Well, that was graceful... and painful.

The guy delivered heating fuel a little while ago and as I waited for the fuel guy to write up the receipt for heating fuel, I got my dog out of the house and took her out to tie her in the yard. The little Wookie, a Shih Tzu, tried to dash past me. I did not want him out there with that huge fuel delivery truck about to back down the drive so I reached down to catch him before he could get off the porch.

Well. My I was barefoot and my bare foot slipped on the rain slicked porch... Cheyenne, my dog, tried to pull back to keep me from falling. A trick she picked up watching me train her older (and MUCH bigger) brother Bear to be an assistance dog. Bear has been learning to step to the side to help keep the human holding his collar from a hard fall if they slip. Well, Shy stepped back when she saw me slide so I used her as a brace. It was funny how things slowed down to point I noticed that she had perfect stance, and a look like "OMG OMG OMG!" on her puppy face. Shy tried, she really did, but she's just a little girl and would be doing good to hit 50 pounds on the scale.

End result - I went into a slow motion spin around in a circle as my foot went out off side of porch and I fell ass over teakettle in a tumble down the three steps to land in dirt on my butt. The only thing that saved from landing on my head was Shy's effort to keep me from falling. Had it been Bear, maybe, but while Shy's learning too, she's no assistance dog and was no match for gravity.

And the guy in truck about 30' away never saw a thing.

I'm limping and sore now, oh, and rewashing the jeans I had just taken out of the dryer. They're all muddy and wet from falling on the muddy path.