At 3:30 a.m. we loaded the two goats, Lizzy and Esther, into the U-Haul trailer and were headed out Baker Rd. by 3:45. It rained pretty hard almost all the way through to our destination on the south side of Seattle. The trailer and weather combined to make it a stressful drive but I was thankful the weather had cleared by the time we unloaded the goats. That proved tricky because there were going from the trailer up into a crate-like box in the back of Ann's four-wheel drive pickup - WAY too high for a stressed-out goat to navigate. We eventually made a ramp out of an old 8' table that ran from the trailer floor to the tailgate and convinced the goats it was going to be OK to walk across it. Not that it didn't require some tugging on their collars! But we got them loaded, Ann's happy, and it's all good.
The guy who runs the U-Haul outfit where I dropped off the trailer is NOT happy. He went off on me when he opened the door and smelled..."What's that smell?!!"
I'd put down a tarp and straw over the metal floor, but it still smelled like animals. Sort of like a dorm room smells like a freshman even after they've left for class. (I like the smell of goats.) I got chewed up one side and down the other for hauling goats. "This is NOT a livestock trailer. You can't haul goats in this!"
I told him I was never asked what I would be hauling, just how much it would weigh.
It went downhill from there with the guy coming up with every reason he could think of to brand me an idiot, a rule-breaker, and general bad person. He wasn't going to take the trailer back until I'd cleaned it. So I used his hose and his mop to hose it out and dry the floor.
In the end there wasn't much he could do. It's "his" trailer, I'd already paid for it so he couldn't get money from me or withhold a deposit, so I was holding all the cards. The outcome was a story to tell - for both of us. I just hope he didn't call the guy I rented it from and chew him out. Or get me black-listed from U-Haul.
Just in case I need to haul goats again. :)
We're sitting in a McDonald's on the north side eating some lunch, In a couple of hours we'll go see mom. She's at her hair dresser's now getting coiffed for tomorrow's service. (Coiffing is important to my mother, who is a "just so" kind of person.)
I may go sit in the car and take a nap. I didn't sleep much after going to bed, and then got up at 3 a.m. for the drive up. I'll do better with the next 36 hours if I get even a short nap.
But first, for those of you who may not have seen it on Facebook:
https://www.gofundme.com/questions-in-dispensationalism
You've read about it here. This is the next step in the process.
IF you're so inclined....
1 comment:
Your goat experience was a good opportunity for you to apply your comments on Responding To Offense." Considering others above ourselves.
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