Question of The Day. Saturday 4th of February

Good morning. 

 It's February already! That first month went by fast.

Are you accident prone? In what way? What's the worst thing you've ever done to yourself?

I'm so accident prone it's a wonder I haven't got a Darwin Award yet. As a kid I fell out of trees, fell off horses, fell into river and stepped into drains that had had the manhole covers taken off.

As an adult I've crashed motorbikes, fallen off of bigger horses while going faster, cut myself, burnt myself, been bitten by dogs and was once charged at by a monkey.

I had another little mishap yesterday. I was filling up the kerosene tanks for our heaters and managed to spill kerosene all down my legs. "Never mind" I thought, "Won't do any harm." After a few hours of running errands, buying groceries etc I realised that spilling kerosene on your skin actually does do harm. It burns like crazy if you don't wash it off.

I had to rush home and take a long shower before the burning would stop. My jeans, socks and leggings have been through the wash twice but I can still smell kerosene on them.

How about you? Are you a danger to yourself too?

(was once charged at by a monkey.)

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OMG I snorted out loud on that one LOL

Kind of my own worst enemy 

I've never broken any major bones but there's been plenty to keep me on my toes.  From bad kitchen accidents (nearly sliced off the tip of a finger), to slips and falls (those 2 bad knees didn't come out of nowhere) .  

Sometimes it's other people's faults - like I had my nose broken by my best friend. We were in a "moon walk" (big puffy blow up house kind of thing) and she stepped onto my face.  Luckily, that break eventually resulted in getting a nose job some years later.

Probably the worst I'd ever done myself in was due to someone else's negligence but the way it happened was pretty classic for me.  Tripped over a stand vacuum at my old job, got my legs wrapped up around it, fell onto a nearby step stool but not before my left leg wrapped around that also.  I knew immediately something was not right.  Somehow managed to get myself home.  Turned out, I had not only torn the meniscus in my left knee but, had pulled every single muscle and tendon possible in the entire leg.  Was out of work for a full month, I could NOT walk let alone get into the train I had to take into NYC (my station didn't have a platform at that time, so you had to step up into the train).

They initially thought I tore my quadriceps also - thankfully that wasn't the case.  I was every shade of blue, red, purple and green from my ankle to my knee.  Very impressive!  

Norachan, I hope your leg is OK!

I was never charged at by a monkey, but did get butt-butted by a billy goat while out walking one day. 

While working at the paper plant many moons ago, I had to run back into the back room to save the web (long story). Anyway, I didn't know that they had oakited the area and it was really slippery. And I slipped and fell and slid along the whole length of the area. Oakite burns. My supervisor saw me go down. He grabbed me, turned me around, took the hose and sprayed my jeans with cold water for about ten minutes, trying to get the oakite off. I had an hour to go home, change my clothes and get back into work....at 2:00 in the morning.

Got in the car and had my left leg still hanging out of the car for whatever reason. The wind blew the car door shut on my leg. Opened the blasted door, said, "Well, that one's gonna hurt" and went into work. Worked all day. Got home and man, that leg was itching. Took my jeans off and ended up at the doctor with a huge blood clot in my leg. Off work for several days. 

I was trying to get the Christmas tree (stored in two bags on hooks in the basement ceiling) down. From a ladder. Fell off the ladder, slid on my side along the basement floor and smacked into the washer. That hurt.

Taking a basket of laundry down to the basement, wearing an exceedingly old pair of Dr. Scholl sandals. Got halfway down the steps, fell out of one sandal, lost my balance and slid down the rest of the way and crashed into the basement door. 

Got up in the middle of the night to go pee, stepped into a pair of shoes next to the bed. Caught toes in said shoe, started to teeter and fell, but I managed to fall backward on the bed. Woke Rick up and he wondered what in god's name I was doing. Toes were sore for days after that one. I never put my shoes right next to the bed, for that very reason. Why I did that night is beyond me.

Thought I broke my little toe a while back when I was walking through the dog gate in the hallway and smacked my little toe into the floor railing. It got black, really black and swelled up. Ice and more ice. You know, that still aches sometimes. I was not -- and still am not -- particularly amused.

Was slicing a pork tenderloin and popped an end piece in my mouth. It got caught. Rick had to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on me. That was downright scary. Thank goodness he was home.

