I am thankful for a hard head and God's hand on my life!

In October 1999, Jerry and I bought a 24' x 24' camp on 17 acres in Sutton Mills. We moved into the house in January 2000. October/November 2001 construction and deconstruction started on the camp. It started with the 2nd floor coming off the house and the front 6' off the from of the house. Jerry, his nephews, and 2 different pastors, helped to construct the new frame around the old camp and to enclose it.
As we are building the house out of pocket, it has been slow going. It was time to connect the 'old' basement to the new basement. As the town of Sutton would not let us do a complete tear down and rebuild, we had to do an addition. They also wanted at least one wall left from the original structure left for it to be called an addition. That is what you see in the upper left picture. That picture also shows the dirt that needs to be covered in order for the 2 basements to be connected.
The original basement is almost 6' and the new basement is 9'. So, that means a 3' wall.....

You can see in these pictures the wall going up, and the difference between the two floors. You can also see the stairs leading to the old basement and the ladder that we need to step off the wall to get to the new floor....


Well. Do you see the picker in the picture below? That is my Patrick Green single picker. October 23 found me carding dyed Border Leicester. Some of the locks were matted, and it was long going opening the locks in front of my carder, so I headed to the basement to get the carder... Do you see disaster here??? Not me. Not at the time.
I went down the stairs and the ladder with no issues, as I have done many times since this new phase of construction started. I went and got the picker, brought it over to the wall and placed it on the wall behind the ladder. I went up the ladder, put one foot on the bottom step and one on the concrete block... I then leaned forward and got ahold of the picker, and that is when my world went into incredible slow motion. My foot must have slipped because the next thing I knew the picker was headed back in the direction it came from, the ladder was falling away from the wall, and I was headed onto the floor in the lower right picture (above). I landed straight on the right side of my head (behind the temple). My hands did not have time to reach out to break my fall (Thank you God!!). Once I figured out what I did, and took stock of any possible injuries, I got up put the ladder back in placed, picked up the picker and put it back on the wall and headed back up the stairs with picker in tow. Then I fired up the internet and looked up concussion...


I am so very thankful to my Lord and Savior that He had his heavenly hands on me!!! I never lost conciousness. I never had a headache. I did not break anything. But, I did have a number of bruises on my leg and foot that shows that my leg must have slipped into the hole between the new wall and the dirt wall.
Just over a week later, the bruises are fading from my leg and I am still thanking Him for His hand on me. I am still going up and down the stairs and the ladder as that is where the washing machine is, and all the wool that I need to take care of... But, I am even more conscious of my surroundings.
Today, I ask you to take stock of your surroundings and thank Him for a roof over your head, food in your stomach, access to the internet and all of our friends (personal or virtual), and the very life that He has given you.
TTFN