Nail in the Foot

Well, I know there are already five nails on each foot, but I now have an extra and it isn’t on the end of a toe. No sir, this extra nail was from a Furrow’s (remember those—red and tan-colored buildings that pre-dated Lowe’s and Menard’s in our area), an 8 penny, galvanized, straight-as-an-arrow nail sticking out of a very sturdy, red oak, rough sawn, native 1x6 board, that had laid on the floor of the little livestock barn (which is also made out of very sturdy, red oak, rough sawn, native 1x6 boards).

It all started harmlessly enough—I was tilling the dirt floor of the little livestock barn to even it out for the new chickens. The little livestock barn is the one that stands out east of the big barn, just west of the little over-grown pond that sits just below a little rise. It’s the barn built by me, out of sturdy, red oak, rough sawn, native 1x6 boards that were sawn at little old Mr.Pace’s sawmill (he sure did love biscuits) that is down the road just a little north of here by Killbuck Creek. That’s the creek that my Dad would take us little Gunter children to explore in, except he called it Indian Creek back then. I suppose he had to call it that to peek the interest of a little Gunter kid, that, I am told, needed that sort of tale to keep his interest in one thing longer than it took to blow up a tire on a Schwinn 26“ bicycle that he would eventually ride right smack dab into the trunk of a blue 68 Chevy Impala while lookin’ at the ground as he was singing “Wichita Lineman” by the great Glen Campbell. I wonder how low my voice would have been, had that not have happened? That’s another story for a later time.

Now, all you fellas and most of you gals already know the rule on leaving any board with a nail in it sticking straight up, including very sturdy, red oak, rough sawn, native 1x6 boards. Never, never, never, never do that. I, too, know this rule. I cannot believe I broke it. Even more amazing than that is the fact that I built this little livestock barn out of very sturdy, rough sawn, red oak. native 1x6 boards nineteen years ago. This hazard has waited for me like a buried land mine for nineteen years to stumble upon it, literally, and pierce my foot. So now I am walking around like a cat that has poo on its paw and won’t put it’s paw flat on the ground. It’s no good, this hobbling about, there’s work to be done.

Planting

I did finish tilling the barn floor. I also planted three 50-foot rows of pie pumpkins, jack o’lanterns, mini punk’ns and a couple types of winter squash. I was also able to get about 650-feet of edamame seed planted that I was sent to test by the University of Illinois, Urbana. All this with a nail still stuck in my foot! That’s not true, I removed the nail, but I still have a sore nail hole. Don’t pity me, though, I do plenty of that by myself… just ask Sherry.

I’m done talking, Matt