Saturday Skies

It's Saturday, and that means

Here is my sky:

But other places have skies that look like these:

This is Tropical Depression (formerly Tropical Storm) Debby.

She is becoming more disorganized by the day, and isn't expected to last much longer, as she heads into the colder waters of the North Atlantic.

This guy, on the other hand, could end up being a problem. This is Tropical Storm Ernesto:

and he is heading into the Gulf of Mexico. He could become the season's first hurricane, and a threat to this already battered area. We'll be keeping a close eye on him.

I had my own personal storm today at work. You see, I work as a brazier. I use an acetylene torch and a silver alloy brazing rod to join copper components together into prespecified assemblies. Since me and my brazing partner are so far ahead of our line, Johnny sent her to another area to work. I set up on her stand to finish an order over there and was happily brazing away until one time I went to hang up my torch--which is also supposed to shut off the flame. I'm not exactly sure what happened, whether I got the tip caught on my glove, or I didn't get it on the hook well or what, but the next thing I know is this acetylene flame is coming straight toward my face. I could feel the heat (they burn at an excess of 1500'--because that's the temp at which the rod melts) and instinctively grabbed at it, trying to get it away from my face, but it somehow got between my arm and my body, so I just opened my arms and let it fall. As it fell, it hit my stomach and burned through my shirt. I'm glad I insist on wearing all cotton shirts ( I can't stand the feel of polyester) because a synthetic fiber would have melted and stuck to my skin. As it is, my skin is burned off in a couple of spots and in one of them, the burn was deep enough to draw blood. And it doesn't feel too good, either. The hair and my eyelashes on the right side of my head are a bit shorter now also.

Now, being a brazier, I'm pretty much used to getting burned. I've got more than one burn scar. Usually we just run a little cold water over it, maybe put some burn cream on it and go on about our business. This time, due to the severity of the burn on my stomach and the size of the burn on my face, this time they decided to send me to the ER as a precaution. I know doctors are trained to be calm and reassuring, but I always feel like they are acting like I'm making a big deal out of nothing. The nurse was a lot more sympathetic. Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for an antibiotic burn cream and painkillers, and a tetanus shot and sent me back to work. As the nurse was giving me the tetanus shot, I remarked, "You know, my last tetanus shot was courtesy of my place of employment as well." Back in 1997, I got my hand caught in a copper tube cutter. I didn't lose any digits, but got about a dime sized hunk of flesh ripped off on one finger. Now that hurt...

So the doctor cleared me to go back to work, and told me to follow up with Dr. Harrison (the cheapest doctor in town and the one all the plants and jails use, and he's no good; but that's a story for another post) on Monday. I had to call B to come pick me up, because when you get hurt, the plant won't let you drive yourself to the hospital--in case you are hurt worse than you think, but they just drop you off and you're on your own getting back. I got back to work and told my supervisor what the doctor had said. Then I told him I'd rather see my own doctor (and he said ok) and even though the doc said I could come back to work, I felt like I needed to go home ( and he said ok).

I got home at around 12:30 and spent the evening knitting and watching PBS on the TV. But now I can tell my painkillers are starting to wear off, so I need to go eat something and take some more.

Oh, good snake news:

• After 48 hours, Scarlett still hasn't urfed
• Monty ate an unscented rat
• Slider took a second small adult rat.