Ouch

Over the weekend we dug up a bunch of pineapple plants we had around the property to take into work and give away. We had too many and wanted to plant some different stuff in those spots. Pineapple plant leaves have a serated, saw-like edge to them which resulted in both Ali and I getting many cuts and thorns into our hands and arms. There were a couple offshoots that broke off that I tried to give away but noone wanted them. So I took the offshoots home, feeling bad about just throwing them out so I decided I would plant them in the back of the property and see if they would take root.

So I rushed home and immediately drove the truck around back. Daylight was waning so I had to hurry up. So while I am still in my work clothes I grab the shovel and drive to the back of the property. I dig out one hole and dump in one of the plants, I got a few more cuts right away trying to set it in place. Then I jump to the other side of the fill pit to plant another one. I dig the hole extra wide to make it easier to get the plant into the hole. I plop the plant in and start scooping the dirt back in with my hands. I notice that these cuts on my hands were painful. Then I noticed the pain increasing and spreading to different areas. I look down, you guessed it, I must have dug into a fire ant tunnel and had dozens of them all over my hands. So I am cursing, frantically trying to bat them all off. They literally have a death grip on the skin. You could squash one, dismember it, it won’t release the grip until you directly pull or tweak it off. So my now burning hands finish off the job safely, using the shovel at all times to pack in the remaining dirt. I go inside and pull out pineapple splinters with a tweezers while examining the forming welts from the fireant assault.

I fired off a letter to the editor which I haven’t done for a little while. It was regarding the closure of left turns out of a development that was one of the big contributors to the gridlock in the first 3 miles of our commute.