StatCounter

Monday, August 30, 2010

Buried a bloody sock in the woods

Interesting day. Did not set out with the idea of burying a bloody sock in the woods. That's just what happens sometimes.

Headed out in the morning with my son in law, a friend and two large diesel pickup trucks. I've a dead and down permit from the Forest Service. Cost $20 for the right to pick up 2 cords of firewood. My friend works part time for the Forest Service and knew where an ax course had been given early in the summer. There was nice seasoned hardwood about 8 miles up a good dirt road.

One of the logs was much more seasoned than I expected. My pickaroon bounced off the log and jabbed me in the leg. It bled freely. My sock was soon soaked and my boot started to fill with blood -annoying, to say the least. Fortunately, in the last few years, I started keeping medical kits in my vehicles. Didn't take long to clean up the wound and stop the bleeding.

The other guys finished loading the trucks while I sat in the shade drinking water.

At one time I'd have been out there getting firewood alone, without a medical kit. Since then, I've given a bit more thought to being prepared. Even had a cell phone with me, but as luck would have it, there was no signal out there anyway. I wasn't in any real danger, but it would have sucked to be alone and without medical supplies. Probably would have cut up my shirt for a bandage. This injury was fairly minor in the big scheme of things. It did give me pause to think I could have been alone and badly injured.

One thing amused me: I'd taken care put on a really comfortable good pair of socks this morning. One of them was so blood soaked the only thing to do was to bury it in the woods. Go figure.

-Sixbears

4 comments:

  1. I guess we could say you were lucky as it could have been much worse. Myself, I have great respect for hand tools that we swing like an axe, pickeroon or other gouging/chopping tools. A hand that gets tired or wet can result in a glancing blow and it winds up in your leg. Did you buy a lotto ticket? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha ha. No, didn't buy a ticket. Yeah, it could have been worse. I respect my tools, but stuff happens.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeeowch! Hell of a way to start the day! I've always carried first aid kits, especially on boats. Came in really handy once when I got bit by a king mackerel. Nearly five feet of seriously ticked off muscle with a big mouth, lined with needle sharp teeth. Slashed my ankle open good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like the best thing you had going for you was a cool head, too often people panic at the sight of blood, especially their own.

    Wretha

    ReplyDelete