Ooooops!

     

     I'm starting with a couple of calm and peaceful shots.  I'll get to the "Ooooops" later.  We spent the better part of the week at a spot for "big rigs" at the top of the hill.  Both pictures were taken there.  The "back in" spot, facing the water, at the left center of the picture is our destination.  There are some advantages to the few spots at the top of the hill.  They are connected to a sewer line and are thus independent of the twice weekly "pump outs" by the strangely named "honey wagon".  Also they have 50 amps available versus just 30.  But, those sites don't have the wonderful view through the big windshield.

     We moved down to the lower site yesterday.  There were a couple of differences in the set up.  There was no sewer hose, and I used a pair of devices to protect those big Michelins. First I parked them on four heavy-duty polyethylene sheets called landing strips.  They prevent moisture from the tire's composition from leaching into the ground.  Second, we installed tire covers to keep the UV portions of the sunlight off the tires.  For short stays I do not go to the trouble.  The other difference with this site is that I'm going to have to get out the ladder and clean the dead bugs off the afore-mentioned windshield.

     Now for the "Ooooops".  Happy hour yesterday was in the lee of the Roth's rig, as a cool breeze was coming strong off the water.  George Peck brought a dozen oysters that he had shucked.  He and I split them at $1.00 per oyster.  As the happy hour was breaking up, I returned to the bus to use the bathroom.  As I got inside, of course, I had to climb over Baxter who had planted himself between the two chairs.  The chairs had been rotated to face the living area for the benefit of guests.  As I was stepping over him, he stood up, and the now free to rotate chairs did not offer me a "grab bar" to regain my balance.  So, down I went.  I feel sure that a normal fall to the floor would have done no damage.  However, the fall was interrupted by my forehead hitting the corner of a built in, and hence immoveable, table.  The result was a deep vertical gash over my right eye.  The scalp is a very vascular area anyway, and the daily doses of Plavix, a blood thinner, combined for a very messy situation.  I grabbed a handful of paper towel to put direct pressure on the wound.  The paper was soon replaced with one of Durelle's golf towels.  Although I could not see it, it was clear to the others that stitches would be required.  The blow to the head itself was minor with no consequences other than the cut.  I got into Dick Roth's car, and he drove me to the ER at the Waldo County General Hospital which is less than five miles away.  When we arrived, the ER was empty, so a doctor was quickly available.  After cleaning and anesthetizing the site he began to deftly insert nine stitches.  At one point in his early career he worked for a plastic surgeon; a fact that was pleasantly received.  He and I both agreed that there was no concussion or other such damage.  Nonetheless, he sent me down for a cranial CT scan.  As the old joke goes, "The X-ray of my skull was negative."  After placing a big steri-strip on top of the stitches, they added another dressing and sent me home.  I still had no headache or other pain, and there was no ancillary damage from the fall.

     So, here I am, embarrassed, but fortunate that it was not worse and that I had the good fortune to do it in the company of helpful friends.  Stitches come out in five days, then we'll see what sort of a dueling scar I will have.