Injuries, Biking, Peaches

Farming is supposedly one of the most dangerous professions, and we are pretty aware of that. We have radios for better communication between the guys who work together, but also because if there is an injury they can get help quickly. During busy season there are frequent reminders to be careful, to not let the rush compromise safety. But still sometimes we are lulled into thinking those things won't happen to us.

Yesterday I saw my son running toward the house. My son runs for sports and for fun, but in the daily routine of farm work this would be unusual. Then I realized my husband was already in the bathroom instead of outside. He was calling me to come help him. His jeans had a large spot of blood spreading out on the top of the back of his leg, there was more on his t-shirt. It looked worse than it was, but he had backed into something sharp while working on an implement and I sent him off to the emergency room. No stitches, just dressings and antibiotic salve after a thorough cleaning with saline solution.

He's not too willing to slow down much because there is a crop to bring in, so I'm guessing that dressing will need changing frequently today.

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Last night was my first bike ride home from town in the dark by myself. The weather has been so perfect---nearly two weeks already of barely any wind and mild temperatures. Every day I'm wishing for a reason to ride, but there is so much work here that it would be foolish to create errands.

Last week I rode to town three days in a row and did all my 'light' errands by bike. (I now mentally divide my errands into things that weigh to much to be done on a bike and things that don't.) Because of circumstances beyond my control I had to cross town several times on the errand day and got 18+ miles in. I felt wonderful.

The next day I realized that my peaches needed doing and I didn't have sugar. Sugar would qualify as heavy. But my boys are like me. They look for excuses to get in riding time and they convinced me that if the three of us all brought back packs we would be fine. We got to the grocery store and stood in the sugar aisle lifting packages of sugar and evaluating how much would still feel OK after 6 miles. We were pretty optimistic so we got 12 pounds of sugar AND a gallon of milk. The boys did fine. I had a bit of a sore back the next day that worked itself out with a bit of yoga.

Last night I had a meeting in town and it was full moon and perfect. I rode in with nearly full daylight and rode out with a gallon of milk in my backpack in moonlight. I have lights and flashers and reflectors, and my backpack is reflective as well, but I still wondered how visible I was. When I turned for the last mile of dirt road I could see that a car was about a mile behind me so I rode very slowly and kept my eyes on the mirror. I think that driver must have seen me as soon as I saw him because he approached so slowly that I was a half mile down the road before he finally passed me.

I got home and put my bike in the garage, detached my headlight and used the light from it to see the release for detaching my rear flasher. Just as I finished removing my rear flasher my headlight went out. Quite the timing. I'm switching to rechargeable batteries now. I'm too cheap to change the one-use ones before they are showing signs of being used up. But I'm fine with recharging batteries frequently to make sure they are strong.
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Mom came to work the peaches with me yesterday. We had a whole morning of meaningful conversation and working side by side and she left with the house smelling of the peach butter that was still bubbling in the oven. That smell was in the house all day and I ate the results on my bread this morning.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Your injury story sent my heart racing. I'm glad it was minor. And your biking stories inspire me. I love that I don't have to drive to work but I am too easily satisfied with that accomplishment. Your dedication reminds me that I need to rely less on fuel-consuming transportation and more on human powered motion.

Thanks for sharing.

-Larry

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