scorpion, salsa, saw, sore, & shot

Yep, the title pretty much sums it up, but I (Grant) can add a few details in here if you would like. Pretty much, there are two separate stories to spin the specifics of the scorpion, salsa, saw, sore, and shot.

Story number 1:

This was one of those situations where I jokingly made a statement that ironically was actually true. Fortunately, this specific situation didn't end up with both of my feet in my mouth like some situations like these can (I will refrain from giving any personal examples). It only ended up with dumping a quart of homemade salsa in the garbage.

Pretty much what happened was Adrienne, Hannah, and I were enjoying quesadillas dipped in homemade, canned green salsa when I saw some burnt tomato peels at the bottom of the glass jar. They were positioned in somewhat of an arthropodic configuration, so I jokingly asked, "Did you know that there's a scorpion in the bottom of the salsa jar?" Neither of the girls believed me, nor did they give me the reaction I was looking for, so I proceeded to show it to them. Upon further investigation and closer looks, I began to doubt my first theory of burnt tomato peels. It really kind of looked like a scorpion.

So I began to dig it out with a spoon, and sure enough, there it was. I've included a picture below if you don't believe me.

I will end this story here, but wow, I could tell another whole story about the conversation that followed between Adrienne and Hannah discussing how the scorpion got there...  man, I was hearing stuff about scorpions high diving from steel beams and who knows what.

That being said, for those hot salsa lovers out there.... if you're looking for salsa that's got some bite to it and really stings good, I sure do have a recipe for you.

Story number 2:

This is the story where I was really struggling coming up with blogging material, so I stuck my thumb into my table saw just to have something to write about.

As you can see, I still have my full thumb, I did not die from loss of blood, nor did I even pass out as I wrapped my thumb up in a rag and biked home from the shop.

Hannah was making cinnamon rolls with a few of her friends when I burst through the front door, yelled "call 911!" and collapsed onto the floor. No, just kidding... that didn't happen. But, one of the girls told me I needed to go get stitches and the other told me she could tape it up herself. Option number 2 was more appealing to me at the moment so she taped me all up and I went back to the shop and worked the rest of the day.

Now my challenge is just taking care of it and keeping it from getting infected. It's right across the muscle on my thumb and really didn't go deep, it's just bigger than a normal cut because it's the width of the saw blade. But, the whole experience reminded me that my last tetanus shot was over 10 years ago, so I decided (with a little pressure from my mom) to see if I could find a tetanus shot somewhere.

Going back in time, about a year ago, we were super stressed because we couldn't figure out how to get Ivory's vaccinations. The medical system is completely different down here and we just couldn't get it figured out. Now that we are much more knowledgeable about the system, it's really going to be hard to do anything different. Here's what I mean:

About 11:30 this morning I decided to go see what I needed to do to get a tetanus shot. I jumped on my bike and biked 7 blocks to the Health Center. On arriving, I was greeted by a nurse at the front door. Here's how it went:

Nurse: Good morning, how can I help you?
Me: So like, I cut myself (but it's nothing bad really), but it reminded me that I haven't a tetanus shot for like 10 years and was wondering if...
Nurse: Well, let's get you a tetanus shot. Can I see your vaccination card?
Me: Okay, well, like, um I don't have one because I like.... I just live here.
Nurse: pause  Okay, no problem, come on in.

We proceeded to a small room in the back where I began to get scared that I was actually going to get a tetanus shot today... right now! I wasn't ready for that. She asked me how old I was while she pulled out a needle that to my best estimations was approximately six and a half feet long and came at my left shoulder.

I will now fast forward the story about 30 seconds in an attempt to personally forget what happened.

So afterwards, after she told me that I need to move my arm a lot and might run a fever, I asked her how much I owed. Not a thing. Not too bad, in my personal opinion. I spent a total of 3 minutes maximum from the time I walked in to the time I walked out.

Now if only everything in Mexico were that fast and easy...