the inevitable

I've had one pleasant day after another for over a month, therefore my streak was bound to end. Not even in paradise could a person escape the inevitable bad day. They happen to the best of us. Today was mine.

I woke up this morning to find that I had started peeling from the "not too bad" sunburn that I got while hiking around on my day off last week. Stumbling into the bathroom to better assess the situation, I saw in the mirror what looked like a person who suffered from leprosy. I realized it would most likely take me the rest of the summer to undo the damage of losing those several layers of skin to four hours of California sun. Awesome.

Just before lunch I got an uppercut to the chin by the muzzle of a horse who suddenly wanted to be where my face was. The teeth on inner lip contact that resulted ended with the loss of a little bit of said inner lip. No big trauma, but I feel confident in assuming most people prefer to keep all pieces of their body parts attached and functioning, and they may get rather cross when a chunk or two goes missing.

Post-lunch I had horse conflict number two where I came between a one-eyed horse and her meal bucket. An accidental headbutt resulted. The horse obviously was not phased. I was merely startled and wondered what sort of new alignment my jaw had just taken.

Late this afternoon I had the good fortune to witness chaos ensue from my first real mistake on the job since my arrival. I had shut and slid closed the handle on the gate to the colts' pen, but apparently neglected to flip (or else flipped but not locked) the latch that keeps smarty-pants horses from sliding the lever over and opening the gate to the pen. My mistake was made aware to me by Barbara hollering to us across the ranch that horses were out. From where I was I could see the colts were the escapees. Twenty-plus pubescent, not yet "fixed" colts wrecking havoc freely among 100 other, mostly female, horses. Suuuuuuuper. Gold star for me.

Once the horses had been returned to their proper locales, and everyone was fed and happy, I quickly retired for the evening. It was one of those days where I realized the sooner I got myself quarantined, the less likely I'd be to cause myself any further damage. Thus, I called it a night and took a warm shower, trying to rinse the day away. Afterwards, thinking I'd escaped the day with a sore jaw, a swollen lip, a bruised ego, and a suit of skin that looked as though it had been exposed to nuclear radiation, I went to retrieve a spoonful of some much needed cookie dough ice cream. In doing so I smashed my thumb between the refrigerator and freezer door.

What a day.