Dumb Things to Do

-

I cracked a rib last week and it hurts like heck. No, don't feel sorry for me. I don't deserve it. It's really stupid how I did it. I was sitting on the deck in one of the plastic wicker chairs and I dropped an appointment card I found in my coat pocket. It landed on the deck beside my chair. Did I get up and bend over to pick it up like a smart person? No, I didn't. I leaned over the arm of the chair and reached as far as I could with my left hand. With my fingers still six inches away from the card, reaching became painful. Did I get up and pick up the card like a normal person. Oh, no I didn't. I pushed past the point of pain and stretched until I heard something snap. Then I got up and picked up the card like anyone else would have.

Since I'm an old hand at breaking ribs, I didn't bother going to the hospital. Unless the rib is puncturing a lung, there isn't much they can do, except maybe give me painkillers, which don't work for me. I already have ibuprofen, which only helps a little bit, but works better than most prescription pills.

Having already injured myself, I went out and dug a 30 foot long trench for planting potatoes. That kind of activity should be reserved for people without broken bones, but I wasn't feeling too bad, so I went right to work. That evening I was in even more pain than when I originally hurt myself. For the better part of a week, I've been struggling with the discomfort of putting on my coat, taking off my coat, showering, drying off, getting into bed, getting out of bed, rolling over, staying still, picking things up, putting things down, etc.


Today I was feeling better, so I went out, planted some potatoes, dug another 30 foot trench, planted some more potatoes, covered the potatoes, and then I had to cook dinner. I was making chicken stir fry. Cutting up the chicken was really, really painful. My injured rib is on the left side and I'm right handed, so cutting on one side was causing sharp pains on the other. The exertion of all that work really aggravated my injury.

Have I learned anything? Yes, but I won't remember it.

Stephen P.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Country Code and Shooting Dogs

-
Image
photo by Kathryn Scott My dad never killed a dog while I was growing up. A few times he had to jump into his pickup and go run dogs off that were chasing the cattle. It's the country code. If your dog chases livestock, he is guilty of a capital crime. Horses attempting to flee barking, snarling dogs often break legs. Cattle being chased run and burn off weight, often being off their feed for awhile. Sheep crash into fences and hurt themselves and the list goes on. A livestock chasing dog costs the farmer money, sometimes a lot, and they escalate and begin killing sheep and goats. Dogs that chase chickens usually catch them and kill them. The attack also stresses out the rest of the flock causing hens to stop laying and molt. These dogs usually get three strikes. The punishment the first two times, is harsh enough. The dog is sentenced to having the decomposing chicken tied around his neck until it rots and falls off. Kind of an echo of Rime of the Ancient Mariner. If you
Read more

Changes

-
Image
Lake Thunderbird Some changes are good, like from winter to spring. Others are not so good. Every time we have to go into Norman, the city is bigger noisier and the traffic is heavier. It seems like hundreds of acres of farm land become cookie cutter housing and huge apartment complexes every week. That's not just my imagination, others see it too. And every trip into town, I notice more businesses shutting down. Not that that's always a bad thing. Long John Silvers, Arby's and Wendy's locations have been boarded up. The Mexican Food Store is gone, and that probably isn't a good thing, since the International food store has been gone for awhile. The highway out here has become four-lane for about half the way and that has led to more traffic. It's also the time of year when campers, boaters and fisherman flock to Thunderbird, which means we no longer have the lake to ourselves. We also no longer have the big box garden centers to ourselves. I al
Read more

Busy-ness

-
It's been a while since my last post, but it couldn't be helped. I've been busy getting two of my novels ready to publish on Amazon.com, as Kendle ebooks, and doing a final rewrite on a third novel. The first two, My Year in the Barrel and Jordan's Fall are now live and available for download. The third, Eaters , will be available in the next month or two. I'm also working on a new website, but more about that later. I hope to get back to writing my smile-worthy humorous blog posts (or at least not groan-worthy) in the near future. Until then, I hope you'll read free samples of my books at Amazon.com. www.amazon.com/author/scottstephen Stephen P.
Read more