OP reminded me of many years back, when I decided to slice a bagel while holding it in my hand. You know that webbing between thumb and forefinger - the part where it's practically impossible for a bandage to stay on? Yeah...

I think it was after that we got one of those bagel slicer thingies.

I have many scars from cuts and slices that likely could've been avoided - cooking and otherwise - like cutting with a razor blade against straight edge and neglecting to keep my fingers clear.

This also reminded me of a friend of my sister's who recently cut off her finger (😱) pruning their tree. They were out of town at the time, so she was by herself. She drove herself(!) to the hospital with the severed finger and they reattached it, but it's still uncertain if she'll regain full mobility, since it was a crushing injury. A truly horrifying accident, IMO. Both my son and hubby had somewhat similar experiences due to inattention with power yard tools, but not amputation, thank goodness.

As a young child, I tried to repair a lamp...while it was plugged in! Luckily, I only had some superficial burns to my hand.

I've had lots of other stupid injuries that have had minor lifelong impacts, but I won't bore you with them here.

you would think that after decades being around horses every day, i'd know better than to stand behind one. but this was my old mare, gentle as a lamb, never offered to kick, bite, she was a perfect lady. i was in a stall with her, had just removed her halter and walked behind her to get to the isle. just as i got behind her, one of my other horses appeared out of nowhere at the stall door and nickered at her. in her excitement to join the herd, she kicked out and got me squarely in the thigh.

lucky for me, i was just inches away from her. had i been further away, i would have gotten the full effect of the kick and would most likely have suffered a broken leg.

i was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding a few days later. thankfully, our gowns were floor length and hid the horseshoe shaped ugly black/blue/green bruise i sported for a good 2 months.

that was the first and only time i'd ever been kicked. i had countless unplanned dismounts but the most that was ever hurt was my pride.

The story of the cottage cheese container and the knife reminded me of a guy we used to know. His wife had a piece of driftwood that she wanted mounted on a board. He fired up his drill, and holding the driftwood in his left hand, started to insert the screw. He heard the little voice on his shoulder, telling him not to do that. He ignored the voice, and drilled into his hand.

carol, my youngest sister cut the top segment of her middle finger off. She was cutting grass and the gas pushmower came to s sudden stop. She lifted the mower deck to see what the problem was, saw that there was heavy wet grass bunched up, gave it a flick with her fingertips, the blades started immediately, and there went her finger joint. 😳

The first responder was the fire department. She said that one firemen went and retrieved the finger joint, put it in a bag with ice, and then took her to the hosptal in their firetruck. The doctors couldn’t do anything with the retrieved joint. 🤷‍♀️

Ninapearl, horses can be such doofuses. We had an American Paint (Chex) who was so excited about eating one day that he chomped into a round bale before the cut twine could be removed. He got that twine embedded between his front teeth like a piece of dental floss. It was a couple of feet long, dangling from his mouth, and scaring the heck out of him each time he moved. It took us a bit of time to get it dislodged.

Another horse, Shadow, a Morgan cross, loved to roll. One day he dropped to roll right by the fence. He got one hind leg caught under the bottom board and got himself stuck. Three legs on one side, one leg on the other, and him on his back. We finally had to knock out the bottom rail to free him.

The day I decided it was a good afternoon to do something long forgotten to a bathroom window. I rolled a office chair onto the slippery floor and stood to reach the top of the window. ooops I grabbed for the window ledge but missed as the chair rolled back. When I landed on the floor I learned that one can literally have the breath knocked out of ones lungs. two or three cracked ribs I forget now.Since then I will walk up or down a flight of steps to get a proper step stool when I need to reach something. That was almost 20 years ago and until this I mearly told folks I fell off a chair without supplyig stupid details.

Okay, Rho made me remember another similar stupid thing I did, but luckily not as serious as hers. I have 12 very tall windows in my sunroom, and I saw a spot I missed when washing them. So I stood on a rolling desk chair, even thinking as I did it that this wasn't a good idea. I did not hurt myself, but totally destroyed the desktop computer that I fell on.

