Gardening and Hangnails

Doing some yard work for the girlfriend’s parents this week. Wrestled for two hours today with a man-size ornamental grass bush. Suffered minor abrasions and a small, bleeding cut on my forearm. Victory was eventually mine by hacking away at its dense forest of two-metre tall shoots with a branch trimmer, then going for the roots with a combination of square and spade shovels. I rolled its decapitated carcass end over end and out of the yard. Spent the remainder of the afternoon pulling grass and weeds from the gaps in a stone walkway. Like a good Buddhist I was careful to relocate a number of worms, beetles and centipedes as I renovated their homes. Amazing the microcosm of life in a plot of dirt the size of my kitchen table. Saw what was definitely the largest and most terrifying spider in my life crawl out of a pair of gardening gloves I was just about to put on. Grabbed a second pair and made sure to flatten and smother each finger first.
Which reminded me of my recent, debilitating, hangnail infection. Every damn finger is peeling like a banana. They bleed; I can barely risk sticking them in my pockets lest I aggravate them more. One friend recommended Vitamin E as a remedy. Another said he used to get them from too much moisture, like dishwashing or working with clay. My latest theory is gloves. Everyday I ride to school with wool gloves on, taking them on/off at least twice. Washing dishes: rubber gloves. Handling photos from my trip: latex gloves. Gardening: canvas gloves.