Snow and ice create havoc at the intersection where our house is. Cars come down the hill and try and turn the corner at speeds that are too fast for the condition of the road. I must say that people aren't always going to fast, but most of the time they seem to be.
So, that brings me to today. It is snowing here in Chillicothe. We have maybe 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground and the roads are slick. It is the snow that is beautiful, light, and fluffy, but once it is driven on it becomes ice. As I was running some errands this morning, preparing to be home for at least the next 24 hours, my 4 wheel drive Suburban was even having a few issues. Needless to say I would not be out in this unless I absolutely had to! I don't mind the weather and I think I am a good driver in these conditions, but I don't trust everyone else that is driving. Okay, so enough of the rambling, here goes what happened..
I am in the kitchen trying to get some lunch and Katelyn says, "Mom why is someone driving in our yard?" I say, "What?!?!" I go to the dining room and look out the window to find a car in the ditch in front of our house. My first thought is hoping the person is okay. I watch the car for a minute to see if there is any movement. I can't see any movement.
So, I tell the girls to stay inside and I am going to check on this person. I grab my cell phone and the home phone. I go down to the mudroom and get shoes and a coat on and head outside. As I go out the garage door the mail truck pulls up. The mailman gets out and says, "It just happened and I hope she is okay." I said, "Me too, I am going to check." So I go up the front stairs, across the yard, and down the hill. My thought, "She is definitely stuck!"
As I get closer to the car, she rolls her window down. I ask her if she is okay. She is okay, I think she is embarrassed by this whole thing. She tells me she was coming down the hill slowly and going to turn right, but her car just kept sliding. I understand completely. Cars do that all the time in these weather conditions. However in the past we have just seen the tire marks in the ditch, not the car.
After making sure she is alright, I offer to call someone for her or to borrow the phone, but she said she had a cell phone and would be calling her husband. She was just waiting to call him because he was at work. I am thinking I wouldn't be waiting, I would call and interrupt him. She then informs me he is a school bus driver. Okay, now I understand why she is waiting. Schools got out early because of the weather, so she wouldn't be able to get ahold of him quite yet. I offered help one more time and she declined. I told her if she needed anything to knock on the front door and I would help her. She then looked at me and said I can't get out. She was right, the driver's side of her car was jammed against the side of the hill and it would have been hard to crawl out the passenger door.
I did feel bad for this lady. And yet, the poor lady was more worried about the grass than her car. I told her not to worry about the grass the city beats it up anyways. I would be more worried if I was her because she is sitting in a ditch that is 2 feet deep! She was a bit surprised by this and then I think she did become a bit more worried about her car. I told her good luck and headed back for my warm house. As I headed in, 2 other vehicles stopped to offer help and and I could hear her decline the help.
I felt bad for her, but there wasn't anything I could do for her. So, back in the house I went. When I got in the house I called the neighbor and told her to look out her window and into my front yard. She looked and said, "Oh no". So, for the next 15 minutes or so we talked on the phone a few times as things changed out front. Our wonderful neighbor was going to take hot chocolate out to the lady.
Thank goodness help arrived that wouldn't take no for an answer. First, a truck, with 2 guys in it, pulling a little plow stopped to help. Next a guy in an Explorer stopped. I am guessing they wouldn't take no for an answer, because they started to work on getting her out.
While these 3 guys worked to get the lady out of the ditch, I got some comic relief watching. Julianne was mad at me because I kept chuckling about it. She kept telling me it wasn't funny. I couldn't quite figure out how to explain to her why I was laughing. But, I did reassure her the lady in the car was fine and I had went out and offered help.
As the guys tried to get her unstuck, the seemed to be having troubles. First, they pushed her backwards right into the concrete drain. Oops. Next they tried to push her forward. She went forward and into the ditch even farther. Then they tried backwards again, but with no luck. I watched as the guys talked. They decided to try something else. One guy went and got a tow rope and hooked it to the lady's car. Another guy went and got his Explorer. They hooked the tow rope to the Explorer. The Explorer started to move, the car started to move. Forward movement in the ditch, but the car wasn't coming out. Then the Explorer's wheels started spinning and the Explorer started sliding. I am no longer laughing, but worrying, we don't need 2 cars in the ditch! I watch as the guys look at it again. They decide to try and pull her out again. The Explorer starts moving, the car starts moving. The Explorer's tires start to spin and the Explorer starts to slide, but both the Explorer and the car are moving. The car moves 5 feet, then 10 feet, then 15 feet and she is out of the ditch! The lady in the car got far enough down on our property line she got to where the ditch is filled in.
They were all excited. Both vehicles unhook and the guys leave. A few minutes later I look at the window and see the lady cleaning her car off. I am thankful she is not hurt and glad some guys stopped to help her.
Thank you to the good samaritans that helped her, people are good and do care about others!
Lesson learned. Pay it forward!
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