I see.... PINK

Today Tricia was helping me in the sheep pen... we did all sorts of things in the run to help solve the mushy, gooey, sucking mud problem I am getting due to the monsoon rain we are having. 
Once I get this picture and space thing figured out on blogger I will post all about it...

It took us a good 4 hours to finish and had help in the end by some strong guys... okay I won't leach out too much of the story.

After the sheep run fix I dropped Tricia off at her house and she was going to rake leaves.  I, on the other hand, was going back home to have a shower and head to Safeway to pick up some groceries.  I had planned to do it before the run fix but we had drop in company.    I am just about ready to hop in the shower when I get a phone call from "Charlie" (FIL)... actually, it was Tricia calling from Charlies house.   She was quite upset and said she had an emergency, can I please come.  Of course, I am thinking of all kinds of unimaginable things that could be creating an emergency at the other farm where Tricia and Charlie live (in separate houses).

She then said that she has dropped her iPhone somewhere and can't find it.
Now before you laugh and think "addiction" ... Tricia's iPhone is her lifeline.  It is her telephone cause she has no land line and she needs it for work. Also, the weather forecast was for a lot more rain.. not so good for a cell phone.   Its not the first time she has dropped a phone and lost it (first time was on a hiking trip).  She knows what the cost would be if she couldn't find it.
Soooo,  I hopped in the truck and headed over to the other farm (for the second time today).
 
Charlie and Tricia were going through a pile of leaves she had dumped to compost.  Nothing.    I started going around the yard to piles of leaves that she had created and felt all through them for something sparkly pink (it has a flashy case).  Nothing...  I then asked her to retrace her steps...

Oh wait, you are thinking "Call it!"  ah huh! we tried that - it went straight to voice mail.  You see on that farm the service is HORRIBLE.   You have to stand out at the road (hope you don't get hit by a vehicle) to talk to someone without it disconnecting your call.  Even then it can be iffy. 
The best place for the cell phone to get service is in the kitchen window!  Texts come through great but voice calls are still very sketchy.

Oh wait! use "Find my phone!"  Yes, we tried that too but due to no signal in the area the "find my phone" couldn't "find the phone".

We were on our own.

Okay, back to retrace the steps...

She left the piles of leaves looking for a wheelbarrow.  First she had looked for a wheelbarrow in the machine shed (so we searched the machine shed)  nope, nothing.

Then she went to the calf barn looking for the wheelbarrow.  So off we went... all the while telling me Papa (Charlie, FIL) had already looked in there. 

We walked in, turned on the lights and she retraced her steps where she got the wheelbarrow and followed her trail back out the door with it.   She commented that some round bale net wrap had caught on the wheel and she bent down to unsnag it.  So she rummaged through the net wrap... nope nothing.

I said "are you sure its not over where you found the wheelbarrow? "  She went to look again.  Meanwhile I decided I needed to check the net wrap out a little more thoroughly. 
I picked up and squeezed piece by piece - it wasn't a big pile but big enough.  Soon Tricia was making her way back and said "its hopeless!"  I said "have a little faith".    I picked up the next piece of net wrap and suddenly I hear "PINK, I SEE SPARKLY PINK!" 
Sure enough, there was her phone, all nice and dry on the next bundle of net wrap, with a few bits of hay stuck to it, but all in good order. 
She ran out the door yelling "Papa we found it!"  He had still been diligently searching each leaf pile with a pitch fork... a sigh of relief was had by all.  Cause as Charlie said "Rain would not have been a good thing if it was in the yard!"

Suddenly Tricia was no longer into raking leaves - said she would finish it another day - it was getting dark anyway.  She decided to work on her planters, adding more dirt and planting bulbs, but she needed more dirt.  This meant she needed to come to my house and get her stash she stored there.  So off we went... other things delayed us... finally I got her back home safe and sound.

I, on the other hand, after the 3rd attempt, finally got home, had my shower and made it to the store for groceries.  Good thing too or Karl wouldn't have had any supper!