Thursday, March 12, 2009

Just One Snip


Accidents happen, and I had one on Tuesday. Oh, nothing serious, but I wasn't happy about it nonetheless. It happened in my garden.

I'm no stranger to mishaps in the garden. The one that stands out most in my mind is the time I nearly put my eye out planting tulips. Yeah, gotta watch out for those tulip bulbs. They can be vicious. Oh wait, that was the willow tree that got me, not the tulips. Gotta watch out for those willows. They can be vicious.

I've had other more minor incidences where I forgot to put gloves on and suffered cuts on my hands from dead Miscanthus blades. I guess that's why they call them blades. Those can give you injuries like paper cuts times ten.

And then there have been the numerous times - too many to count - where I pulled a weed, just to realize two seconds later that it was a flower seedling. Almost as bad as pulling them out is stepping on them. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy, I swear.


Famous "We have met the enemy..." Pogo strip
from Earth Day 1971



Tuesday was a pretty nice day around these parts. It was mostly sunny, 68°, and even when the rain came later, it was a warm rain and I stayed out in it, continuing the garden clean-up.

The roses, in all their thorniness, had trapped lots of brown oak leaves among their canes so it was a good thing I was wearing my leather work gloves as I pulled the leaves away.



Part of the clean-up involved cutting back ugly dead stuff like the Echinacea stems. The birds and weather had pretty much stripped them of most of their seeds and I didn't want to look at their brown selves anymore anyway. So I grabbed the stems in my left hand and snipped them off with the Felco pruners in my right.








And that's when The Accident happened.



The only good thing I have to say about this is that I'm glad my finger wasn't all the way in the end.



24 comments:

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I get so carried away during my clean-up sometimes that I have feared doing that very thing.

Poor thing, I hope your finger heals very quickly.

Cathy S. said...

Sounds like a normal day for me ;)
I've already had my eye poked by
walking into some branches, cuts all
over my hands...yeah watch out for those willows and Roses!

joey said...

Kylee ~ I was afraid to read your post, fearing exactly what happened to you. But ... I wasn't wearing gloves and rushing to tidy garden, diagonally pruned off the tip of my left index finger(almost the exact same cut on your glove). Good lesson ... wear gloves and focus on task at hand!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Looks like a close call! Good thing you had your gloves on!

growingagardenindavis said...

I have done the same thing...but those look like they were quite nice gloves. That makes it even more sad!

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

WHEW! of my finger off with the pruners before, Kylee, not to mention several other accidents such as getting caught in a thorny rose bush, nearly putting my eye out with a sharp branch and falling over backward pulling out a shrub. Gardening is a dangerous business :-)

Anonymous said...

I was afraid you did snip your finger off. My word that is a perfectly good waste of a good glove. I have slammed the shovel down on my toe--ouch. Gotten bit many a time by the rose bushes. And had that very sore blade cut. So I feel for you and celebrate with you that the glove is the only victim.

Victoria Williams said...

Ouch! Makes me think I need new gardening gloves.

Gail said...

No one tells us how dangerous the garden is...and we are the enemy! I was planting a small thorny shrub and it snared my face. My fault totally! I am so very glad your finger was spared doesn't quite seem a strong enough statement for the calamity it could have been. gail

Connie said...

Kylee, I did the same thing while pruning rose bushes a few weeks ago. (But my gloves were not as nice as your leather ones.) A piece of duct tape does a pretty good quick repair job. :-)

Stephanie Stebbins said...

Hey, I tagged you for a Proximade Award on my blog! http://stephinfectionisinyourhead.blogspot.com/2009/03/proximade-award_12.html

Muum said...

a close one, that's for sure! love the Pogo cartoon, they were one of my faves, back in the day.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

That was a close call Kylee. I am glad to hear that you weren't composing this post from the Emergency Room.

The cartoon is scary and true. Things haven't changed any from 1971. Sad but true.

JulenaJo said...

Better the ruination of a fine pair of garden gloves than the ruination of a fine pair of hands! I'm glad you are ok. And thanks for all the warnings. When they say, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye," I never dreamed they might be talking about tulip bulbs!

Anonymous said...