This happened when I was around 10 or so....

Our family & 2 or 3 others had gone camping together at the lake around July 4th. I had a rather large package of Black Cat fire crackers. I didn't really like to pop them, but I did like to pull the fuses, dump the gunpowder into a pile and then light it and watch it fizzle.

I'd spent a good amount of time, 30 minutes or so, dumping the powder on to a rock and had a nice little mound ready to go. I yelled at all those in the vicinity -- kids AND ADULTS to "come see this!" Lit the pile of powder and it definitely "fizzled!" I was down wind and it blew back in my face. I remember this white flash of light and my face got really hot!

My Mom rushed over frantically and checked on me. I wasn't injured so much.... but it took about 6 months for my eyebrows & eyelashes to grow back.

Let's see there was the time I had to go to the ER for stitches because I mumbly-pegged a pocket knife I was cleaning straight into my shin.

The dumbest was when I first went deaf. I was almost totally deaf for almost 3 months before some of my hearing returned. I hadn't yet learned to adjust to being situationly aware without hearing. I didn't realize the garbage disposal was still on and reached reached in to retrieve something. My hand just got knocked about and bruised but it was pretty scary.

Oh just remembered a really dumb one. I didn't get hurt but I sure could have. I was running a derby car and the tranny overheated. The motor was also running so hot it wouldn't turn off. I was so frustrated, there were only seven cars leftand I had two in my sights, I didn't stop to think and reached under the dash to pull the wires which were glowing bright red. My senses came back just in time. Every time I tell this story I get mad at myself. I should have put in a tranny cooler.

Then there was the time I was playing with Cas -- he was a kitten. I was alone in the house at the time...DH was at the other house and wouldn't be back for many hours. We were using a toy which he batted under the hutch in the DR. Y'know one of those big tall things with glass cabinet top. It has a decorative cut out under it. So I got on my knees, face and shoulders on the floor and reached underneath to grab the toy. I got the toy but couldn't get my arm back out. OMG! I'm stuck. I'm alone. I can't call for help as I can't move. ACK! So once the panic subsides, I realize that I have to get myself out of this position. And soon as I can feel the swelling start in my arm as it's tight against the hutch and the floor like a tourniquet. So I manage to flip onto my side with my knee up against the hutch for support and I yank with all my might! It worked. My arm was scraped, but I was FREE! And I'd fetched the toy. Phew!

But that's not the dumb part. The dumb part is I went back to playing with the kitten, he batted it under the hutch again, and I almost did the EXACT SAME THING a 2nd time!!! I managed to stop myself and fetch a yard stick to retrieve the toy.

Six weeks ago, while in Florida, my husband and I were driving back home from an event late at night in our golf cart. Yes, the cart has headlights and it's only a 5 minute drive if that, so this is something we've done many times. I'm driving. We're just moving along, chatting, when all of a sudden, a HUGE frog appears on the windshield. We sort of got a chuckle out of it, wondering where in the world that came from, when all of a sudden he says....."uh, babe, you know that's on the inside, right" --- no sooner did he get the word 'right' out when this thing jumped off of the windshield and onto my face!!!! In a split second of sheer fright and panic, I screamed and LEAPT from the moving vehicle, hitting the pavement hard.

My house looked like a crime scene as we tried to use paper towels to clean up all of the blood. The exterior wounds have since (finally) healed, but I am seeing an orthopedist on Monday for a knee injury that's not getting any better. Fingers crossed as I have a few big golf tournaments coming up, and an international trip that will involve a lot of walking in just a few months!

Lesson learned -- don't ever get into a golf cart in the dark without thoroughly inspecting the interior!!!

Oh @lettersatoz, I’m so sorry you got hurt, but gee that’s kind of funny. Right onto your FACE??!! OMG.

