Work vs Health

Often my old Puritan work ethic tells me I’m lazy and I start to push things a little faster, work a little longer, without so much care as I might give taking it a little slower.

Putting a roof on this place–a real roof that is,- has been in my mind for some time. about 1/3 or more of the house is still under tarps in one way or another, and the whole roof is really a temporary structure that has amazed me it has lasted as long as it has with only minor repairs.

So this summer was the time I had set aside for the roof–or at least the more substantial roof framework and a covering that will last longer than the next heavy wind. And while I have steadily been accumulating materials and clearing work space, this recent dry spell has shifted the project into high gear–sort of.

I still take lots of long breaks, spend time at the pond sunning myself, fighting with the Japanese beetles, keeping water flowing to the plants, etc. Anyway, the point is that I find myself getting a bit too psyched up as evidenced by an accident late in the day today.

I almost always wear light weight water shoes, mostly just light cloth with a sole, and that was what I was wearing this afternoon when I was using my circular saw- the one I have to start the generator for and cuts 2″ boards like butter.

This and that and I came to the end of a run and finished that last cut and set the saw down before the blade guard went all the way back over the blade. The saw was still spinning, caught into the wood and jumped off onto my foot.

So now we have gone from industry to injury and I mention this to remind myself and suggest to others that working when tired is not a good idea, and especially when working with power tools.

I won’t really know till tomorrow just whether the last push was good or bad with regard to what I actually was doing. Sometimes last minute work can actually cost more energy the next day, and even cost loss of materials- or  like today an injury that could be much more serious.

Likely I will recover,

the goldenseal I’m using is older stock, but should be good enough for this cut. As you can see from the pictures it continued to bleed freely after bandaged and inside a sock. The bleeding actually helps to clean the wound, plus the fact that it was not too deep means an antibiotic like goldenseal is really just a precaution. But should you ever be in a dire situation, the potency of your herbs might make a big difference in how fast you heal. Goldenseal should be golden, not as dark as this, taste should be very bitter.Goldenseal is one of the plants I consider vital to have growing nearby. This plant has been tortured by the dry spell and I actually haven’t paid any attention to it all summer, but right after taking this picture I watered it and plan to keep watering it as long as it is this hot. Ordinarily this plant would be in a more deeply wooded area, cooler with more shade so once environments get more stable and heavy machinery has done it’s thing, I’ll go out looking for a more suitable place.

So maybe the accident had a good outcome, I remembered to water the goldenseal:-)   Perhaps that’s another reason to mention this incident, a chance to remind everyone that medicine is another basic requirement, so cultivating or encouraging plants that serve medical functions is always a worthy enterprise.

 

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