AMPUTATION!

So, I had to do a special blog dedicated to a very special event that happened on Tuesday. I carried out my first (and probably last) amputation on the streets of Barkerville! We had been talking about it all summer, and decided it was high time to do it. Events unfolded as followed...

I planned the event the night before. As we would have no time for rehearsal, I carefully planned each beat, and put myself as the main instigator of the event so I could orchestrate it as it went along. I spent the night before making the bloody and assembling the needed tools, and got to the park in the morning ready to go. The victim of the operation was one Billy Houser (played by Stu Cawood), who is one of the historical figures in the town who actually had his leg amputated. So the scene started with myself, Mrs. Bowron (Kate) ad Madame Bendixon (Jacqueline) having a picnic in the clearing. Suddenly the stage coach pulled up with a moaning Billy HOuser in the back of it, suffering from a major bloody leg. We quickly carried into the tent, and upon close examination, I decided the only course of action was to amputate. I gave Mr. Houser a a good hit of ether, sent Madame Bendixon off for my bone saw, and proceeded to examine the wound. Kate was my effects master, and expertly executed a spurting artery as I was trying to examine the leg. Mr. Church (Tod) came in with an axe, which I nearly used on the wrong leg, but Madame Bendixon arrived with the bone saw just in time. I then proceeded to saw through his leg (which I had replaced with a stick), being spurted by more blood from Kate, and finally, proceeded to snap the leg off and put it into our picnic basket. Then all that was left was to cauterize the wound with a hot frying pan (which we put on a damp sponge so it steamed and produced a hissing sound- delicious...) and attach a new, fake leg, and Billy was good to go. It was a huge success, and I even made one of the bystanders, the 10-year-old daughter of the stagecoach drivers, faint dead away. She was horribly embarrassed, but I was secretly elated- my first fainting!

Needless to say, we're waiting to hear what the higher-ups have to say about it. They'll probably be all ornery about it, but everyone who watched thoroughly enjoyed it!

More soon!
Tyler