It's Tetanus, It's Tetanus Time!

I will begin today's post by reporting that I had to get a tetanus shot this afternoon because I stepped on a rusty nail. (For serious!)

Super Sparkle Tetanus Arm!

One of the jobs on the new house I had been delegated to do by RJ was to extract all superfluous nails from large pieces of older/movie crew donated wood to be reused on our house. There's quite a pile. Let me just say that as a sometimes city girl at heart, I dislike this kind of work--but it's mindless and RJ has other, more pressing things to do like, you know, actually building things. My lovely friend Caitlin volunteered to help me tackle this horrible task. Because she's actually a good person. And I will buy her ice cream. It's a deal!

Fun in a can.

It may be important to note that RJ has been out of town all day today doing a job that pays actual money, so Caitlin and I are left on our own to sort through this heap of pokey wood. Now, we are both uber-capable-lady-folk, but we quickly found that what we thought would take us a few hours to get through, ended up taking waaaaaaaay longer. In fact, we only made a small dent today. Why? A lot of this wood is old. Old, possibly decaying and split apart enough that I'm not even sure RJ can use it. But I can't ask him, because he's not here and out of cell range. A lot of the wood in the pile is good stuff, but since it's all mixed up together, heaven knows. In addition, ALL of these old pieces of wood are COVERED with crooked, rusty nails. Super fun.

RJ told me to wear my hiking boots to the work site and to look out for nails, but instead of taking that great advice, I wore my running shoes because I had just taken a run earlier and didn't want to change out of my shoes. I'm SUCH a girl. Anyway, about an hour and a half into this tedium, as I was getting a piece of wood from the heap to work on, I feel a sharp nail shoot between my big and second toe. I, of course, shriek. At this point I'm not sure whether the nail has magically gone right in between my toes harming nothing, or if it's poked me and I have to go to the health clinic. Unfortunately, it's the latter. The nail has sliced through the web of my toes and I have what is essentially a paper cut. No big deal but it's bleeding and the nail is old and rusty. Dammit! Caitlin, gem of a human that she is, goes and gets her car and drives me five minutes to the Creede Clinic.

I'm in no pain at all when I enter the clinic, but I explain the situation and ask what I need to do. I am asked when was the last time I had a tetanus shot.
Clinic person: "?"
Me: "Uh......."
Clinic person: "Then you need a tetanus shot."

Luckily for Creede and for me, the public health office is literally right next to the health clinic. It's in the same building. So, for free, I get the wound looked at, cleaned and taped up, get a tetanus shot AND a lollipop and am on my merry way.

Caitlin "Gem of a Human" Wise and me Lolli

So...this has been an elaborate way of introducing the fact that...I AM HOME. Yes, yes I am. Got home from Boulder last Friday! After almost a year of being essentially "on the road," I am back in Creede until at least the end of the year. I get to see my husband for longer than a few days at a time, my animals are here, some great and wonderful friends are here, familiarity abounds.

And yet...being in the profession I am in, I can't help but feel like I've suffered a great loss. Because when you do a show, or work in rep/summer theatre--and in this case I was doing the same show for the past 18 weeks--you bond quickly and strongly with people, you work and play closely together. And if you're being housed from out of town, you even live together or at least in very close proximity. It's a hard feeling to explain to someone with a "normal" job. And being artists and actors, most of us crave and thrive on human connection. So you pour yourself into these shows, create these friendships and then one day, all of a sudden, it's gone. The job is over, people go home and you, for a time, go back to "normal" life. It's like a simultaneous reunion/break-up. You celebrate, you mourn, you cry some, you have a small heart attack, you look around and go back to doing what you normally do--which is quite comforting. But it also feels a little empty for a while.

So, I'm coming off of a week of that. A reunion, a break-up, an adjustment back to Creede life sans theatre (which is waaay slower than any other kind of life). But I have a house that is starting to become something and I'm helping it get that way tetanus shot and all. RJ has filled three roll-off dumpsters with trash, decaying wood and old, nasty, hoarder vibes. And most excitingly, he's started putting in an actual floor! Now again, this place is probably a year from even being liveable, but we are now able to see what it will be and that it can be anything we want. And that's pretty damn cool.

PS. Since the last tetanus shot I received was probably at least 15 years ago, I had forgotten that by the end of the day, it makes your arm feel like it's been removed and then reattached. Awesome sauce!!!

PPS. Kitty!!!!