My screen door was a little slow to close, and all that was required to fix it was adjusting the piston on the bottom – a task that was on my “to do” list and would have taken a screwdriver and all of a minute “to do.” But like so many other little things, I just never got around to it.
Last Thursday evening I had a brainstorm for one of the small photo brackets that I am designing in carbon fiber – the 3rd prototype still was not quite stiff enough for the load of two heavy cameras with ball heads, and I did not want to increase the weight any further. Weight reduction and the “coolness factor” are the only reason this product has a slim chance of selling.
Sorry for getting technical here, but if I substituted the standard modulus carbon fiber for an intermediate modulus carbon fiber, my problem would be solved. It occurred to me that I had about 400 yards of a very exotic 1K IM7 carbon fiber fabric that I acquired from a closing Cytec site in Arizona. This stuff is used for satellites that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and even if I could purchase it, the cost would be outrageously high. But as I already had it, why not use it?
OK, I am trying to keep this story short, as I understand that the average social media attention span is about 2.5 seconds. After coffee and yogurt on Friday morning, I flew out of the house over to a storage shed where I keep all this stuff. I dug through all the crap I have in there and found my magic material, heading back to the front door with partial rolls under each arm.
I walked up the stairs of my front porch and seeing the screen porch is still open a crack, I use my foot to get the door fully open. To my horror there was a large snake coiled up between the doors, and it was clearly just as startled as I.
I could have just backed up, backed down the steps and all would have been well. But oddly I jumped straight up, instantly dropping my exotic rolls of carbon fiber, and so poorly landing on the stairs that I sprained my right ankle. Having totally lost my balance in a split second, both my palms slapped against the payment followed by my jaw. After that, the snake seemed less concerned.
The only pain that I initially felt was in my jaw which was bleeding, although not too profusely. I hobbled to the back door and fortunately my buddy Raul was working on the back porch and helped me in. I headed to the bathroom to check the damage while he chased the snake away with a rake.
No broken teeth and apparently no broken bones – I simply looked like I got into a bar bawl! Calmed down with an ice pack on my face the other pains emerged – both palms were purple, my left wrist was definitely sprained and my arm and shoulder were pain free in about one position only. Although I was still mobile, I was pretty much useless in performing even the simplest of tasks. It was, for example, near impossible, to turn a pepper grinder, which I discovered when I later attempted dinner.
I thought what an odd set of events that lead to this mishap: A brilliant idea, a forgotten task and a primal reaction deeply embedded in an ancient part of our brains. In reality, most accidents follow this pattern – a series of unrelated events bring it on.
Then something marvelous occurred. I was a near invalid for a day – an experience I have never had. A new empathy flowed through me that approached spiritual for those with either physical or emotional conditions that won’t fix themselves as the body heals in a week or so. Thank you Mr. Snake!