^Every time I've told the story, I preface it with "you're allowed to laugh, it's that stupid!". The next day as I was kicking myself for not just hitting the brakes or any of the much smarter things I COULD have done, I realized how lucky I was that I didn't hit my head, or face an oncomging car, or, or, or, or.....So given the outcome, you really do have to laugh. I think (i'll confim on Monday).

OMG, lettersatoz!😲🐸 My mom once woke up in the middle of the night with a frog on her face. Scared the bajeeters out of her but luckily no injuries!

Back many years ago I was in a small plant store with a very uneven cement floor that had pools of water all over and while striding over to examine some over grown tomato plants I slipped in a pool of water. I was wearing platform sandals and my foot went sideways and I went down. I had torn the heck out of my ankle although it was hard to see how but I had also broken my posterior malleolus. If you are wondering what a malleolus is they are those knobs on each side of your ankle and there is another one buried deep inside that you cant see. The orthopedist was astonished I had somehow broken it. So I got a fancy cast eventually and was told to put no weight on it as they casted it in a way to hopefully get the piece to slip back into place and avoid pins. So I hobbled around on crutches. It really hurt too. So the weird bit is after a month or so I needed to put out some mail. I put my left foot into a rubber boot that was my then husbands, size 13, I was wearing a bright pink Negligee with a plunge neckline because it was easy to get in and out of and my husbands ratty bath robe. We lived in a historic government owned house on a compound and the mail box was across a large sopping wet yard and a road. So Off I go closing the door behind me to keep the cats in and put out the mail only to discover the door locked. I had to make a decision to hobble on my crutches all the long way to the office or maintenance building and never hear the end of it or somehow get back into the house. I attacked from the back. The house had a half basement and the windows were way up but I knew not locked though painted shut. I got a stob of wood and the maul from the wood shed and banged up on the muntins which popped the window open. I dragged a short step ladder over and stacked some wooden junk on it, abandoned the boot and ratty bathrobe and scrambled my way up using the crutches for balance and then there was a problem. I could not put my broken right foot through first because I had to....well never mind the long details. I got myself positioned seated backwards on the window ledge and push backwards landing on my back trying to keep my head and right foot up. I ended up flat on my back with my elaborate pink negligee spread out around me like wings. It must have been a sight. I was bruised but my pride intact.

I broke my ankle falling off a 1/2 inch high door mat. I also sewed right through the fleshy part of my finger with the sewing machine.

I could go on, but I wont!

Oh, letters, that sounds like a nightmare. I'm so terrified of frogs, that I would have done the same thing. Continued healing!

Reading about so many household accidents dredged this one from my very long ago memory bank. I’m upstairs vacuuming bedroom carpet with a cannister vac. The cannister is behind me with the long hose & wand along side & in front of me. As I’m moving to new section I back up & fall backward over the cannister behind me. As I fall back, midway to floor I hit the back of my head on the solid maple hardwood footboard of the bed & then hit the floor. My husband heard the thud of me landing on floor & raced upstairs to investigate. I’m sitting up with blood gushing so he’s running to help me. I’m yelling for him to get towels to keep blood off our brand new light gray carpet. He obeys & then helps me into ensuite bath & into tub to sit while following my instructions about getting the bit of blood out of carpet. I didn’t want to get my hair too wet since I’d just had an expensive salon hair treatment done & was not supposed to wash for a couple days. He used a sprayer to wash blood from back of my newly permed hair. That evening we had dinner at a the home of friends. The woman was a nurse so she wanted to check my wound after hearing my story that I thought was so entertaining after the fact. OMG!! she said. You should’ve had stitches but too late now all these hours later. All these years later I can still feel the dent on back of my head. How dumb of both me & my husband not to have gone straight to an ER! BTW - I got a new upright vacuum not long after this fall!

