We’ve been through this before — I don’t tell you everything. Truly, the only person in my Life that knows it all is Deb. Yes, occasionally I’ll drop a hint or two and let you figure it out (or make up your own story). And sometimes I’ll come clean later.
This is one of those times.
I trimmed my beard today. I had to. As you may have surmised from a parenthetical reference I made a week ago yesterday, while burning brush I was a little too close to the pit when the wind shifted in my direction. Immediately, I smelled burnt hair — I just wasn’t sure what hair got scorched.
When I did a damage assessment later that day, I saw that the intense heat had singed the right side of my beard between my ear and my chin. This afternoon I cut it all back by about a third.
Deb says it looks “tidy.” No pictures.
Recently I took a couple of easy days, but I didn’t say exactly why — I hurt myself while splitting firewood. To a certain extent, that was embarrassing. The worst part, honestly, was that I did something that I know enough not to do.
All of my experience was at least 40 years ago. I’m rusty. I came close to paying a big price.
The first day I swung my new Fiskars splitting axe, about halfway through the session it glanced off a chunk of oak and fired the wood back at my left shin, hard. The impact broke the skin and gave me a knot, but it wasn’t a big deal.
It happens. My accuracy needs work.
On the second day, I picked up a piece that I decided was too long (tall) to set on the chopping block, so I put it on the ground in front of the block and took an enthusiastic swing.
Again, as had happened once the day before, I missed. This time, however, the wood flew to the left — and the axe head struck my right ankle.
The heel of the (still very sharp) bit penetrated the thick leather upper of my Thorogood boot and wool sock, leaving a clean half-inch cut in the skin. Looking it over, I presumed it was deep, too, but it wasn’t bleeding a lot, and I still had full function of ankle, toes and such.
So I finished my splitting and stacking, put my tools away, took the dogs out, had a bite to eat and then sat down with my med kit to treat the wound. That’s when it began to bleed. It took 15 minutes of direct pressure before I could get a bandage on it.
I elevated my foot and iced the injury. By bedtime it was throbbing as painfully as any toothache I’ve ever had. Putting weight on that leg was out of the question unless absolutely necessary. I wrapped it with an Ace bandage, which helped a little, and I managed a couple hours’ sleep.
And I took two days (mostly) off. It’s much better today. Still some pain, but it’s healing nicely.
Again, no pictures. But now you know.
So what happened? First, if I was gonna swing at a log on the ground, I should’ve calculated the arc better (accounting for a miss) and taken a wider stance. I was in a rush, a rhythm, a zone, and that contributed to the mistake.
Really, I probably should’ve passed on that log entirely rather than trying to whack it the way I did.
These two lessons — fire, axe — could’ve been very expensive, but they were cheap. Now all I have to do is take them.
Aaron Lewis has released the second cut from his album, “The Hill.” This time it’s “Made in China,” written by Lewis and Bobby Pinson. Deb and I actually heard him perform the song shortly after it was penned, at “Red, White & Bluestone” in July of 2022.
From the lyrics:
Lord knows I ain’t made in China
I’m American as it getsRed-blooded as they come
I’ll die for being free
I’m proud of where I’m fromForeign-made or city-raised
I’m proud to say I’m neither
And I ain’t selling ’em any of mine
And I ain’t buying theirs either
If you got something to say about that
I couldn’t give two shits
‘Cause I ain’t made in China
I’m American as it gets
Yeah, it’s another good one that speaks to me and for me. Give it a listen.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB