Saturday, May 09, 2009, 22:27
Starting to Heal
The fingernail that I bumped on the cart at farm supply store in January finally came off the other day.
For months now, I have been walking around with a black fingernail on the middle finger of my right hand. The fingernail looked so bad that people were constantly asking me what I had done to it.
To tell you the truth, I didn't even hit it very hard on the cart. I was loading a bag of horse feed. It was very cold outside, below zero, and I had just come into to the store, so I suppose it didn't take much.
At the time, it really hurt. And my fingernail turned black and blue within a minute or so and was throbbing. The finger was very sore for a couple of days after that. I could not hardly hold a pen to write. And that's bad when you are a newspaper reporter and have to take notes. It was so painful that I had a hard time figuring out what to do with my hand when I was ready to go to sleep. No matter where I put my hand or how I held it, my finger throbbed painfully. That only lasted a few days, though, thank goodness.
The nail gradually started to loosen up a few weeks ago. At first it just felt funny, like there was air underneath it. But I soon realized that the fingernail was coming loose.
Fortunately I knew what to expect because Randy had just lost a the fingernail on the little finger he had broken while working with the tractor tire outside in November. He smashed his little finger with the tire iron, and by the next morning it was swollen and purple. He went to the clinic and later found out that it was fractured. Eventually he lost the fingernail.
By last Friday night, my fingernail was loose and all the way off except for one corner. I had been going around for a few weeks with two or three Band-aids on it all of the time, and I really wanted that fingernail to come off. So I worked and worked at it until I got it off. Then it bled on the one corner where it was still attached. And boy, was it sore.
I wore Band-aids and antibiotic ointment on it for the next few days. Bumping it was a real treat while playing the piano, reaching into my pocket for a dog food treat for Pixie or while typing on the computer.
One day, I kept popping off the "equal" key cover with a corner of the Band-aid and had to keep trying to put it back on again. And I wasn’t even using the equal key. (sigh) I was just close to it as I was typing. Or maybe the more politically correct word is keyboarding. They don’t teach typing in schools anymore. They teach keyboarding.
At any rate, Tuesday night, I decided to go for a while without a Band-aid on it and eventually went to bed without one.
I’ve been wearing Band-Aids off and on for most of the week. I have discovered that the cloth Curad bandages are the best. They are flexible, and my finger does not turn white from being encased in plastic all of the time.
The fingernail still looks horrible. There’s viable nail only about two-thirds of the way from the cuticle. And the rest of it is kind of rusty looking. But at least it’s on its way to healing up now.
Incidentally, I think the way a fingernail heals is really interesting: while the fingernail is working on loosening up and eventually coming off, there’s another nail growing out underneath it. You would think it would just grow out from the cuticle until the bad part was grown out. But no, it works on growing another nail underneath the dead fingernail.
Garden
Good. Now maybe my fingernail will be healed up enough now for me to plant the garden. I’ve got onion sets, pole peas, radishes and lettuce just waiting to be planted. The lettuce is going into galvanized tubs up by the house where it’s handy to water and to cut some for a salad.
I’ve also got beet seeds, green beans, squash and carrots, but I’m going to wait on those for a while until the ground warms up some more. Past experience has shown me that beets, beans, squash and carrots germinate better when the ground is warmer rather than colder.
We have given up on sweet corn for the time being. Corn takes so much water and with the drought conditions we are under, it is almost impossible to raise corn without watering the garden constantly. Quite frankly, I’m not that interested in drilling a new well, thank you very much.
I’ve also got Roma tomato seeds and sweet peppers planted in peat pots. The peat pots are great because I don’t have to disturb the roots to put the plants in soil.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Books are more portable than some electronic devices and the really great thing is -- they do not require batteries!
Wednesday, May 06, 2009, 15:48
Guess What's In Your Coconut. . .
Maybe I am completely out of touch with reality. But I was really taken aback the other day when I became curious about what else might be in a bag of coconut besides coconut. I knew I would find sweetener of some kind (and I was hoping it was not high fructose corn syrup) but I did not know what else might be in a bag of coconut.
I was not expecting to find propylene glycol listed as an ingredient.
Propylene glycol is anti-freeze.
I looked it up on the Internet and found out that propylene glycol is used in food production in certain types of lines to keep them from freezing.
It is also used in some products to keep them from clumping.
And it is "generally thought" to be safe for human consumption. (The "generally thought" is not particularly comforting, as far as I am concerned.)
On the other hand, I found warnings that while propylene glycol is LESS toxic (LESS, mind you, not non-toxic) than ethylene glycol, you should still not drink it.
What is the world coming to that anti-freeze is put in coconut?
It's coconut, for crying out loud. An innocuous, white, sweet substance that people put in cookies and cakes and frostings and fruit salads.
Well, not this person. Not anymore. I am not eating anti-freeze. And I am not going to serve anti-freeze to my husband.
I should think anyone with children (or grandchildren) would not want to serve anti-freeze to them, either.
The next time you're going to use coconut, check the ingredients.
You might be surprised.
LeAnn R. Ralph
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