Baked, Not Fried

There is a four-letter word that is near and dear to my heart at the moment.

No, not one of those. (Although I'm sure some could possibly apply).

It's OUCH.

Silly, silly me. I was outside working on some landscaping yesterday from about 9:30 a.m. until after 4:30...with one 15 minute break indoors to eat something...and it would seem that the sunblock that was applied early on just couldn't compete with Mr. Soleil's nice warm rays.

So, OUCH. I'm not burned everywhere, just on my face, the back of my neck, and on my arms between where the shirt sleeves ended and the work gloves began. It's a really interesting effect, especially if I wear a sleeveless shirt. : ) Luckily I was wearing long pants instead of shorts, or my striped pattern would be much more obvious.

I actually could have used that to my advantage, though: it would have enabled me to blend in next to the deck where all the watermelon juice drained down the side. I could hide, and jump out and scare the enormous groundhog that lives under there, hopefully either giving it a heart attack or convincing it that it didn't want to live where a crazy pink striped lady was lurking. Can you imagine the conversation that might go on?

Woodchuck, in hole, to wife: "Madge, you won't believe this, but that crazy lady that lives in the big house up there has dyed herself pink and she just jumped out from behind our house and screamed."

Madge: "There goes the neighborhood."

My husband and I were debating on how to classify this type of sunburn, since I didn't actually fry (and I've done that, and I looked like a tomato with hair) but I have definite sections of bakage going on. We came up with "Half Baked", and I figure that'll do. It's better than "The Red-Banded Idiot Burn", or "The Pink Zebra", since I am sporting some terrific stripes. But I have a feeling one of those less flattering terms will be the one that's remembered and used for years to come...isn't that the way it usually goes, though?

Note to self: reapply sunblock like the dickens if you're out more than a couple of hours to avoid looking like part of our nation's flag.