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By Mark Zeiger, February 13, 2017

I need to say from the start that I have not injured myself recently!

Before starting The Zeiger Family Homestead Blog in 2009, I wrote a similar blog for about a year. It proved to be a mistake. Nevertheless, I wrote some decent stuff, most of which appeared as earlier posts on this blog. Some of it even made it into my book, Sacred Coffee: A “Homesteader’s” Paradigm.

Some essays never got published, because their timeliness had passed. However, the story below still holds value for those who read this blog for its cautionary homesteading tales. And, it continues to remind me to be careful when doing chores (see Watch for Falling Firewood).

One note: in the years since I wrote the story below, I’ve vacillated on whether or not I broke my nose that day. As I publish this, I’m pretty sure I actually did. Michelle seems to think I did, anyway.

So . . . .

Continue reading '“I Can Touch My Nose!”'»

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By Mark Zeiger, December 5, 2016

Yesterday, as we hiked a visitor out to catch her ferry home, I took a sudden fall, possibly the worst I’ve experienced here.

Falls are a constant danger on and around our homestead. We think about it a lot, and try to prevent incidents (see, for example, Missteps and Well Balanced). Even so, it happens.

I tripped on a tree root, as simple as that. But, when I hit the ground, I ripped up my knee. I swore a bit, picked myself up, and continued the hike, but investigated when my pants began to feel sticky. When I pulled up my pant leg, we found blood everywhere. By the time we got to town, blood had begun to soak through the double knee.

I’ve got a bit of a mess to clean up (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

We went on to town, stopped at a grocery store for a roll of paper towels and supplies to augment our car First Aid kit, and went on to the ferry terminal. There we cleaned up and bandaged the knee.

I had about 4 abrasions, and one or two shallow punctures that still make me shake my head in confusion, since the surface I fell on didn’t offer any sharp points that I saw. The copious bleeding surprised us all.

When we got home, I pulled the pants off and treated the bloody spots. I turned them inside out and took the included photo, just for the record.