Scott City Musings: Moments of carelessness

We’ve lived out on the edge of Scott City now for around 30 years and one thing we’ve tried to keep around is cats. Cats can pretty much control mice and rats and even snakes. We see an occasional snake, but really not very many. The same goes with mice. We have installed cat doors that allow the cats in my shop and in our high tunnels. That has limited the damage from squirrels.

Some of the cats are tame, but some are quite wild. They don’t want to be petted or pampered but just left alone. Down through the years, we have lost both the tame and the wild cats with them coming up missing. We suspect it’s a fox or a coyote, but we aren’t sure.

Fluffy was an old long-haired cat we had for at least 10 years. One day, Fluffy just came up missing! We don’t have a clue as to what happened. He might have died from some sickness, but we don’t believe that’s the case. We think that old Fluffy in a “moment of carelessness” got caught by a fox or a coyote.

That’s about all it could take. Maybe Fluffy went out a little too far from the house or the shop looking for a mouse. Maybe he picked the wrong spot to take a nap or sleep. Who knows? As he aged, he wasn't as agile as he used to be or as fast and he probably was more careless. A moment of carelessness turned disastrous.

It happens to all of us. Several weeks ago, Marge and I were attempting to load some steers to take to the butcher and, in a moment of carelessness, I wound up getting hurt. Our son is a machinist and sometimes he ends up with a squished finger where something fell on it, or he shows up with a bloodied hand where he smacked it with a hammer, or a month or two ago I was cutting a roast into small pieces for some beef stew and sliced my finger. All it took was a moment of carelessness.

I used to work for a carpenter friend and neighbor who had cut off the tips of his fingers. Ted was 6-foot-7, and his fingers were twice as long as mine. At least some of them were. Through the years, he had sliced the ends of his fingers off with a miter saw but, even then, his fingers were still longer than mine. Through the years, I’ve used a miter saw and table saw, but I always remember Ted and his wacked-off fingers. Moments of carelessness.

When I first started using a sickle mower on an International Cub or C tractor, Dad got my attention, and probably Mick as well, about lifting up the mower bar. When you lift up the mower bar many times, the sickle in the mower will fall about 3 inches. If you aren’t careful and aren’t paying attention when the sickle falls, it will slice off a finger. Marge said her sister Ardith almost lost a finger in this exact way. Almost is the key. In a moment of carelessness, many have lost fingers this way.

Learn to listen when someone is sharing wisdom with you or warning you. Learning to listen is a choice on our part and doesn’t come naturally. Practice being careful. Some things are inherently dangerous so practice being careful. Keep your mind on what you’re doing rather than letting your mind run off into space. Some people simply do dangerous stunts and are always in the emergency room, along with their friends. Choose friends carefully. A friend asked me how fast our side by side would go. I told him I’d never know. Be careful simply because some toys will kill or cripple you.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun and maybe do something risky, but be risky carefully. Teach your kids and grandkids to have fun, but to do it carefully. Don’t let a friend drag you into danger.

Just me,

Rennie

Phillips began life as a cowboy, then husband and father, carpenter, a minister, gardener and writer. He may be reached at phillipsrb@hotmail.com.