Sunday, March 13, 2011

Snap Shot

Grumble, grumble, grump, grump.

I'm in the demoralized zone. It's the weather. We've been walloped with more versions of precipitation than a teen-aged boy has excuses. Though on Friday morning the images coming from Japan were enough to quell my grumbles. It was quite frightening enough to me when we had a wee tremble last summer that left me feeling nauseous. Words fail me for this disaster, but I'm watching..

It's been a full month since I last posted here. There's been plenty going on, perhaps too much.  So here's a quick snapshot of my month:

  • The body of Folklore is done and I'm sick of knitting navy sock yarn so that project has stalled.
  • I finished a pair of socks and a hat.
  • I'm taking some spinning lessons and rented a wheel which resulted in that brown skein of yarn up there. The fiber is from Hopeful Shetlands farm and it's the lamb's fleece of a Shetland/BFL cross.  It spun up beautifully but smells like a barn when wet.
  • I bought an iPad and quickly became obsessed with playing Pocket Frogs and now Infinity Blade. I love my iPad and all the things it can do.  
  • I started knitting Jim Kilronan from Cascade 220 super-wash sport, purchased from All Strung Out.  The yarn is lovely and soft and not navy. It makes me happy to see those cables pop and all that texture.
Now, I have a story to tell of my idiot moment.  Yesterday I was out and when I came back I always park my car in the garage. I have to get out of the car to open the garage door and then get back into the car to drive it in.  But yesterday, as I started to drive in, I saw a roll of aluminum flat-stock sticking out a bit in the path of my car.  So I quickly hopped out of the car to move it and saw my car slowly rolling towards me! I'd forgotten to put it into park!

I jumped back into my car and my brain failed me. Instead of stepping on the brake like a sane woman, I panicked as I watched my drivers side mirror slowly get crunched by the wall of the garage. What's worse, my leg was sticking out of the door of the car. I'm yelling no! about the mirror when the door started to close on my leg.

It sounds worse than it was. The pressure was quite hard, but my leg kept the door open which stopped the car from rolling forward. I collected my scattered wits, hit the brakes and put her in reverse. Once out of the garage, I turn off the car entirely and went into the house to freak out.

My leg is fine, my door is scratched, my mirror is toast, and my self-respect is on the floor. I was moaning about this incident most of the day yesterday till Jim told me his story. Over twenty years ago, he parked his car outside of a variety store and left it running (you could do that back then). When he came back out he found it at the other end of the parking lot, stuck in a big bush. He still doesn't know if he forgot to put it in park or if he knocked it into reverse as he got out. I gave him a big smooch and thanked him for being as big an idiot as me. And we both agreed, it could have been worse!

11 comments:

  1. Oh no! I am glad you didn't get seriously hurt. When my husband and I were newlyweds I accidentally backed into him while he was standing in the driveway. He is 6'4" and my car was a little Datsun so the damage wasn't great, but he has never let me forget it.

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  2. Anonymous6:50 pm

    So glad you posted, I was starting to worry about you. Very glad to hear the damage wasn't any worse.
    The sweater for Jim looks great!
    Esther in Ottawa

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  3. I think you're the only person I know that can actually fit a car in their garage!

    Glad you are ok...

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  4. Glad you're okay and the car took the brunt of the damage.

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  5. I'm so glad someone else does things like that. I think I've been reading too many books on Alzheimers.

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  6. I don't know what's worse when I do things just like that...the moment of panic before everything resolves safely or living with the memory of it afterwards and imagining how much worse things could have been!

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  7. Oh Laurie!!! Thank God you are OK. Scratches and breaks on cars can be fixed! It's much harder to fix people.

    The red sweater looks awesome.

    Glad you're enjoying your iPad :-)

    And great news about the spinning lessons!

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  8. That man of yours is a prize I tell ya! Nice to see you this evening.

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  9. OMgosh! Glad YOU are okay! I remember my father getting out of the car to open the garage door and forgetting to put the car in park...next thing we knew, car met kitchen.

    Your red Kilronan is to die for!

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  10. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your mirror, and I'm glad the worst damage to you was only to your highly resilient ego.

    I grew up in L.A. and, true to L.A. suburban style, we had a circular driveway. Having more errands to do that day, my mother parked her little red compact in the driveway, well back from the garage. My dad decided he absolutely had to wash his car that afternoon, and in broad daylight backed into my mother's car. Would you believe he then blamed my mother for parking too close!

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  11. Anonymous6:49 pm

    Glad the damage was minimal!

    In about 1998, a guy in a HUGE SUV backed into my 1990 Geo Metro. I could see his eyes in his rearview mirror; he just didn't look ... or hear me honking and yelling. He was really zooming, too -- maybe 5 or 7 mph.

    My damage: $900 ($200 less than totaling the car).

    His damage: bent license-plate holder.

    (at some point I must admit that my parallel parking skills are minimal, and usually involve one tire on the curb.)

    Gwyndolyn O'Shaughnessy

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