Hello Everyone!
Heat exhaustion, Recuperating in the shade, The blessed fan, Dogs on the run & That sweet peroxide sting!
Alright, I am in slow motion when it comes to starting this entry this morning... and have already delayed beginning it multiple times all while telling myself 'just make some espresso' then never doing it. Perhaps all that I needed to do was open the text editor and start typing all along... but now that I think of it making some espresso before diving in here sounds like a good idea.
Yesterday was a total washout as far as productivity goes because I spent way too much time dithering around before it got hot outdoors... and wow it got hot fast. I tried at the last minute to convince myself to go dig more post holes for the gate system... but after spending just a little time walking around in the shade I could tell it would be too much for me.
Mostly, I was still feeling the lingering affects from the day before... when I was shuffling around my storage under the beating sun and did not drink enough water. I can still feel some of my muscles aching even today from all the heavy lifting while trudging uphill... but at least that lingering 'I almost seriously overheated' feeling is gone.
Those trellises that I erected around the tent for shade sure have paid off... because even during the hottest parts of the day the tent never becomes unbearable. Without the fan, it probably would not be quite the same... because during those high heat times I am assuredly not all that comfortable without the fan blowing directly on me.
The dogs are the lucky ones, because they can always lay on the ground and get cool, or go hang out in their crates where the fan blows or pile in the bed near me... and get blown on by the fan. Usually it is some combination of them doing all of those things... but for the furry critters that they are... they sure deal with it better than I do!
Anyways, late in the day while I was napping the dogs busted lose on me again... and went running full tilt downhill before I could wake up fully, realize what was happening and chase after them quickly enough. They were so quick that all three of them went from being two meters away from me... to being seven or eight meters away from me in a matter of seconds.
I have no idea why I thought that 'springing into action' was a good idea... but I was already in motion chasing them before I realized what I was doing and that I was only in my skimpy sleeping shorts. Before abruptly stopping, I realized that I had stepped on a root or something that had (from what it felt like) punched a hole in the middle of my foot... which yeah meant that the dogs had not just outran me... but I was also giving up and 'limping home' injured.
Once I got some dang clothes on, and coaxed my hurt foot into a boot... I hiked off to go wait at that same spot that I always catch them at near the creek. This time they at least all remained together as a pack and showed back up at the same time... because when they split up they tend to be gone for a good ten or fifteen minutes longer.
After all that jazz, I got my boots back off as soon as I could... and after painfully pealing off my sock... I flushed the wound on my foot out with some hydrogen peroxide. The only thing that I have to say about that particular experience is that peroxide should never actually sting like wildfire when applied... and if it does it ain't a good sign... and yeah it was brutal doing it several times!
Overall, I am not too concerned about it all healing up just fine... and am taking it as 'a lesson learned' that I absolutely need to crate the dogs before I take anymore random naps. Meanwhile, I will metaphorically kick myself in the butt repeatedly over the next few days about participating in an avoidable accident... and laugh at myself every time that I have to hobble around during the healing process.
Well, I really do not have much more to report in this entry and am going to keep it short and sweet. I hope that folks are doing well and fighting the good fight. Ciao for now.