Saturday, July 11, 2015

Saturday encore ~ Grand Theft Auto

Before we get into today's encore, I'm pleased to announce that Hank's vet bill wasn't nearly as large
as most of you imagined. Joy guessed $1784.25 and she was off by $3.41 - the bill was $1787.66.
I'll write a post next week with a breakout of the expenses so we can have a group-think on 
the differences between small and large animal vet bills. (Joy, I'll be in touch via email.)

***

I am repeating this post from last July in case you missed it because "breaking into a locked truck" 
is a life skill that I believe everyone should have – only in case of an emergency, of course.

***

Want to know my biggest fear about living alone in the middle of nowhere? It's not getting robbed, 
it's not suffering a life-threatening injury or illness, it's not spending Christmas by myself. 
It's locking my keys in my truck and having no one to call for help.
I'm paranoid about it and have multiple OCD processes in place to ensure it never ever happens.

So it was yesterday afternoon at 3:00 and I had just gotten home from the dentist. I got out of my truck, 
left one set of keys inside as I always do, then went around to the passenger side to remove my purse and mail, 
only to realize that I must have bumped the electric door lock upon my exit. The passenger side was locked, 
the driver's side was locked, and all four truck keys I own were locked inside. 
One of those keys was supposed to be in the house, but somebody forgot to put it back the last time she used it.

I cursed for a long while, then resigned myself to calling a locksmith, which I assumed would be cheaper than breaking a truck window and having to replace it. I made the call, set up an appointment for today, emailed the directions to him, and continued to beat myself up for having to waste a hundred-some dollars for the trip charge to the middle of nowhere.

I finished my work day and googled "how to break into a truck" just for the hell of it.
I watched this video, then ran out to the garage. Could it really be that easy?


Might I suggest that if you're going to lock your keys in your truck, the garage is the best place to do it.
I used a garden tool to pry open the top of the door and a long handled horse-training stick 
to reach inside and push down the electric lock.



When the horn started honking and the headlights started flashing, I started screaming – seriously!
It worked. I had unlocked the door.



The happy dance went on for several minutes, then I went into the house and called the locksmith 
to cancel the appointment, cautioning him that youtube might put him out of business.



16 comments:

  1. Love the internet for break-in tutorials!

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  2. Congratulations, Joy!! I'm glad it wasn't as high as my guess.

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  3. Whoohoo! Yay, me! (Glad to know how to break into a locked vehicle, too.)

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  4. LOL I probably had the highest guess, I was thinking $9,000 but with everything being so high, I thought well, lodging for 2 days, meds being expensive, I took my guess to $15,000!!! WHOA! Like I said I was hoping I was wrong and WHOA! was I ever? Is there a prize for being the MOST far off from the bill?!!! hehe That VET is a saint! That is reasonable!!! Congrats! JOY!!! Yep! Great to have the internet!

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  5. Northern AB gal7/11/15, 8:47 AM

    Congratulations Joy, good guess! It will be interesting to see the breakdown of costs, it seems cheap compared to some of our vet bills.

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  6. Michelle from Vancouver7/11/15, 8:53 AM

    Congrats Joy, I guess I let my imagination run away with me on the $$$ amount.
    I remember this post, it amazed my husband and I.

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  7. Well, damn. As much as I love it for you, I hate to hear that great vet care is that less expensive in another state. Maybe I'll have to give up my love for the east coast and move to the desert. (Not likely, since I have a tremendous fear of big spiders, snakes and scorpions!)

    Maggy

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  8. PS -- I forgot to add that I'm glad that Hank's doing OK!! The herd is as it should be, with the Hankster in charge.

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  9. Congratulations, Joy. I would have over guessed by a mile. I'm WOWed by the total.
    Seriously, Carson, you must have gotten the " single female / blogger / handsomest horse / I only bother you with emergencies" discount.
    As for getting in the truck... I'm not surprised.

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  10. Linda, not long after you originally posted this, a friend drove in to our place, got out of his car to open the gate, and his car door closed with his keys inside and his car still running! I remembered this video, got the appropriate tools, and got the door open. This situation would not have ended so well were I not an obsessive 7MSN reader!
    Glad the vet bill was so low!
    Marty from North Carolina

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  11. True or false: Once you know how to break into your truck/car, you'll never lock yourself out again...
    (I used to lock myself out of the rental car about once on each of my trips in the U.S., but every single time, a police officer or highway patrol would appear out of nowhere right away and break into the car for me! :))

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  12. "They" make little strong magnet boxes you can attach to some inconspicuous place on the outside of the car to hide a key in....works for me! Glad Hank is on the mend and the Vet fee wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Hope you were too!

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  13. Wow! Awesome post, hope I never need it!
    Yay for Joy!

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  14. Well my guess was over by a $1000 or so. I would never do well on The Price Is Rigtht. Great info on how to get into your vehicle when you lock the kes in. Does this only work on trucks? Actually I have a Toyota 4Runner which is a truck but maybe I would need to do this for my daughter's car or something.

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  15. An American in Tokyo7/12/15, 5:49 PM

    Glad to hear Hank's bill was not as high as most of us thought!! =)

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  16. oh how funny. It's amazing what you can find on the internet.
    Glad you saved your day.

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