Swabbing the Deck

When we built our deck this summer, Kate and I decided to use Trex, which is basically recycled garbage. But it is very dense, strong, and you don’t have to stain it. But that didn’t matter. My kids have already worked hard to stain it. Spilled drinks, suds from bubbles and grease from dropped food have all given my deck its own personality. While these markings drive me crazy as I try to keep the new deck new, they are good. The stains actually indicate that my kids are spending time outside, instead of plastered to a TV or Gameboy.
But Patrick decided to give the deck a most unique stain. While I worked in the salsa garden adjacent to the deck, Patrick watched while sitting on the porch swing. But before long he was bored and decided to swing with his chest on the seat, dangling his legs below. He started swinging too hard, and slipped off, hitting the deck nose first. To add insult to injury the swing came back and smacked him on the back of the head, forcing his face to the deck again.
Now, I have witnessed Patrick’s broken arm, several bouts with stitches, burns, and black eyes. But I have never seen anything as horrific as this. His nose looked like a faucet of blood pouring full blast. I didn’t know he had so much blood in him. Several times I wondered if I would be able to get it to stop. But thanks to my training as a First Aid merit badge counselor I was able to stop the flow. And Patrick, as is typical, was back to his normal self within 20 minutes of the stoppage of blood. No broken nose, but he’s young. I am sure it will happen sooner or later…
Even though it was P who suffered the injury, I thought I was going to have to administer CPR to Samantha. She took one look at the spray of blood and freaked out. She nearly hyperventilated.