Eye Safety Lessons and Water NOT Flowing

There is a story to tell this week about things that happened before I went to the property on Sunday. It was an eventful week.  One story began last Sunday.  I have a distinct memory of me removing Greenbrair vines off the trees and at one point my safety glasses fell off.  I was finishing off the tree I was working on and without thinking I simply slid the glasses in my pocket to finish the last few cuts.  I wear the safety glasses because as I do the work on the trees lots of leaves, dust, small twigs, moss, etc. falls on me along the way.  I also wear a crazy-ugly gardener hat to protect my face from the sun and as additional protection from anything falling. I remember stuff floating down as usual and within a few minutes I finished the tree I was working on and reached into my pocket and put my safety glasses back on.

On the drive home my eyes felt a little dry but that is often the case after working all day between the sandy soil, the trees and pollen, etc.  When I got home I rinsed my eyes out as usual and carried on with my evening.  Monday my right eye seemed irritated still so I ordered some drops and used the drops I had that day.  I woke the next morning with my right eye swollen shut and in serious pain.  I am not a western medicine doctor or medicine kinda person.

So, I ordered a few different all natural eye solutions just to try to get the swelling down and began to apply cold and warm compresses. To make a long story short, on Friday I finally went to a walk-in clinic.  The nurse practitioner examined my eye and said it was a surface abrasion on my lower cornea and prescribed antibiotic drops.  She also noted that I should keep my safety glasses on my eyes not in my pocket LOL.  I felt so blessed.  So this lesson is: Safety Glasses ONLY keep your eyes safe IF they are on your eyes!  If any of you remember this story, when doing any kind of work that might impact your eyes … then I have done my job now!

The other news for the week is that my Electrician, Roger, from Kennedy Electric, had his guy Dog come to the property on Wednesday and installed an inlet box by my well water pump so that I can start my pump with a generator.  This came about because the concrete contractor needed water to complete his work on the concrete piers/foundation for the residential shipping container.  I do not have electricity on the property yet and will not have until all work is completed and Duke Electric will then turn on the electricity.

Thursday the concrete guy sent his team to the property to use his generator and finish their job. It didn’t actually go that way.  His generator did not have the appropriate 30 Amp 240 volt 4 prong connector cable so the day was a fail again.  There was a strange exchange between he and I and on Saturday I contacted Roger with photos the concrete contractor’s guys had sent him with wires coming out of the top and the front panel of the box (which was labeled “DANGER – HIGH VOLTAGE – KEEP OUT”) opened. 

Roger, bless him, went there on Saturday after going to Lowes to get a cable to plug into the inlet box for me since the concrete guy was sure he just needed a cable still.  Roger confirmed that, as I thought, the box was correct and the plug was on the bottom with no need to open other panels or pull wires out of the box.  Roger stressed that a inadequate generator with any bad unregulated voltages could destroy my pump.   OK, so I am scared now since that is the last thing I needed. Finally, I got the concrete guy to send me a photo of his generator … it didn’t have a 30 Amp 4 prong. So, where we stand right now is I need to get a generator. Roger recommended a few and I will need to order and wait for delivery.

I also, during the week, received my Freedom Acres sign that I had made.  It was beautiful.  And I completely cleaned out and up the Rainwater Collection tank that the concrete guys had crashed an gotten concrete in the prior week.

So Sunday I arrived at the property, again not sure what I might find.  I first went to the garden area and dropped off the rainwater collection tank that I had in a large thick contractor bag.  I wanted to set it up again but thought I might should wait until everything was complete in that area until I did that.  I also wanted to talk with Loren about where she though ti best for us to place it this time.

Then I went to the home area and sure enough the concrete guys had brought bags of concrete and dirt plus lumber and concrete blocks to finish the job with.  They were all neatly piled up waiting for water.  I also went over and saw the inlet pole and box by my pump that Roger had put all back together with the new cable he left.

I went to the main gate of the property and put together the sign pole and dug the bracing deep into the ground.  I places it by the beautiful pine tree that sits right outside the fence.  I balanced my new sign on it with galvanized cable wiring and  hung it up.  It was so beautiful there with the pine and all the green of the property behind it.  I had such a big smile on my face as I stood back to see it from a distance approaching the gate as others would see it.  Now, everyone can know they have arrived at Freedom Acres.

It was a scorcher of a day and so I spent the rest of the day taking it slow as I was roaming around the property with Gracie and cutting down more Greebriar.  YES, I wore my safety glasses the entire time I was trimming and cutting vines.  I was being so grateful for my eyes and being able to see this beautiful chunk of Native Florida land. The greens are so green with the summer coming on strong.  June is usually the month where we get TONS of storms and rain so it will double in green growth soon.  I still can’t get over how amazing it is the mixture of Live Oaks and Pine trees from more northern landscapes and the tropical saw palmettos from more tropical Florida.

I posted videos, on the Freedom Acres YouTube Channel, of the new Freedom Acres sign, a driving and walking video of the property as I moved through the paths, a little Greebriar education video and as always my exciting end of the day report with Gracie. Feel free check it all out by clicking HERE.  Also, feel free to subscribe and you can get notified when new videos go up! 🙂

We are now moving into June and I am sure I will figure out the next solution for the concrete piers this coming week.  I normally just need to take some deep breaths and let go of the situation and then the answer appears.  I also still need to try to find a new delivery date for the residential shipping container.

The Game is now to be living on the property THIS Summer!!  LOL.  I have let go of June as each part of this concrete work has now pushed me right up til the end of May and there are just a lot of logistics to get handled to make myself crazy with forcing results.  I absolutely will keep praying, chatting with and trusting the Universe.  No matter what it will get done at some point and until then I keep growing plants where I am living, to take there and dreaming about being there!

As always, I send you FREEDOM and LOVE!