Tag Archives: Tales of the Finger

Tales of The Finger – The Truth Hurts

I could also call this post, “I Miss My Swords.”

I was reading this article today about how writing can help people overcome emotional and physical pain. It resonated with me, because I was cursing at myself this morning as I drove to the office about the pain in my finger because of my stupid injury (which I exacerbated last night trying of all things to scoop the litter boxes).

It’s not just the physical pain that bugs me so much about this injury, it’s very much the completely stupid and avoidable way in which it happened. I did it to myself.Continue reading “Tales of The Finger – The Truth Hurts”

Tales of the Finger – Oh, for a Main Gauche!

Crazy things happen when you’re out in the field. I carry lots of equipment for working with rocks, but nothing to ward off invaders. On this day, I was merely trying to have lunch and I found myself wishing I had my sword.

When I’m out doing geology, I seldom think that I’d wish for a sword. But there I was, with a stick and a rock hammer.

And the Clark’s Nutcracker was totally divebombing me.Continue reading “Tales of the Finger – Oh, for a Main Gauche!”

The Lion – Tales of the Finger

Sometimes, an injury is totally worth it. If you’re gonna get hurt, may as well do it in a real cool way.

People keep asking me what I did to hurt my finger – that annoying injury that’s been driving me crazy for the last six weeks. I’m finally almost back to normal, so maybe this time I’ll actually tell the truth about what happened.

So we were hiking out to look at some really cool structures in the northern part of the The Breaks, where I go do geology every summer. There aren’t too many places out there where there are any trees, but on Owl Ridge, there are lots of junipers and limber pines. We were glad to be there, because it was hot that day. Very hot.Continue reading “The Lion – Tales of the Finger”

To Catch a Bullet, or a Woolly Rhino – Tales of the Finger

The second morning that we dropped into the cave, we found that some poor rodent had fallen to his death the night before. We were surprized when a few days later, an even littler mouse had fallen in, and survived. Who would have thought an 80 foot drop was even survivable?Continue reading “To Catch a Bullet, or a Woolly Rhino – Tales of the Finger”

The Dwarf Pirate – Tales of the Finger

So, you’re wondering what I did. What happened that I needed five stitches on my index finger. Well let me tell you.

It was raining. Raining a lot. Completely bizarre for Wyoming at this time of year – for any time of year, really. There was water everywhere. Great ponds where only caked dust lay for years.

I noted upon one of these unusual bodies of water (as I drove past on my way to an incredible fossil locality) what appeared to be a sailing vessel. Continue reading “The Dwarf Pirate – Tales of the Finger”

Tales of the Finger, Introduction

One of the “highlights” of my field season this year was when I had a wee accident and wound up with 5 stitches on the index finger of my right hand.

In truth, this put a damper on the whole season, but I plunged ahead anyway, eager to meet my commitments and finish what I started. Life doesn’t stop just because something stupid happens.Continue reading “Tales of the Finger, Introduction”