Me and My Ankle

“Me and My Uncle” is an old Grateful Dead song, about a trip gone wrong on the Goodnight Loving Trail. The song was written by the infamous John Philips, a full blooded loser, who made it big with the Mamas and Papas ("California Dreamin'"). Judy Collins first sang it, and there's a Joni Mitchell cover. It's a Dead song though--sort of blues-country, one of their more popular older tunes.

The song is about this guy and his uncle, “who went riding down, South Colorado, West Texas bound”. They stop over in Santa Fe, and a card game develops. Cowboys commence to draw, and the kid shoots them dead. They grab the gold, and then the kid ends up shooting his uncle in Mexico, for the gold, claiming his uncle taught him good. It's a fun song.

So, my new song is "Me and My Ankle." I rolled my right ankle something terrible on Monday, when all I was trying to do was sneak in a trail run at lunch during a break from the January rains. My version:

Me and My Ankle

Me and my ankle went runnin’ down
South Bellingham, Arroyo bound
We stopped over, the Hemlock Trail
That being the point just about half way
And you know it was the wettest part of the day

I do this kind of thing all the time--roll my ankle, make stupid songs. I’m a bit irritated with myself. I should’ve anticipated the slipsy footing, and paid attention to the fact that I was running in new, stiff shoes. I know better. I've done it worse, but I done it bad. There were words, and a slow shuffle back to the office.

Oh well, it comes with the territory.