Bad Luck Windshield, And The Best Way To Ruin A Saturday

All I wanted was to do a good job at mowing the yard.  Well, mowing has never been the issue.  Any trained monkey can sit on a riding lawnmower and cut grass.  It takes a person with patience to crank up the weed-eater, edger, and blower, and fine tune the yard.  I am not a person with patience.

So what began as a chance to manicure my lawn into a perfect white picket fence dream house, ended with a broken back windshield.  Let me explain.

I had already mowed the lawn.  Next, I had taken the edger around the yard.  I was 98% finished with the weed-eating.  That's when I noticed the grass growing through the cracks in the driveway.  I usually don't bother with that grass, as it doesn't grow big enough to worry me.  But I wanted to give it my all.  I wanted to give it 110%.  I wanted the lawn to look immaculate.  So I started to weed-eat it. 

The good news was that the grass grows in-between where the concrete was laid.  So it grows right where the road's asphalt meets the driveway's concrete.  In other words, it grows in a straight line.  That's great!  I can walk and weed-eat in a straight line, and knock it out real quick.

So I get one side of the driveway.  Then I continue weed-eating the other side.  I had the weed-eater on full blast due to the kind of grass that was growing through it.  We have St. Augustine, and I was trying to cut it down completely, and that meant going through the roots.

So I was weed-eating when I thought I heard a gunshot.  I looked around, and didn't see anyone or anything.  I looked over to my left at Mom's Ford Escape.  Everything looked fine.  I looked at Dad's Ford F-150 next to it.  Again, everything was fine.  So I continue weed-eating the grass in the cracks.  I get to the side of the driveway where I finish weed-eating that line of grass. 

That's when I look over to my car to see my back windshield exploded.  Here's a picture of it.

Apparently what I thought was a gunshot was the weed-eater picking up something (maybe a penny or other piece of metal) and slinging it right into my back windshield.  I was just trying to make the lawn look nice.  Now I had a completely destroyed back windshield.  I'll be honest, I still thought it was a gunshot when I looked at it.  I thought it went through the edge of it making the two holes.  I checked out Dad's truck to see if there was a bullet hole in it.  I couldn't find one, so I must have slung something into the glass.

So the insurance and glass people were called.  I then did the only thing I could do.  Start cleaning up the mess.  I got out my toolbox with my long hammer and heavy duty gloves.  I know that glass can cut up a person really quick, so I made sure to wear my gloves.  I also got out my shop vacuum, and two brooms, and a pan.

I'm glad I had the shop vacuum to clean up the inside of my car.  Here's before the vacuuming:

And after the vacuuming:

I still need to get into some of those nooks and crannies, but I got all the major glass out of there.  Next, I had to drive to the back of a corporate maze of businesses to find Safe Light Glass.  I drove around for 45 minutes in Thonotosassa pissing off the locals.  But I finally found it, and they put a temporary cover on the back for me.

It will be Wednesday before my replacement windshield arrives.  That's fine.  I didn't expect them to have a 2001 Ford Focus Station wagon on hand.  This windshield is a bit more expensive than other ones due to it having the defrost strips in it.  So, I'm sure it will be a pain in the butt for the installer. 

I feel like Dante in "Clerks" when he says, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"  All I wanted was to mow the lawn, and get some things cleared off my "to-do" list.  Instead, I have more work on my list due to this.  I just wanted a nice lawn.

I also have the feeling that certain folks in the household don't believe that the windshield broke due to an accident.  I'm sure they think I lost my temper again, and took it out on the car, and that's why the windshield broke.  Of course, my hands would be cut to shreds, and would need massive stitching.  I'm sure they would then think that I smashed it with the weed-eater, except that it would have gone all the way through the glass, and not made it ripple like it did.  Well, I can only control me, and not what other think of me. 

So I will write an update when I get the new windshield.  I'll leave the car where it is so I don't look so white trash going down the road.  Luckily Mom will let me borrow her car for the time being so I'm not S.O.L.