We work in some crazy ass places. Some of you will say, “Tut tut – we do that all the time”. Super! Then you will understand when I say that there are some things that happen that just plain HURT! The things that can hurt you come in many shapes and sizes. I thought it would be helpful to list some of the things THAT CAN HURT YOU.
Smilax or Catbriar - This one hurts pretty badly and is tough
Thorns – So many plants have thorns. You don’t realize how many until you sweat in the places they have gotten you.
Insects – Giant water bugs, carpenter ants, caterpillars, wasps, and other creepies
Logs – under water, unseen, these are not your friend – snake boots help protect your shins!
Bark – rougher than it looks! Inside of the thigh is my least favorite spot for bark to scrape.
Tree limbs – when you have on a baseball cap or hard hat and duck – wham!!
Violated by a Cypress Knee? Call 1-800-SIT-ONIT
Sunscreen – RIGHT! You are thinking “How can sunscreen hurt?” Just sweat your balls off and wipe it in your eyes…then call me.
Unknown pokey things – yep – pokey things – reaching into aquatic plans you grab all sorts of weird pokey things.
Fish – Especially catfish. Teeth, barbs, fins and all other sharp edges.
Cypress Knees – I recently had a nasty surprise when I accidentally landed on my rear ON A SMALL KNEE….needless to say – I will never be the same.
Seeds – Mostly sweet gum seeds but there are a few others that hurt under bent knees.
Cogan grass – had to list this one on its own – SHARP – I once got seven slices before I knew what happened.
Yes – there is a lot out there. This year alone – we have had a lot of run-ins with caterpillars but I will leave that for another day.
The duct tape would have helped!!
Lots of things can hurt – be safe, look before you leap, use the stick – stick it in first duh! Have fun and get out there and GO ANYWHERE!!
Cogon is more than just a nasty invasive. It almost explodes rather than burns if ignited so don’t allow any open flame or heat source to get near it. For example, don’t drive through it or park in it. You could renact those BMWs and Caddies at the art museum in NM a few years back Catalytic converters set off some dry desert veggies in the outdoor parking area and tourched, what?, a dozen or two of them?
Yowch! Sounds awful, actually. I think the pictures are good enough for me. (Though I’ve tangled with blackberry.)
There are times when it doesn’t seem worth it – usuall – it is!
What’s the worst? Cottonmouth slithering between my boots stuck in mud, Copperhead trying to bite the boot resting behind his head, chiggers everywhere, ticks in places they had to work to find, mosquitoes big enough to have teeth, Deer Fly so thick on my windshield that the wipers are necessary, or countless punctures from so many kinds of thorns.
Chiggers from sitting on a log are the worst because they go on and on and on with incessant itching and even fever for days.
Snakes!! Chiggers!! It just doesn’t get any better – add a bit of 100 degree Florida summer!!
I have to agree. Pain comes in all shapes and sizes. Many of our swamps here in New England have hummocky topography and hidden sink holes. Lost a couple of boots to them as well as a few twisted ankles. Windrows from logging appear harmless, until you try to climb over them, they shift and then you get caught within and take a tree trunk to the head. Then there is barberry, tear-thumb, stinging nettle etc. A stick is my best friend…
Yay for the sticks!!
And there’s those innocent looking stinging nettles!
just the other day – I touched an unknown plant that stung me so badly – my finger was numb for over a day!!
Sure sounds like nettles — an innocuous, anonymous weed that often grows in bunches near water sources.
Beats getting bitten by snakes, though, eh?
The horsefly is my nemesis, my archenemy of nature, so to speak.
Anybody try the sulphur dust/lye soap anti-chiggers (red bugs) techniques? Results were?
Not yet – I keep forgetting to get the stuff!
I live in the desert southwest so we have many things that can hurt but the other morning I discovered the javalina in the compost. For those of you that do not know the javalina they are large ie 50lbs or more rodents that do not see well, charge when frightened and have large incisors that they will get you with. Yup, just what I wanted to run into on my way to feed the horses before the first cup of coffee in the morning.
They are not rodents, they are relative to pigs. Nasty little devils.
Don’t forget poison ivy, that one is really nasty for me.
Yes, our outdoor world is fraught with danger: out here in the West we have rattlesnakes, jumping cholla, gorse, Valley fever, sharks, and no-seeums. But the really dangerous daily denizens I encounter are the close-minded, insensitive, and ignorant land owners and operators that have no environmental consciousness. They allow their livestock to overgraze the rangeland, they clear-cut the forests, they pave over the prime farmland, they pollute the waterways, and they foul the air with their vehicles. The technology exists to preclude all of that from happening but these laggards refuse to adopt it. These are the real dangers I encounter in my outdoor world.
Those are the worst!
Sorry for your pain but you tell it so funny! Great post.
Ooooh Cypress knees, did one of those once, still don’t think the spine is right even now. Tripping over the little suckers can be as bad, the way they hide themselves away in the leaf mould, it’s a cowardly form of attack, a guy can lose teeth like that! Hope your Coccyx is all better now, there must be a friendly plant you can rub on such injuries to stem the pain
I wish there was something to rub on it!! All healed. Thanks for finding us here and hope you enjoy!