Good Weather = Vineyard Time

The last couple of days have been beautiful out here at Indian Creek so I decided it was time to start working in the vineyard. The ground is starting to dry up and the air is warming; things are coming back to life. Every spring there is a lot to do in the vineyard: old posts need replacing, wires need fixing, and of coarse the vineyard needs to be pruned. My first task, while the ground was still soft, was to replace some old posts with new trellis posts. These are very similar to the hefty studded T-posts that are used on nearly every wire fence in the world and need to be pounded into the ground.

By noon-time on Sunday I had replaced about 50 bent and broken posts with new ones and was about to go in for lunch, “one more post an I’ll have the back vineyard finished” I thought. Just as I was about finished I raised the post-pounder for one last good whack. I must have raised the pounder too high because as it came down it missed the post and sandwiched my hand between the handle and the top of the post. Ouch. I looked at my glove, completely sliced through. I took the glove off and looked at my hand, completely sliced through. Eek! I raced back to the house and had Tammy take me to the ER where I was treated very quickly (about 45 min.) with nine stitches.

Now it is Tuesday and I am still down one hand. This will not keep me from working in the beautiful weather that is forecast for this week, I am pretty sure I can still prune with one hand. The doc says I should be back to working order in a week or two, the posts will have to wait.