visitors
For those folks who have never visited my house, we live in the middle of nowhere. Simply getting up our driveway requires 4 wheel drive most of the year. Needless to say we don't get many casual visitors. The few times folks have dropped by unannounced, we're usually alerted by the dogs first. We have had a few missionaries, and once a forest service guy stopped by to remind us about fire safety... but that's about it.
There was this one time when Bob was out of town. I was asleep upstairs when I heard the dog start growling in the kitchen below. A low, grrr that was distinctly hostile and woke me up immediately. As I listened, I could hear footsteps crunching on the snow outside in the clear late November night. Someone was definitely outside my house. I looked at the clock; it was a little after 2:00 am. This wasn't right. After a moment to calm myself, I got out of bed, grabbed the shotgun from it's place in the corner, and popped in 3 shells. With a deep breath I threw open the door to the upstairs deck, racked the shotgun (a sound that cannot be mistaken in its seriousness) and yelled, "Whoever is outside better just stop right there or I'm going to blow your f***ing head off!!"
"Mel, it's me! It's me!"
"Bob?? What in the hell are you doing out there. You're not supposed to be home until tomorrow. I could have killed you!"
Whereas initially I was fearful and anxious, now I was pissed. My husband's grand plan was to surprise me by sneaking into our house (our house in the middle of nowhere) at 2:00 in the morning and "sliding into bed." How on earth he thought this was a good plan, I don't know. He's scared the dickens out of me and I'd come close to pumping a shotgun blast his direction. Needless to say, I was not amused.
As this incident shows, we don't get many surprise visitors and we aren't always super friendly when they show up. We're just naturally suspicious of anyone who comes all the way out here uninvited.
So today I'm walking in the house, the phone rings, it's Bob, and suddenly there's a man knocking on my door. I tell Bob I'll call him back and go answer it. Granted, I answer it cautiously but confidently to see what he wants. This guy tells me he's stuck at the end of the road and wonders if I can help get him unstuck. He doesn't think he's in very badly. So I tell him I'll be down in a minute, he leaves to walk back down the driveway, and I call Bob back.
Bob begins to freak out. How do we know this isn't a set-up? What if he's a weirdo? What did he look like? Why did he choose our driveway? And then he tells me he doesn't want me to go help this guy. At this point, I start to get a bit put out with my husband. I'm smart & cautious and am going to go check it out. I'm also a firm believer in karma and I can't just let this dude stay stuck.
So I wake up Ali, who is home sicker than a dog, and make her go with me. We drive the truck down the hill, and I scope out the situation before getting out. This guy is alone, and he's driving a piece of crap car with visquene for a window. I leave Ali locked in the car and get out. Turns out he's the new paper delivery guy, he's lost and he's stuck. He has no winter gear, no cell phone. He's not in the snow very deep so I tell him to dig out the snow behind the tires (brrr, he says, I'm only wearing ankle socks) and straighten out his wheels. With a little pushing, and a lot of coaching this guy how to drive, we get him unstuck. I say good bye, suggest he carry winter gear, and Ali & I head home.
Bob is calling (again) before we're even up the driveway. He's headed home to make sure that Ali & I are okay and haven't been attacked by this scrawny dude. As I assure him everything is alright, he appears in the driveway, ready for whatever. I walk down to assure him all is well, he didn't need to come home and we're fine. I'm mildly amused at this point by his overprotectiveness. And then he says, "What if he had wanted to shoot you?"
"Well, he could have done that when I opened the door I suppose. That's why I left Ali safely in the car with the cell phone."
"But you're a poor, defenseless housewife and shouldn't be rescuing strangers who are too stupid to drive out here."
Woah. Backup. Did my husband just utter the words "poor, defenseless housewife" when talking about me?? I think he did. That got my dander up. I may be a lot of things, but "poor, defenseless housewife" is not how I see myself. So now, I'm grumpy with my husband.
My husband is generally not a stupid guy, so he was able to see that I was annoyed, but instead of admitting his mistake and moving on, he tries to justify himself. He says it's his job to be overprotective and this was an unusual circumstance that required extra caution. He says that I'm too trusting. I say it was a stuck kid down the road. Not a big deal.
So now he's at work, feeling grumpy with me for being annoyed with him, for not understanding the validity of his concern. I started this blog grumpy at him, but some venting on the keyboard and some hot coffee makes it hard to stay mad for long.
