I incurred a brachial plexus traction injury in 1992 and lost most of the feeling and use of my left hand for about a year. With therapy I was able to recover most of the use, including typing, though at a markedly slower rate. I have trouble sensing temperature and pressure in that hand still. If I am not watching what I am doing, I tend to drop some things. Other times the wife will tell me I am squeezing her hand too hard when I hold it on our walks and such. It took them the better part of that year to finally diagnose it. I had to have a nerve probe done from the base of my skull down my left shoulder, which made me want to peel my skin off before they were done. After that, my indifference to needles diminished greatly.

My whiskers and temples are turning white more and more. I guess my youth is pretty much used up, so time to just go with whatever smarts I learnt on the way here. I can still cook a tasty pot of grub, though. We had a young couple over this weekend and I put 40 lbs of moose meat through the grinder from hell that I bought for them. Took us about 15 minutes to process it all; we couldn't keep it fed as fast as it was grinding it. When we were done, they said I could keep 5 lbs. So I made a batch of moose meat stroganoff and a loaf of bread, and we feasted.

I reckon I have earned the title "Cookie" by now. Maybe I can back off a string bean or so and let the young pups do the harder work.