Feet hurt

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TheLorax

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I dug holes all day. I've been digging holes the last few days. When the weather is cool, I try to dig as much as I can in anticipation of fall bareroot plant orders coming in. Just makes sense to take advantage of a day when the temps are only in the upper 70's to dig 5 gallon holes for woodies as opposed to having to dig holes in the eleventh hour after the plants come in when the air temps could be back up in the 80's or 90's.

I dug so many holes today that the heels of my feet cracked and were bleeding. First time that's ever happened. I dropped and fell asleep at around 8pm only to wake up in the middle of the night. I've been soaking my feet while I've been online. They do feel better in the warm water.

This is the first year I've pretty much been wearing flip flops to do everything. They are so easy to hose off while you are working. I guess from what I've just now read online, flip flops weren't such a good idea. I'll start wearing the gym shoes I was wearing to work outside in subsequent years but this still leaves me with horrible callouses on my heels that are cracked and I need to dig about 30 more holes plus the big hole for that 30 gallon preform deal that I plan to plant my acaule in. I'm sort of in pain here. Has anyone had to deal with cracked feet and if so is there a home fix or over the counter product I could pick up that somebody here who gardens has used that really works or should I just schedule an appointment with a podiatrist? Forgot to mention I'm not a diabetic or overweight.

http://herbalmedicine.tribe.net/thread/296aefa0-fc9a-46b1-946b-2280c724669d
 
Talk with Lance. He will possibly recommend Dragon's Blood. It should help. I would give it a try.
 
Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!!! Body & Bath Works carries different extra moisturizing lotions. Two I have tried are Hand Repair + with shea butter and C.O.Bigelow quince hand lotion. Mary Kay Cosmetics night cream is another choice, use it straight on/in the cracks. (Normally one would use a small amount mixed with water, the water being your wet hands).
Get rid of the flip flops - absolutely no support for the feet!
 
Maybe you can hire a couple of teenagers to finish the job. It will save your feet.
 
You're probably all going to cringe but... when in doubt, resort to duct tape. I didn't quite know what to do so I grabbed a tube of triple anti-biotic ointment and smeared it on my heels then I duct taped them to try to close the cracks. That, combined with soaking, sure did help. Not that I can walk around indefinitely with duct taped feet but it was a quick fix.

The flip flops go bye bye. They've done enough damage. Never thought of them providing no support so it's a good thing they didn't screw up my back in addition to creating the cracks in my heels I'm now sporting. I had no idea flip flops were such a problem until I started reading online in the middle of the night.

I've got a Bath & Body Works a few towns over. I can pick up the Hand Repair + with shea butter when I go out today and there's a Walgreens Pharmacy in the same strip mall that probably has that Pretty Hands & Feet product. With what I've done, I'll need both. The Dragon's Blood I'll have to go online to figure out what it is. I've never heard of that before but I'll try anything right about now.

No teens around to work. Neighbors' kids aren't interested in making money. I have hired landscapers in the past but many don't speak English so it's really difficult communicating productively with them for anything other than a basic lawn haircut and edging of sidewalks and such.

Thanks, I was really not happy when I found the blood all over the floor. I thought something really bad had happened to one of my pets and it was me. I knew my feet hurt but I didn't realize it was me bleeding all over the place.
 
Hi I've got very callosed feet & every so often they crack so I feel like I have paper cuts on my heels & they are tender when I walk as I guess they open up (never had the bleeding tho').I've used Flexitol Heel Balm & that helps me a lot as it's for rough,dry & cracked feet.Try it!I tried all sorts of moisturizing but that didn't help one iota.
 
Home Depot sells a ground borer that looks like a huge drill bit. It's safer to operate with two people. I think it's a couple hundred $, though. My inlaws have one and it's the world's greatest hole digger. When I built my pergola out front and needed 4 or 5 post holes dug, they brought it and we whipped those suckers out in 30 mins. I don't think most Home Depots carry them in store, but they can be ordered in.
 
i've smeared my heels with vasoline and put on socks. usually, i'd only do that overnight, but sometimes i had no choice...
the bleeding part, though... hmmmm...
 
I've been going at some areas with a pick axe to pave the way. I've got a big bulb auger I could try but I've ended up on my ass a few times using that. The drill it is attached to has some torque to be able to get down into this wonderful rocky and clay soil we have on some areas of the property. Never thought of trying that auger to help me pre-drill some of a hole.

I can look for the Flexitol Heel Balm.

Gosh, I've got to get off this computer and get productive!
 
Aren't those things like jack hammers and they vibrate your eyeballs out of your head when you use one? I think we have one here already. Don't know if I'd use it or not though. That's pretty heavy.

Break over, out to dig holes!
 
They're not like jack hammers at all. They're just huge augers. From what I remember the bit was probably about 8 inches wide. Renting one for that many holes would be worth it.
 
I was thinking about the 2-man ones. I looked at photos online of a lot of post hole diggers and found the ones I think you are talking about and they're not that much bigger than the bulb auger I have at 3.5" that goes on the end of my drill. I also found some that go on the front of tractors. There are a lot of augers out there. Didn't realize there were so many.
 
The 2-man post hole digger we have. I have no idea why my husband bought it at that auction but he did. Price was right and maybe he had visions of putting a fence around my vegetable garden??? We've never used it and it was borrowed by a neighbor a long time ago and I think they used it for a weekend and are currently storing it in their garage which is fine by me.

I did use my bulb auger to break up some of the areas where I was digging holes. It was a help in all the areas in reach of the 100' extension cord. Only about 20 more holes to go.

I have all my foot products! Stuck some of that Hand Repair on earlier and put socks on and my gym shoes. Tonight I'll try the Pretty Hands & Feet. Picked up some sort of a file that you're supposed to use to reduce the callouses. We'll see how that works too. Hopefully this won't happen again.
 
Yeah, the one I'm talking about is gas powered.

I'm jealous that your hubby bought one at auction. I will buy one when we buy acreage. It's a necessity for fence posts etc.
 
He's bought a lot of weird tools and car parts at auctions. I haven't a clue what he is going to do with some of the tools and equipment he has purchased but the car parts I understand... they're just in case he needs a new something or other for one of his toys. We also have several old Cub Cadet riding lawn mowers around here (music to dualing banjos playing softly in back of thread). He claimed he needed them for parts because our lawn mower is old and parts are getting hard to find. They are under tarps behind the storage garage out back. That 2-man post hole digger defies logic. I'm still scratching my head over that one but then I scratch my head over a lot of the gardening gadgets I buy so I guess all's fair in love and ridiculous purchases.

At this point, I'm going to try to dig as many holes as I can so I can pack me and the kids up and head north on Monday. I may finish my holes, maybe not. If I don't, I suppose I could put out surveying flags to mark the spots and add hole digging to the honey-do list. From there it would be hope for the best since he's so darn busy. We won't be back until after Labor Day and my bare roots come in shortly after that.
 

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