It was an eventful morning here at our shack on the hill. As I said, we don't get many visitors and this one made an impact here on our day. If you ever want to visit, feel free to head on over - just make sure to call first and identify yourself.
There was this one time when Bob was out of town. I was asleep upstairs when I heard the dog start growling in the kitchen below. A low, grrr that was distinctly hostile and woke me up immediately. As I listened, I could hear footsteps crunching on the snow outside in the clear late November night. Someone was definitely outside my house. I looked at the clock; it was a little after 2:00 am. This wasn't right. After a moment to calm myself, I got out of bed, grabbed the shotgun from it's place in the corner, and popped in 3 shells. With a deep breath I threw open the door to the upstairs deck, racked the shotgun (a sound that cannot be mistaken in its seriousness) and yelled, "Whoever is outside better just stop right there or I'm going to blow your f***ing head off!!"
"Mel, it's me! It's me!"
"Bob?? What in the hell are you doing out there. You're not supposed to be home until tomorrow. I could have killed you!"
Whereas initially I was fearful and anxious, now I was pissed. My husband's grand plan was to surprise me by sneaking into our house (our house in the middle of nowhere) at 2:00 in the morning and "sliding into bed." How on earth he thought this was a good plan, I don't know. He's scared the dickens out of me and I'd come close to pumping a shotgun blast his direction. Needless to say, I was not amused.
As this incident shows, we don't get many surprise visitors and we aren't always super friendly when they show up. We're just naturally suspicious of anyone who comes all the way out here uninvited.
So today I'm walking in the house, the phone rings, it's Bob, and suddenly there's a man knocking on my door. I tell Bob I'll call him back and go answer it. Granted, I answer it cautiously but confidently to see what he wants. This guy tells me he's stuck at the end of the road and wonders if I can help get him unstuck. He doesn't think he's in very badly. So I tell him I'll be down in a minute, he leaves to walk back down the driveway, and I call Bob back.
Bob begins to freak out. How do we know this isn't a set-up? What if he's a weirdo? What did he look like? Why did he choose our driveway? And then he tells me he doesn't want me to go help this guy. At this point, I start to get a bit put out with my husband. I'm smart & cautious and am going to go check it out. I'm also a firm believer in karma and I can't just let this dude stay stuck.
So I wake up Ali, who is home sicker than a dog, and make her go with me. We drive the truck down the hill, and I scope out the situation before getting out. This guy is alone, and he's driving a piece of crap car with visquene for a window. I leave Ali locked in the car and get out. Turns out he's the new paper delivery guy, he's lost and he's stuck. He has no winter gear, no cell phone. He's not in the snow very deep so I tell him to dig out the snow behind the tires (brrr, he says, I'm only wearing ankle socks) and straighten out his wheels. With a little pushing, and a lot of coaching this guy how to drive, we get him unstuck. I say good bye, suggest he carry winter gear, and Ali & I head home.
Bob is calling (again) before we're even up the driveway. He's headed home to make sure that Ali & I are okay and haven't been attacked by this scrawny dude. As I assure him everything is alright, he appears in the driveway, ready for whatever. I walk down to assure him all is well, he didn't need to come home and we're fine. I'm mildly amused at this point by his overprotectiveness. And then he says, "What if he had wanted to shoot you?"
"Well, he could have done that when I opened the door I suppose. That's why I left Ali safely in the car with the cell phone."
"But you're a poor, defenseless housewife and shouldn't be rescuing strangers who are too stupid to drive out here."
Woah. Backup. Did my husband just utter the words "poor, defenseless housewife" when talking about me?? I think he did. That got my dander up. I may be a lot of things, but "poor, defenseless housewife" is not how I see myself. So now, I'm grumpy with my husband.
My husband is generally not a stupid guy, so he was able to see that I was annoyed, but instead of admitting his mistake and moving on, he tries to justify himself. He says it's his job to be overprotective and this was an unusual circumstance that required extra caution. He says that I'm too trusting. I say it was a stuck kid down the road. Not a big deal.
So now he's at work, feeling grumpy with me for being annoyed with him, for not understanding the validity of his concern. I started this blog grumpy at him, but some venting on the keyboard and some hot coffee makes it hard to stay mad for long.
It was an eventful morning here at our shack on the hill. As I said, we don't get many visitors and this one made an impact here on our day. If you ever want to visit, feel free to head on over - just make sure to call first and identify yourself.
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