Painting Injury

I don't want to hear anyone else say, "If you don't like the way the paint turned out you can always paint again." My elbow has been killing me since I first started painting 2 months ago. Two weekends ago it hurt so bad that I was in agony just trying to start my lawn mower, and I finally decided that it was time to see the doctor. From what I could gather from his explaination I have hurt a tendon that connects to my elbow and a nerve that runs down my lower arm. (After I left I thought that I should have had him write the names of the nerve and tendon down for Ang, but I wasn't quick enough.) As a result I get to wear these loveley braces for the next 4 weeks. I also opted to get a steroid shot in my elbow now rather than wait a few weeks to see if the braces take care of the problem and risk having to go back. Even though the doctor claimed that he was injecting a pain killer along with the steroid that was the most painful injection I have ever had in my life. I never want to paint again.

Hike #2: The Fiasco

I sat inside all day Saturday watching the rain. By noon on Sunday the clouds had started to break up and the blue sky looked so inviting that I decided to get out and go for a hike. I usually hike Baer Canyon in Kaysville or Adams Canyon in Layton, so I decided to break out of my rut and head to Ogden.


Last year Steph directed me to a trail that I really liked but I couldn't remember how to get to the trail head. She couldn't remember which canyon I was talking about, so she directed me to the trail heads for Waterfall and Taylor canyon. (Looking at the map at the trail head it was Beus Canyon that I had been trying to find.)

I decided that I wanted to hike up Waterfall Canyon, but since I had never been there before and the trails weren't clearly marked, I ended up in Taylor Canyon. That was fine with me. Back in the horse and buggy days there had been a hotel at the top of Malan peak. It burned down years ago but apparently the boiler still sits in the clearing, so that seemed like a good thing for me to explore.

The sky was still overcast in Ogden when I started out on the trail, but it didn't look too threatening. I had been hiking for about 20 minutes when I noticed that the clouds above me had become quite black and threatening. I decided to keep going.

It sprinkled lightly for the next 20 or 30 minutes, but it wasn't anything too bad. Then it started to hail. It hailed really hard and although the hail stones weren't big they really stung. After pushing through that for about 10 more minutes I decided that the smart thing to do would be to turn around.

After a few more minutes the hail stopped and it began to rain quite steadily. I was about 20 minutes from my car when a bolt of lightning hit nearby. I don't think it hit the ground, but the lightning and the thunder were simultaneous, so it must have been quite close. I had my headphones on at the time and when the lightning hit I got a deafening hiss of static through my headphones.

At that point it really started to rain hard, and by the time I reached my car I was completely drenched and my hands were numb with cold. As I sit here typing this about 2 hours later, the sky is completely clear and bright blue. Steph and I might head up to Snow Basin for a hike next weekend, so I will let you know how hike #3 goes.