We all Fall Down

Sometimes I wonder about the careless blasé attitude I have towards certain things. Yesterday's hike was great. I left the snowshoes at home and elected to not wear my YakTraks. 

The temperatures were climbing and the snowshoes would have gobbed up with ice and compacted snow after crossing the creek. I headed down the steep trail towards the creek and realized that snowshoes would have been a good choice.

The fresh snow that covered the trail was full of hard lumps and bumps from previous walks and they were hard uneven and still frozen under the fresh snow.

No matter, I slipped and slid and carefully negotiated the nasty footwork. 

I marveled at my own balance and footwork. I was careful and steady. I did not have one misstep at all in a two-ish mile hike through the valley and back up the steep slopes towards home.

I spooked up a huge herd of deer and watched them leap effortlessly through the underbrush. I lost count after 15 deer. 

They had good trails that were easy to follow up and down the hillside. Great for deer and coyote, but a bit bumpy and lumpy for the human foot.

My walks often take to on changes of elevation of nearly 200 ft from ridge to valley. 

On a terrain map it looks like this:

I made the whole trip with a few stops to admire the creek, listen for birds, and track coyotes.

I ended up gathering the mail on the ridge and headed home without any incident.

Perfect right?

At chore time I was in a hurry and pulled the deep sled full of hay out after filling it. I spread it out in different feeders and spots so there was no arguing over piles.

I decided to be really well prepared and got all the hay set up for in the morning. I bent down to pick up a feed bucket in the shed and hurried around the front of the Subaru to put it away.

My foot caught on the rope from the hay sled.

Trying to hang on to a bucket and is stupid mistake. I think. Well. There I went. 

In order to stop a face plant on the shed floor I shot out my left arm. It immediately felt like I'd been stabbed in the shoulder. 

The fall doesn't hurt as much as the sudden stop.

However, I did a fantastic roll....
I would have won an Olympic medal for form.

I spit dirt and stopped moving. Was I alive?

Yes.

Breathing?

Yes.

Dirty?

OH yes.

Could I move?

Slowly. My left arm hurt like the dickens, so I rolled to a sit, then to a kneel and rose. 

All I could think was 

oh damn, what pickle this was.

Actually I think my first thoughts were all curse words.

I made it to the house and made Rich come out and get the dirt and snow brushed off my coveralls. 

He immediately wanted me to go to the ED. I made supper and did some icing and resting in a neutral position instead. I said if I was immobile come Monday, I'd go in.

Sunday morning was a surprise. The shoulder still aches but I'm beginning to feel what I did. I have incredibly sore triceps, and a tender bicep, and shoulder blade pain. 

I have good range of motion, but very slow.

Lifting something heavy is not an option.

Ice is nice.

We'll see how the next few days pan out.

Lesson learned. 

Do

not 

be in

a 

friggin' 

rush!

And stop marveling at my great balance and footwork. Seems it failed me!

Leading up to Deer Gun Season...

Several fun things happened this week.
I am saying 'fun' in a purely sarcastic type of way.

Monday morning, my neighbor called.  Could I come right away my neighbor had to rush her sick cat to the vet's.
The cat had been having issues on and off during the summer.  This was a cat the the kids really liked.  They called him Rainbow.
[Rainbow died the next day...]

That afternoon things seemed to go quite nicely.  I took Morris for a walk to the creek and we spent a little time looking for tracks.

Later that afternoon we were trying to get fencing and animals ready for the coming deer gun season.  
I went to water the hounds.
Mona seemed a bit off.  Not her normal self.  
Normal self is happy lick you on the hand jump up and down...wag the tail normal.
She didn't eat and refused water.
We took her off to the vet.

She was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and we received a dose of antibiotics. 

That night we took Belle hunting.  Belle was a flop.  Once she heard the hounds at home barking, she went home.

Wednesday it turned cold.  I went to feed Mona some warmed up food.  She refused to come out of her house.
So I moved her into the kitchen.  Hubby thought about complaining but decided that it would be easier to give her the shots and pills if she was indoors.
I put in the baby gate.  Mona went to sleep in a large dog crate.  
Hubby was rushing to get going to his appointment at the VA.  I was rushing to get some things done before it was supposed to start to rain/snow.

I certainly am no ballerina.  I went to step over the gate [rather quickly] and got tangled up in a heap on the floor.  I was hugging myself and trying so hard to breath.  I'd done something to my stupid foot.  The little toe turned white.
I sat and waited until I could breath again and got up slowly.

I still had to get to town.

Short notes now...
On the way back from the VA hosptial, the Jeep lost its brakes.
On my errands in town, the Subaru dashlights came on warning of brakes and battery.
I hurried home and turned the corner to coast down the driveway...all the dashboard lights came on at once and the gauges all stopped working.

Uh-oh.

By now the little toe was purple.  The foot was swelled.  I gimped the groceries inside, grabbed an ice pack and sat down.

My laptop decided to take a dump on me.
No not the dreaded screen of death.
But it seems like the Wifi card has died.

 


For whatever reason, it will not stay connected.  So now I have to resort to making files, transferring any photos to a stick and using my old laptop to post things like photos.
But...
since my foot hurts like a bugger, I'm not photographing.
I am however working with fractals.

So here you go:
Stomach Virus....ewww....I know...but that's what I thought of it!

Attack of the Nano-Bots:

The Great White Hunter has just returned.  He has filled his doe tag.
Looks like we'll have fresh deer roast again!