Doctor visit

I was clearing the back 40. I had the burn pile going (campfire). Making great progress. I pulled out the lawn mower to go over the area I had cleared last week. Tame the clumpy grass. The weather was drizzling. The mower plowed through the weeds. I had set the blades at the highest level. The stickers of blackberries were being chewed up. Then all of a sudden, wham, something was sticking out of my cheek. A piece of debris has slipped past the bag and hit me in the face. The high set on the blade allowed something to fly out and escape from below the wheels.

I take off my work gloves and reach up. I can see out of the corner of my eye something sticking out of my cheek. I think it is a stick. I try to pull at it but I can feel the tug on my cheek. What ever it is it doesn't want to come out easily. I leave the mower and race inside so I can look in a mirror in the bathroom, and see what I have done to my face. I call for Riley. Of course, he is slow to respond not knowing I have had an accident. Riley is the only one home.

Looking in the mirror I can see I have impaled myself with a stick of sorts. I twist it with my finger and try again to pull it out of my face. It takes a few gentle tugs and twists before it finally comes out. It is a piece of hog wire fencing with a little hooked edge on the end which was holding it in place under the skin. By turning the stem, the hook was able to find its entrance point and come out through the existing hole. I cleaned the area as it bled down my cheek. Not a big hole, just about a quarter of an inch cut. Using hydrogen peroxide and water, I rinsed the area, grateful I had my glasses on or that the wire hadn't hit me in the neck or closer to the eye.


The rain started coming down in earnest while I was inside. I asked Riley to bring in the mower as I was finished for the day.

The next day my cheek is puffy and warm to the touch. Something is causing the beginnings of an infection. I am to drive a friend to the airport. She is a nurse, so I ask for her opinion on what to do. She says it is infected and I need to go to the doctor to get antibiotics and have it looked at.

After dropping her off I call for the appointment and can be seen right away. I have my friend's son with me as he is home sick with a cold. She needed to do this trip, but her son would have been sent home from school, so I said I would hang with him. I bribe him with a chocolate milk shake and fries while I drag him with me to the doctor appointment.

The Doctor turns out to be the same doctor that saw Trevor and did Trevor's toe surgery recently. He immediately prescribes antibiotics and warm compresses to raise to the surface any debris that might be trapped under the skin. He notices my ring, which I hadn't been wearing at our previous appointments. The doctor looks down at my chart. I can hear his disappointment in his voice when he says "Oh, you are married." I respond with a smile, "Yes, happily."

He reads further where I have put recent surgeries. He does a double take when he reads I have written "spayed, 2005". He laughs and says he hasn't had anyone write that response before. He tells me the correct term tubal ligation. I tell him yes, I did know that, but spayed or neutered just fits me better.

I have also written down my hand surgery in 2001. He looks up again at my hand. He had been so distracted by my big ring that he had missed entirely my missing and deformed fingers. He asks about the surgery. He knows the doctor that performed it. I explain that the middle finger is a reattachment with a "then" experimental joint. We discuss wearing safety goggles next time I mow the lawn. I tell him I am wearing the full face guard my husband has for when he uses the chain saw.

Our time is about up, so the doctor makes a quick retreat. The nurse comes to give me an updated tetnus shot and I head out with
my young charge to pick up the prescription and get on with my day.

Everyone says how lucky I was not to have been impaled in the eye. Luck would have been not to have been impaled at all. I will be tackling more of the ivy by hand to clearly see what might be beneath. I had been worried about glass bottles. I had found a couple in the yard while clipping. I guess for a while I will just have to stick to the hand pulling and clipping until I am sure all dangers have been addressed. I just need another break in the weather.

Tom and I had a furnace guy come out to bid the conversion to gas from electric, on Friday. With the price of electricity going up and the price of gas at a ten year low, transferring to gas will pay for itself in a short time. The bid came in for converting the water heater, the furnace, the stove, and a line for a fireplace $10,000 or less; $7000 for the equipment, plus the running of the new gas lines. $1700 to bring the gas from the street to the corner of the house the utility company will charge us.

With the price of electricity going up to pay for all the green electricity projects and wind mill farms, it may not take long at all to make this a reasonable decision. The coal plant that Tom is working at is shut down temporarily. There are no plans to put in any new coal power plants. It just makes more and more sense to switch to gas, which is in abundant supply in the USA. One of our own natural resources.


Then there is the remodeling of the kitchen to accommodate the new appliances, which I am guessing will be $3000 to $5000. We will need to move the laundry and build special cabinetry for the double ovens and move some switches in the wall to accommodate where the ovens are to be located. Some drawers will need to be re sized to accommodate the drop in stove top. The island is going to get a complete make over as will our new pantry.


Years ago, my parents converted from an old oil heated furnace to natural gas. With the prices these days, I would think they are rubbing their hands together with glee at their forethought and planning. We anticipate this conversion project breaking even in seven years or less. One thing that came to our attention when comparing our old utility bills with our new ones, we had gas at our last house, was the use of the fireplace. When we used the fireplace the gas bill went up extensively. We were very wasteful. I definitely want a blower on the fireplace so at least it has some utility.

Tom said we wont start this project until summer. We have time to think and dwell on our ideas. Meanwhile, I will continue tackling my backyard hidden by neglect. I am making my list of plants I would like to see. As I clear more land, less expensive ideas filter into my mind. Tom wants a six to eight foot retaining wall. I finally heard back on a retaining wall bid. To have the landscaper do all the work started at $14,000 plus the dirt and gravel to be brought in. I asked for a bid on just the manor stone for me to do it myself. $2500 was all the rock cost. I was guessing a 60 foot length, three feet tall, in two segments. $12,000 is the labor alone. I figure I have two strapping boys that are looking for work. I will have a pallet delivered and we will see how far we get. The estimate said I needed 15 pallets, but I could trim my plans down. Do a little at a time. Work with the existing slopes.

I have been seeing some great pictures on line of steep slope landscaping. Lots of Heather and pretty bushes. I can see the yard manifesting with trails and plantings. I can do this.