A Lesson In Humility!

Total disgust !!!  It's a bad day when a dog can shame me...but yesterday Bran the Border Collie, sitting on the hood of the four wheeler humiliated me... and all he did was look. I was a good mum, we had an important  letter to get to the mail box before Mrs. Post lady gets there. I could have walked, ( it would have taken longer)I could have taken the truck (not as much fun) but I elected to take the quad which was inconveniently attached to the little green trailer which was even more inconveniently loaded with hay. Disconnecting the two units would have taken time, Bran, having sensed my thought process and already waiting impatiently on his carpeted perch would have been disappointed...how could I do that to a dog ? So, smelly tail wagging wildly in my face, tongue hanging out and nose pointed into the wind we lurched and bumped off out of the farmyard. Fortunately the mailbox is only at the head of the ranch road....unfortunately that entailed me reversing the quad AND trailer and that WASN'T happening !!! Sadly, that realization only occurred to me as we reached the point of no return and there was little option other than brave the super highway.....um..well..actually, Lackey Road, but it could have had a car on it !! Reluctantly I put the gears into reverse and the nasty little green trailer moved...the wrong way. I tried to remember everything Greg had told me ( and I had forgotten) about the art of going in reverse smoothly and in the right direction.  Sadly, as the little green trailer jackknifed and Bran decided to bale out on me, staring up at the four wheeler in disgust.  My humiliation was heightened when I became the object of amusement for the highway department who appeared to find the jackknifed trailer, embarrassed driver and hypercritical dog a diversion from digging ditches. After several more less than successful attempts to turn both vehicles at the same time to face in the right direction and after a scathing look at the cowardly dog I elected to abruptly end the mornings entertainment and my pain. One haughty glance at the group of obviously highly amused highway Dept. workers and a sharp order to the not too confident dog to get back on the offending four wheeler and I felt a little better. Without another look at my audience and mentally daring Bran to get off again...I detached the little green trailer...with its load of hay, and turned it around by hand.  With a disdainful I glance at the road ( and the dog) I reversed the four wheeler, reattached the two and lurched and bumped back to the ranch. I knew that the quad and trailer belonged in the barn....Bran the dog did too, but to replace it from whence it came meant reversing it and I was NOT going to visit that humiliation again...or so I thought ! I headed straight for the barn to find Greg, who inconveniently wasn't where he aught to be and walking back to the kitchen caught sight of Bran, still sitting on the hood of the Quad watching me and quite obviously his thought process went something like " WELL, that was EMBARRESSING and WHY isn't the quad in the barn where it belongs. Dad NEVER has a problem !"  Sometimes I REALLY dislike that dog !

Time to go, There is a barn full of animals waiting for breakfast .....and NO, I wont be trying that again....EVER !

Take care, keep safe, M