Giggle from the 'gun show'.

[JeffinNZ]

So, the weekend just gone I was at the gun show all Saturday peddling my wares. Kiera has been to every gun show since she was born so joined me for a few hours - cast and all. The regular at the table beside me is "Peg Leg Pete". Peter has had a prosthetic leg for as long as I have know him. Lost the original running gear in a motor cycle accident. Anyways, we are chatting away and he tells me he came close to a nasty fall getting ready for the show when comng down a steep ladder from the loft a bolt came loose in his 'leg' and his 'foot' shot round 180 degrees. He hoists up his pant leg to show me and Kiera about leap out of her seat! Her reaction was GOLD. It never occured to me she didn't know about Pete's leg as he wears long pants for the most part.

Both Pete and I roared with laughter at her reaction and he said "well, you might have a cast on your arm but I've only got one leg".

Funniest part was he didn't have a bolt to replace it and had to call the local hardware store where he does some part time work. They grabbed an 8mm bolt and drove up to his place to get him stable again. How we laughed.

[Hickory]

Let Kiera know that if she has too many more accidents, it could be her with one leg or arm.

[searcher4851]

Sounds like one of those once in a lifetime reaction moments. Those are some of my fondest memories of my kids growing up.

[Hardcast416taylor]

This story reminds me of a story about another artifical leg. A blacksmith liked to sharpen knives for people to a razor edge sharpness. A teen aged lass asked Walt how he knew the blades were sharp enough? He replied "I do this" and stabbed the knife into the top of his wooden leg that extended to his groin, a WW 2 loss. The lass wilted like a damp towel!Robert

[mroliver77]

I have an artificial eye. I always stop kids when they throw things at each other and explain the dangers. One little smart alek didnt believe you could put out an eye. I took my ink pen and tapped on my eye with it. It is pretty loud for some reason. Stopped the fellow in his tracks! He was wary of me for a time but we are buds now.
J

[MtGun44]

I have repaired a friend's artificial lower leg several times. Kinda
strange, but they sure need it.

His was a broken bolt, so I upgraded to Grade 8.

Most people don't know he has a fiberglass leg, either.

Sounds like Kiera is doing well, that is good news.

Bill

[wch]

I once knew a US Army captain who had lost his leg below the knee; the Army provided him with a prosthetic, of course and permitted him to continue on active duty.

When I met him, he was a battalion mess officer and had stopped by our mess hall (not a "dining facility"!) for a chat with the cooks and to drink a cup of coffee.

As we were talking, he noticed that his sock had fallen down and exposed his "ankle", so he asked a passing KP to bring him a couple of thumbtacks, which the kid did- you can guess the rest of the story!

[bob208]

i liked the book" reach for the sky" about a raf pilot that lost both legs. he still flew spits in the battle of brittan. later he was shot down over germany. the only way the germans could keep him in camp was to take his legs at night.

[dagger dog]

Jeff,

My father had a buddy that had lost an eye and had a glass one, he also had full upper and lower dentures.

When I was five or six he would chase me around the shop with those teeth chattering like castanets in one hand and his glass eye in the other, I was completely certain he could remove any body part !

So I know where your daughters surprise came from !

[Silver Eagle]

Keep her spirits up with adventures like that and she will be 100% in no time at all!

[smoked turkey]

The gun show took a back seat to the goings on at your table! Sounds like a wonderful show. Glad all is going well.

[fatelk]

When I was younger living on the farm, we had a family friend that lost a leg in WWII. He liked to tell the story about sitting in the stands at the cattle auction barn, and watching a young kids walk along and hit random people in the shin out of orneriness. His wife tapped the kid as he walked by them, pointed at her husband's leg, and whispered "Hit him, hit him hard!" He connected with a loud wooden thump and ran away crying to mama!

Then there was the time he fell asleep at the wheel and drove his car over a bank. He wasn't seriously hurt, but his brand new car was totaled and he sat there for hours until he used his prosthetic leg to prop the door open so he could crawl out, up the hill, and stop a passing car for help. He had to ask the guy to go down and get his leg out of the car for him!

[Bzcraig]

Awesome stories gents, wife really liked em too once I old stop laughing and read em to her!

[DeanWinchester]

I used to work with a guy named Ed who lost his leg in motor cycle wreck too. He used to win free beer by betting people that he was so incredibly limber, he could put one foot on the ceiling while keeping the other planted firmly on the ground. They'd take the bet and he'd snatch off his leg and hold it over his head and touch the ceiling. Lots of laughs. At the shop we even adopted a new saying. "Useless as Ed in an a$$ kicking contest "
He was such a good sport about it. He'd often claim he was late to work because he lost his leg under one of our moms bed. LOL

[jsizemore]

For Christmas or Pete's next birthday have Kiera give him a bottle of Loctite.

[Artful]

And tell him to quit being screw loose.

[waksupi]

One of my late friends and fellow Free Trapper also had a fake leg. He was a White Mountain Apache, and lost his leg while doing LRRP in Vietnam. He said he loved the job, he was doing what an Apache was supposed to do over there. He was one tough hombre.
I hadn't known him long, and we were sitting around a campfire at a national rendezvous drinking whiskey. He had his knife out trimming something, and stabbed it into his leg, to free up his hands. I about lost my drink. Before the night was over, we ended up passing the leg around, drinking foul whiskey from it.

Thought of another instance. There used to be a real dive up here, called The Hole in the Wall. Mostly bikers and mountain man types hung out there.
One night a fight got started, with the whole saloon involved. One tough old gal took her leg off, and was laying out anyone within reach.
fun night!

[jcobb651]

A few years back I was on patrol and overheard a medical dispatch of a man in respiratory distress. I was about a block away at the time decided to get there first and provide the EMTs with any information they needed. In the back bedroom I found a an unresponsive, very large man who was not breathing. His wife was hysterical and told me that he must have just stopped breathing. One of the fire battalion chiefs arrived maybe 2 minutes after me. He looked at the guy and told me to help him get him on the floor to start CPR. Battalion chief grabs the guy and rolls him on his back, at which point BOTH his legs flew over my shoulders and hit the floor. He was diabetic and a double amputee with prosthetics. Shook me up for a few hours.

[altheating]

I too arrived on a scene one time and watched the EMT's doing CPR. A short time later I observed the man about two feet away from his left leg. Yup, a prosthetic leg. Another time, dealing with a drunk a pissed off Trooper scooped up this drunk and both prosthetic legs fell off as this big trooper carried the guy away under his arm. Laughed my @$$ off! Some things you never forget.

[JeffinNZ]

For Christmas or Pete's next birthday have Kiera give him a bottle of Loctite.

That's absolute GOLD!