Part I: Pain and Miles
It’s been a month since the Dog Dirt Incident, and while my foot is void of all bruising, the pain and swelling are the same, if not worse.
In the time since that fateful day in early April, I have lumbered over 100 miles with degrees of pain ranging from hardly any to “fuck that hurts!” Now, I find myself waking up this morning with my unbruised foot still throbbing and swollen.
Has this stopped me? No.
Should it have stopped me? Yes.
This has all happened before; 2012’s black ice incident left my one arm twice the size of the other and in pain for what seemed like months after.
Post crash selfies in 2012.
Then, in 2019, I banged my shin on a boat ladder in Jamaica, which caused massive swelling and so much blood pooling in my foot that it looked like it belonged to Fred Flintstone. That also took forever to go away, and I spent many nights with my giant ass foot throbbing in pain even though I didn’t even hurt my foot.
Bruised shin means a swollen foot?
Excessive bruising and swelling are part of the risk that comes with taking a blood thinner to prevent additional DVTs from forming in my legs for no reason, something that I’m apparently prone to, having had three from 2008 to 2013. (Yes, I’ve been tested for everything!)
With all that said, I hiked Monday and Tuesday and felt OK, doing 11+ miles over the two days, but this morning’s worsening pain is telling me that it’s time to take another short break from lumbering. Something easier said than done since all my hobbies and life duties other than watching football on TV and drinking beer require me to be on my feet.
***
***
***
***
I’m also going to give it a few more days before I cave in and go get some X-rays and have a doctor tell me that nothing is broken; just rest, elevate your foot, and ice it. Something I plan on doing as soon as I cut the fucking grass.
Part Two: Shooting at F10
I recently was watching one of my favorite bird photographers on YouTube, and he was explaining why, despite having an F4 lens, he shoots most often from F8 to F11 to keep all of the bird in focus. This is something I assumed but didn’t think I could do without sacrificing a compressed background or dealing with ISO noise, especially shooting on the z50 compared to the z6.
Well, the other day, I fooled around with my 600mm Sigma lens on the crop sensor z50 and was really happy with the results I got in the backyard, especially the ones of Robert Downy Woodpecker.
***
It wasn’t until the last photo above that I started to see the limitations with the background due to distance and shooting at F10.
I’m not sure how often the low-light conditions I hike in will let me shoot handheld, with a smaller lens, at such narrow apertures while on the move, but for goofing off shooting the backyard critters or casual photo creeps, it has taught a lot about getting all of the bird in focus.
Later.
THE SOILED SOUNDS TRACK OF THE POST
Mini Skirt have been on my hi-fi constantly the past week or two, and Tissue is one of my favorite tracks.