Ouch!

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:37 pm

http://www.cactusjungle.com/blog/2010/0 ... s-of-golf/

king_hedes · Post by **king_hedes** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:02 pm

wow that really sucks
i would hate to be him

Post by **daiv** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:15 pm

EGADS!!!!

I know how bad it was to get just ONE stem segment stuck to you. I would like to hear how the removal process went. The best that I found was to cut the spines off and then remove the spines individually. This mostly prevents getting restuck again and again.

king_hedes · Post by **king_hedes** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:17 pm

it looks like the into to a cactus horror film

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:42 pm

EMT guy1: (while reaching for a golf club) Take a deep breathe and hold still.
Cholla guy: Huh?
WHACK!!
EMT guy2: Good shot! Now we won't have to hear a grown man cry!

Post by **daiv** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:43 pm

Ha ha!Darryl, I was thinking that if there ever was an appropriate time for a grown man to cry, this would be it!

Neko Bazu · Post by **Neko Bazu** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:23 pm

Sweet holy-!

Bet he won't go near one of those again in a hurry...

Tetrazole · Post by **Tetrazole** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:50 pm

I remember going out to Joshua Tree National Monument for a day with a OB Gynecology fellow from the University of Southern California. When we reached the jumping teddy bear Cholla patch he offhandedly kicked at one of the joints to get it off the path. Those spines went right through his leather shoe. We spent the next hour plus cutting the spines off the joint, carefully working the shoe off his foot and finally using a pair of pliers to pull out the remaining barbs. It was a very bloody and painful learning experience for him.

What that man with the entire patch of them on his back was about to experience would be a wee bit of triple distilled Hell right here on Earth.

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:03 pm

Neat plant, pretty flowers (I seem to remember) but those things can stay in the wild wild west as far as I am concerned! Too many curious children and wayward pets in my neighborhood, not to mention clusy ol' me!

CelticRose · Post by **CelticRose** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:09 pm

daiv wrote:I would like to hear how the removal process went. The best that I found was to cut the spines off and then remove the spines individually. This mostly prevents getting restuck again and again.

I would too. I'm not sure what to make of those EMTs -- do they really think those thin gloves are going to protect their hands?

Harriet wrote:Neat plant, pretty flowers (I seem to remember) but those things can stay in the wild wild west as far as I am concerned! Too many curious children and wayward pets in my neighborhood, not to mention clusy ol' me!

Around here, they recommend planting those under windows to deter burglers.

John C · Post by **John C** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:14 pm

OUCH!!!

Ocotillo · Post by **Ocotillo** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:49 am

Words fail me.....

When I was a kid, builders would landscape new houses with bigelovii. None of us ever ended up that bad off though..

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:46 am

They call them "jumping" cholla, but that's ridiculous. That guy obviously made a special effort to be stupid.

Ouch!

Harriet, after a while you get used to not kicking or stepping on anything but gravel, ever!

vlani · Post by **vlani** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:22 am

I'm sure he has died of the consequences.

PoC · Post by **PoC** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:08 am

Oof. I remember falling as a kid and accidentally clutching a cladode of teddy bear cholla like a baseball with the spikes going all the way through my fingers. There were landscapers in the neighborhood who offered to pull it out but instead I went to the doctor's where 5 people held me down and they yanked out the chunk with the equivalent of barbecue tongs!

Lots more blood and pain that day...that guy must have been in for some serious glochid removal and itchiness afterwards.