To be fair, I don't know where this will go. This is the result of interests plus time, and a broken foot. But if it turns out well I'll maintain it if the interest is there from the viewership. I've got a morbid smattering of interests. I like to talk about them and why they fascinate me. You see, good conversation is something I am sorely lacking in my life. I'm often on the outside edge. Make no mistake, this isn't a pity party - just an observation of fact. Since I can't exactly find people in real space to share things I am interested in with currently. I figured I would write a blog.  Maybe connect with a few humans that way.

    Interests:

    Blacksmithing/forging(need money to make proper forge)anatomy and physiology(fell off of roof...vested interest), TTRPGs(now it's cool apparently), blockchain shenanigans, Cthulhu, bushcraft, solar power(how I fell off of a roof), conlangs (ido primarily), life advice (both giving and receiving), financial investing (new to it), aging gracefully, making chainmail (yeah, you read that right), Celtic Music (Bagpipes FTW), dogs and training them, programming, plus others I'm sure.

    I'd like to start this off as a primary Q&A, but if I get no takers I'll just ramble about what I feel like rambling about. But I'll make an honest effort to be responsive to the comments or PM sent to me. Perhaps writing a story or just documenting the great/terrible things of my life and the places/people they occur at/with.

    But hey, let's start with a story shall we?

    Yay! Story time!  A true one to boot...

    Get in the time machine with me and travel to the not so distant past. Set the Flux Capacitor to January 25 of 2021 A.D.

    It was a nice day, like any other. Brisk temperature but nothing we'd not overcome in the past here in Vermont. I'm the lead roof solar installer. So that means I'm in charge of making things happen on the roof. I look at the site and waltz around with the foreman - a jovial red head of a frenchmen. I'll be honest, red heads...nah, I'll just leave it.

    Anyways, so we survey the site, make the plan of attack and get cracking. Being the lead roof goblin on site I have to go first and set all the anchors to we don't plummet to our deaths (irony alert) or injury. I get up there but I require the use of the GOAT. What is a GOAT your mind asks? It's a tool which I hate using which enables me to climb a steep roof up to the peak by grabbing the ridge of the roof. Sketchy? ...yeah. Can it be done? Grudgingly yes.

    After the the begrudged "goating" of which I'm so terribly fond of. I inflict the greatest misery I can upon my elderly minion.

    Elderly Minion Stat Block

    Int 14 - Probably smarter than most SNCOS I've encountered, or perhaps just more reasonable?
    Wis 16 - He possesses old marine wisdom.
    Cha 15 - He was a 1st Sgt in the Marine Corps...I was a Terminal Lance.
    Str 14 - discharged marine, Corps has taken it's toll.
    Dex 12 - discharged marine, Corps has taken it's toll.
    Con 15 - Regardless of what was thrown at him, he worked through it.

    And that misery is bringing me up stuff and things on the ladder - which is also anchored to the roof to prevent the ladder making contact with a "insert bad thing to clobber here". But also to keep it from moving. Installing solar in the winter sucks, but it sucks more when your ladder decides to go walk about on you when you're on it carrying a 50ish pound panel up said ladder.

    Anyways, minion brings stuff and things - ropes, anchors, bag of tools etc... up the ladder and passes me what I need to get the stuff on. Anchors are set, inspected, torqued to spec - it was a standing seam metal roof so the standard brap on the gun wasn't going to cut it. Pictures are taken to ensure it was done correctly and sent to the database... all read tape is done with, we can begin.

    We get to making measurements and such because we have to negotiate a dormer which is in a troublesome spot, but we get to making it fit. We had switched ropes several times moving too and fro on this roof already, which is approximately a 45 degree pitch. The traction on this roof is simply not happening easily here.

    And then it happens. Something I never honestly believed would happen, or even *could* happen because of the gear we use.

    I fell.

    "What the F***!!" followed by a sudden stop on the frozen ground in Rutland, Vermont.

    ...<damaged>
    ...<assessment...spinal column intact, left foot broken, right foot sprained>

    It happened quick, but I remembered what my martial arts instructor taught me - just roll with it. And I did, which result in bruising my left side of my body and only my left calcaneous being severely injured.

    The worst part is this - I'm the level headed guy after all this happened. Nevermind this could be a C-spine event. Nobody on site has the medical training to deal with this except me, and I'm the damn patient. So I begin instructing my minion and the other electrician on site to help lift me up and put me inside because I have zero plans on going hypothermic in winter. My foreman is quietly freaking out - understandable, but still more or less composed. Honestly I think he was in more mental shock than I was. But also dreading the paperwork following an incident on site, on his site specifically.

    I get my boot off and make the call that my foot is broken, and I call for an ambulance because you can break stuff and not quite notice it due to the adrenaline dump what something like this happens. Being somewhat butthurt after falling off of the roof I instruct the foreman to get a damn good look at the rigging that let me nearly die. Thing is, there is nothing wrong with it, before the fall or after the fall, he even tested the torque spec too. Everything was done correctly and I still fell.

    Murphy has been putting in the overtime it seems. A real jerk that Murphy.

    Eventually the paramedics get there and treat me for a C-spine like I told them too because when you fall about 15-18 feet it's pretty easy to break just about anything when you land on a hard surfact like frozen ground. On the backboard with the collar I go into the meat wagon to the hospital.

    Now I'm gonna be honest about paramedics here. I like them. But if you aren't confident in your ability either wait for me to be unconscious to attempt to stick me for an IV, or just say we're going to wait for an IV. Don't tell me that you haven't done one of these in a while. Honestly this guy looked like he knew he just failed his final exam when he looked at my arm and the needle. In the end, I told him to not worry about the IV. I'm not skittish about needles, I did 8 years in the USMC. I can get poked and not grimace, but I don't enjoy a wandering needle by some greenhorn who looks nervous.

    We get to the hospital, doctor shows up, and does some basic palpation of the neck and takes collar off but spirits me off to imaging so see if anything could be worse than is showing initially. It actually took two images to show the foot was broken, but kudos to him for being on his game that day.

    Broken heel, kinda sucks. Not gonna lie. It has kinda changed my life. Still not 100 percent yet, but I'm getting better everyday, little by little. I went on a family vacation recently and one of our sites was Washington D.C. and strolling around the monuments. That was rough. And considering a good chunk of my job consists of me jumping into and out of trucks, climbing, and generally being athletic, I think I still have some more work to do.

Overall, the vacation was great. Much needed, and very enjoyable. Plus we made an anvil (and did other shenanigans) at my in-laws house! More on that noise later though.

Feel free to start the conversation. Or be a shovelhead and don't.