Was coming home from work one night. Was fiddling with the stereo in my car and, at the very last minute, realized that I was going to miss the turn into our little village. So I turned the wheel sharply. Hit a large tree stump, and flipped the car. Hit another tree stump and flipped the car again. Was going into the third flip when I hit the house. The car came to rest on the driver's side and I was inside, looking up at the stars through the passenger window. Wasn't wearing a seat belt. Sat there for a while, then I realized I smelled gas. I had to crawl out the driver's side window. I had glass in my cheek and a concussion, but other than that I was OK. For years, I told everybody, including the cops and Rick, that I fell asleep. It's only been maybe in the last four years or so that I even admitted to Dear Richard that I had been messing with the cassette player.

Numerous slices in fingers from handling sharp knives. Numerous burns on hands and arms from reaching into the hot oven. One time, I wasn't thinking and reached in with bare hands to take a hot casserole out of the oven. Even as I was doing it, I realized it that it was a really stupid idea, but too late. THINK, PAM, THINK!

I'm pretty much a disaster waiting to happen. Rick says it's only a matter of time. I think he's serious.

If you asked my husband this question it would be an emphatic Yes!     He's always telling me I'm a klutz. Probably the worst accident I had was walking down the stairs, talking to my daughter on the cell phone and not holding on to the railing.  The dog was resting on the bottom landing of the stairs and it was dark so I didn't see him.  You can probably guess what happened next - I tripped over him, the phone went flying and I hit the back of my head really hard on the last 2 wooden steps.  Ouch!!     I'm not sure who was more freaked out, the dog or me.

I wouldn't call myself accident prone persay, but I do consider myself clumsy. 



Running into things, spilling things, dropping things, knocking things over, tripping etc



As for worst things, nothing terribly bad nor unique - sprained ankle while performing, costume malfunctions while performing, being covered in flower, banging my head on the ceiling while on a train that created a loud *boom* and in front of other passengers etc



I did have one instance where I was carrying my Jack Russell while walking down the stairs and I slipped at the very top. I ended up painfully bangingly sliding down every step until the bottom, but I had lifted my doggie up in the air during the whole time and she thankfully remained unscathed throughout! #priorities.

When I was 11 years old me and a few of my friends were racing our bikes.I was not paying attention to what I was doing and I ran down a hill and into a oak tree. My sister and grandmother saw me fly up into the air and down on a gravel driveway. My grandmother said "Oh she's finely gone and done it. She killed herself." I hit my head and was knocked out. My neighbor ran over and picked me up and took me to the clinic.  We did not have any hospitals close by back in those days.   They had to sew up my head and they told me I had a concussion. I had the worse headache of my life that night. 

The most recent thing I've done (after 63+ years of regularly doing myself damages) was to manage to tilt my walker sideways off of my porch while I was sitting on its seat.  I hit HARD, and now have ulnar nerve damage.  It should clear up on its own, but will take 12-18 months to get back to near-normal.  SIGH...

Geez, some of you are lucky to be alive!  The worst damage I ever did to myself was a sprained ankle and involved cats.  I visited a friend that I hadn't visited for years and when I opened the screen door to enter, my concentration instantly shifted to the 6 beautiful calico cats lounging about on the porch furniture.  That meant I didn't pay attention to the step downward so down I went as well.  It took almost 6 months before the ankle didn't hurt anymore.  

I've also been thrown by horses and I have a habit of walking into columns when I leave stores for some reason.

Originally Posted by sivyaleah  

Quote:

(was once charged at by a monkey.)

OMG I snorted out loud on that one LOL

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We have big scary monkey over here and they're not afraid of people at all! Scary, I tell you. Not cute little monkey, big scary ones!



@Winchester  I think you're probably going to end up with a Darwin Award too.

Cassiopea said:

I did have one instance where I was carrying my Jack Russell while walking down the stairs and I slipped at the very top. I ended up painfully bangingly sliding down every step until the bottom, but I had lifted my doggie up in the air during the whole time and she thankfully remained unscathed throughout! #priorities.

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At least you've got your priorities right.

I feel left out. I'd be accident prone if not for the fact that I'm waay to slow to manage to get into many accidents. That said, I once took took a shortcut through a parking lot divided with those chain links connected to short concrete poles, and tripped. Fell badly, so badly I thought I broke my hip, it was about 10° out and 2 am (not drinking lol, just walking home from work.) As a kid, an infant even, I was klutzy, due to dizziness and bad eyesight, and that might be why I'm ultra conservative with my movements today.

I am super accident prone. It's in the genes. When I was a kid I rode a bike of the edge of someones driveway into a duck pond. As an adult I slipped on ice, broke my little finer and lost a little off the tip.

wow I am so sorry you gals had to deal with these accidents! I can be clutzy..I drop things, kick the cup of water over and not realize my foot didn't go where I wanted..I notice it more as I get older..I did stupid things as a kid..spilled my bike in the middle of a busy road trying to take a corner on sand-to this day I won't turn on sand. luckily not a car in site that day.

