I survived! (or dumb things I did and lived to tell about)

[Doc Hickory]

A long time ago I was a state game warden here in Virginia. I was transferred to an eastern Virginia county where part of my duty was to oversee the state boat landings and put-in ramps. There was this landing which attracted a LOT of barley pop consumption with the attendant litter. The state didn't see fit to fund litter receptacles at the time so I rounded up a nice 55 gallon steel drum, figured I could get the highway department boys to swing by from time to time and dump it for me. Next problem was to put a drain hole in the bottom to let the rain water out. This was before the invention of battery powered drills and old me forgot to drill a hole before I took it to the landing. Being a creative sort, I whipped out my trusty Smith & Wesson .38 pistola, squatted down right in front of that barrel and let off a round. SPANG! Guess what? NO HOLE! That round flattened out and came out of that barrel and missed my stupid self somehow someway. I never figured that thin steel bottom would stop a .38 round. I thanked my creator for his care for idiots and hauled that puppy home and drilled it like I should have in the first place. I also never got around to telling this little tale to my sargeant....

[CX3]

Thats why I pack a 44 ;D

[Stephen1]

Good one, I was in my 20's and just bought my home i'm in now. It is in the country on a dug well with a cement casing about 5' across or so. In the center is a square section about a foot square. It is a terrible cold windy day and my water stops, I finally chase it to what I think is the problem,it's frozen in the well, before heading to the house. no problems I'll lift the small plug and have a look see, maybe I can drop some heat down or pull the big casing cover off and get down there to thaw it out. Now remember, it's the 1st time for me having a well and everything is a learning curve, being young and no dad to ask as he had passed away that summer.
The small cover is frozen on, so I figure if I pour a small amount of gas on it and lite it, it'l warm up and it'll thaw, I tried once..nothing...a second time...nothing...a 3rd time...nothing....ok one more try, well the sucker blew up big time... this time  it lifted that whole casing cover right off the well and sat it down beside the well just as nice as you please. scared the begeezes out me, but at least I could now get down the well, got the hairdryer out and thawed the pipe...
  I go in the house and the wife is all happy, she now has water, I'm proud as all get out, I'm alive and we have water, only problem is we could not use the water, it stunk of Gasoline, I had to pump it out 3 times and bring in the water truck to fill and flush that well. Live and Learn

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Back in 1996, I lived in NJ and we got a snow storm that dropped an average of 6 feet of snow, with drifts up to 20+ feet in height. Most roofs were only designed for a snow load of 30 inches, so I decided to go up on the roof and shovel the snow off while it was still pretty light and fluffy. I was about 95% done and all was going well until I got near the skylight in the living room. Enough of the snow must have melted off the skylight and then froze under the snow cover and when I was over in that section of the roof and stepped on the ice patch...off the roof I went. Fortunately there was so much snow on the ground that all that was injured was my pride.

[tyb525]

We do that with our burn barrels and a .22, never had that happen though

[Doc Hickory]

Stephen1, I love it! After doing a good old fashioned NASA blast-off of that well cover, you go for your hair dryer! That, my friend, is determination....

[SPIKER]

back some 30+ years ago, my brother & our buddy were trying to get this old smart ground hog.   So they decided to take the small pump up sprayer and s quart of gas.   they started spraying into the first of several interconnecting holes in a large bank above the creek.   once they sprayed for a min or so into each hole it was quickly stuffed full with a large stone and some dirt.   on the last hole there was a few feet of cannon fuse stuck in first then a nice round rock & dirt.  a quick light of the fuse & we ran some 50 feet away.   needless to say we were all pretty much knocked on our butts & some 10 yards of dirt was blasted into the air    :

It was very interesting not sure if we got that dang wood chuck or not.. lol.   can only say his hole network was leveled and or expelled in a flash .

mark

[Magicman]

Doc Hickory, At least you didn't need a center punch before you drilled it.    :D :D

[sawguy21]

I'm gonna make some popcorn, this could get real interesting. My buddy and I were discussing some of youthful exploits when his 17 year old said" Wow dad, you were a really bad teenager". Shoulda known better than to have him within earshot. :D

[weisyboy]

yep tried playing with fuel, 3rd degree burns to 30% of my body - that was when i was 10.


when i saw over that (15) we decided we would see if tehre was any fish in the dam, we poored about 50 litres of petrol on the top, and lit her up. didnt get any fish, was minus soem eyebrows, and started a bushfire. all in all a good day.

but im the most accident prone person i know.

