Me As A Walking Hazard

Having Dick and Rina visit us was great, but I'm not sure they will want to come back after what I put them through this past week. (Actually, they said they are more than ready to come back and that they had lots of fun, but you will see why I said what I did above.)

If you read recent posts, you know about the less-than-perfect train ride along the north shore of Lake Superior (heat, screaming kids, other things). So, the next day, we decided to do some more fishing. On this day, I managed to bang the propeller of our new boat on some very shallow rocks in a part of our lake I was not as familiar with. Seemed like a good idea to use the new, bigger, faster boat to visit more of our lake, but hitting a rock with the propeller was not part of the plan. It was a little startling, and of course, the prop was slightly damaged, so I had to replace it with the spare I had previously purchased. Had not planned on repairing a prop quite so soon.

Then the next day, Dick and I decided to take the canoe up the river for some bass fishing. We used the new outriggers to stabilize the canoe (or so I thought) and the little motor we bought to propel it. We did catch some very nice bass, but we got too excited when one hit while I was in the middle of the canoe retrieving some tackle, and in spite of the outriggers, I managed to get us off center. Over we went, spilling us and all our equipment into the river. The canoe floated of course, and the river is quite shallow, so we were able to stand and push it to a nearby sandbar. There we retrieved all our equipment, most of which was floating nearby. Saved it all except for a tiny box of hook and sinkers, my cap, and a gadget used to measure fish weight and length. The motor never dropped off the canoe but stayed clamped on, though it hung upside down in the water. I didn't think it would start, but it did. One bright spot! We bailed out the water, adjusted the stabilizers/outriggers to a wider position, and resumed our fishing. Dick was a good sport about it all, although he was carrying an iPhone and some other electronics, not all of which survived. Fortunately, he had insurance to help in that recovery, and the local cell phone store quickly got him back online.

Then the next day, there was some additional propeller bumping in unfamiliar shallow spots, though no damage occurred, other than to my pride. The big problem was that we went out again in the evening and fished until it was quite dark. That is usually no problem, as navigating back under a full moon is not difficult. However, seeing the dock was a little tricky as we approached our place. Alas, I came up a little bit too fast, and thinking that I didn't want to scratch the new boat, I reached out in an attempt to push the boat back from the dock. I underestimated the weight and mass of the new boat, so I crushed my arm between the boat and the dock. Dealt with swelling and some pain during the night and decided to go to the emergency room the next morning. Yep, there is one break for sure (end of the ulna) and perhaps a second (on the radius). Will go to the clinic on Wednesday for a followup, after the radiologist does further evaluation of the X-rays. May yet need a cast and 4 to 6 weeks for healing, but I'm dealing with this wonderful splint in the meantime.

The days since have gone mostly better. All I can say is, "Sigh..."