Pain in the Ankle

Back when Toby and I were newly weds and I was pregnant with Bo, we used to lay in bed and talk about what we thought our baby would look like.  That was back in the day before you could find out what you were having and see sonograms of the baby before it was born.  I told Toby that if we had a girl, I hoped she would have his legs, because they were long and slim and shapely.  Toby said that if we had a boy, he hoped he would have my legs so that he could play football without fear of hurting his knees or ankles.  Hmm, so much for romance.

Toby took another half-day today.  The weather has been very nice hovering somewhere in the low 80's.  The wind was a bit blustery today, but not too bad.  Some pipeline company has been out on our land clearing (small) trees to expose their pipeline.  We have pipelines all over OK and a couple of pipelines on our 75 acres.  You may not know this, but there is a small airplane that flies the pipelines watching for problems and such.  It flies over often.  Apparently there is to be some sort of ground inspection, so the pipeline company is clearing the way and putting up markers.  The back corner of our property has a deep creek-bed/ravine with a  pipeline crossing it. Although the pipeline was sure to have been cleared at some point in the past, small trees on the other side of the ravine are now rather thick and are being cleared.

The tree cutters were here early and gone by the time Toby arrived home.  We decided, since it was a beautiful day, we would walk out and see how things were going. Now, I consider my self pretty sure footed - a bit of a mule. I'm also fairly coordinated and athletic. But now and then I step on something uneven and send myself flying - rather violently.  I did this in front of the barn.  One minute I was walking and talking with the dogs jumping around me, and the next minute I was on the ground in pain with dogs jumping around me.  The good news is that I'm never really hurt.  Once the pain subsides, my rolled ankle is stout enough that I can get up and continue on - which I did.  We climbed down into the creek-bed and up the other side, walked all around the area where the tree cutting is going on, and then followed the tractor tracks through the brush to see how they got a tractor to that side of the creek.  It was here that I rolled my ankle - again.  Dang.  Actually, I said a different word as I hit the ground - not one of my usual words, but one I rarely use.  I said it twice yesterday. Where did that come from?  Anyway, I made it out to the road where we discovered the tree cutters were also fence cutters who had left a way for the horses to escape. Great.  I made it on back to the house, but now my ankle is a bit swollen and sore. 

I'm going to skip exercise this morning and give my ankle a rest.  Although I am actually okay, I may use my sore ankle for an excuse not to do other ranch-hand work this weekend.  Heh.