Looking for a needle in a lawn (literally.)

K got a splinter in her hand during lunch, the picnic tables are a bit coarse.  Note to self: pack a cloth for next week.

As I tried to get the splinter out with my Specially Ordered Japanese Darning Needle from Temari class, K asked tearfully if she could try it herself.

Then she threw the needle in the grass.

I remembered my Dad’s horror stories about men getting injured or killed from objects thrown backwards at them while mowing, so I made the kids search for the missing needle.

Did you know that when the sunlight glints on grass stems, pine needles and maple leaf stems, they all look like darning needles?

So I decided to come home and get the strong magnets off the fridge that used to be inside hard drives and microwaves. But on the way we passed an older, respectable looking man with a metal detector.  I asked him for help, and he had some time before he had to pick up his wife from physical therapy, so he came back with us to the church.

But steel is hard to detect.

So Dan is going to e-mail the mowing company to warn them of the hazard, and hopefully the rain will bury it so no one gets hurt, Mr M of the metal detector thinks that is what will happen, he said most things get buried about an inch in a few weeks.

I still need to get the splinter out of K’s hand.  She’s crying in her room now because I asked her to tidy it up before we all have snack.  How she hates to do anything alone.  Must be the age or something?

At least I got  a story out of today.