I just went down to the garage to get the clothes out of the dryer. Well I decided to not wear shoes. Bad idea. Stubbed my left pinky toe into a 2x4 on the floor. Skinned it some. Hurt like dikens. After a minute of pounding the dryer with fist I came back upstairs. Sat down and decided I should go clean the wound. Got up walked past the fireplace and the stone tile stretches out onto the floor. Hit the same toe and tore the nail half off. Now it really hurts bad. Plus there is now blood on the carpet and my toe is pumping out blood faster than a wildcat well. Well its wrapped in gauze now. Out of all the potentially dangerous things I do so often I hurt myself more often around the house.

I guess this is karma for laughing at my buddy scoping himself last weekend at the range with his new 338.

Dang darn digity this hurts like crazy.

"hey JoBob this hurts, well BillyBob go hit your other thumb, What will that do JoBob, it evens out the pain BillyBob"

 

Hate to see you hanging out there all alone with your stupidity showing, so I will join you.

One day we were camped in a rubber tree plantation in Vietnam. It was getting dark and I was going down this path through the trees when I tripped over a root that went across the path. This was the third time I'd tripped over it, so I said enough is enough, got the axe out of the jeep and took a mighty swing at the root.

Next thing I knew I was laying on the ground with my head all bloody.

Turrns out a tent wire had been strung across the path and since it was getting dark, I couldn't see it and managed to hit it, making the axe bounce back and smack me square in the head.

Luck for me that it wasn't a double-bit axe.

Now honda, don't that make you feel better?

 

I was on the roof of our rental house (my parents own a second house in town and rent it out) about 3 weeks ago cleaning the gutters. This is one of many properties I manage, and my father HATES it when I try to save him a buck by doing things like this. He's more than happy when I do plumbing repairs, carpentry, etc. but always tries to stop me from going up ladders or doing anything he sees dangerous. "I didn't have you & raise you for 26 years so you can kill yourself cutting down that tree... climbing that ladder... sticking screwdrivers in that electrical panel."

Once again, I didn't listen. Gutter cleaning for a house this size runs about $200 around here, and I figured I would save dad the $$$ by taking an hour or so to do it myself. I was all finished and happy that I didn't have any problems. I was just coming down from the roof when the ladder's feet slipped out. First the ladder dropped. Then I fell on top of it. All this happened on a wooden deck, with me falling from a height of 15 - 20 feet. Worst part is I was descending the ladder backwards (back to the rungs instead of chest to the rungs). I literally flipped my body around in the air to prevent landing on my back, stuck out my arms & bent them at the elbows to help absorb the impact. If I hadn't done this maneuver, there is no question in my mind that I would either be dead or paralyzed.

I broke 2 ribs (originally thought it was just bruised, but turns out I broke them), hurt both my elbows, both thighs (hematomas), my wrist, several fingers on my right hand, got a gash on my face from my lip to my chin, pierced the inside of that same part of my face with my teeth, and got several more cuts & bruises of varying sizes all over.

With blood dripping all over, I grabbed my cell phone & called doctor mom & doctor dad. "Are you calling 911?" was the question someone asked. "Nope, I'm skipping the middle-man and calling the doctors direct." -- not too bad a reply, considering my state.

While waiting the 5 minutes it took my parents to arrive, I put my ladders away in the bed of my truck, picked up the garbage bags & disposed of them, and put away the hose. Tried not to bleed too much all over the place while I was doing this (actually wrapped my T-shirt around my right arm to contain the blood). My poor tennants kept trying to get me to sit down, but I'm stubborn like that!

If you're interested, I'll tell you the story next time about how I walked into the Emergency Room at 9:00 PM all cleaned-up & showerd and said, "Hello. I cut myself in the leg with a chainsaw rather severely earlier today. I'd like to get a tatanus shot please." "What about your leg," was the reply from the woman at the desk. "Don't worry, that's been taken care of. I'd just like to get the tetanus shot, please" -- that one really confused her.

 

In the FWIW department, I flip up the ladder feet, jump up and down a bit on the lower rung to seat the ladder a bit, then I drive stakes into the ground in front of the ladder feet, sometimes to the side too. Helps prevent the ladder from moving on dirt or wet ground and grass. Glad to see you did not break your neck!

 

I used to know a guy who told his son "Don't worry, it'll feel much better once it stops hurting."