Murphy's Law

So have you ever heard of Murphy's Law.

"Anything that can happen, will."  Usually  what happens is bad, never good.

Well Murphy & I are good friends. Maybe I shouldn't say good friends. I don't really care when he stops by. He does stop by though,  regularly.

Maybe I should say: We are well known acquaintances.

Well Murphy decided to pay a visit yesterday. Apparently, I was due for another visit.

 Frankly, who knew.

 I thought we have seen enough of each other, lately.

It all started Monday night with a text from my hubby. (Yes, I do realize a trend that is starting to occur, with it all beginning with a text from my hubby.)

Once again, I reminded myself  I am the grownup.

So the day starts out pretty good. I get up at 5:30 a.m. get the cooler packed, eventually wake up my boys, feed them breakfast, & drive out to where we will be the sheep herders for the day.

 We arrive on time about 8 in the morning & I am feeling pretty good about things.

I kiss the hubby goodbye. He is headed to a different area, to load other sheep.

  "The semi-truck should arrive at 10, I will load, leave & be back here to take over by 12. Maybe 1 p.m. the latest."

And away he goes.

So we check the sheep & hang out. I have loaded up the car with all sorts of books, food, movies. ect.

The first hour passes quickly. While it was cool we mostly hung out outside, played, explored the area, & just had fun.

The second hour, we worked on a little school work & played some more.

It started getting hot outside so we loaded in the car, turned on the AC, watched a movie.

The next 2 hours, were a little slower, but still passed.

I called my hubby to check on things. The truck still hadn't arrived yet, so it will be a little longer than planned, but should hopefully arrive soon.  I wasn't thrilled, but no big deal.

I started making sandwiches & my little boy asked if he could turn on a CD to listen to. Sure, I said, turn on the car & put it in. And he did.

We eat, play more, its getting warmer, & try to pass the time.

 We finish a book we have been reading. We play  more. I notice the CD sounds funny, must be scratched I thought. Then I hear the awful sound of my car dying.

Yep. Died. We ran the battery dead. That is lovely.  My darling son turned on the car, but never started it & I never noticed.

 I was feeling pretty smart about now.

Great. Murphy strikes, again. Oh well. We will manage. I am sure my hubby will be here soon.

So I call him. "He quickly tells me  that I am free of my sheep herding duties. So go home."

To which I break my bad news. I can't. I am now stranded. The battery died. You coming soon?

"Nope, the semi-truck is now 3 hours late & I am are still waiting for it. So it will be at least another 3 hours before it I can get it you & that is only if the semi-truck miraculously arrives soon."

Oh, Murphy, striking again, on a late semi-truck. Lovely.

So now I am going to be here a while & I am silently crying on the inside. It is hot, I am just off a dirt road, that goes for miles, there is nothing but desert & a few large farms. It could be hours before I see someone. Did I mention I have 4 kids & it's hot?

I am getting stuff out of the trunk, when my oldest suggests a prayer. Good idea. We pray. I start walking to see if I can see anyone. Nope.

I go back to the car & try my car again, maybe just maybe it will start.

 No, again.

My son suggest saying a family prayer. I am silently praying as well.  Time passes, &  I see a cloud of dust down the road. I inform my kids I will be back, hang tight, stay in the shade, play with the youngest.  I will be back in a few. I begin walking/jogging towards a cloud of dust. Praying it is a vehicle. Waving my arms like a frantic woman. A half a mile or so down the road, I am still waving & trying to get to the vehicle before he turns off.

I am too late, he has turned down a road, & stopped. I keep running as fast as I can. Waving, yelling, looking like a crazy person I am sure.

Prayers answered the driver sees me & comes to my rescue. A short time later we have my car running, A/C back on. And I am almost in tears thanking the stranger for coming to our rescue.

Murphy's Law, had come & I had triumphed.

Then Murphy cocked his head & laughed.

We are headed home, & a few miles down the road we noticed some stray sheep. With our brand on them.

Not good. Sigh. Murphy 4, me 1.

 So being the sheepherders of the day, we begin to herd them back to the others.

A few miles & hours later. The lost sheep, have now joined the other sheep. How in the world we managed to lose them in the first place, who knows. But they are gathered up and in a corral.

 I call my hubby. He is now within an hour of joining us. Yea!!
.
"So can you stick around & help me load?" He asks. Sure. My enthusiasm for our little adventure is waning.

So we do a quick drive around to make sure no more sheep are going to show up on us. Then venture to drive to the nearest little town, find a grocery store & pickup ice cream  & fried chicken for a quick early dinner.  Yes, fried chicken & ice cream. No wonder I need to lose some weight. :0) Oh well, when your hot, tired & hungry your thinking isn't clear.

So back to our  sheep post  we return. I fall asleep, my kids watch a movie & we wait for the arrival of our dear hubby.

He arrives.

We now have to load the trailer. Normally this should take us an hour or less. It around 6 by now, No problem. And once again Murphy cocks his head & laughed, over & over again.

I have never, worked with such difficult sheep in my life. Why oh why tonight? They were uncooperative, mean, ornery ladies to work with that night. If truth must be told, the rest of our temperaments were about the same.

Normally, if you get one sheep starting to load, the rest will follow. Not these ladies, we had to almost to hand load all 80 sheep that night. That still left more to load to in the morning. We have loaded bands of sheep faster than these girls. At one point in time, we are so frustrated, tired, hot, exhausted & did I mention trying to work in the dark. I made the comment that I am sure one day, this will be funny.

 My little dude responded, " No it won't, this is my worst day ever."

 Trying to be positive, I assured him that he has had a lot of days worse than this.

"Name one." was his response. I couldn't, but I am sure there has been.

(On a bright note, my eldest son saw his first falling star. He was quite excited. We decided that & a reminder of the power of prayer were the best 2 parts of our day so far.)

We had been kicked, pushed into a barbed wire fence, run over & more before my husband & I could tell the boys we were done for the night.  It was dark, by the time we left.  So we left the sheep until morning &  loaded all together in my car  to drive the distance home.

We were about 2 miles away from home, when we saw flashing lights in our mirrors.




We got pulled over. Of course, why shouldn't we be pulled over tonight. At this point it felt like: Murphy 100 me 1. We thankfully left, ticket-less, as it was just a broken taillight & finished our journey home.

We carried boys to bed, kissed them  goodnight, & eventually were able to crawl into our own beds. I glanced at the clock. 12:30 a.m. Not quite the day I had planned.

Oh Murphy's Law can be a brutal one. At least the day is over.

And as I laid in my bed, the smell of a skunk came filtering through my open window.

A skunk. Really?

 All I can do now is laugh.

 Well played Murphy. Well played.