Yes, I won the Grand Prize for awkward! I was pushing the tow-behind mower out of the way and somehow the thing rolled onto my foot. I was trapped, couldn't get the darn thing to roll off my foot. There was a spade hanging on the shed wall, and by stretching really, really far, I managed to get it. Idea! Dig my foot out! I ended up with a hole with my foot in it and the mower tire on top of my foot, but now about six inches lower than it was. Finally I managed to use the spade as a lever and raise the tire enough to pull my foot out. Freedom! Of course freedom didn't come cheap. I now have a scrape on top of my foot, a slight temporary limp, and a very red face each time someone asks,"What happened to your foot?"
Hey Marlingardner, what happened to your foot? Good thing the spade was close by otherwise cries for help may have produced a more embarrassing moment. Well, I glad you are not seriously hurt. Take the rest of the afternoon off, relax. We need to hear good things, like the use of your sea urchin photo. A photo of you stuck under a mower is not good. :-( Jerry
Yeah, why are your limping? Something happen to your foot? When you mentioned the shovel, my first thought was....Hey, you probably weren't going to be stuck there that long, no need to hack your foot off. Glad you were able to get free and thanks for the giggle this morning.
Bunkie, I type about as well as I handle farm equipment--it's a "tow-behind" mower, cuts a wide swath in the pasture. Can't even blame my typos on pain, since I don't hurt! Jerry, thank heavens no one came by with a camera. I don't have enough money to buy the negatives! Toni, as you know, here in Texas we have an expression "Hey y'all, lookit me!" which is followed by death, dismemberment, or destruction. I was real careful to be quiet during my time of trial. Glad you got a giggle. I will, too, in about six years . . . .
Which foot was it? I hope it wasn't one you use all of the time! I'm glad you could reach the shovel and could get some leverage to lift the mower. A scrape and a limp are much better than a broken bone or two. I've had both so I can tell you that. Did you get what you were after when you tried to move the mower? Generally you forget all about what you were looking for when something happens. I know about that, too. dooley
Dooley, fortunately it was my right foot, and I'm left-footed. Sorry to hear you are a fellow sufferer, but I bet you didn't hurt your foot being stupid! Thing was, I wasn't looking for anything, just tidying up the shed. That will teach me to be neat!From now on, chaos rules!
Hey! This story reminds me of the movie: *127 Hours*... Anybody here seen it? :-D If not then please do so now!!! Anyway, I now dedicate this to you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pjU9YxIvxc Alright, jokes aside - This reminds me of a time (about 4 and a half years ago) when a cyclone passed near my area. Almost everyone left this area, while I (being the proud idiot that I was) remained! Why? Well, to protect my plants of course! Anyway, we only got the edge of cyclone. So there was no real damage to anything. However, the net which was holding up my Butterfly Pea vine broke. So I went outside to fix it. Thus I climbed the ladder to tie it once more - And just as I did, the ladder slipped! So I came crashing down (from about 14 feet). I immediately knew that I had broken my elbow. I also realized that because of the cyclone, no one was around to help. So I picked myself up and went back inside. There I tried to fix myself. I thought of calling up a few people, but discovered that the phone line was not working (I broke it during my fall). So with one broken elbow, I again climbed up there (this time going slightly higher). And with an insulated plier which also had a wire stripper in it - I managed to re-connect the phone. Went back inside (by now it had been about half an hour). I now also realized that calling someone will be useless, as no one will come here in time. So the only choice I had was to fix myself. Thus I switched on the PC and went online (searching for information on how to set a broken elbow). Saw a few pages with had good illustration too. I also read that I better do something about my elbow soon, otherwise the bone may start to re-calcify (in the wrong position)! Therefore it would then have to be re-broken and set again. So not wanting to go through something like that - I soon snapped the bone back into place (which was extremely painful, believe me)... After which I wrapped my arm in a bed sheet, using it as a sling. Anyway, a day or 2 later my neighbor returned. He saw me and asked, what happened to you? I just smiled and said: "I slipped in the rain". It took over a full 6 months for me to regain the full use of my arm. But I guess I fixed myself so well, that today I can't even tell that I once broke it. All in the name of gardening I should say!!!
It just goes to show that mess is a good thing. So glad to hear you managed to extricate yourself from under the mower. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall though when it happened.
Oh Jane... that totally sounds like something that would happen to me! Glad it wasn't serious! And S-H... that story of yours... I can't decide whether to laugh or limp. :-?
S-H you are extremely brave!! I doubt I would have been able to reconnect the 'phone with a broken elbow and then reset it on my own the way you did. :shock
S-H, you put my minor problem in perspective! I cannot imagine being brave/strong/calm enough to do what you did! Eileen, you would not have wanted to be a fly on the wall while I was extricating myself from a self-inflicted situation. I am afraid your vocabulary would have been expanded with words your mama would not have approved of.
No, I wouldn't call myself brave or extraordinary... I was just making a point, that in certain situations ordinary people can become extremely resilient. Just like in the Movie 127 Hours (which is a true story). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5oTlfCGWKE Well Eileen, I honestly had no option... I couldn't drive out to some place (as the roads were all flooded). So reconnecting the phone line was the only thing that gave me a chance. Because without it, there was no communication, no DSL/Internet, basically hope for anything... Of course not, you'd have been able to do it too (had the situation called for it). That's what I'm trying to say here - Everybody is actually ultra robust from within. I think we get this from our caveman ancestors. We just train ourselves to think that we are not as strong today. But the truth is, that if need be - The atavist within us can easily take over our normal behavior...
