tea leaves a mark on me.

  Yesterday I arrived home with a live goat stuffed into the back of my jeep. That's right I said a goat, Lamancha to be precise. We have meat goats and just needed a milk goat to round out our herd. I spend the writers conference pitching the novella I wrote and scanning through Craigslist adds in the area. Sure enough a little black Lamancha add came up and I worked out the details to see her on the way home.
  With Craigslist, you never know what the person is going to be like that is selling said item.  The family selling Millie was a 20 something version of Greg and I. They had one little girl and were starting out doing something new and had moved from Portland to the sticks to start a more simple life. We chatted for a long time. I couldn't help but pet their livestock guardian puppy who rolled about my feet, soft downy fur deep enough to bury your hand into. I left them with money in their pocket and a goat in my back seat. I felt temped to pull into a coffee shop with my new goat Millie poking her head out the rear window, but figured she needed to get home as much as I did.
  We settled her in with our Meat goat pumpkin. Pumpkin is the herd queen and Millie and her had a few rounds before Pumpkin won.
I came home to settle into the usual routine and poured my steaming cup of tea, sat by my husband (who I missed seeing over the weekend) and started watching a show. Two minutes into an episode of Psych, I bumped the couch and the cup poured over onto my lap. I flung my pants off and dashed to the freezer. Ice didn't help. I ran/hopped up to the tub and poured frigid water over my leg. At this point I admit to crying out in uncontrollable pain. I spent the next 6 hours in excruciating pain half of my body submerged in tub water. I thought about going to the ER, but the bill and the fact I would have to ride in the ambulance without my icy tub of water stopped me short. Every time I tried to get out my leg shook with pain, heck I shook with pain. Finally, at three AM I hobbled to bed and sprayed peppermint/ clove oil on my burn while the fan blew air over it.
  Exciting right? It left a memorable fingerprint to the time I spend at the writers conference this last weekend. A memorable event I NEVER want to repeat. This AM my husband brought me my coffee in a cup with a lid. He said, "Someday you'll get to use a real cup again." Too true.


Scroll down if you aren't too squeamish to see my leg. I'm wearing shorts and the worst of it is covered by a bandage.