Jump to content

In praise of my faithful old walking stick and why I carry it


KCMOfossil

Recommended Posts

In praise of my faithful old walking stick and why I carry it fossil hunting:

 

·        To clear cobs’ webs from my path

·        To serve as a third leg on slopes and uneven ground

·        To clack on boulders advising the residents (especially snakes) that I am about

·        To extend to a friend helping him get up that last few feet of cliff

·        To probe among stones where I’m leery of putting my hand

·        To hold aside the leafy foe – poison ivy

·        Or the spiny foe

·        To help carry my bag of rocky treasures, suspended from the “handle”

·        To look very slightly less defenseless than an empty-handed old man

·        To act as a crutch when I have just stepped wrong and cracked my tibia and fibula above the ankle

 

Here’s the story on the last one.  Yesterday, I went with my friend, Mike, to a favorite fossil hunting spot.  It’s a rock face (Winterset) about 100 yards of brush, small ditches, mud, rocky-rubble, and tangley-vines off the road.  I was delighting in a couple of newfound trilobits and some cephalopod pieces as we gathered our finds and backpack and headed toward the car.  A few yards later I stepped into a small ditch where my foot slipped and stuck at an odd angle between two large rocks, while my body continued forward.  I felt my ankle wrenching.  It’s an odd sensation and I knew I had done something nasty to it.  Mike helped me get up and gave me a hand as he could along the way while we spent the next five years getting back to the car.  My mainstay for this journey was my old walking stick.  Imagine a single four-foot crutch – not ideal but worlds better than nothing.  The doctor commented later that afternoon, “Well you really did it!’  I had.  Tibia and fibula were cracked above the ankle.

 

So, you may understand my sentimentality.  It’s just a nicely shaped limb of osage orange, straightened a bit, with a metal cap on the bottom.  My son (he’s forty) made it for me.  But I’ve used it a hundred times in the last few years and it’s a sort of faithful companion.  If I lost my 10x Belomo loupe, my Estwing rock pick, my phone, my backpack, or even (gulp!) a bag of newly-found fossils, I would kick myself; but loosing my old walking stick would sadden my heart.

 

Russ

Walking stick rev.jpg

  • I found this Informative 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope you recover soon! Atleast you injured yourself doing something you enjoy.:)

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:o:(

 

OUCH!!

 

I heard the crunch and felt the shooting pain just reading the description. I've accumulated enough scars to have been able to hold my own if I were in the scene in Jaws where Capt. Quint, Hooper and Brody compare their battle wounds while waiting for the shark--but I have not yet (knock on petrified wood) broken any bones. I'm fine without that experience. ;)

 

Sorry to hear about the injury but glad that you had a trusted friend (as well as your fossil hunting buddy) there with you to see you through this. I've always said that what doesn't kill us adds to our lore of stories we get to tell. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cringed just reading this! Hope you have a speedy recovery! 

 

I have a couple of walking sticks that I’ve made over the years. I take my favorite one hiking. I think I’ll start taking one with me on my fossil hunts from now on! 

  • I found this Informative 1

The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ooooww! Sorry to hear about your injury! Thank goodness you has a buddy (and a stick) with you to help you out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They also come in handy as a splint for such injuries.

Best of luck to you and your recovery.

Did you at least make it back to the car with the new fossils?

My #2 shovel is my walking stick and I use it for all the same reasons.

  • I found this Informative 1

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Darktooth said:

Hope you recover soon! Atleast you injured yourself doing something you enjoy.

Thanks Darktooth.  You're right.  And I fully plan to be back out there by this fall.

 

1 hour ago, digit said:

Sorry to hear about the injury but glad that you had a trusted friend (as well as your fossil hunting buddy)

Thanks Ken.  I always take a phone with me and tell someone where I'm going and when I intend to return.  I don't usually have anyone with me.  After this experience, I think I need to do a couple of additional things: slow my pace down when I'm walking in uncertain terrain and buy some better hiking boots.  And of course, always have my trusty stick.

 

1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

I take my favorite one hiking.

Thanks, Fossilnerd.  In my local context (often with lots of brush and some mild climbing), having a walking stick along for fossil hunting can make things cumbersome when you are carrying a load of fossils, but I accept the trade-off for the benefits.  

 

1 hour ago, Randyw said:

Ooooww! Sorry to hear about your injury!

Thanks Randyw.  I will get the lowdown about recovery etc on Monday when I meet with my doctor.  I really don't know what to expect.

 

34 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Did you at least make it back to the car with the new fossils?

Thanks Caldigger.  Yep.  My buddy carried our treasures to the car.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear of your injury. I praise your foresight in always employing a trusted stick. You nicely enumerated the many uses of that vital piece of equipment. Yours is handsome as well. I often tote a stick of sturdy Irish blackthorn. While I have been fortunate in not incurring an injury; it has made many a step more sure. I wish you a speedy recovery and many more adventures (without the need for the medic).

  • I found this Informative 1

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wasn't that one of Theodore Roosevelt's famous lines?

" Walk to the car carefully and carry a big stick". ;)

  • I found this Informative 3

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you were with someone when this happened. 

Breaking/cracking a leg is no joke. 

Hope you recover soon, and that you have your  walking stick for a good long time.

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Owch!  I think the cost of health care would go down if fossil hunting became ilegal.  :)    Hang in there

 

RB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Breaking/cracking a leg is no joke. 

Yes, it has been sobering.  I intend to get more serious about safety measures.  Mostly, I need to slow down and use all the common sense I can gather.  Live and learn.

 

15 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

 

 

Perfect, Ludwigia! 

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...