Dear Net Zero Enthusiasts: I must be the most unreliable blogger in all of Creation anyway, but today you might as well know why it’s been an unusually long stretch since you’ve heard from me.  Let’s just put it this way—there are several immutable commandments woven into the fabric of the Universe that one is better off to heed.  Among them:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Leave the earth better off than when you got here.
Take only your share.
Don’t eat yellow snow.

These are kind of the basics, right?  Well, not too long ago, I was trying my best to play a small part in home construction and I pretty much ignored another of the basics:

                                    DON’T TRIM YOUR FINGERNAILS WITH THE TABLE SAW!

Which led to a  “Forrest Gumpish” kind of personal insight:

Anyway, I was very lucky.  I only lost the “shavings” from the saw cut itself.  I have all of all 10 fingers and today, for the first time in several weeks, I am using the keyboard on my laptop again.  (Hunt-and-peck blogging was definitely not for me).  I have learned some things.  I chose to post the double photo above because, when one injures the middle finger, it becomes critical how one displays one’s hands, especially in public discourse or showing off with colleagues on Zoom calls!  I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty in the world that needs a good flipping off.  But the incident also gave me immediate membership in a not-so-exclusive club.  And I started getting everyone’s sawfinger stories and remembering my own.  Years ago, our friend Chuck re-shaped a finger with the radial arm, friend Dick went to the ER and sent his grandson back to the woodshop to search through the sawdust for his finger to re-attach.  One of our new neighbors tried to clean out under the lawnmower while the blade was still going.  Our friend Jim was driving somewhere recently and passed a truck for a woodworking business called “9-Fingered Carpenter LLC.”  My in-attention has brought me so many stories.

Now it’s Thanksgiving and I’ve been considering gratitude.  The night of the saw thing, I lay in bed, my middle finger dressed and throbbing.  I dozed off a bit and awoke in a sensation I’ve never ever had.  There was in me a complete calm and I was lying there in the dark smiling ear to ear!  It was a small thing and it caught me by surprise.  I wasn’t sure what it was.  But I think I was just filled with gratitude to have my whole finger.  It was almost strange.  But I’ve been making a list of gratitudes,  grace and thankfulness since.

As soon as my skin hit the saw blade, I wrapped it in something and ran through the front door to tell Debbie to take me to the emergency room.  We were taking care of 4-year-old Jackson that afternoon.  Ordinarily, when it’s time to go somewhere, Jackson can be a royal pain in the butt.  Not that day.  There were drops of blood on the sidewalk and the tone of Gramma’s voice convinced him something was up with Grampa and he dressed and got in his car seat.  All the way to the ER, Jackson chatted about everything but table saws, but he was on the look-out for the blue signs with the white ‘H.’

1. I am grateful for blue hospital signs and chatty grandsons.
2. I am grateful for Debbie and everyone who cared for me and the feeling of humility dependence brings.
3. I have a warm feeling for the nurse who deadened my finger before she cleaned it off.
4. I remember we talked of her upbringing in Nova Scotia, her garden and where she goes on breaks.
5. And I’m grateful the whole drama of the world isn’t about me.  There’s other stuff going on.  Other others.
6. We built a fence with our new neighbor. He lent his post hole digger.  Soon after my cut he killed himself.
7. The neighborhood is sad.  We are thankful for Bruce, his friendship and his wife Deana.
8. We’re grateful for LGBTQ+ neighbors and the courage to create loving/safe spaces even as hate abounds.
9. We are thankful for developing nations demanding we pay for the loss and damage of our GHG emissions.
10. We celebrate all who stand against the hate and insanity of “T___p” World and work for love and hope.
11. We are thankful for our daughters and their brothers and sisters who teach and the special needs that call.
12. We revel in the morning sun that sets the Ponderosa tops ablaze each day with renewed hope.
13. We rejoice in coveys of quail, Flickers and Nuthatches who we join on our journey in this life.
14. We amaze at magenta sunsets behind snow-covered peaks blessing each day’s end.
15. We are filled with gratitude for Raphael Warnock, Stacy Abrams and all lovers of justice.
16. We are grateful for you and the next new day of grace, wonder and thanksgiving.

I’ll be blogging again soon.