I do believe this statistic from google - one of many like it. ”Falls: Responsible for nearly 30% of home accident fatalities. These are the leading cause of injury-related emergency room visits

Risk assessments involve looking at possibilities as well as likelihoods. I'm generally an easy going, "not too concerned about that" kind of person. I'm not neurotic or paranoid in any way. But when faced with doing something that I don't normally do or when about to be in a less than very common circumstance, I try to do a quick risk assessment. When my caution light is triggered, that's usually an indication that my quick, seat of the pants assessment says - "No, don't do it". Or, "do it another way".

Accidents do happen but some of the unfortunate events described above seem to be in the category of "easily avoided with some forethought".

I think we know that, Elmer, hence the title of the post. I'm guessing most of us would admit these were not our brightest nor most graceful moments. If you're going to tell us that you've never mis-assessed risk, I'd venture to guess that you either have a very short memory or you've lived (what in my opinion would be) a very dull and overly cautious life -- great if it works for you, but I think you'd be far more fun at parties with a few crazy stories to tell.

letters, I interpreted the topic differently. Stupid injuries are ones that were avoidable with forethought or more care, no? I try to avoid them because accidental injuries happen too no matter what and can be unavoidable. Hence, "accidental".

Thanks for your concern about me, my life has been anything but dull. But not "foolhardy" - doesn't that word describe how stupid mistakes arise? You want crazy stories? I've got plenty. They tend to be more situational and/or sometimes but not always involving other people too.

A stupid mistake is reading a subject topic and not understanding what is being asked. Or being in too much of a hurry to appear above it all.

The question is “Any stupid things that you have done to live to tell about?”

It makes one look stupid when they don’t understand that it is meant to be lighthearted.

LOL Elmer, you’ve demonstrated a stupid mistake in real time to us.

Join the club with us mere mortals.

eta you can easily retrain your brain to slow down and catch these details before they cause problems.

letters, oh my goodness! I hope you heal quickly. And good luck in your tournaments.

Your story kind of reminded me of a when I was going to use an outhouse in the pitch dark. I opened the door and a bird or bat, I’m not sure which, flew out straight into my face. It scared the heck out of me. I no longer needed the toilet any longer as it was too late.

Happy golfing!

Still bothered by the tundra comment?

And really stupid is not learning from your first stupid mistake 🤷‍♀️

Sigh…this thread is about stupid things one has done.

Elmer, you’ve already made one stupid mistake by not reading the question carefully.

Goodness, learn from your stupid mistake. Or if you don’t that just makes YOU look stupid.

I guess that's a Yes.

I actually peeled the fingernail off my finger, by doing something so shockingly stupid that I hate even remembering this story...

I was maybe 30 yards upstream of a large waterfall. I decided for some reason I wanted to cross to the other side. The water wasn't very deep - it varied a bit, but let's say 6-8 inches or so - but was moving at a reasonable clip. I had on sneakers and I didn't care if they got wet, so I started across. And I quickly slipped on some mossy rocks and lost my footing.

I kept grabbing rocks and trying to pull myself back up, but everything was coated in moss and I kept falling, kept skidding through the water, banging into the bottom and all the rocks in the water.

While I was finally able to regain my footing and go back, I had lost a lot of ground. In the intervening few seconds, I realized I would likely die if I went over that waterfall. I went from having a fun afternoon wandering by a creek, to realizing my life was in jeopardy.

The relief I felt getting back to the bank and out of that water was something I still remember to this day. I had banged myself up pretty good by falling into rocks several times and at some point in this almost lethal stupidity I tore a fingernail clean off of my finger. Never even felt it at the time, that's how amped up I was on adrenaline trying to get out of that water.

I was in my early teens when this happened - old enough I should have known better, but young enough I guess I was oblivious to how slippery wet rocks could be. That fingernail regrew with a weird shape to it too.

He checks his spreadsheet of his comments and who comments back and what topics with dates and times and threads…so that he can keep a record to retrieve said comments to comment back…

You too, eh? TTHTBC?