Oh, your poor gloves. Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade! I don't know why I have been inspired to repot so many of my houseplants, but it turns out that this is exactly the right time for it.

Nutty Gnome said...

Oooch! what a lucky escape - I'm glad it was just the gloves and not your finger! Mind you, it's also quite reassuring to see that I'm not the only one prone to daft accidents when gardening!

Lona said...

Kylee, you needed to stop and start that day all over again. Someday's everything that can happen will happen.I know here when it warms up we just go out and dig in while we can. I am glad you did survive the day though :)

Anonymous said...

::shudder:: Too close for comfort! Be careful, Missy. :) I'm glad it was nice enough for you to be in the garden -- it's beautiful here today, but on the cool side.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, something like last year, when I was sharpening my scythe...
(It proved to BE sharp...)

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Ouch! I've never done that when I was wearing gloves, but with no gloves, yes. Nice little scar, kind of a gardening badge of honor.

SuburbanGardener said...

I trust you'll wrap the finger and be back in the garden this weekend. Just be careful.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

That was a close call. Now, you have a little air circulation in your glove! If you like it, you can make the other one match it.

I hope to take away some old growth this weekend.

Kylee Baumle said...

Robin ~ Oh, I didn't cut my finger, that was the good thing. But my poor gloves!

Cathy ~ Gardening can be dangerous, I've found!

Joey ~ Ouch! And that is not good for a dental hygienist! Hope you healed quickly!

Catherine ~ No kidding! It was kind of scary when I saw what I'd done!

Leslie ~ Yes, they were fabulous gloves - Woman's Work leather work gloves. :-( I bought a cheap pair of replacements, but they have a pair that I'd love to have someday when I get some extra money. They are a little nicer than the standard work glove. I'm actually going to try to fix the tip by turning them wrong side out and trying to stitch the end shut.

Carolyn Gail ~ Wow...you have had your share of accidents, too, haven't you? Gardening isn't for wimps, that's for sure!

Anna ~ Unless I can fix the glove, yes indeed, it is a waste of a very nice and pricey glove, although it didn't cost me anything. Still, I'm VERY disappointed! (But glad to have my finger intact!)

Kim and Victoria ~ Nothing hurt on my hand, but the glove just didn't fare well, as you can see!

Gail ~ Ooooh, thorns in the face! I manage to do that on a regular basis not only in the garden but in the woods while out geocaching. I just need to be more careful!

Connie ~ Duct tape! Of course! I've used that as a temporary fix for so many things! I'm going to try to stitch the end shut on this glove.

Steph ~ Gosh, Steph, that's so nice of you! I hope some of my readers will head over and read some of your excellent posts! Knowing you and having met you in person makes it all the better for me, because I can hear you - a little bundle of energy - saying some of that! Thank you for the award. I display it proudly, girlfriend!

Muum ~ Yep, close! I loved Pogo, too, which is why that strip came to mind when I was writing this post. :-)

Lisa ~ I know...it is sad. We saw a place just like that while out geocaching today. It was AWFUL. What is wrong with people?

JulenaJo ~ Yeah! It's when you least expect it, don't you know? But most accidents are, I guess. LOL.

Robin ~ These were really very fine gloves and I hated that I did this to them! There is a little nicer pair by Woman's Work that I'd love to have, but not right now. I bought a pair of leather ones from Walmart that will have to do for now. They aren't nearly as nice, though. :-(
I've been repotting so many things, too!

Nutty Gnome ~ Yes, I count myself very lucky indeed!

Lona ~ Isn't that the truth? But I guess we know we'll have days like that every now and then.

Nancy ~ Yes, ma'am. I need to not be in such a hurry, I guess, and pay more attention to what I'm doing when I have pruners in my hand!

AnneTanne ~ Oh no! That sounds like that could have been BAD!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter ~ WHOA! But that's a great way to look at it - a gardening badge of honor. You must show it to me at Spring Fling! ;-)

SuburbanGardener ~ No need to wrap it - the finger was spared! The glove - not so much. :-(

Sue ~ LOLOL. Funny you!

Wayne Stratz said...

I nearly went through the tip of my finger once, years ago... I was a punk the age of my students now.... hmmm.


I just blogged about some imperfect moments, thanks for helping me remember a distant one.

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