring the tow rope over and Hammie and I went to work while praying for this to be successful.  It was.  Hammie and I whooped out a yell of success and I backed the little 'ole Justy up to the rear end of the minivan.  Martin slid the tow hook end into the tow hole of the minivan and we had all kiddos take their positions at the front of the van to push with every ounce of their being.

When the kiddos gave the countdown I was like the NASCAR racer putting the pedal to the medal.  The Justy took off and quickly leapt off the ground and stopped dead in its tracks.  I failed or so I thought until I heard a cheer rise up.  Apparently the minivan gave a bit of a jump backwards too.  We repeated the process several more times until that final pop when I was able to keep the Justy rolling and the minivan was free!  Wow!  It worked!

We quickly set both rigs free of the towrope and I parked the Justy while Lindy drove the minivan into the garage.  As I was able to let all my stress go I suddenly realized that I had to use the restroom IMMEDIATELY!  I quickly surmised that there was no way I could make it inside the house to the restroom.  Yes, folks I had an accident right outside in the snow.  Once it started, there was no way I could stop it!  The dam had burst!  When everyone realized what had happened they looked at me not quite knowing if they should laugh or not.  Everyone looked around at each other and then I heard a little bit of a chuckle come from someone and then it became quite contagious and within seconds everyone was laughing.  I must admit it was funny. 

We're all inside and warmed up.  Supper is in the oven and we'll eat and then head right to bed.  Oh my, what a night.  Two nine year old boys, two thirteen year old girls and two old ladies from Alaska actually pulled that Toyota minivan, without all wheel drive, out from its seemingly snowy grave.