My brother and I had the opportunity to go see the Phoenix Suns take on Sacremento for a hopeful berth in the NBA playoffs. The odds are long that the Suns will make it this year. They need to win every one of their last seven games. They beat Sacramento 139-102. We had a good time at the game. Beer was $6.75.
The next item on the agenda was to get Julie and Cat at the Phoenix Sky-harbor Airport. They had a great flight from Grand Rapids and the pickup went very well. By the time we got back to my Brother's house it was after midnight, so all went directly to bed.
The next morning we all got up very early as the recently arrived part of the crew was still three hours ahead of everyone else. We had some coffee and bagels to get going.
The first activity of the stay in Phoenix was a hike up the trails I rode the mountain bike on yesterday. The day was great, 70's and not a cloud in the sky. There were lots of folks out in the park hiking and enjoying the day.
The most exciting part was the lesson in cactus safety Craig learned. We were talking about the GHHS cross country coach and his experience with the "jumping cactus". I mentioned that it really does not jump. So, to experience the truth, we had to go seek out the Jumping Cholla Cactus, Opuntia bigelovii.
We were looking at a particularly nice specimen when I spotted one of the fallen arms on the ground nearby. I thought, I will pick it up very carefully so everyone can look at it.
I was immediately impaled by numerous needles that have microscopic hooks on the ends of the spines. I then desperately tried to get it off my left thumb with my right hand. This caused the needles to be now stuck in both thumbs. Extreme pain is also included. I got the spines out of my right thumb with my teeth and some help from everybody else. They were very reluctant to even think about touching the mass stuck to my left thumb. I had my bike repair tool in the camelback and asked to have that taken out of the pack pocket. I used the chain tool to kind of pry most of the arm off my thumb thinking that chunks of my thumb were going to go with each spine that I pulled out. I finished the task with my teeth.
A bit of whining was heard from my general direction for the rest of the hike. Julie asked if I thought I would need to have anything amputated, I said, "Yes, the stupid part attached sitting on top of my neck!"
The rest of the hike my thumb was throbbing from the pain and swelling.
Let me tell you those things do jump (not really but it sure seems like it) and they hurt like the dickens. The best advice I have is to stay away entirely. Unfortunately, no photos were taken to document the incident.
More fun to report soon. Much relaxation going on now. Beer! Sun! Warm!
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