2 broken middle fingers
3rd degree burns
cut end of thumb off twice with kife.
cut ring finger off with sawbench
mangled middle finget in router table
stuck my hand in the spinning chain of the 026av
got a chainsaw fiel embeded 2" into my foot.
cut knee down to the cap with chainsaw.
dislocated shoulder.
ripped all the skin off my leg when i got caught under the front of the quad bike at 60ks, insane gravel rash.
2nd degree sunburn (i fell asleep)

funny thing is almost all of it has happened to my left side, my right side is just about perfect.

all in all im lucky to be alive, but im here for a good time not a long time.

p.s. im only 20

[Wrangler55]

Here on this side of the world, the idiots most famous last words are: "Hold my beer, and watch this!" 

When I was a kid, my next door neighbor's uncle worked in a fireworks factory.  He brought my buddy a case of cherry bombs! He couldn't shoot them in town and he didn't have any family that lived in the country... So, we talked my Dad into leaving us at my Grandfather's farm for a day to shoot firecrackers. Dumb move on my Dad's part! We got along fine blowing up everything in sight till about noon.  We graduated to dropping cherry bombs in rat holes near the old outhouse and we found that if we put in about a pint of gasoline before the firecracker, the earth would shake and bounce for about 10' in all directions.  We got rid of a lot of rats around the chicken feed storage area! Then I got the bright idea that if a little bit is good, a lot would be better.  The old outhouse hadn't been used in years and it had lots of rat trails around it... So the rest of the 5 gallons of gas got dumped into the hole.  We went to eat and to let the fumes fill the rat holes...  After lunch we walked out to the outhouse and I tossed in a cherry bomb, then looked toward Thomas and said, "We should run!" His reply became a classic.  "No S.... Shirlock!"  We got just the right distance away before the big blast... Any closer and we would have gotten killed by the blast, any further away and the boards, rocks, and other shrapnel would have killed us.  The blast made a new pond when the creek filled up the hole.  Nothing recognized as part of an outhouse remained and we blew out every window in my Grandmother's house! My Grandmother came and searched for us, she was sure we were dead! When she found out we were unhurt, she took a stick and tried to kill us! My Mom got home and she took her turn whipping us, then my Dad got home and took his turn, Yep, got another one when we took Thomas home and told his dad what we did.  Then for the next few days, my Dad would at random times jerk me up and whip me again.  I think it had a lot to do with all the windows he had to cut and fit glass for... 

I'm over 60 now and still have my fingers and other body parts. And just when I think I'm getting mature.. I've got a few big oak trees that I need to quarter to fit on my sawmill and I've been looking at youtube videos where people are splitting them with black powder... If a little bit is good, more might not be better.  Hey I might have learned something after all.

Hal

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Weiseyboy
"but im the most accident prone person i know.

2 broken middle fingers
3rd degree burns
cut end of thumb off twice with kife.
cut ring finger off with sawbench
mangled middle finget in router table
stuck my hand in the spinning chain of the 026av
got a chainsaw fiel embeded 2" into my foot.
cut knee down to the cap with chainsaw.
dislocated shoulder.
ripped all the skin off my leg when i got caught under the front of the quad bike at 60ks, insane gravel rash.
2nd degree sunburn (i fell asleep)

funny thing is almost all of it has happened to my left side, my right side is just about perfect.

all in all im lucky to be alive, but im here for a good time not a long time.

p.s. im only 20"

Several thoughts come to mind as I read your resume of accomplishments at just the young age of 20 years old:

1. Has the local hospital named a wing after you and lined out reserved parking spots for your family members?

2. Could there possibly be an insurance company down under that is so desperate for new clients as to offer to insure you?

