First more rain, and now a forced layoff

I think I've worked up a good strength routine (from now on I'll call it the February strength routine) involving most of the static drills in the Jing Jing Li video, some bent-over rows with dumbbells, some power cleans with a cinder block, and some step-ups on the stairs.  I did this routine for the first time yesterday morning, and refreshed my memory of how hard these exercises are.

Then I went to the river and paddled with my friend Joe on another incredibly rainy day.  The temperature was 33 degrees Fahrenheit--just warm enough for the precipitation to be liquid.  The temperature had been below freezing all day Monday, and there was still plenty of ice on the dock and on the ramp leading down to the marina.  We did a full lap of the harbor in 70 minutes.  Once again, the paddling was reasonably comfortable, but getting my boat on and off the rack in the rain was a real endurance test.

It all added up to a satisfying morning of work.  Unfortunately, for me the afternoon was full of unwanted drama.  I was just starting to make a table and was running some boards for the top over the jointer machine, and when a splinter began to dig into my left palm, I jerked that hand away and my ring finger went into the cutterhead, chopping off maybe a centimeter of its tip.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at the emergency room, and now the finger is stitched up and covered with a honking-big bandage:

(For those of you who are familiar with jointer machines: yes, mine is equipped with a guard that is supposed to cover the part of the cutterhead that is not contacting the workpiece, but the spring mechanism that pulls the guard against the fence has worn out and doesn't really work anymore.  I'll accept the blame for not having fixed that.)

How long this is going to keep me out of the boat is uncertain.  I'm counting on a few days, minimum.  Right now I can barely grip anything with my left hand, and I expect it would behoove me to keep the bandage clean and dry as much as possible.  Part of the problem is that I had no fold of skin left that the doctor could sew over the wound, so he sewed it up as much as he could and we're hoping the hole that's left is small enough to heal on its own, with no further surgical procedures (I have a followup visit scheduled for this Friday at this doctor's plastic surgery practice).

I should be able to continue with most of my strength routine--I'm not sure at the moment about the couple of exercises that use weights.  I've never felt compelled to get one of those kayak ergometer machines because winters are usually pretty mild where I live, but I sort of wish I had one now.  I'm not aware of one in my city.

The following photo will give you an idea of how much this thing was bleeding.  At one point the doctor placed a stack of gauze sponges in my lap and asked me to rest my unbandaged finger on top of it.  When we were done with that, we realized the blood had soaked all the way through the gauze and into my jeans.  I came home looking like I'd taken a gunshot to my right thigh: