HARD LESSON LEARNED

Let me just make this short and to the point.  There are certain things we should


NEVER DO ALONE.

Or at all. One of them being pruning our trees on a high ladder with no one there to stabilize or assist us...

IN CASE WE FALL AND SERIOUSLY HURT OURSELVES.

A friend and neighbor of mine was pruning his oak tree in the front yard under such conditions this afternoon. I was working in my own yard across the street when I heard the crash (after JUST thinking to myself that he probably shouldn't be doing that...)

Let me recount this quickly:

--I ran across the street to him and he (very casually under the circumstances) told me he had broken his ankle.

--The bone protruding from his shin looked like the exposed root system of this giant Yosemite redwood (and my neighbors will tell you I am NOT exaggerating)

--I called 911 immediately, summoned a doctor next door at about the same time other various health professional neighbors on the street also arrived

--to share my amazement that the victim of the fall was still conscious, lucid, and not in any pain

--despite his compound fracture (in three places) and the fact that his foot was just kind of, well, dangling.  

I am happy to report that within thirty minutes he was on his way via ambulance to the hospital; his wife (who was in Houston at the time) is now by his bedside; he made it through surgery just fine, but will be off his feet for a very long time, and with CONSIDERABLY more metal in him than when he woke up this morning.

So to all of us gardeners who foolishly think that

it will never happen to us;

just this one little last thing we can do ourselves;

we are too impatient, thrifty, or stubborn (all of which has applied to me in the past) to wait or ask for help... 

LET US (ME) NOT BE STUPID!  

LET US (ME) BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE OUR OWN LIMITATIONS

LET US PRACTICE A LITTLE MORE COMMON SENSE AND A LITTLE LESS IMPATIENCE

WHEN GOING ABOUT OUR GARDENING BUSINESS.

And if you follow my blog, (and if you are counting), this is the second neighbor I've called 911 for in the last six months from a gardening related incident..(oh, cuz I'm always out in the front gardening too.)

I am equally as guilty of foolish gardening practices, and I resolve today to stop such nonsense. (I once dropped an aerator on my knee while removing it from a truck with Husband... and ended up limping and in physical therapy for six months...all to save money by doing it ourselves. Trust me, the PT was considerably more costly than hiring someone to do the work for me.)

LET US NOT BE STUPID, MY FRIENDS.

AMEN.




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