3. If you continue down the same path over the next 20 years, you will need both hands, both feet, and to open your fly just to count to 5.

4. At some point you have to consider that "if at first you don't succeed, failure may be your true destiny" and try a different profession or hobbies while you still have a few working body parts left.

5. Perhaps it is time to consider a change of career before you start to mangle your right side of your body and have to hire a assistant just to help you grab a utensil and feed yourself in the morning.

6. At the rate you are going, you are going to need massive doses of pain killers by your 40th birthday just to lift a Fosters Lager to your lips.

For God's sake my friend, please be more careful. You bring a lot of life to the forum and sure would hate to see you disappear over an avoidable safety issue. :'(

[isawlogs]

Hows that go .. If your going to get there, get there in a cloud of dust slidding feet first or something like that ...
  Funny,  I also have most of my left side that has been banged up some. Might be quicker to point out what was not broke then what has been ...  :-\
   I am slidding in ...   8)

[weisyboy]

oh i forgot, i also got bitten by a tiger snake.


1. im here for a good time not a long time.

2. if ya dont overcharge wile ya livin ya got no flamin chance when ya dead

3. sheel be right

4. if it cant be done you aint tried hard enough.

5. if your gunna do something ya might as well do it properly.

las tiem i was down the doctors i asked if hed give me a kneedle and thread iv seen enough stihes go in now i can do it myslef, he agreed and gave them to me.

[WildDog]

When I was a Jackaroo I went over to the main cattle station to help with mustering, they were blasting a new airstrip, the boss said if you can see the dozer working they're not blasting, go and have a look at the hole. I was comeing along on my horse with  a mob of heifers and could see the dozer in the distance, so I thought i'd go to the airstrip, when I got there there were mounds of soil about 15ft. I saw a 4wd ute reversing flatout up the bank with the powder monkey in it, he then sped off. I was about sixty foot from the explosion, the sky turned brown, my mare bolted about 100 yards before we both went down. Fortunately the rocks must of hit the mounds and most went straight up, my mare got hit in the neck and forever after had an indent the size of a fist in her muscle, when I thought it was over a small rock came from above and hit me in the head, that was 23 yrs ago and I still get the headaches,was kept awake last night with one. The powder guy took a month sick leave from stress afterwoods, they said the charge was overkill and broke a mirror in the home stead a mile away.

[DanG]

1. im here for a good time not a long time.

Just today, I was talking with my 89 year old Mom about "stuff."  She told me about taking a look at a cemetery and seeing an epitaph that said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Weisyboy, you'd better Weise up before you find yourself in a wheelchair...or worse.  It seems great to appear like a tough guy right now, but the mortgage rates are stiff.  Try to keep it together until your brain starts working, eh? :

[SPIKER]

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

  Try to keep it together until your brain starts working, eh? :

DANG:   I like that quote :D

as for keeping it together until young kids brains kick in well please dont hold your breath ;)

I do remember an experiment I did once using some black power.  took a glass jar & small amount of BP in the bottom.   With a tight slightly air tight top simple held on with some weight.  I shook the black powder to one side and dropped in a lit match on other side of the jar, slapped the lid on it.  I let the match burn a little until the O2 was leaning out & flame was starting to die down.  I then slid the jar a bit tipping the powder into the flame expecting it to burn slow (lack of O2 & all) well it didnt burn at all power pretty much snuffed out the match as it appeared.   well I popped off the air tight lid to take a closer look.  ya my eye brows grew back a few months later  :  well what can I say I was maybe 12 years old...   This was part of the "suck a hard boiled egg into a pepsi bottle days."   Not sure if anyone here would remember that or doing that or not.

