Since Boxing Day I've been house-sitting for a friend of my mom's. I feel pretty lucky to be doing it, too. She and her husband have a small ranch and farm near us. I'm responsible for taking care of Woodrow (the corgi) and Rooster (the gigantic greyhound), four horses, and about sixteen barn cats, as well as one semi-house cat that thinks she's a dog. The neighbor is taking care of feeding the hundred or so head of cattle (thank God). I'm having a blast. This house reminds me of the lodges I've stayed at out west. Entirely log construction, inside and outside, gorgeous wood floors, wood furniture that the husband made himself...Wonderful.

I've had a couple of little issues, like not being able to get the central heating to work (it was like 57 degrees in here the first day, and 54 yesterday), and then failing to get a proper fire laid in the fireplace last night. But fortunately after the fire smoked itself out for the second time (I don't have problems with campfires, so I'm not sure what's wrong), I went and fiddled with the furnace, and the central heating started working.

But today the real problem hit. Woodrow and Rooster informed me loudly that someone was here. (They were lying, it was just the construction crew coming back from lunch.) But I didn't realize they were wrong, so I went downstairs to see who it was. And I missed the last step.

I landed with my foot at a ninety-degree angle to the floor. I can't remember the last time something hurt so much. I sat there whimpering for a little bit, then made it over to the freezer and got ice on it. But I couldn't get hold of my mom (who is on Christmas break from school) for a while, and being out in the ass-end of nowhere (which I usually love) means I can't just hop in the car and drive to CVS for an Ace bandage really quickly. Not that I could really drive anywhere, because I have a manual transmission, which requires the use of both feet, not just one. I could probably manage gas and brake left-footed, but not gas and brake AND clutch.

>.<

I did manage to get hold of Mom about an hour and a half ago, and she's supposed to be bringing an Ace bandage when she gets done running errands in town. But I can't figure out what all she was planning to do before coming here. *sigh* I could limp out and ask the construction guys to run me into town, but as nice as I'm sure they are, I don't generally get into trucks with strange men. And I could call the neighbor who's feeding the cattle, but honestly this seems a little minor to trouble him over, since I know Mom will get here eventually.

I did take 1500 miligrams of ibuprofen, and I've eaten, and I scooted up the steps on my butt so I have the netbook. Putting weight on it doesn't actually hurt, but putting weight and then having any sort of shift of that weight bites deep. Good thing, though, because I had to take the dogs out about half an hour ago. They just couldn't wait any longer.

I haven't looked at it yet. I have thick wool socks on that I think are providing some compression, and are definitely providing insulation against the ice.

Randomly, it's really hard to get barn boots off when one of your ankles doesn't work properly.