K is For "Klutz"

I am my own worst enemy these days. Let me explain.

Last Thursday, I was sitting in my computer chair and I felt a stretch coming on. You know, the big ol' yawning, sprawling stretch that's downright exhilarating. So I leaned back in my chair and let my arms and legs fly. It was a good one, this stretch, audible even. And at the end of it, when my arms and legs returned to home position, it got louder.

Next to my computer is a storage cube which holds my seed and plant catalogs. It's about fifteen inches square and was the perfect spot for my cactus planter to sit when I brought it in for the winter, until I could figure out where a better place for it might be. I guess anywhere but there would have been better. You know what's coming, don't you?

As I brought my right hand down, it smacked the large-spined cactus spot on and one of those large spines broke off in my hand. And it punctured a vein. When I pulled the spine out, blood followed. Quite a bit of it, in fact. I ran it under cold water and applied pressure and it stopped shortly after. Later in the day, it looked like my hand had been stepped on, because it bled out under the skin. That was five days ago, and while it's not purple anymore, it's still sore when I make a fist or use my hand just right.


Round Two

Today was a wonderfully warm day, reaching 61°. It wasn't sunny, but it wasn't windy either, so it was a great day for working outside. I finished pruning the dead hosta leaves away, removed lots of tree leaves from the beds (again), and planted the tulip bulbs I'd been fortunate to receive in the mail today from another garden blogger.

I was really pleased to receive those tulips and that they arrived in time that I didn't have to plant them during a snow storm. I grabbed the shovel and headed out to Max's Garden, where I decided to plant the tulips out around the weeping willow situated just outside the garden borders. I have plans for that area for next spring and let's just say these tulips are the first flowers planted according to those plans.

I removed the grass and was quite pleased to encounter the most fabulous soil I've ever seen on this property. It was just perfect. There used to be a full woods here and most of the trees were removed when our house was built two years before we bought it. When you get out away from the house, the soil is rich and loamy and oh how I wish it were like that on the entire acre!

I dug down about six inches and was ready to start placing the bulbs in the hole when BAM! I slammed into a cut-off tree branch that I'd left sticking out a bit for hanging my camera when I go out to work in the garden. How I didn't see it is beyond me, but I didn't and I hit it bang on - with my left eye.

I don't normally wear my glasses while working in the garden, but for some reason I had put them on before going out this time. Thank you, God, for putting that suggestion into my head! Had I not had them on, I would probably not be making this post right now and may very well have lost my eye. I was pretty sure I'd broken my glasses, but they remained intact and when I looked at them later, the point of impact was firmly imprinted on the lens. It was right in the center.

The branch was about ¾-inch in diameter and stuck out about an inch or so. The impact caused my glasses to bang into the lower orbital bone and caused immediate swelling. It also made me sit right down and cry. The bulbs got planted and because I had one throbbing headache, I took something for the pain and took it easy for the rest of the evening.

Looks like I'll be sporting a black eye for Thanksgiving, because just four hours later, it's well on its way. I work tomorrow afternoon and it should be fun explaining that I got a black eye planting tulips.

They say things like this come in threes. I can't hardly wait to see what's next.