Second Annual Black-and-Blue Thumb Awards

Last June, George Chandler, 60, of Shawnee, Kansas, was installing lattice for a climbing wisteria with his buddy Phil Kern, 60. Phil was on a ladder, handling the nail gun, and George was on the ground below. The compressor hose snagged on a child's toy, and, when Phil yanked on the hose to untangle it, the gun went off. "Where did the nail go?" Phil asked. "I don't know, but I felt something on my head," George said. "I looked down, " Phil later told a reporter, "and saw the nail." Turns out George's hat had been spiked to his head. A doctor later removed it in a delicate and sophisticated procedure—using the ever-ready maintenance department claw hammer.

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