It was a fairly ordinary day. I worked on the stupid manual project in between talking to Erick online. He's quite the charmer, fairly erudite, and with that mix of earthiness that keeps him from sounding like a prig. He lives in Raleigh, and I have the 'burnt dog fears fire' reaction to that, but there's no reason to really be afraid of him, other than the long distance thing. But we haven't met yet, so it's way early to worry about that.
We went from ice last Friday to shirt-sleeves last night to a severe thunderstorm/tornado warning today. The planet is clearly losing it's mind.
Just as I got off work another tornado warning was issued. It was raining moderately, but didn't look dangerous out. Since my brains were tapioca after working on the manual all day I decided to go on home. Of course, for some reason, everyone decided to drive like jackasses, but I was making pretty good progress when the monsoon descended. It was raining cats and rhinoceri as I made my way across town. I decided not to go to the store, despite having bought the wrong laundry detergent this week (it's not he). It has to go back, and of course I needed to pick up a couple of things, but I wasn't getting out in this mess to do it. It will all wait.
By the time I got home it had eased off just a bit, and I got all the crap out of the car and into the house.
My plan for tonight was simple. I was going to make hot dogs for supper (I had all the stuff there from the snow groceries I bought last week), surf the net, maybe read some emails, veg in front of the telly, and turn in early. Although I slept fairly well last night, the night before had been pretty rough, and I knew the extra shut-eye wouldn't be amiss.
I was starving, and went in the kitchen to throw some chili on to cook. Hot dogs are great, but I love hot dogs with chili, and my homemade veggie chili is scrumptious. As I was cutting an onion, the newly-sharpened knife slipped and cut the end of my finger off. Yikes. It was a deep cut, and it was bleeding freely.
I got a paper towel, applied pressure, and held the hand over my head - no dice. The pressure did stop the bleeding, but as soon as I moved the towel, the cut started pouring blood again. I just applied pressure for a while, and used the other hand to clean up the blood drips, which were all over the floor, counter, and cabinet doors, but had miraculously missed the cutting board and onion. Several tests showed that I was continuing to bleed freely each time the pressure was released. I got out the band aids. The ones I had in the house were either mosquito-bite tiny or big enough to cover an emergency amputation. I tried to get a paper towel taped on there, but the blood was coming so fast I couldn't get the tape to stick.
So I'm thinking, crap I'm gonna have to go have stitches! But since the end of the finger was gone, I had no idea how they would stitch anything. Then I remembered Larney had told me about using cornstarch to stop bleeding. Any port in a storm. I got out the cornstarch, put some in a small bowl, and stuck my finger in. Although when I pulled it out the blood came through, it seemed a little bit slower. I just stuck my finger in the cornstarch, applied pressure, and carried the little bowl around for a bit. Then I wrapped the finger in a paper towel and plastic wrap and taped it in place. My initial wrap was wrong, and blood started dripping out of the plastic, but the second time I wrapped it differently, and things calmed down.
I finished up the chili, washed the dishes (carefully) and ate supper. The hot dogs were great. I was really craving them. I ate some Reese's Christmas Trees that I'd had in the freezer because my finger hurt. I went online for a bit, but because of my huge plastic finger, typing was frustrating. I got ready for bed, and turned in. I did return a few messages on Growlr (I can do that with one hand), and turned in, pleasantly surprised that WE has started airing Golden Girls marathons in the evenings again. I love going to sleep with the girls.
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