Nasty Weather and a Bad Leg Injury

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and adjusting to this early wet winter that we are having thus far. The Fall forecast had predicted a colder and wetter winter than normal, and up to this point it appears that those comedy team of meteorologists may have stumbled upon a proper guess! Even a blind hog occasionally sniffs out a nut. . .

I’m trying to stay stocked up on propane thru these colder winter months, taking one or two empty tanks to be filled every 7-10 days that I venture across the bay for supplies. Nothing worse than having several back-to-back hard blowing cold northers, and running out of propane for heat when I cannot make it in. As far as I know, propane doesn’t go bad when it sits for an extended period of time in those tanks, so might as well have a surplus supply of it on hand, especially during the winter. I refer to it as my electricity in a bottle. I know one thing, those cats have figured out that under the warm quilt and feather comforter is the place to be during those nights of temps in the 30’s! Not so dumb after all.

The duck hunters in the area have been in heaven the past several weeks. Literally thousands of ducks, I believe mostly redheads, have been flocking to this south shoreline, turning the surface of the water black with their numbers at times. On some early mornings it sounds like D-Day on Omaha Beach with all the shooting. I’m not a duck hunter at all, never fancied the idea of sitting in miserable weather to shoot a few, but I’ll certainly accept any that fellow islanders drop off at the house for a meal of fresh fried duck breasts.

I suffered a fairly severe leg injury in the most freakish way on the morning of Dec. 13th. A fresh norther had just blown in, so I went outside to secure an additional line to the boat, a common practice in windy weather conditions out here. While I was walking back to the house, I stopped on the front porch deck for a moment, when in an instant, a tremendous brief gust of wind, easily 60-70mph, (later determined to be a small twister that damaged several island houses), ripped out the screws securing a section of 3/4” plywood and hurled the plywood edgeways into my right calf. Oh my goodness, the pain was terrible, and the swelling immediately began.

I was very fortunate that I didn’t suffer a broken leg, but the hard impact created a severe hematoma. After two separate trips to the walk-in clinic, I finally received medical help from Dr. Mondolfi, who drained the swollen hematoma of 150cc (5.07 ounces), of coagulated blood. . it was so gross! The wound is now healing properly and should be fine. Thank you so much, Dr. Mondolfi and your staff, for the help! It was just a freak accident that happened in the blink of an eye, and by the grace of God it wasn’t any worse.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a great day.