Farm Fixes

Poor Rod didn't get to have the best of

all birthdays yesterday.

We had a pipe break in the barn.

Kyle dug it up to find the leak

over the weekend, but didn't have

the parts to fix it.

Rod picked them up after work the

other day and decided to fix it last night.

(After we took all the old AT&T/DirecTV stuff

to the UPS store to return them...)

One of the pipes was an odd size so his first

fix didn't work. He worked on it over and over

and finally got it all fixed and glued back together.

But it took until after dark.

And by then the mosquitoes were awful!

We left the giant trench open so I could

test the pipes in the morning and make sure

there were no leaks.

I had thawed a couple T-Bone steaks

and was planning to cook them on the grill.

But I didn't want the mosquitoes to carry them away.

So, plan B.

I put some butter and olive oil in a fry pan

on the stove and seared them up in there.

One at a time.

I got the first one all done, pulled it out of the pan

and dropped the 2nd one in.

"Dropped" being the operative word.

It slipped out of my tongs and DROPPED

into the screaming hot oil.

Splashing it up onto my index and middle fingers.

OUCH!

Cold running water (well, Florida's version

of cold tap water, anyway...)

and tried to finish cooking the steak at the

same time.

I put some Bountiful Balm on my fingers

because it has herbs in it that are really good

for healing burns. They kept it from blistering.

But there is also peppermint in it and it seriously

felt like they were still in the pan!

My darling husband cut my meat up for me,

plated up my steak and steamed broccoli,

and then brought me a nice bowl of ice cream.

(I had to eat with my left hand, but the ice cream

made the spoon cold so it actually felt good

to my poor little fingers...)

At bed time I remembered that Reid told Mom

(YEARS ago in my Provo apartment when she burned

her hand while frying up taco shells) that hemorrhoid

cream was really good for burns.

So I dug around and found a tube.

That expired 2/18.

Hahahaha.

I tried it anyway.

It didn't help at all.

(No surprise!)

And yes, I threw it away.

I headed back to bed to suffer.

And then I remembered my CBD cream.

Kyle and Rod both use it regularly for their

various sore body parts.

I've always thought of it for deep muscle pain

sort of stuff.

But hey - my hand was on FIRE.

I was willing to try anything.

Literally within 15 seconds of putting it on,

there was ZERO pain.

After about 15 or 20 minutes the worst burn

on the side of my index finger started to feel

a little tender, but just a light pain - maybe a 2?

Didn't keep me awake!

It's still a little sore today.

But no blisters.

So I'm a happy woman.

Meanwhile.....

my amazing husband got up early

(4:00) like he always does.

But instead of doing whatever it is he

usually does in the morning before work,

he went out to the barn,

tested the pipe,

refilled the trench,

and put all the tools away!

What a fabulous man!

(He said he didn't want me messing with it

while having a hurt finger!

What a guy!)

So instead of messing with the pipes,

I mowed the grass.

Which doesn't take much "finger" work.

And I actually got to finish BEFORE the daily

rain began! (I've mowed in the rain 3 weeks 

in a row now...)