She's home!
Our day started at 3:30am as we headed out towards Kansas City to pick this loom up. MapQuest told us that it would be about 5 1/2 hours one way, our journey starting early so we could get home at a decent hour. My monsters are such good travelers, as all of our family lives out of state.
We made great time up there and by 10am we were pulling into the sellers drive. After looking over the Spring and talking with the owner about her history, we had the loom loaded down on the trailer and we were headed home.
The story is, the seller and his first wife had bought the loom to be a floor model for the local yarn shop. She passed away shortly there after and the loom has sat, untouched, in a shed since 1994. Almost 20 years of dust, spiders and crud were upon her. It sounded like the loom may have been used once or twice, but that's it.
My story quickly changes here, on our trip home. We were on the last hour of our trip, 64 miles from home just passed Fayetteville, AR when at 4pm my husband's car broke down. His lost power engine light popped on and in that instant we had nothing. He coasted us to the berm, hit the hazards and got out to look under the hood. There was a POP, and then all the coolant came rushing out of the car. Great. Fun. Yea.
I kid not, we sat on the side of that highway for 2 hours waiting for help. 2 hours. And in those 2 hours, standing on the side of the highway with 2 little boys, not a single car stopped to see if we needed help, a phone or even water. And on top of that, I felt horrible because it was my "need" to have another loom that put us in that position. My awesome friend Sarah came to rescue me and the boys and take us home while my husband waited for the tow truck that was coming.
Unfortunately the story does not end there. And this section is the reason that it is now Wednesday, while we picked the loom up Saturday, and I'm only getting to the writing part now. Those light of stomach and heart, beware.
As we were headed to my house, about a mile from my exit, my friend Sarah (who had picked us up) and I watched a horrific accident unfold in front of us. An SUV lost control and flew into the median, flipping the car twice. At 70mph, we were on them in an instant. As Sarah was slowing the car she said, "you go, I will stay with your boys". I jumped out of her still moving car and crossed the highway to the accident. It was the most awful thing I have ever been witness to and apart of. 5 passengers total, 2 lost there lives. Even as I sit here writing this I am waiting for a Trooper to show up to re-interview me about what happened. I was the first on the scene and apparently I wrote the most clear and concise witness statement they received. I guess all that military training I had kicked in and was put to good use. In this photo I am behind the vehicle on the passenger side explaining the injuries of the woman inside, to the medic who had just arrived.
I was on the scene so long, that my husband who had to stay behind to wait for the tow truck, was 4 minutes behind me getting home.
And home we finally were.
Bright and early Sunday morning we pulled the loom off of the trailer and into the garage.
She was filthy! Let me show you,
Yikes. Cleanup took me a few hours with warm water and a little Murphy's oil soap. I also pulled off all the heddles and tieups and washed them in some dawn soap in the sink.
The bars of the shafts and the lamms are not lacquered like the rest of the loom. I pulled out my good old Wood Beams and wiped them down. Boy oh boy, did they drink that up!
My new & sweet Lily Louet is ready for her first warp. She has found her place next to my baby wolf, for now.
Happy hump day everyone, and wear your seatbelts.
<~ See the nice foot marks?
