I do a little side work with my RC-30, for an old friend who is a OMG landscaper. Quite the OCD German heritage kind of stubborn guy, I grade it like he wants, and never look at his plans. While he is very well learned in all styles, we know each other well enough, that I just simply try and get what he wants out of him, and try not to be curious about his ultimate build out. I'll see it soon enough. He has degrees in Agronomy, Entomology, and Horticulture. He pays in cash and always more than I estimate.
But he favors rubber Crocs.
Four weeks ago I was doing a regrade about 10k' . He had cut the sod, killed it, and needed it scarified and leveled. While I'm letting Pedro run half throttle and make the high spots low, he decides he's going into the back by the fence with his BB (big box) Echo 45cc to cut the Cedar and Holly stumps lower he had cut down in the fall and applied Tordon to.
I made one attempt to let him know I came with the root rake and would grub up the ten stumps if he wanted, this job was hourly like most are for him, and he declined. These stumps were a bit short anyway, and the going would have been tough considering this was in the historic district, just covered with real old Live Oak among other heirloom trees.
As usual too, he wasn't going to stick around for the whole job. I thought he had left when I needed a coffee refill out of my truck, and I see him sitting on the front porch.
He was putting his first aid kit away and was sporting a nice gauze pad on his ankle and topped it with duct tape.
"Its always the last cut you make Gene,, ya know?"
Uh, yeah.
"Just came out of the last cut and barely knicked my shin above my ankle."
You okay, want me to look at it?
"No, its just a little knick."
I had seen him flush cutting and rototilling with his Echo, and early on I had mentioned stump grinding (would have been a pain with such small stumps), but again, we try not to tell each other the best way or the proper form.
I see him last weekend to eyeball todays job and notice his bandage, ask him how its going.
"You know, slow. A chain saw has a bigger kerf, so its slow. It wasn't deep, but the wound isn't getting any smaller'
I tell him he needs to go in the ocean for a couple of hours to get the tissue to granulize some and it would help, he kind of mumbles that might be a good idea, but doesn't need me to look at it, again.
So today, Crocs and all, he shows up on the site after I'm half done, and I can't help notice the angry red color to the skin under and around his 4x4 gauze bandage.
Barry, let me look at that. "No I have four different jobs to stop at and I have a guy helping me. "
Hurts, doesn't it Barry? "Yeah around the wound, changing the dressing sucks. Still won't scab up any, At the end of the day my foot and ankle is sore "
Walk in the surf for a half hour, then let it air dry and put nothing on it tonite, You are keeping too wet with neosporin, and covered all the time, right? Nods....
Came by a few minutes ago, and was glad I told him to walk in the surf. One of his clients asked him to retrieve a set of chairs from the beach, and he remembered and took fifteen minutes to check the girlies and the surf, took a break. He said even though he worked the rest of the day with the wet bandage, he thinks it helped debride the wound some. After a shower and dinner, and air drying, he said it really looked a ton better. From what I could see of the skin around the new dressing it must have felt a lot better. "It was red and hot to the touch, tender, Gene, but the salt bath really made it better. " I tried to casually tell him I could have looked at it a couple of times in the last month, and he might not have suffered so long, but he needed to pull back from the Neosporin and sleep with it uncovered at a minimum.
If only he'd been wearing some cheap hiking boots, he'd had less injury I think, regular high top work boots prolly nothing. Right smack 12 O'clock on top of the tibia, where you have about the least tissue covering, and he gets its with a saw.....
Saw cuts don't get stitched boys and girls, little saw cuts just remove the skin completely, nothing to pull together. If deeper than dermal, into tendon, muscle and ligament, yeah stitches, but thats just part of the surgery you'll be having, you're also talking about loss of function, sometimes permanent, and months of rehab and possible other surgeries.
Why anyone cuts without Chaps and high boots, I don't know... ( I do wear shorts under my chaps, 'cause its Florida, but always Steel toe and shank boots, and eye/ear protection if not a helmet. )
But he favors rubber Crocs.
Four weeks ago I was doing a regrade about 10k' . He had cut the sod, killed it, and needed it scarified and leveled. While I'm letting Pedro run half throttle and make the high spots low, he decides he's going into the back by the fence with his BB (big box) Echo 45cc to cut the Cedar and Holly stumps lower he had cut down in the fall and applied Tordon to.
I made one attempt to let him know I came with the root rake and would grub up the ten stumps if he wanted, this job was hourly like most are for him, and he declined. These stumps were a bit short anyway, and the going would have been tough considering this was in the historic district, just covered with real old Live Oak among other heirloom trees.
As usual too, he wasn't going to stick around for the whole job. I thought he had left when I needed a coffee refill out of my truck, and I see him sitting on the front porch.
He was putting his first aid kit away and was sporting a nice gauze pad on his ankle and topped it with duct tape.
"Its always the last cut you make Gene,, ya know?"
Uh, yeah.
"Just came out of the last cut and barely knicked my shin above my ankle."
You okay, want me to look at it?
"No, its just a little knick."
I had seen him flush cutting and rototilling with his Echo, and early on I had mentioned stump grinding (would have been a pain with such small stumps), but again, we try not to tell each other the best way or the proper form.
I see him last weekend to eyeball todays job and notice his bandage, ask him how its going.
"You know, slow. A chain saw has a bigger kerf, so its slow. It wasn't deep, but the wound isn't getting any smaller'
I tell him he needs to go in the ocean for a couple of hours to get the tissue to granulize some and it would help, he kind of mumbles that might be a good idea, but doesn't need me to look at it, again.
So today, Crocs and all, he shows up on the site after I'm half done, and I can't help notice the angry red color to the skin under and around his 4x4 gauze bandage.
Barry, let me look at that. "No I have four different jobs to stop at and I have a guy helping me. "
Hurts, doesn't it Barry? "Yeah around the wound, changing the dressing sucks. Still won't scab up any, At the end of the day my foot and ankle is sore "
Walk in the surf for a half hour, then let it air dry and put nothing on it tonite, You are keeping too wet with neosporin, and covered all the time, right? Nods....
Came by a few minutes ago, and was glad I told him to walk in the surf. One of his clients asked him to retrieve a set of chairs from the beach, and he remembered and took fifteen minutes to check the girlies and the surf, took a break. He said even though he worked the rest of the day with the wet bandage, he thinks it helped debride the wound some. After a shower and dinner, and air drying, he said it really looked a ton better. From what I could see of the skin around the new dressing it must have felt a lot better. "It was red and hot to the touch, tender, Gene, but the salt bath really made it better. " I tried to casually tell him I could have looked at it a couple of times in the last month, and he might not have suffered so long, but he needed to pull back from the Neosporin and sleep with it uncovered at a minimum.
If only he'd been wearing some cheap hiking boots, he'd had less injury I think, regular high top work boots prolly nothing. Right smack 12 O'clock on top of the tibia, where you have about the least tissue covering, and he gets its with a saw.....
Saw cuts don't get stitched boys and girls, little saw cuts just remove the skin completely, nothing to pull together. If deeper than dermal, into tendon, muscle and ligament, yeah stitches, but thats just part of the surgery you'll be having, you're also talking about loss of function, sometimes permanent, and months of rehab and possible other surgeries.
Why anyone cuts without Chaps and high boots, I don't know... ( I do wear shorts under my chaps, 'cause its Florida, but always Steel toe and shank boots, and eye/ear protection if not a helmet. )
