Earl Moore Photography
Car 1, Fence 0 - Back corner of our yard

There’s a balance to the world, an action and reaction, a yin and yang. It’s concerning these underlying principles for which “Murphy’s Law” was coined to humorously described the perceived perversity of the universe — what can go wrong will.

This past summer we had a new 8′ wooden fence built in our back yard to replace a very old 6′ wooden fence that was about ready to fall down. The old fence had been in place for years, never having been damaged by tree or traffic as far as we know — the universe was in balance.

We obviously upset that balance with this new fence and the universe reacted very early this past Saturday morning — the results you see in this photo. We didn’t realize it had happened at the time but discovered it the next morning. I don’t know how we were so oblivious to it. No body or blood was found in the car, thank goodness. The air bags had deployed and there was a fence board speared through the windshield back between the front seats. The driver left without notifying anyone, perhaps taking the car tag with them — at least there wasn’t a tag on the car.

The Highway Patrol quickly traced the car by its VIN to a residence in town and it appears they have insurance. Our homeowner’s policy Insurance Company will deal with that. Once the power company replaces the power pole, which was snapped off and moved about three feet, fence repairs will begin.   

The bright side is our dogs, who have free roam of the back yard at night, chose not to get out. But now we know why they were barking so. Such is life. ~sigh~


20 Comments

  1. Earl, you must sleep like a rock!

    • Steve. Bonnie likes to sleep with a sound machine on so as not to be disturbed by “road noise”…it obviously works extremely well! :-)

  2. Holy crap, Earl! I’m amazed your dogs didn’t get out.

    • Chris, they’ve got it good here…maybe they didn’t want to leave. ;-) I’m so thankful they were okay.

  3. Wow, it sure looks like they were pretty far off the road. Drunk driver? I’m sure their insurance will pay, but what a drag dealing with it. Sorry to hear about it. Glad no one was hurt.

    • Eric, There were no signs of alcohol in the car but they may have well been drunk. Perhaps that’s why they survived.

      Our insurance company confirmed last night that their insurance had been cancelled some time ago and that the address on the registration was no longer valid. Surprise — not! Our home owners or uninsured motorist policies should pay for the repairs but I wonder if it’ll cause our rates to go up?

  4. So did you make the local news? This kind of thing always gets 30 seconds or so in Rochester.

    I guess it’s better that they “parked” in your backyard and not in your bedroom…….

    • Paul, no, we didn’t even make the local news. Single car, no “reported” injuries and not even sure why it happened…it was only a traumatic event for us, and whoever was “operating” the vehicle. After finding out they didn’t even have insurance, I can’t help but hope that whoever they are they’re bruised and sore as hell. They walked away, now we clean up the mess.

  5. Beautiful photograph, Earl, But you needn’t go to such extremes to please your fellow bloggers. A smaller car will due next time.

  6. Wow! You do have an eventful life, Earl. I’m glad that the dogs know on which side of the fence life is good! I agree with Ken, you need not go to such extremes to get a photograph, Earl. :)

    • Hi Paul, “eventful” can be a blessing or a curse — depends upon the “events.” In our case, I’d like it to be dull for a while. :-)

      A good case for spoiling your dogs I guess.

  7. Wow, that car certainly didn’t just bump your fence. Like others, I am amazed by this entire story—your sleeping through it, the dogs not roaming, and, not least of all, what in the heck was going on in that car?! I join you in wishing the driver lumps, bumps, bruises, along with lots of aches and pains as payment for not owning up to the damage. What a shame you have to deal with the mess, but it didn’t damage your sense of humor. Balance of the universe, indeed.

    • Anita, when I think about what could have happened with the dogs getting out and possibly being lost or hit by a car the fence repairs seem a small thing. Our insurance company appears to be aggressively pursuing the uninsured owner of the car so they may well have the bigger “mess” to clean up when all is said and done. As far as a sense of humor…gotta roll with the punches, you know. ;-)

  8. Wow! Looks like there was quite an impact, so speed had to be involved. Hope they were okay and also glad the dogs were okay. So, you know Murphy, to?

  9. I’m glad no one got hurt and that your dogs are all right, Earl. I hope the fence repairs can begin very soon. Have a nice week!

    • Martina, thank-you. I hope the fence repairs do go quickly. The local utility/power company replaced the power pole yesterday so fence repairs can begin as soon as we can schedule it. I hope your week is good.

  10. OMG, and you slept through that?!? :)

    • Ove, I know…can you believe it! However, our neighbor on that side of our yard, who is almost as close to it as us, also slept through it. :-)