Falling Down

I've had two terrible falls in two days! There's nothing like a good fall to take the wind out of your sails!

I have to start the day before the falls. I found a basketball in dirty creek. It had a bit of the surface torn and hanging which meant Mabel could carry the ball by it's torn parts. That's a good thing. Miss Pissy Lou loses interest quickly in balls she cannot carry.

I kicked the ball. It would go off trail and Mabel would retrieve it. She would bring it back to the trail, set it down before me and look at me. I would kick it again. Sometimes she would jump back into the action too quickly and I managed to kick the ball into her back, butt and face before she really learned to stay back. I kicked and she chased all the way across the valley floor, into the Big Tujunga where we played a bit and then kicked that ball back up the levee and all they way down to Bunny Flats!

When I woke in the middle of the night, I stepped on my right foot and swore my ankle was broken! Then I remembered kicking that ball! Oy, getting old is a pain...literally!

The next day, I was exploring dirty creek again. (Walden Pond to locals. Trust me, if Walden hand looked like this, Thoreau would have never been inspired to write a word!) The floods have done a number on this area. The regular stream bed is completely dry with the bulk of the stream going down an older, formerly dry bed. And, as I discovered the other day, yet another stream has formed closer to the houses. I rock hopped across, checked out the new stream and decided to explore the fort built by some teenagers.

Then we found a soccer ball. Remembering the fun of the day before and hoping to work the kink out of my ankle, I kicked it. Mabel retrieved only she dropped it on a small island. There was a tree limb linking my island with hers and as I approached I decided I could make it without the limb. I landed in slippery mud and down I went in some strange, slow motion fall. The first thing I spotted were the cut, hard ends of bamboo and immediately pictured my death by bamboo torture. I flailed around wildly for something anything to grab onto but the only thing in front of me was Mabel.

I grabbed her back. She looked up and my face with her own sweet one. The look was along the lines of "Mommy wants to pet me!" She saw the terror in my face and I saw fear flash across hers. I was no longer fearing death by bamboo but life without my dog. I was certain I was going to land on her and hurt her terribly! But smart girl that she is, she side-stepped, walking right out from under my hand and thus I continued my fall.

I grabbed onto a small tree before coming to a rest in the mud. I was so shocked, I went into a full on "baby cry." Verbal crying, no tears and then realizing I'm okay. "Wah wah wah wah huh huh huh...oh Okay. "

This is my pants taken after we made it home:


Mabel of course had a brilliant good time thinking Mom was rolling around in the mud with her. Coming home with this much sand is par for the course for her:

But apparently I wasn't done falling! The next night, still kinda sore, I torched after an afternoon hike. I was so happy torching and coupled with the late lunch I ate, I never got hungry until I had tucked Mabel in bed around eleven. Feeling hunger pains, I made a piece of toast, wrapped it in a paper towel and headed back to bed.

My bed is tall with lots of drawers built in underneath. I have to climb in. But...I missed! I skinned my knee on the wooden drawers and managed to hit my still-tender spider bite full on. The pain was excruciating. The toast went flying. I reared back and hit the bedroom wall with my right shoulder and collapsed in a heap on the floor!

And again, I turned into a baby! "Wah wah wah wah huh huh huh...oh Okay. " Realizing I was still alive, I looked up to the bed and there, peeping over the edge was a sweet faced girl! She was as startled as I was!

The best part... she showed me where my toast went!

I've managed to stay upright for a few days in a row now but between my falls and my numb left arm, my right bicep is the only thing that's healthy! I'm just glad Mabel is looking out for me!