A Dutchman, some Beer and a Hammer

A photo of Willie near a windmill in Holland.

This is a story that proves that being Dutch can be very painful.

Willie had an early breakfast with his 4 x 4 group, (a group of 4 guys), then he did his grocery shopping; things on my list, his list, laundry soap and bleach for the dairy and donuts for the employees. This is his usual Thursday morning schedule.

After he arrived back at home, he was unloading the purchased items, when a six pack of beer, (a special new type that Johanna had bought him recently, Shock Top Raspberry), fell out of the extended door of his pick-up, (ask him sometime about his opinion of the extended doors on his pick-up), upside down....some of the bottles were broken....some of the caps popped off...there was beer going everywhere. Willie could tell that it was going to be a BIG waste of beer. He did what any respectable Dutchman would do...he drank up what could be salvaged of the special beer...at 9 AM in the morning.

His claim is that it was equivalent to 1 1/2 beers....I have a feeling that it was more.

Well, after the mess was cleaned up/drank up, he went to work at the dairy. The project that he is working on at the present time is a new room on top of the dairy barn that will house all of his compressors. We are just finishing up a dairybarn expansion project, and this was his contribution to the construction. Willie was hammering nails into the wall, when he hammered his thumb....plain old flattened it! I don't know what words came out, but I'm sure that there was sufficient reason to use those words saved for horrible occasions such as this one. He then backed down the ladder, and drove his truck home. He come into the house moaning, laid down on the couch. I being the dutiful wife/nurse, gave him some 2 ibuprofen and an ice pack. He told me that "he had never hit his thumb that hard with a hammer before". After an hour he found some expired hydrocodon and took one of those pills. So back to work at the top of the roof.

After several hours he was home again prutsing around in the garage, I asked him how he was doing. He said that "he was looking for a drill to drill a hole in his thumb nail". Oh! Why? I asked, well he said, "the pressure in his thumb was unbearable and it had to be relieved by drilling a hole in the thumb nail". I told him that was a task for a Doctor. Nope! he said, "the Dr. would charge too much and take too long to do the job". The tension between us at this moment was well...tense. I said that "I would drill the hole in his thumb"... and I did. When the drill bit got through his thumb nail the blood came gushing out, and Willie felt relief! Oh that thumb was feeling much better!

I soaked the sore thumb in Epsom salt water, applied lots of antibiotic cream to the thumb and surrounding area, then neatly bandaged it up. His thumbnail was black with a hole in the middle...looking very abused. The hydrocodon was needed for pain for several nights. Our daughter Julia, a fresh out of school nurse, was quite concerned about her dad using expired medication and performing surgery in the garage. Well, Julia, the Rx happened to be some left over from your wisdom tooth extraction done several years ago. Also,we knew that Willie was still covered on the Tetanus shot from another injury just 2 years earlier.

Now that experience is in the past...2 weeks ago his thumb is healing, the nail is preparing to fall off. All is well once again. It's now a funny story to share on our blog!

Tonight Willie is planning to start teaching his free guitar lessons again at our "Recovery for Life" meetings at church. Willie has an assistant to help him teach these classes; our godson Jimmy Hess. Jimmy is 15 and started beginner guitar classes with Willie 3 years ago, he is now an upcoming Jimmy Hendricks! During the meal served before the classes begin, (to over 100 people), he will be singing 2 solo songs with his guitar, "What a Friend We have in Jesus" and "You've Got a Friend".

This is my husband, Willie, Villiam, Wiebke or just plain sweetie! Truly, there has NEVER been a dull moment in our 31 1/2 years of marriage.