Oh, the mess we get ourselves into...

I can't help think, that sometimes, Kevin conspires to provide me with good writing material... as though he's afraid our life isn't adventurous enough... I beg to differ!

Today, Kevin was pruning our lemons trees. He placed all the branches into our metal trailer. Since our ATV is out of commission until we can fix it, Kevin decided to drive the SUV up the lawn leading up to the chicken coop. He would then hook the trailer and drive it to the fire pit... that was the plan anyway.

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But that's not what happened. As Kevin drove the SUV, the soft ground gave way and the wheel slid into the canal (which is essentially a ditch with water flowing down it). This was not good. Even in low gear, in 4-wheel drive, there was no budging it without sinking further into the mud.

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This unfortunate event happened at 12:30 pm....

Kevin and I brought up some long planks of wood from the carport. We collected rocks to place under the planks to prevent further sinking. Kevin managed to jack up the 4X4 high enough to wedge the planks under the front and back tires to create leverage and better stability. This process took 3 hours. It was a delicate procedure — one wrong move and the car could have fallen over on its side.

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We weren't thrilled with the idea, but we had no choice but to enlist the help of our ATV. She's more than a little rough around the edges, with a flat front tire, but she's still running, so we thought we'd give it a go. With the planks in place, Kevin hopped in the SUV and put it in reverse, while I sat on the ATV and, as Kevin would say "gave it some wellie', which means I gave it all I had. Result!!

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This picture shows the planks after we were able to tow the SUV out.

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The canal has seen better days, but we'll fix it, as we do, and the rainy season will soon be here to help the grass grow. There's always a silver lining, if you look hard enough.

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