I have stepped on kitties by accident...Honeybee sneaks up on me when im up at night getting a drink of water=she sits right behind me so when I turn to go back to bed...I end up almost stepping on her..now I shuffle my feet instead of picking them up..smash my babytoe on one of the cat posts all the time..because I shuffle my feet..Im not that coordinated...

That kerosene burns like a mother!! I wonder if putting a petroleum cream on it will counter act? I have to google it..been a long time since I played with kerosene here at work..we use it to wash parts off of this techno crap they put on It to antirust.

I have driven into the side of a tree the first day I got my license..a sapling..pulled the street sign out and pulled the oil plug right out...no damage to car lol. no one saw me...put the oil plug back in and took off! never reported it!! I was turning onto this street waiting for my automatic steering to flip the wheel back==it didn't do it that day...now im always careful about turns.

Pam, what is Oakite? Laughed my head off at your post though I know it wasn't supposed to be funny.

foxxycat said:

That kerosene burns like a mother!! I wonder if putting a petroleum cream on it will counter act? I have to google it..been a long time since I played with kerosene here at work..we use it to wash parts off of this techno crap they put on It to antirust.

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It does, doesn't it? I've spilt it on my hands before and it's been fine. I think it was worse this time because it soaked through my jeans and leggings so was next to my skin, rather than evaporating.

Dr Google suggested petroleum cream too.

@Primula  , Oakite is a very acidic yellow-ish chemical used to clean things like rust, old paint, aluminum. It's downright nasty stuff and will burn right through clothing into your skin. So when my foreman saw me go down and slide along the oakite, that's why he grabbed me and pulled me up so quickly. The guys said they never saw him move so fast.

Yet, it is FDA-approved. I know some food places use it, but I don't remember why or how.

We used to "paint" it on the concrete floor to help clean latex spills and such. Then after we thought the floor was clean, we'd scrape it back up and hose the floor down.

Had I known they were spreading oakite back there, I would have been more careful. But when the "web" starts to break, basically all hell breaks loose until everything is working properly again. I saw the web go and I took off. 

Lord, the chemicals that we used to use in that place.

Winchester said:

@Primula
 , Oakite is a very acidic yellow-ish chemical used to clean things like rust, old paint, aluminum. It's downright nasty stuff and will burn right through clothing into your skin. So when my foreman saw me go down and slide along the oakite, that's why he grabbed me and pulled me up so quickly. The guys said they never saw him move so fast.

Yet, it is FDA-approved. I know some food places use it, but I don't remember why or how.

We used to "paint" it on the concrete floor to help clean latex spills and such. Then after we thought the floor was clean, we'd scrape it back up and hose the floor down.

Had I known they were spreading oakite back there, I would have been more careful. But when the "web" starts to break, basically all hell breaks loose until everything is working properly again. I saw the web go and I took off. 

Lord, the chemicals that we used to use in that place.

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Does the paper plant still exist?

i wouldn't say that i'm accident prone, but i do get my share of bumps, bruises, scratches, gashes, toes banged, and etc. i figure that i do a lot of different things, so it comes with the territory. 

Primula said:

Does the paper plant still exist?

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No, the plant was sold twice after I took an early separation from the company (when the company decided to sell the plant, management was looking for employees to take an "early separation" complete with severance and all retirement benefits). I had been attending college and was ready to do my internship. I took advantage of the early separation so that I could do my internship and then I got the job I have now. Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones and I was able to find a decent job; many of the employees could not. The plant was eventually demolished and there's a Super WalMart there now; ironically, I know people from the paper plant who are now working at that WM.

Pam, did you manage to get a 4-year degree?

Primula said:

Pam, did you manage to get a 4-year degree?

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@Primula, yes I did. It took me ten years because I went to classes part-time while working full-time. The paper company paid for my tuition and I paid for my supplies. Like I said, I got through everything but my internship and when it came time to do the internship, I would be gone for the whole semester as I'd be working in Harrisburg, PA with a state agency there. At the time, management was trying to get rid of their younger workers (less severance, less money to pay them) and they wanted to keep the employees with more seniority. I asked for a leave of absence for a semester so that I could do my internship and management refused. Rick and I talked about it and he said, "You know what? The heck with them. You don't need them. Time for you to walk." So I went into work and applied for early separation. They even gave me grief about that, but I was adamant. I needed that internship in order to graduate.

Did my internship that semester, stayed in Harrisburg throughout the week, and came home on weekends. 

Ten years. It took me ten years. My son went to college, majored in Physics and graduated before I did!