Basically you take a hard boiled egg no shell on it and bet people you can stuff it into the bottle.   to actually do so take a couple matches and light them & drop them into the bottle & place the egg on top & it will get sucked into/inside a standard glass Pepsi/Coke type 6 or 12 oz bottle.   Egg needs a 3~4 min  boil (soft boil) to work.


Mark

[Tom_Averwater]

This thread has been some great reading !  Now for my story . About 25 years ago I would take garbage bags and fill them with neutral mix from the cutting torch . Insert a piece of cannon fuse in and tie shut . Go outside in the field and lite it . Not a bang , but a boom. Well one day I was filling a bag and found out that as garbage bags pull apart static electricity is made . Booomm Wow, that stung my legs . I haven't made one since .   

[weisyboy]

i am always carefull, but sometimes [I have typed a profane word that is automatically changed by the forum censored words program I should know better] happens.

[Jeff]

weisyboy, I've warned you and now I have had enough.

[NB sawdust]

I have had many many weak moments . One that comes to mind nearly did kill me.My buddy and i were fixing an overhead crane in the shop , for some reason we dind't shut off the main power to it.Buddy was on top of the crane beam and i was standing on the sky jack . The lift was all the way up , about 30-35 feet to my feet. Well to make a long story shorter, we touched a nerve in the control box and the crane began to travel.The crane came up against the side off my lift and began to push it over, it wasn't stoping! It was about 7 feet up to where my buddies feet were and he was looking down at me.I jumped as high as i could and grabbed a small piece of conduit..... the only thing i could get ahold of.As the lift went over it nearly pulled me off of the conduit as my feet caught the hand rail slightly, as the lift hit the floor i was left hanging 40 feet in the air from a moving crane.I am afraid of heights a bit, but somehow managed with help from my buddy to pull myself up onto that beam. Problem is......the crane is still moving towards the end of the building and in another 100 feet or so it is going to hit the end of the road ....hard. Somehow we scrambled across that beam and got up on one of the passing wall purlins before the crane hit the stops at the end.

    Now this all felt like it took minutes ..... but it all happened in about one minute!! I will never forget crawling across that beam screaming ,go go go! My poor buddy had the shakes for weeks after, me too I guess. The point of my story is LOCK IT OUT!!!! un-plug it, shut the breaker off, un hook the battery. Stuff happens fast, and we only get one crack at life!!!

[Faron]

