Dot`sThoughts

Finally went out and cleaned up the tall pole that supports my huge bird feeder. I brought in the hotel style feeder off the top of the pole and it is packed away upstairs till next spring. But the pole with the large white tray was still waiting for me to get to it on the back porch. I knew it would require a lot of heavy scrubbing before I could put it away for the winter.
Every summer I spray down the whole length of the pole with Pam cooking spray. I found out that the squirrels don`t like the oil getting onto their feet. So, that is one bird feeder that the squirrels don`t bother.
That pole stands about 6 feet above ground even after I pound it into the ground about 2 feet. It is a job pounding it in every spring and by fall the pole is set hard into the ground and more work trying to pull it back out of the ground. Well, this afternoon I went out loaded with Dawn dish detergent to cut the greese and one of those teflon scouring pads and cleaned all the Pam oil spray and all the junk that had collected onto the greasy pole. And then there was that plastic all white large round tray that origionally sat under the feeder for the birds to stand on while eating. Well as you probably guessed, they do more than just stand there and eat. What an awful mess was waiting for me to scrub off. Well, somehow I ended up with about a half inch long cut on the back of one finger on my left hand which I never noticed till after I came back into the house. Nothing to worry about though as it didn`t go very deep. It only bled for a short time and seems to be ok now. No Idea what I did it on. Walt always used to tell me to sit down. He said I am always getting hurt when I do things. Well, not realy that often, but he would say it anyways. Actually I get burnt from the oven more than I get other hurts. Walt used to tell me to leave it alone when the food was done and he would take it out fior me. Well have to do it myself now. I have this one knuckle on the right hand that sticks up higher than all the other knuckles on the back of my hand.
Years ago one of the daughters was getting ready to use the oven. I was in getting ready to go out with Walt and a sister and her hubby. She yelled in to tell me that the oven won`t work. So, I told her to leave it alone and leave the oven door open and i`d check it when I came out.
Well, it was about twenty minutes before i started to lite the oven for her. When it lit, it blew towards me. My one thought was getting the daughter out of danger. So, I shoved the poor girl so hard she flew across the kitchen landing near the side door, but she wasn`t hurt. But I burnt my hand pretty good. We had to call the fire co. as the fire started up the wall behind the stove. Lucky for us the fire Co. is only a few blocks from our home. One of those on the ambulance was a kid I had known since we were grade school kids together. He wanted to take me off to the Hosp, but I insisted on staying till I knew the fire was out and our house wasn`t in any danger. He insisted that I walk out to the ambulance and let him put some salve on it to stop my hand from getting even worse. So, I gave in and and went to the ambulance for him to treat the burnt hand. I thought I knew him well and so I trusted him. He had me sit on the seat in the back and pretended to be looking for the salve to stop the burning. Then he told me he would be right back and that his partner was the last to use the salve and he needed to ask him where he had put it. Next thing I knew Glen climbed back in where I was waiting and again started to open one of the drawers like he was still searching. Next thing i knew, we were driving down the road with the siren going. Boy, was I ever mad at him. When we arrived at the hospital they got a bucket filled with cold water and lots of ice cubes. That stupid Nurse could have just asked me to remove my rings and put my hand into the bucket and I would have done it. But, no, she just grabed my hand and yanked off my rings making the burns even worse, then she shoved my hand into that bucket with all those ice cubes and little water. By the time the Dr got thru treating the burns, he sent me home with my hand looking like it was wearing a boxing glove. it took a few weeks to heal, but when the back of my hand hit the stove-- when I moved so fast to protect my daughter . one knuckle was damaged and remained higher than the rest after the hand was healed. So, it often hits the top of the stove when I am reaching in to pull a dish out. But, trying to use the left hand ends up being worse. I have the little pinky finger damaged with a steak knife. I took out some frozen pork chops and reached for a knife to separate them. Hubby had just used a steak knife and left it on the counter. So, instead of getting out a butter knife like I usually used, I picked up the streak knife. Well, I have arthritic hands with some fingers that curve and are not straight like they should be. So, while I was pushing the knife between the frozen pork chops, the knife turned in my hand allowing it to go in one side of the finger and on out the other side. Without thinking, i just pulled the knife back out bringing the inside flesh out with it. I knew that the flesh would die if it stayed exposed to the air, so I used my fingers to poke it back inside under the skin. Then I held the finger under cold water while putting pressure to stop the bleeding. Boy, did it ever bleed. Then I yelled into to Hubby and told him he needed to drive me to the Hosp. he came out, looked at the finger and said " you can take care of it-- just pull the cut shut and bandage it up tightly". So, rather than argue with him, I just turned my hand over so he could see the other side. he took one look and told me to get my coat. I went to the Hosp with a large bath towel wrapped around my hand and kept holding pressure to stop the bleeding. We sat for almost 3 hours while they kept waiting on others in the emergency room. There was this little girl that kept standing in front of me talking to me. Finally her dad told her to come over and sit with him and leave the nice people alone. Knew I couldn`t undo the hand in front of her but The minute she left, I unwrapped my hand and turned it so the Nurse would see it. You never saw anyone move so fast. She jumped up and came over to where I was sitting and said come with me. Then I waited in a room and a Dr came in. When he asked what I did ( I had rewrapped the hand to keep my clothes from collecting blood on them). I told him I needed a surgeon and there was nothing he could do for me. He said " Sounds like you know what you did". Told him, yes,-- can`t bend it so know I cut both tendons, can`t feel it, so know I cut the nerves and the way its bleeding, know I cut the veins. He took one look and said you are right and headed out to locate a surgeon. Had two ops, neither worked. Then the surgean told me I was loosing my whole hand unles I had that finger removed. . All the fingers were being drawn down into a fist and I couldn`t open them. I told him I needed to think about it. He said don`t take too long as the longer you wait the worse your hand will get. I came home and called my oldest brotjher for the name of the Dr he had a few yrs before. Then I called that surgeon and made an appointment to see him the very next day. He ordered some finger braces that have a screw to force the brace against the fingers to try forcing them open. Took three braces and a couple months with the Dr turning those screws in a little every few days till he was able to get 3 fingers open and the little finger was opened to about a 45 degree angle. That was the best that could be done, but at least I still have all my fingers. But that angle means that the center knuckle sticks up and the first half of the finger stays in a half closed position. When working I often need to pull the finger back where it connects to the hand and place it over the next finger out of the way. The first Dr did the second op to lengthen the cord hoping it would allow the finger to open , but all it did was make the cord too long in my hand so when I close my hand that cord in the palm just pops up and pushes things out of my hand unless I am hanging on tightly with the other fingers.
So that is why I can`t use the left hand in the oven without that finger hitting and getting burnt. But I still manage to play chords with that hand on my organ. I just can`t reach far enough to play all the regular keys with that hand. my motto is "Where there`s a will, there`s a way".
Guess I`m just too stubborn to give up. Or maybe it`s just that I was raised with parents who went thru a lot and still kept going. They were good examples for us kids to follow. There is always someone a lot worse of than we are.