Such was the case on Sunday, October 23rd, 2006, here at the farm on that fateful day. I have an old building just 10 feet of so from the back door to the house. At one time, it was what they called the "Wash house" and many old farmsteads like ours has one. Two years ago I put new vinyl siding on it as the paint I had put on it in 1999 was peeling and flaking off, and I didn't really want to scrape and repaint it again. Kansas weather is rough on these old buildings that have wooden siding.
The old composite roofing shingles are laid over two layers of cedar shingles and starting to come off. Of course, it doesn't help that the racoons and possums like to climb the old elm tree at the northwest corner and try to rip the roofing off to try and get inside. Earlier in the summer, the young guy that delivers my hay and stacks it in the goat barn for me had come over and redone the west side of the roof after a critter had ripped a big section off that side of the roof near the top, leaving a big hole for the rain and birds to get into the building. He didn't have time to come back over and do the other 3 sides for me, and not having the money to hire someone to come do the other three sides of the roof, I decided to do it myself. Besides, if I could build 2 barns, surely I could put a new roof on that building.
The weather was nice, even if a little chilly, but at least the wind wasn't blowing " 90 miles an hour" like it sometimes does. I pulled the 16 foot aluminum ladder up from the smaller of the two goat barns where I had been using it to work on it, cut the straps on the new roofing shingles, got out the hammer and nails, and went to work. I decided to do the lower half of the south and east sides first as they were getting pretty bare from the winds and critters tearing at them. I had worked most of the day at this and the daylight was running out as I made the last run of shingles on the east side. It was also getting colder and the wind was starting to blow a little harder. I reached up to nail the last shingle on, and then the unthinkable happened.
The ladder started to slide sideways out from under me and I knew there was no way I could keep from hitting the ground. My heart sank and I could only pray that I would survive the fall. The ground came up as the ladder went down, and I hit the ladder on my back. I could feel the air leave my lungs as I blacked out, then gasped for air as I felt my ribs and spine hit the aluminum rungs on the ladder. I knew they were broken as I lay there and the realization set in that I was in "deep trouble". My husband would never be able to hear me calling for help in the house--I could barely breathe and the pain was starting to knife through me. How I managed to get off my back from the ladder and onto my hands and knees, I will never know. I just knew I wasn't going to lie out there in the cold and fading light and die from shock and hypothermia. The Wind and Cold would do me in--that I knew for a fact. Somehow I managed to crawl almost 100 feet around the flowerbed, up the sidewalk and to the back door with everything inside me telling me that if I stopped, I would be a goner.
My strength was starting to give out with each movement, but I managed to make it to the back door, open both the screen and wooden doors to the "mud room". All the feeling was gone in my legs, and it was getting harder for me to breathe due to the pain. It took 15-20 minutes to get my husband's attention--he was watching the football game on TV in the living room. When he finally came out, I told him I had fallen and to call 911. I don't know how long it took the EMS to get to the farm from Herington, 20 miles away. It seemed like forever. Shock had already set in, and I was cold and barely able to breathe.
I don't remember much of the ride to Herington, where they decided to send me to Salina to the hospital there where they were much more equipped to handle such an emergency. All I do remember is being in so much pain that all I could do was tell them to "Shoot Me" as it sure wouldn't hurt any more that I was already hurting. It was two days before they knew I was going to survive, and a few more before they were able to fully assess the damage I had suffered due to the fall--several shattered ribs on the lower right side of my back and two fractured disks on the left side in the chest area. I also had a blood clot in the right lung they were worried about. I have never felt so helpless in my life-not even when my horse bucked me off and dragged me in May, 1983.
On Wednesday, October 26th, as my senses returned, my thoughts went to my 16 head of goats at the farm and what would become of them. I had had my husband call my oldest daughter in Minnesota to tell her what had happened and to have her call me at the hospital. When she called, I told her who to call, and gave her phone numbers to call of people whom I knew would come get my goats and take care of them. 6 head of my nannies/does had alread gone over to Ray Evans to be bred, and several more were scheduled to go over in November. My KIKO buck, Duke, was going out to Cindy Moore to her herd of nannies, and my FB Boer nanny, Ruthy, was going to Jennifer Fulton at Erie, KS. As it turned out, "Ace's Legacy", my FB Boer buck also went to Cindy, and one other 50% Boer doe went to Jennifer. Ray came up from his job at Chanute to get the rest of the does and took them back to his farm in Missouri for the winter. Jan Buckland took the two Boer/Saanen Does I had gotten for her as well. I do not know what I would have done without their help and generosity. My husband would rather have had his brother haul them up to sale barn at Clay Center, KS and sold them so he could have had the money.
To make a long story short, two weeks in the hospital in Salina and I went to my daughter's home in Minnesota for 3 months, and when she wanted to put me in a Senior Citizen High Rise Apartment downtown where she lived, I balked at that. She has a beautiful home and lots of room, but I guess I was interfering with her lifestyle. I hadn't intended to come back to the farm until Spring, but being cooped up in what I considered a Jail was not my idea of living. Returning to the farm and seeing no goats on it for the first time in 8 years is a sobering realization. I'm lucky to be alive as my doctors in Salina told me that had I broken an arm or leg, or had a punctured lung due to the fall, I would not be here to write this. We all take things for granted a lot of times.
Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in this country next to fire fighting and being a cop, but one good thing came out of it all. My husband no longer takes me for granted--even after almost 35 years of being married. I am no longer able to do many of the things I did before, but one thing for certain, there will be goats back on the farm in the not too distant future--but not as many as before-but definitely no bucks.
For all you "MACHO" guys out there, don't think it can't happen to you. An accident can happen anytime on a farm. It doesn't necessarily have to involve roofing a building; it can be something as simple as moving hay, putting up fences or taking that "short cut" across that rutted field on the tractor or 4-wheeler. Fortunately for me this time my "Clock Of Life" did not run out and is still ticking away.
There will be other changes coming as well, but they too are a "Work In Progress" as they say.
Seminole Wind-- everglades60@yahoo.com
