Stupid Tax

If you have ever listened to Dave Ramsey, you know that is where I get today's title.  Jay and I paid a little bit of stupid tax last week.  A stupid tax usually comes from someone in the Murphy family, if you know what I mean.

Last week Jay picked up the bud after school and headed to the gas station for fuel.  He wanted to get some diesel for the tractor so he could blade the driveway while the temps were up.  He also went ahead and topped off the tank in his truck.

They came home, he filled the tractor up and away he went to shove snow.  Not long into his blading, the tractor simply shut off.  Died.  Wouldn't start for nothing.  He looked it over a few minutes and decided to get his truck to pull it out of the middle of the driveway and take it over to the barn.

He got in his truck, turned the key and nothing.  Hmm.  He sat there a minute and was starting to fume at the notion he had received 'bad' fuel from the gas station...then he noticed the odor from his gloves and looked down at his receipt.

$2.19/gal

Diesel costs more than $2.19/gal.  Jay had inadvertently put gasoline into his truck and the tractor diesel can.  That is not good.

I am just about home when my phone rings, it's Jay.  "You will not believe what I just did."

Let me stop for a moment and say this, if you have followed this blog any at all or know my husband, the above statement could pertain to just about anything under the sun.  My first thought was he got another dog.  (I would've strangled him, seriously.)

"Just tell me."  (It's best to just get it over with.)  "I put gas in my truck and the tractor."  Oh Snap!  "The tractor died in the driveway."  "Can I get around it?"  "Yes."  I continue on to our driveway.

I look at the narrow passage and decide to go for it...and should not have.  I was quickly 'stuck' sort of.  Enough that I knew better, so I stopped the car, turned it off, gathered my stuff and walked to the house.  There are certain times in life where it's best to just walk away...

After talking to his diesel mechanic and working out the details of getting the truck picked up, he quickly wiggled my car out of the snow.  He and Lane used the winch on the four-wheeler to pull the tractor over to the barn, and the Quackdaddy came over with his truck to move Jay's truck in a position that could be easily reached by the flat bed coming our way.

About the only thing I could think to say was "I'm glad it was me or the kids."  And ladies, you know exactly what I mean.  I really wanted to shout "Thank you, JESUS, it wasn't me or the kids!"

Fortunately, there was no serious harm.  The truck hadn't broken down along the road.  No accident or injury came about and everyone was safe.  As 'luck' would have it, Jay didn't seriously damage his fuel system.  It was drained and after a change of fuel filters and some REAL diesel, it was running fine.

Funny thing, the mechanic did discover a potential problem in the 4WD mechanism that was about to break.  Had that happened, it would have been a much more serious repair.  And maybe that would have resulted in an accident or injury...

Yes, we paid a stupid tax, but I'm thinking maybe God intervened just a little.