Bee Careful

"Ow, ow, ow!  Mom, help!"

#2 Son doesn't ask for help much, but he was, as happens so often, dripping blood.  This time it was from a bare foot -- and a very dirty bare foot, at that.

"What happened?" Little Girl inquired, as she grabbed one of the towels i pointed to that i keep for mopping up kitten messes and general spills.  Since i bleach them thoroughly, i knew it would be clean.

"Well, Festus had tried to punch a bee..."

"Tried to what?"  Bigger Girl's eyes opened wide with shock from where she sat at the breakfast bar, studying.

"He tried to punch a bee, and he made it mad, and it chased me, so I swatted at it.  Then, as I swatted again and tried to get away, I looked down and saw I was about to step on that board with a nail sticking out that I meant to put back in the fence after the last time we chased down Mikey.   And to keep from landing on the board I twisted around and ended up dragging the top of my foot on the concrete and pulled off a toenail!"


What an explanation, i thought, as i asked him if he wanted to head to the mini ER across the street.  They are used to us there.


"Yes, please!" he said with an urgency unusual for him.  The kid has had to be dragged there a couple of times, and many times hasn't told me about injuries because he hates going to the doctor or the ER or anyplace like that, and i don't find out he probably needed medical attention until well after.  This meant even he thought it was bad.


Of course, because it was Saturday, i was hanging around the house, working and bottle feeding kittens, in a flimsy little beach dress, so i had to go do a quick change into jeans and t-shirt.


He and i met at the car, him with the small towel wrapped around one foot, the other now clad in a boot, and in less than half an hour from the incident, we were being ushered into the examining room.  They measured his height with one boot on and one bare foot, so i have no clue how accurate it was, but they insisted -- he's 5'9" and 130lbs, about what i figured.

Dr. T came in, asked what was up, then looked at me and asked why i looked familiar.  So i reminded him that i used to take care of his son R at Mother's Day Out, and that he had been the doctor on duty when #1 Son needed 7 staples in his scalp because he tried to jump down the staircase and found out the hard way there was a crossbeam there.   He smiled, then turned to the matter at hand.


Upon examination, #2 Son had one toenail totally pulled away, but he had put it back immediately.  That was good, because it will act as a protection as the new one grows in.  One other was partially torn away, and two others cracked.  The doctor said the main things were to make sure he's up to date on tetanus (he is), let them clean and bandage it, keep it well bandaged for several days, and get him back to a doctor if it starts to swell, looks red with streaks, gets warm to the touch, etc.  The usual litany of cautions.


We were back home in about an hour, and on the way back, i asked him if he was going to wear shoes outside now, like i have been trying to get him to do for years.


"I'll think about it," he grinned as he got out of the car, went in the house, deposited his boot with the other one, and headed downstairs to go out the porch door.


Well, i guess if tearing up the bottom of his foot when he was 6, and now this, as well as all the cuts and bruises he's had over the years haven't convinced him not much will.


Not even unforgiving concrete and an angry bee.


Today is:

Bank Holiday -- Ireland (and no, i don't know why it is on a Sunday this year)

Barsi Bhagat Puran Singh -- Sikhism

Bogota Carnival -- Bogota, Colombia (celebrating the city's Hispanic founding; through tomorrow)

Celtic Tree Month Coll (Hazel) commences

Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead Day -- uttered this day by Admiral Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864

Hanakasa Matsuri -- Yamagata City, Japan (10,000 costumed dancers perform; through the 7th)

Independence Day / Republic Day -- Burkina Faso (former Upper Volta)(1960)

International Beer Day

International Forgiveness Day -- sponsored by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance

International Friendship Day

Joust of the Quintana -- Asciku Piceno, Italy (reenactment of a medieval jousting tournament)

Loch-mo-Naire Pilgrimage -- Loch mo Naire, Scotland (tonight from midnight to 1am tomorrow is the magical hour, complete the ritual there to be healed by the waters because of magic stones in the water that a Celtic priestess put there long ago)

National Blackmail Day -- according to mostly ecard sites, with suggestions to send a card to the friend who has told you his/her secrets, with the notice that you plan on celebrating this date!

National Underwear Day -- sponsored by www.freshpair.com, which encourages people to rethink their underwear style, make sure they have the right fit, and which gives away free underwear

National Waffle Day

Oyster Day

Pixie of the Year Competition -- Fairy Calendar

Sacrifice to Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of health, associated with Greek Hygeia)

Sinjksa Alka -- Sinj, Croatia (knight tournament in which the whole district takes pride in keeping the tradition by making and restoring all the equipment used, with accompanying festivals and fun at home, in church, and in public)

Sisters' Day -- celebrating the bond between sisters

St. Afra of Augsburg's Day (Patron of converts, martyrs, penitent women; Augsburg, Germany)

St. Oswald of Northumbria's Day (Patron of Zug, Switzerland)

Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian defenders -- Croatia

Work Like a Dog Day -- different from work-a-holics, people who work like a dog work hard while they are at it, and rest when they aren't


Birthdays Today:

Maureen McCormick, 1956
Loni Anderson, 1946
Neil Armstrong, 1930
Raoul Wallenberg, 1912
John Huston, 1906
Joseph Merrick, 1862
Guy de Maupassant, 1850


Today in History

The last outpost of Bar Kockba, Betar, falls to Rome, 135
Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield, 642
King Edward and Earl Aetherlred, leading the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, defeat the last major Viking army to raid England at the Battle of Tettenhall, 910
Anti-Jewish riots in Arnstadt, Germany, 1264
Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland, 1583
The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America, 1620
New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true, 1735
US Army abolishes flogging, 1861
Standard Oil of New Jersey is established, 1882
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor, 1884
Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip made in her husbands invention, the first patented automobile; her journey was to publicize the invention, and she garnered attention and sales, 1888
The first electric traffic light is installed, in Cleveland, Ohio, 1914
Debut of the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie", by Harold Gray, 1924
Debut of the comic strip "Andy Capp", by Smythe, 1957
Nelson Mandela is jailed, 1962*
The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty, 1963
The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm, 1995
The Copiapo mining accident traps 33 Chilean miners about 2,300ft below the ground, 2010

*Released in 1990