This week I'll be starting night shift, which really doesn't matter much in terms of the work I need to do on the ranch. It's really more a matter of keeping the fact that I'm on night shift from depressing me to the point of apathy.
During this past block of time-off, I had the wonderful luck of giving myself a corneal abrasion while opening a large cardboard box to check on the contents. It happened on Monday evening during a sudden down-pour of rain. I rushed to move the box under a tarp to protect the contents, which was a new solar-powered electric fence charger, and, once under the tarp, proceeded to hurriedly open the box to remove the disassembled contents from the wet box. It was at that point, when I was rushing to remove the contents of the box, that a large piece of spacing-cardboard on the inside of the package flipped up and hit me in the eye. At first it just stung a little, but, over the next hour, my eye began tearing and stinging to the point that I could no longer see. Then my eyelid began to swell and the irritation became so bad that I became nauseous. All I could do was sit in the scamp and listen to a portable FM/shortwave radio. It took probably about another day and a half for the irritation to go down enough for me to drive home. Just this evening I went to see a doctor to make sure everything was healing without complications and prescribed me some antibiotic eye-drops I need to take every two hours till they are gone.
In spite of all of this I am still moving forward with the fencing. Prior to the injury, I began clearing the 830 feet of wooded area through which I intend to run the temporary electric fence. This 830 feet can be divided into two different areas: one area, about 360 feet long, consists of young trees and brush, which can easily be removed with the brush cutter, and a second area more densely packed with older pines. These older pine are about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and about 30 feet tall. Prior to my eye injury, I was able to cut a 40 foot wide by 180 foot long swath through the older pines with my chainsaw. This puts me at a little over halfway through the toughest part of the clearing.
On other fronts, all of the necessary fencing supplies have been delivered. This includes 110 one-inch diameter 6-foot long fiberglass rods, 24,000 feet of 12.5 gauge class-III galvanized high-tensile wire, a lightening arrestor, and a few other odds and ends.
During this past block of time-off, I had the wonderful luck of giving myself a corneal abrasion while opening a large cardboard box to check on the contents. It happened on Monday evening during a sudden down-pour of rain. I rushed to move the box under a tarp to protect the contents, which was a new solar-powered electric fence charger, and, once under the tarp, proceeded to hurriedly open the box to remove the disassembled contents from the wet box. It was at that point, when I was rushing to remove the contents of the box, that a large piece of spacing-cardboard on the inside of the package flipped up and hit me in the eye. At first it just stung a little, but, over the next hour, my eye began tearing and stinging to the point that I could no longer see. Then my eyelid began to swell and the irritation became so bad that I became nauseous. All I could do was sit in the scamp and listen to a portable FM/shortwave radio. It took probably about another day and a half for the irritation to go down enough for me to drive home. Just this evening I went to see a doctor to make sure everything was healing without complications and prescribed me some antibiotic eye-drops I need to take every two hours till they are gone.
In spite of all of this I am still moving forward with the fencing. Prior to the injury, I began clearing the 830 feet of wooded area through which I intend to run the temporary electric fence. This 830 feet can be divided into two different areas: one area, about 360 feet long, consists of young trees and brush, which can easily be removed with the brush cutter, and a second area more densely packed with older pines. These older pine are about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and about 30 feet tall. Prior to my eye injury, I was able to cut a 40 foot wide by 180 foot long swath through the older pines with my chainsaw. This puts me at a little over halfway through the toughest part of the clearing.
On other fronts, all of the necessary fencing supplies have been delivered. This includes 110 one-inch diameter 6-foot long fiberglass rods, 24,000 feet of 12.5 gauge class-III galvanized high-tensile wire, a lightening arrestor, and a few other odds and ends.