When in Arizona photograph the most prevalent item in the area. CACTUS!!!
Time has been limited. My stupidity is not. How many times have I blogged about my up close and personal experiences with Cactus? You would think one “painful” experience would be enough. I vaguely remember a story about children burning our hands on the stove. I have no excuse. I am down right, genuine, first class stupid. It happened again today. Some of the cactus look really attractive this time of year (attractive being the key word). I had to drive from Prescott back to phoenix to catch a plane. Time was on my side. Brilliance was not. While shooting the cactus I would bend over to get close to some of them. At one point a cluster of needles attached to my camera strap. Ok lets talk. Cactus needles are on my camera strap-right? I had to get them off the strap -right? With as much delicacy as possible I attempted to pull one cluster from the strap. Not enough delicacy. The needles stuck me in two fingers. This is where the story gets weird. At the base of the cluster is where all the needles connect. Not a place where you would imagine microscopic needles. In one hand was my camera the other hand had two fingers with cactus needles. No one around to help. I could not set the camera down because it would collect more needles.
Very carefully I bit the one cluster with my teeth. Do I need to go on? Microscopic needles are now in my toung and on the inside of my lip. I know what your thinking. I have to be exaggerating or lying. No. Why would I humiliate myself with a made up story? Not likely. It has been 8 hours since my last cactus stupid test. My toungue has a few red raised spots and my lip feels like I have been chewing on light bulbs.
I think I have learned my lesson. From now on when out with my nasty needle throwing “friends” I will carry tweezers and small pliers. Most importantly I will have my camera strap around my neck, a face guard for protection and some common sense. Do they have classes in common sense?
