Thank Heavens for Neighbors

I remember when I believed that the Post Office delivered no matter what. In fact I thought their motto was “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But, this is commonly misidentified as the creed of our mail carriers, but actually it is just the inscription found on the General Post Office in New York City at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street. The Post Office doesn’t actually have a pledge or motto.

Anyway, since I thought they would deliver, I made the ridiculous trip down my road to Banducci to check the mail. It was icy and slippery but somehow my faithful car, with its four-wheel drive, made it. This was a whimsical trip since I merely started by taking the car to go down to the barn to feed the horses. I thought I would take the dogs with me and they were pleased to jump in the car.

As I drove down I thought I would check near the gate since UPS often leaves packages just outside the gate and I was expecting some items. No packages. It was while I was at the gate that I made that stupid decision to trek down to the mailbox.

Of course there was no mail. I hadn’t received mail since Friday and it was now 5 p.m. or so on Monday. A truck pulled in to where I was sitting and my first instinct was to think the driver thought I was in trouble and was stopping to help me. At this point I didn’t think I was in trouble. After all, I managed to make tracks and come down the road. Remember that the winds were howling this day and so I hadn’t observed the fact that whatever tracks I made were gone since the snow blowing across the road had filled everything in. When I looked closer at the truck I realized it was my neighbor Steve. He got out, turned his wheels to four-wheel drive and asked if I thought he should go first to set the course. I agreed that the weight of the truck, the fact it was in four-wheel drive would set deeper and better tracks for me to follow. So, since we both agreed, Steve started up. Well, he only got a few feet up when his truck started to slip and slide, twist and turn. His wheels were spinning, sending snow all over. He backed out. At this point I told him that I was making a quick trip to check the non mail and had the dogs with no leashes in the car, plus no cell phone (remember I said this was whimsical).

Once again Steve and I discussed who should go first and again agreed that the truck might fare better. This was not the case. Steve got a little further up, maybe another 50 feet and again started to slip and slide, twist and turn. His truck was hugging the right side of our narrow road and again, in my brilliant thinking, I saw a possibility of going to his left, getting in front of him and setting our course. What I failed to take into consideration was the depth of the snow drift to his left. All I managed to do was to get my car stuck and then for whatever the reason, my car shut down the power to make the wheels engage, so I couldn’t go backward or forward.

Now Steve offered to take the dogs and I up to my place so we all piled out and into his truck. He backed up again, went forward, slipped and slid, twisted and turned and was shocked that he was stuck. He made a call to the back ups, his sons Ryan and Kelly. They walked down the road in the dark with flashlights and shovels to try to dig the truck out. At one point we saw the flashlight go flying as Kelly slipped on the ice. Steve, Ryan and Kelly all tried to dig and get the truck to move. The boys jumped up in the bed to give it more weight. No matter what was tried, that truck spun and got stuck in its own tracks so badly that it was now fully across the road, sideways. The wheels were just spinning in place and you could smell rubber burning. At that point Steve said, sorry but we’ll have to hoof it. I still had no leashes but I remembered that I had several neck ties in the back of the car which were for giveaway. So, I tied a couple on my small dog Pepper (Hank would follow and stay with us) and up the road the four of us trudged.

It is a full mile from Banducci Road to my gate. It was blustery, damp, cold and icy. The boys stopped at our neighbor Mike’s to see if he had any suggestions (it was now after 7 p.m.). No one expected to do much this late in the dark, cold and windy night but Steve was hoping that something could be suggested for the morning. In the meantime, Steve and I continued to walk up the road towards my house. Steve helped me to feed my horses, walked me to the house and made sure that the dogs and I were in safely.

I lent Steve my four-wheel drive Gator to get back to his house with some borrowed hay. The only reason he had taken the truck to work that day was to bring home hay. It was now stuck down there at the bottom of our road in the sideways truck. In the morning Mike lent Steve something to help get his truck straight so he could back it down the road and move it onto Banducci. Steve dug out the snow keeping my car trapped and parked it down on Banducci out of harms way.

It was quite the pioneering adventure and a story I won’t forget. The moral of this story however is, as much of an inconvenience as snow may be to our everyday lives, it can bring out the best in people and proves how important it are to be a good neighbor.