April 6th
We (Lee La Duke and I) were able to finish jack hammering
out 60% of the problem rocks that the backhoe could not move on Friday. The
jack hammer rental was not due back until Monday. So on Sunday afternoon I went
back to the lot by myself (first mistake) to finish up before I had to go back
to teaching on Monday. It was going well and I was almost done with the work
when the jack hammer broke through the rock and fell sideways. It had done this
many times before but this time my left pinky finger was crushed between the
remaining rock and the steel handle of the 90 lb hammer. It turns out I not
only split open the skin from the bed of the nail up and around the tip, but I also broke the tip of the bone
into 4 pieces. At the moment I first looked at my pinky outside the glove it
became very clear that what I was doing was really dumb! I was working by
myself with heavy equipment, in an area where the cell coverage is spotty, the
closest neighbors are a half mile away, and the van I drove had all the car
seats that K would need to use to come get me. L
So lesson learned. before I decide to operate heavy
equipment by myself to save money,I will ask the professionals what they would
charge. Most
likely it will be cheaper to have the pros do it. But it wont be as
good a story though! ;)