field notes, i-xxii-mmxii

Ondine and I went for a long afternoon hike at the river. She was horrible in the car on the way there and back, but I'm just going to have to inure myself to it. She's a great companion on the trail.

Another topic - field injuries. I was crouching to take a picture of some tiny flowers bespeckling an emerald patch of ground cover when I lost my balance and put my hand down to keep from toppling over. As soon as my hand touched the ground, my brain said, "Why is someone poking a red-hot screwdriver through your palm?" as another part of my brain simultaneously said, "You know better than to put your hand someplace you haven't looked first!" I lifted my hand and inspected my palm - nothing. No puncture, no splinter, no evidence of injury at all. Still hurts, though. Not sure if it was the ground cover or something hiding within it. Lesson re-learned! (Topical hydrocortisone seems to be helping.)

I also poked my foot and thigh on a prickly pear. I have to get some better field boots soon.