Ally De, your story made my stomach knot up with fear! That had to be a terrifying experience.

Being in early teens, unless it had happened to you before and you knew what could happen and did it anyway, I would say there is no way you SHOULD have known. Give yourself a pass on this.

Incidences involving water always make me tense. I got caught in a riptide once and it was terrifying!!! When I finally made it to the shore, I ran so fast that I embed rocks into my feet and didn't even know that. I have a very healthy respect for all things wet now.

I look out for stuff sticking out where it should not be after tripping and fracturing my trochanter in the subsequent fall…That was almost 2 years ago. My body is finally about accustomed to the rod in my femur and up into my hip. Had not a scratch anywhere else as a result of the fall, so i guess i’m thankful for that, and knowing ’how’ to fall.

I can’t recall any stupid things I did to incur injury but I’m pretty sure there have been some dumb things i did that caused other effects I did not expect. The one that comes to mind was at Girl Scout camp one summer when I was probably 11 or 12. I needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Instead of hiking to the bathroom, I went to the woods, shone my flashlight around for critters and did my business and went back to bed. The next day or so I had poison ivy in a very bad spot. I never got poison ivy previously after being exposed numerous times, but this time that sensitive hind end skin couldn’t deal with it.

KW PNW - I'm sorry you fell and smacked your head but I did have to laugh about getting yourself into the bathtub and have your husband clean up the new rug because that's what I would have done.

blfenton -It does sound really funny when I tell the story now, doesn’t it? 😁 my only excuse for having my priorities so out of kilter is that I’d just hit my head really hard! I should’ve gone straight to ER. My poor husband must’ve been in shock too that he just did what I said. Not normal behavior for either of us in an emergency! We were also very young when this happened.

KW, your story reminded me about one I had read about years ago. I did a bit of a search for the story.

A young man was home alone on his family farm and had both arms ripped off by farm machinery. He managed to get back to the house, had the wherewithal to use a pencil in his mouth to dial emergency on the phone. He then went and lay down in the bathtub so as not to drip on the carpet.

https://www.bradycarlson.com/john-thompson-lost-his-arms-in-a-farm-accident-got-himself-help-and-got-the-arms-back-cool-weird-awesome-1168/

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2012/02/20/farm-accident-victim-john-thompson/63280142007/

Murraysmom, that was a very kind thing you said. Thank you.

I love water. My avatar is a sea turtle for good reason. I spend many hours in the ocean every summer. I too miscalculated the strength of ocean currents...once. Just once was all it took. I am much more respectful of it now. Horrible feeling, isn't it?

Water is amazing, to me - it's a perfect ying/yang from Mother Nature. We can't live without it, and lakes, oceans, and streams bring such beauty to our world. And yet water will kill you without a second thought, in so many ways.

rox - I remember that event! Truly miraculous that he was able to save himself and that his arms were successfully reattached. My event wasn’t quite so dramatic although knowing what I do now I’m likely fortunate that I didn’t suffer a subdural hematoma or hemorrhage. That maple footboard was a really hard & solid surface to fall onto…

Talk about stupid. On Thursday I did a five mile hilly walk. On Friday I did a vigorous circuit training class and a yoga session. Normal for me and no issues whatsoever.

Yesterday I damaged my knee simply sitting on the floor filing paperwork. Very painful to even put my foot down flat. Two days before a trip involving a lot of walking. I have no idea how it happened. Desperately hoping it'll ease fast.

Best wishes, floral.

Thank you. I'm crossing my fingers that I can manage the forthcoming hiking.🤞if not I'll just have to spend two days waiting in the pub. Could be worse...

Do you have convenient access to an urgent care facility? With knees, motion in the wrong direction can cause damage that time doesn't always heal. Good luck.

Floral, how about a knee brace and walking sticks? I hope you are able to make your walk.

Ally De, I, too, love being around water but anymore I don't care to be in water unless it's a chlorinated swimming pool. :) But oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, creeks and streams are all magical to me.

