A trip to IKEA that turns into a trip to the hospital.

I know that sounds like an evil version of a Winnie-the-Pooh chapter but I promise you that everybody is fine except that I didn't get any bookshelves yet. That was my goal yesterday morning when I finally set out to solve the problem of too many books and not enough places to put them. My house is buried in boxes and a good many of them are full of books.  Thanks to owning a house with built in book shelves, we haven't owned bookshelves in at least five years maybe more. Anyway, I've been trying all week to avoid IKEA and the labyrinth of insanity that it is by trying to go to the thrift shop or find other means to acquire bookshelves but to no avail. I was informed Friday that IKEA cornered the market on cheap, easily accessible furniture and I steeled myself to tackle the very real problem of going to that den of color coordinated mayhem on the worst of all possible days, Saturday!

 So I armed myself with Euros, a vat form and got there 15 mins after ten. My strategy was a success!  I had beaten the rush and got a great parking spot. There were very few measuring tape wielding customers to wade through in order to get to the place I had previously designed to go. As I was contemplating between several different designs of shelving units, I get a call that end all my decision making fun. 

You see, Arnie had left earlier that morning to go mountain bike riding with a local riding group. There had been some concern about the riding conditions because of the recent rain fall making the trails soft and muddy. However it had been clear the night before and the morning was bright and clear so they decided to continue as planned.  Unfortunately, there were still some softer places in the trail and a couple people had issues. Arnie was one such unfortunate. His bike slipped while transversing a large tree root and his leg came in contact with the saw-like surface of the chain ring resulting in a substantial cut in his calve. His riding buddies administered first aid using their camelbaks, a shop towel, some gauze and some duct tape. 

I picked up my crazy husband, covered in mud, lounging in the sun, next to the PX, beside an equally mud incrusted bike looking for all the world like he was just there enjoying the sunshine.   I took him to the nearby Boeblingen hosptial where they clean the wound and put one stitch in the longest cut and told him to go take a bath.  

I guess bookshelves will have to wait for another day. I'll be playing nurse for at least a day or so.