Man, I gotta push back on one thing here. 4/20 zone wiring and lunchbox cans weren't the same era, not even close. The 4/20 stuff was already on its way out by the late 80s, and those big old cans hung around way longer than that, some places into the 90s and beyond depending on where you worked. So if your first hundred took two years and it was all 4/20, you must've started a good while before the cans were the norm, or you're mixing two different jobs in your head, which happens to all of us. I'm not trying to bust your chops, it's a good story either way and 2,000 panels is no joke. I just see guys lump those two things together all the time and it bugs me a little because the timeline doesn't line up. What year did you actually start? That'd clear it up.

That tennis ball trick is wild, they really do problem solve. Been fighting the same battle with a fat coon on my porch for months now.