Thursday, September 06, 2012

What's It Worth To Ya?*

This morning, as I pulled into the parking lot at the bank, I noticed a backhoe parked at an angle in one corner of the lot. A passing thought flitted through my mind: "They just sealed the blacktop last week. I wonder if they're going to have to dig it up for some reason."

But then, I watched as an older couple--probably in their mid-seventies, walked up the sidewalk, having just come out of the bank. She was carrying a big black tote bag--the kind with sleeves for photos, though there were no photos in it. She handed it to her husband, who was right behind her and then she climbed into the backhoe and he handed the bag up to her as she situated herself in a seat behind the driver's seat in the backhoe's open cab. She immediately began digging through her tote bag as her husband climbed into the driver's seat and started the backhoe.

At this point, I had readied my deposit (despite the considerable distraction) and unable to figure out a remotely subtle way to take the photo I was dying to take, I pulled around the bank to the drive-through window, so I didn't see them actually drive this enormous backhoe away--though they must have since they were out of sight when I came back around the corner of the building from making my deposit. 

Not being the sort who is familiar with backhoe sizing, I can't tell you exactly how enormous it was, but I can say for certain, it was not the little rental backyard-sized backhoe you sometimes see. No, this was at the very least a mid-range, two-seater! It was of a size that would not be at all out of place doing road work along the highway. And this seventy-something-year-old couple drove away in it!

I've spent most of the afternoon and evening trying to figure out what circumstances could possibly have ended in a trip to the bank in a backhoe and, to be honest, I've still got nothing. Anybody?

*They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In the absence of what would've no doubt been a fantastic picture, would you settle for 338* words?

*Not counting the footnote.*

*Or this one. And so on...

13 comments:

  1. Their Mercedes was in the shop? That's all i have for you on this one...:)

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    1. That makes as much sense as anything else. I can only imagine that the backhoe costs AT LEAST as much as a Mercedes...

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    1. This one actually made me laugh out loud. Hard. Off and on for half an hour or so. I started thinking maybe she was rummaging through her bag to arrange whatever the "take" was on this robbery. :)

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  3. They just got paid from their latest job? Needed to bank it before they succumbed to more toys?

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    1. Fiscal responsibility...very admirable. ;)

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  4. I am dying! I just love these spectacularly absurd things that we witness suddenly sometimes. I just love it. I am going to smile all day about it. How much would you love to go and sit down over a cup of coffee with those folks. I guarantee they have some interesting stories.

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  5. Oh boy would I love to ask them ...

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    1. Me, too. I regret not mustering the courage at the time--but I was just so taken aback that I mostly sat there stunned and staring.

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  6. Wow....that is amazingly odd! In my neck of the woods, a tractor wouldn't be too unusual, a horse on occasion, but never a backhoe. I love the mystery of the whole event!

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    1. They were so casual about it that it makes me wonder how often they've done it before. We don't get many horses right here in town, but lawn tractors are a pretty common mode of transportation.

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  7. We lived on a dairy farm when I was in high school. One day, I missed the bus and our car was broken down, so my mom drove me to school in a HUGE beet truck (like a dump truck, used to haul sugar beets). I though I'd die of embarrassment. (Obviously, I didn't.)

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