Abject Stupidity Rears its' Ugly Head

I woke up early this Sunday morning. It felt great. It was cool outside, I had gotten a great nights sleep, and was raring to go.

I picked up the Sunday paper, had coffee and breakfast, and decided that it would be a great day to work on the yard. I headed home from the coffee shop and proceeded put on grubby clothes and drag out the hedge clippers to tackle the last few bushes in the backyard. Hedges first, lawn second, and the rest of the paper and relaxation for the rest of the day.

30 minutes later I was fumbling for my cell phone so that I could call someone to take me to the hospital, all the while bleeding profusely all over the place. A freak bit of malfunction, and the tip of my left index finger lay on the grass.

We made it to the hospital quickly (thanks, Kevin, I hope I did not bleed in your car) and it took a couple of hours to get the bleeding to stop. The tip is unsalvageable, so my left index finger will be about 3/8 of an inch shorter for the rest of my life. It hurts like a %&*^&%^%&*%^, and the morphine they gave me at the hospital did not agree with me at all. Nasty stuff, like an instant alcohol binge, and I don't drink anymore.

The good news is that the bone was not damaged and because the tip was not salvageable I will not have to worry about reconstructive surgery. Just a big fluffy gauze bandage for quite some time.

So, the moral of the story is to keep Sunday for relaxation, hire out the lawn work, and pay more freaking attention to what I am doing. I'll have a reminder of that forever.