July 2-3, '10

This was a typical Friday/Saturday trip made by Sally, Tender and myself.

Garden
It was dry with no rain in the gauge. Sally picked more onions, some getting to a nice size, just a handful of green beans, some cherry tomatoes, and one tomato still a little green.

Blackberries
After filling the bird feeders, I hit the slopes. I spent almost 2 hours picking, just trying to get the all black ones -- knowing I would be back picking again Saturday. I think I got about a gallon, and left two quarts frozen at the farm. Saturday just before leaving I picked another 3 quarts or so -- including those with a bit of red. Amanda said organic blackberries at Whole Foods were $3.99 a cup. My cost for mine I am sure is way above that.

Mowed
The one nice thing about the dry weather is that the grass slows down. I mowed the road to the pond, around the walnuts I'm trying to get to grow along the road, in front and behind the barn, and over to the spring. I never cranked up a weed eater.

Wine and Sudoku
We had wine and two puzzle challenges, one completed in the hammock.

White Oak
Saturday I decided to get one more load of wood cut to 18 inches so that I would be ready for a trip to Chicago and Denver if it comes up, so the wood would be cured. So I headed back to the huge downed white oak. I think this was my fourth cutting on this monster and I am just getting the meat of the tree. As you can see, the wild grape and other vines are trying to claim it. The trees or limbs in front and behind are hickory. One pinned underneath had green leaves on it. There is more hickory underneath.

I used one tank of gas with the McCulloch and got a whole truck load. I was surprised because a month before it took two tanks of gas -- one in the McCulloch and one in the Stihl. This is better wood since it is bigger pieces and not many limbs.

It started to sprinkle as I was finishing up, and it was raining by the time I got to the barn. I thought I would split a few pieces before lunch. On the second piece the maul stuck. (Although the white oak splits really easy, there were lots of big joints in these pieces.) So I was driving it through with my sledge hammer and ping -- a shard of metal flew off the head of the sledge and hit me right above the knee. It really stung, and then I noticed it bleeding. Holding some pressure on it I hobbled up to the house to clean and dress the wound.

It cleaned up nicely and with some pressure quickly stopped bleeding. I put a band aid on it and had lunch. After lunch Sally joined me at the barn to help stack the wood as I split it. Then I picked berries and got a shower in preparation for leaving. I thought it would be good to change the dressing on my leg and noticed something black in there. I presumed it was a piece of metal still in my leg, but decided to look at it closer once we got home. We talked about what to do, including swinging by the Eureka hospital, Medi-Quick in town, or tackling it myself.

We decided to first check my pants to see if there was a hole in them -- no hole, there must not be a piece of metal. Sure enough there was a small hole. I started working on it and quickly knew it was metal, but I couldn't get it out. Several times I was able to grab it, but the tweezers would slip off and it wouldn't budge. Did I mention that poking around on it hurt.

I hated to be a wimp, but Sally called Medi-Quick and they said they would take a look at it but that they closed at 8 and I needed to get there ASAP. (I did not want to go to the Emergency Room on Saturday night.) Within an hour they had deadened the area, widen the cut, and pulled it out. The fragment removed is shown here in this picture. You can see the barb that was holding it in. I was very thankful for their service.