…damn….dropped log on foot.  Crushed big toe (my left foot).  Hurts like hell.  I was stupid.  I did not dress properly for the job at hand and had soft slip-on shoes.  No boots.  Very stupid.  Sadly, also typical.

Oh, do not worry.  Please.  Do not send scotch.  Or flowers.  I’ll be fine.  But it will take a few days of being a lazy butt-head to get better.  Sal may have to do the dishes tonight.  Poor baby.  Do you have our address?

I mention this petty mishap (did I mention that it hurts like hell?) because people always ask, “What do you do if you need medical attention?”  And I answer, “Usually, we just deal with the problem ourselves.  We have the first aid materials and the knowledge required is not rocket science.  We can take care of ourselves for the most part.”  What I leave out is, “Well, we usually inflict the damage on ourselves and have done so many times.  So, we have the benefit of familiarity.” 

Getting hurt out here is a given.  You will hurt yourself.  If not doing logs, then working on machines or building buildings.  Or falling out of boats.  A friend of mine who is handy and been ‘out here’ most of his life recently fell off a roof and is still recovering…in the time of Covid, no less.  Lots of people get hurt out here.  All of them have to deal with it initially themselves and, as a rule, they continue to do the caring for themselves until they are healed.  No one goes to the doctor for a ‘little thing’.  In fact, most won’t go for a ‘medium thing’.  We do go to the doctor for a BIG thing like a total knee replacement.  But, for the record: an appendectomy is a ‘medium thing’.  I can take out your appendix.  Should you opt for me doing that, please bring lots of scotch for antiseptic and medicinal reasons, of course.

Health issues for OTG’ers are subtly different than readers are likely to ‘get’ or understand until they have lived out here for awhile.  Firstly, I am sure Sal and I are healthier than we have ever been.  I am not positive because, even though we are pretty good, we are also getting older at a time when age seems to count more.  I am a healthy 72 year old but 72 is no Spring chicken.  We get more exercise, of course.  The air is cleaner, the food is also better and we are not eating any junk food.  Or ‘comfort’ food.  Sal is adamant that chocolate is NOT junk food.  “No chocolate – in any form or any quantity – is junk food!  Comfort food, maybe.”

So, back to the big toe…..

I may have crushed the bone a bit but I did not break it.  Pretty sure.  Hurts too much to ‘feel’ but I can move it.  Can’t walk properly, though…rolling off the big toe is a no-go move.  I am walking with the left big toe stuck in the air and trying to put all my weight on the far left side of that foot.  And that is hampering further log processing.

I have advised Sal to be more careful doing the logs…..