Normally I’m pretty careful in the yard. Obviously you’ve heard a few times where I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, but those are actually pretty few and far between. It’s been two years since I dropped the patio stone on my toe.
I have two pairs of red clippers and they stay closed most of the time, especially if I’m walking around or doing steps. Kinda that old “don’t’ run with scissors mentality. The reason I have two pairs is that when one has to go to the hardware store for sharpening, I still have one at home. Can’t go a week without my red clippers!
But last week something new happened with the clippers. I was trying to get as far down on the root of a “volunteer”; I probably should have used a bigger tool for this project, but the bigger tool was in the garage and I was in the front yard. Enough said. Anyway, it took a bit of force and then suddenly the root gave it up and the clippers slammed shut. Unfortunately my index finger got pinched between the handles. I mean seriously pinched. I said some very colorful things, pretty loudly and had to sit down for a minute as I got a little dizzy.
The mishap didn’t break the skin, but the blood blister rose up immediately and the whole tip of the finger turned a few ugly shades of purple. And it hurt like crazy. Right about then Jenai came home from some errands and brought me a wet paper towel, some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid. The rest of the gardening that day was done left-handed.
It looks much better now but still hurts if I put any pressure on it at all. I have to say I’ve been VERY careful about the red clippers since then.
Do you have a favorite gardening tool?
Trail Baboon 
YouTube. I use it to watch others gardening. I have too much respect for plants to be the author of their premature deaths.
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Snort!
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Fiskars used to have a clipper that would hold onto the weed or flower stalk that you just clipped, and you didn’t have to go back and pick it up. I still have one but it needs repair, it’s not part of their current online list.
We also have the remains of a very long, narrow trowel that was perfect for some chores. I need to get some new tools, a wider trowel for one…
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I ha one of those Fiskars tools too. I think I still have it, but it’s in pieces.
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My favorite gardening tool is the one appropriate for the job at hand.
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And for most of my life, the best tool is the one that’s already at hand, whether it’s appropriate or not.
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Hence the squashed finger.
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That sounds like a cartoon character.
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Snort
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Everything is a hammer.
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Everything is a hammer. 🙂
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No, everything is a nail if the only tool you have is a hammer.
A corollary is, if the only solution you have is a gun, every problem looks like something you can shoot.
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I have a very old solid steel trowel that was part of the estate when I bought my first house. I love that thing. It’s just really solid and dependable. It’s got some rust and dirt on it. I really don’t do a good job of taking care of my tools. I have two pairs of clippers that I’ve had for years, the best one is Fiskars. It has nice sharp blades.
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So sorry about your finger. It might be helpful to ice it.
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I probably should. YA has mentioned it repeatedly. Unfortunately, as my note above about the appropriate tool indicates, most the time I think about it, I’m in a different place than where the ice is.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons
I don’t know if my cold frame qualifies as a tool, but it is a device. This year everything I planted came up. Tomorrow I will start transplanting the vegetables into the larger garden. I also bought a rolling garden cart from Gardeners Supply Co that holds most tools. That is really handy for my other favorite tools like my “lady’s spade”, a smaller spade that works well in small spaces. I also have a favorite trowel, that is lost at this time. There are more, but my day is calling.
VS. OUCH. That must have hurt badly.
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It does still hurt. I just whacked it about a half an hour ago in the front yard and said some more bad words. The one good thing about this is that I knew that my finger wasn’t anywhere near the clippers part so even though it hurt like the dickens to start with, I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to be a emergency room incident.
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Gardening is dangerous.
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Oh gosh, I hope I can find this online today.
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Where do you find these?? : ) It says “Based on
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It says “Based on the best-selling novel “The Tomatoes of Wrath”. (!)
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Later versions star John Aston, including Killer Tomatoes Eat France, which I have seen.
Clyde
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You’re a brave soul.
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There are many pliers/pincher devices used in fencing. After awhile you lose track of your fingers. I hate wearing gloves. My touch/feeling problem. Winter was hard on our fences. Fencing season was blood blister season. My father said it was because I am left handed and all such tools are built for the right-handed.
Clyde
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try arnica 30 c or 200 c from whole foods for finger trauma in hippy medicine area
corona makes the best clippers hands down
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I pinched my finger in the shop about a month ago when a hinged shelf bracket fell open. I said colorful words too.
It’s finally fully healed up now.
I don’t garden enough to have a favorite tool.
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Dag Nab It! Like that, right? heh, heh, heh.
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Sort of…. Now that classes are over the students are gone I’ve noticed my selection of words has gotten louder and more colorful.
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Wait. You’re a farmer doesn’t that pretty mean you garden all the time?
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I didn’t farming and gardening were the same thing…
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So his favorite tool is a tractor?
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You’re right. I do really enjoy the tractors.
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you don’t garden?
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Not really. I quit doing straw bale gardens two years ago. More trouble and cost than it was worth. Especially with farmers markets and a real good fruit farm just up the road. Let them have all the hassles.
Kelly may still do tomatoes… I haven’t asked her yet if she’s doing them this year. But I did toss the tomato baskets out of the shed the other day, so they’re handy now.
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Lying flat on my back for more than 3-4 minutes is painful for me, but yesterday I had to do it for 50 minutes without moving. It hurt then; it still hurts.
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mri?
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Frost warning tonight. All the bedding plants in their trays are coming inside the garage.
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I have spent the last three weeks learning and facing two truths about myself which make me see me in a whole new way. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way. Quite shocking at age 78. I will thinking about this the rest of my life. Makes me review almost every memory I have.
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Sounds like it would make an interesting blog post (she said curiously).
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But about the biggest lesson is that I need to avoid social situations
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It saddens me that you think that way, Clyde. Surprise everyone, maybe even yourself, by doing the opposite of what you think everyone expects.
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how did you miss it till now
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My fvrite tool is my weed wrench. I have had some minor injuries involved with its use, though.
Once when I was using it on a sapling near a chain link fence, I got into a situation where I had the tool on the other side of the chain link fence, and it unexpectedly tipped and closed on my hand. I then had to negotiate how to get it open using only the free hand, moving the handle through the fence.
I’ve successfully avoided that situation since then. Not the sort of mistake you make twice.
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Not if you can avoid it. That sounds tricky – and painful.
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Yikes, sounds like there should be a warning – do not use this tool when alone!
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