The last incident that comes to mind, a little more than 5 years ago, I was working on a washing machine for an acquaintance. Had it spinning with the lid open (safety switch bypassed). I noticed the tub cover seemed a bit amiss so reached to press it down, slipped and the first three fingers on my left hand contacted the rim of the basket rotating at 640 RPM and were wrenched to the left. I was in a bit of a daze for a few minutes.

I went to the nearby walk-in clinic the next morning. They sent me to the hospital for x-rays. The fracture was at the base of the middle finger, not the one I expected. They advised to see an orthopedist (out of town, there are none here), but said DO NOT call his office, they will call you. They called, said a referral is needed from my PCP. I arranged that. They never called back. I mentioned the incident and the name of the orthopedist to my barber a few weeks later. She said "Ohhh, don't go to him, he's horrible."

It took a upwards of 9 to 12 months for the aching and stiffness to ease. The space between my left index and middle fingers now splays wider when I spread them apart than do the right-hand fingers.

@dadoes OMG! ”The last ”incident..”?? You were ”in a bit of a daze”? That was shock! IMO - visualizing that accident I bet you’re lucky you didn’t lose a finger or two. Please tell us the rest of the story about your poor fractured finger. Do you now have full range of motion in that finger? Can you flex & grip with it? Is the middle finger in line with the adjacent fingers? I do wonder what an orthopedist could have done if anything.

Dang roxsolid, that sounds extremely painful!

My stupid accident (or one of them) was when hubby and I were new to our relationship, perhaps 35 years ago and lived in an apartment complex. His sweet kittie Phred thought it would be cool to bail off the second floor balcony and go missing. On the search to find Phred, I saw him dart beneath a pickup truck. I crouched down to see and call to him when he darted away. I stood up quickly and plowed my head into the side view mirror of the truck! Head wounds are always messy and bloody! We went to the ER and I had 7 stitches along with many questions about my home safety. We did recover Phred the next day, but I try to ALWAYS watch out for side mirrors now!

I began reading this thread again and weirdly realized my stupid moment was when I was 21 years old, and it was not a major event. But a mere five years ago, a stupid decision put me in the ER. I just wonder why this wasn't the thing that popped into my head since it happened in May 2021. My sweet dog and I headed on the trail, and two miles in a small, bushy tree had blown over and completely blocked the path, and there was no way around it. So...as the smart dog watched his idiot human, I gingerly stepped over all these smallish branches un til one jagged end pierced my right ankle. The skin just peeled away, leaving a 2 and 1/2 inch triangular wound. To say it was ugly-looking is an understatement. The unscathed dog and I made it back to the car, and my daughter took me to urgent care. They wouldn't touch it, saying I needed to go to the ER for stitches. We sat in the ER for four hours, and then my wound was cleaned, steri strips (not stitches), were applied, and I was given a tetanus shot and sent home. There are various ugly pictures on my phone, one uglier than the other. But the surprise is that there is no mark where this happened due to the wonderful care the wound center gave me.

I was 18 and had just moved from Wisconsin to Florida. Everything seemed new and exciting, especially the apartment's swimming pool and the pool boy cleaning it. I watched him as I walked by, barely registering a plant in my path and thinking it looked soft and would just brush aside. Instead, a frond pierced the skin right under my eye, giving me a black eye. Fortunately it missed the eye itself. I later found out the plant was aptly named a Spanish Bayonet.

Yikes, Jupidupi! Yucca are known for their injury factor. Glad it missed the actual eyeball.

Thanks to those who commiserated and made suggestions about my stupid knee thing. It was excruciating when I did it but after a full days rest I was able to hobble round afew miles on Monday and by Tuesday, with a knee bandage and a couple of painkillers I got my 8 mile day hike done. Obviously nothing serious after all.

I shall be more careful when I file paperwork in future.

I'm so glad for your good outcome, floral!! That is great news!