I could feel the cold air hitting my teeth. It stung with a punch and made me long for a warm day. The problem is that this is my favorite time of the year. It’s getting cold and soon we would be gathered around the pellet stove, enjoying family time, playing games and watching movies, comforted by the warmth of the fire and the chaos of family life.
Inwardly, I was overwhelmed, recently undergoing many things including a last-ditch harvesting effort. Putting up and putting away as much as we could and in the blink of an eye, it was time to butcher turkeys. What’s worse, as quickly as that came, it was time to prepare for Christmas. It was all I could do to just keep up and I just needed a break.
I was leaning on the pasture fence admiring all the glory of the homestead when I said it. It fell out of my mouth like an anchor that would sink my ship. Just as soon as I got the words out of my mouth, I knew that I would regret it.
Later in the day, I stood up to get something and no sooner did I step forward did I find that I had impaled my foot with a large metal object. I didn’t know what it was, or how far it went into my heel. But what I did know is that it was strong enough to drop me to the ground like a rag doll.
I observed the wound for a moment, the shaft of the metal object nearing a quarter of an inch or so, with a clean puncture wound. Wish I thought to take a picture before I took action, but I had to move fast. If my wife found out, she would surely disapprove of my medical decision. So, without any more hesitation, I slowly removed the shaft.
The first half-inch or so didn’t phase me at all. But after I got past the inch mark, I felt funny. Hoping I didn’t damage anything inside. When I finally got it out, I immediately questioned if I did the right thing. Starring and examining the inside, I couldn’t see any blood, so I wrapped it up and took some mandatory time off.
My wife was not so pleased, assuring me that I should go to the emergency department. Incessantly, I argued that I work there, so I was going to be just fine. I needed to take a break anyway … why not do it in such an unenjoyable fashion?
I drilled a hole in a crock so that I could walk without putting weight on it, and I managed to get all the time off I needed. On top of that, we had lab work done on our cow, Baby, and a visit from the vet. Both sources confirmed a pregnancy.
I didn’t know what was more exciting: having bred our cow or knowing that we won’t be out here next year waiting for four weeks like the paparazzi for a bovine gender reveal!
