We’ve had a lot of heavy wind lately. One of the sheds we are making for the ducks (that must be finished soon!) is being recycled out of the wood from a shed that Albus and Gellert destroyed a couple of years ago. There are lots of boards with nails in them in a pile near the shed. The heavy wind knocked over the roof and we haven’t had time to fix it all yet.
When the piglets are hungry, they slip under the hot wire and come looking to steal the ducks’ grain, the little hooligans. We either use the Icies to herd them back or just load up the tractor for yet another meal. (They are eating SO MUCH these days.) They are very destructive when they are out, turning over anything and everything, running in circles, screaming and shouting.
(I’m working on Harry Potter names for Luna’s posse … I’m sort of loving Helga and Rowena (the founders of Hogwart) and Cho, Harry’s first girlfriend.)
SO ANYWAY.
We were working on firewood near the shed. (Better late than never!) I was tossing sticks for the Icies in between loading up the tractor bucket with wood and dumping in on the back deck. I noticed one of the drakes was limping and when I went to pick him up, he dashed away and I stepped really hard on a board with a nail sticking up. I had wool socks under my crocks, and the nail went all the way into my foot and I had to pry it out. Ow!
Oddly enough, there was no bleeding at all, which unfortunately is the perfect breeding environment for all sorts of nasty beasties:
“Because C. tetani is an anaerobic bacterium, it and its endospores survive well in an environment that lacks oxygen. Hence, stepping on a nail (rusty or not) may result in a tetanus infection, as the low-oxygen (anaerobic) environment is provided by the same object which causes a puncture wound, delivering endospores to a suitable environment for growth.” tetanus
I called my doctor to see when my last tetanus booster was. It was a rusty nail and we’re a farm that’s had horses. (Actually, there’s tons of composted horse manure right where we are building that shed. Gorgeous! Must move some into the garden in the spring.)
They had my last booster as 1998, which is plausible, so I went down to get another shot. They took a look at the foot and the little red line climbing my leg already and put me on Cipro. (I’m allergic to penicillin and I don’t think there are many alternatives.)
I’m to keep my feet up and take it easy for a couple of days. So now I have a sore arm and a sore foot, all because I wasn’t wearing appropriate footwear. Doh! (I hadn’t been planning to be out there, of course, but decided to help Frank when I finished up my own stuff.)
You can’t get a whole lot of farming done when you are hanging around with your feet up! I was hoping to spin, but that uses my right foot too. I can’t even bake or cook, really. Hmm. I’m never been any good at just sitting here!