Well, at least a lot of you can blame youth for your mistakes.  I can't, as I pulled a boner last night that could have cost me my life.
I came home Saturday night after a long day with two chores yet to do, fire up the outdoor wood burner and feed the calves.  I had brought some firewood from the other farm, as I had used the last at my house in the morning.  Opening the door, I discovered the fire was out.  I dug around in the ashes looking for a few live embers. No luck.  The fire was ALL gone.  I usually keep a little diesel fuel around for starting fires.  None in the jug.  So I put a little wood in the stove and dumped a handful of wood pellets.  I had a little jelled alcohol, and put a little on the pellets.  I figured the fire when I lit it would burn out the pellets without starting much of the wood afire, so I looked around the garage for something to help ignite the firewood.  I spied a partial gallon jug of alcohol we use to freeze brand cattle.  That will work.  A few ounces of alcohol around the pellets ought to do the job.  As I sprinkled a little out of the jug, it suddenly ignited.  I think it startled me, and I likely jostled more out of the jug as I removed it from the stove.  At any rate, there was a sudden flash, and then the jug in my hand exploded, and I was surrounded by fire.  I had on a heavy  Carhart coat, cloth gloves, and a hat.  The blast knocked off my hat, and I felt and smelled my hair burning, and my gloves were on fire.  I immediately dropped to the ground and rolled on to my hands to put them out.  I realized there was fire elsewhere,so I began rolling.Soon as I did, my gloves and sleeve re lit.  I knew I was in real trouble.  I continued to roll, but to little effect.  My woodburner is in the back of my garage, and there is a hydrant at the front.   I began rolling toward the hydrant.  I was afraid to get on my feet to reach the hydrant, as I was sure fire would envelop my face.  My right wrist was getting very hot, and I ditched my right glove as I rolled, hoping it was the source of much of the fire.  It may have been, but my sleeve was now on fire.  At one point I opened my eyes to locate the hydrant, and it looked like flames might be jumping 3 or 4 feet above me.  I rolled about 40 feet to the hydrant and opened it, soaking myself down.  About the time I got the fire out, I heard Chris calling my name.  She had come to bring me a bottle of jelled fuel, and found a big fire in the woodburner,  and a trail of fire in the grass.  She helped me to the house, and realized I was burned.  We made a quick trip to the nearest hospital.  I found I had  second degree burns on my wrists, face, and ears.  Jasper hospital staff believed I ought to be seen at the burn unit at the University of Louisville.  We were going to go by car, but when they gave me my second pain shot,  I became very nauseous,  and vomited for a couple of hours.  They did not feel I could go by car in that shape, so I was transferred by ambulance.   After a most annoying night at that hospital, it was determined I would not require surgery,  but would heal on my own. 
So here I sit tonight, with blisters on my wrists, face, and ears.  Thanks to Facebook and my daughters, there were hundreds of people praying for a good outcome last night for me, and I am convinced it helped.  I am grateful to be alive, but annoyed at myself for such a reckless action.  I blame a weather phenomenon,  cranial rectal inversion, for my misfortune.

[Tom]

Thank goodness you had the sense to protect yourself.  We all do dumb stuff.   It's embarrassing, but I can't condemn you.  I'm sure glad you're OK.  Throw some of your luck my way.  I could use it.  :D

[DanG]

DanG Faron!  That's some scarey stuff!   I'm glad you're gonna be ok.  We all do things every day that could turn out badly for us, and usually get away with them without even noticing.  Sometimes we get hurt, and sometimes just a scare.  I'm just thankful that you knew what to do.

[Faron]

DanG, the ironic thing is I was a firefighter for 15 years back in my youth with barely a scratch.  Probably some of that training helped me last night.  Mid way through, I wondered if I could make it.  I just knew I didn't want Chris to find me burned to death in the back yard.

[beenthere]

Wow! Good thinking (after the fact) to get to that hydrant.
Glad you are here and able to type your tale of survival.

[Patty]

Wow Faron, that is really scary! I am so glad you kept your wits about you to save yourself. Not sure I would've been so smart.

My favorite job as a kid was to burn the trash in the burn barrel out back. I had so many close calls, that it is a miracle no one was hurt and the house never burned to the ground. What was my mom thinking!!

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Faron
From one Indiana Guy to another, glad you survived and remembered your training. Alcohol is a lot more dangerous than most people realize since you often can not see the flames when it is burning. Used to race dirt track modified back in NY and was always careful when you ran to help someone in a car that crashed and was running alcohol because it could really catch you by suprise and flashes up with great fury when it is exposed to flames.

[Burlkraft]

Whhooaaa Faron...

Glad you are going to be okay.

You'll be sore for a while, but it cudda been much worse.

[mimidawn]

Well, I've never posted on here, so let me introduce myself...you've met Faronskid, I'm the older (and some say better) version!!  I'm Faron's oldest daughter, and let me tell you, he aged me more this weekend!  I am a current school nurse and former ER nurse.  I have some experience with burns, so when I got the call, all I could think of was worst case scenerio.  It was a long drive to the ER.  I was never so happy to walk into that hospital room and see him sitting up in that bed looking sheepish.  He kept apologizing and thanking me for staying with mom, but I wouldn't have been anywhere else!  I'm going to give him a hard time, but I'm just so thankful that he will recover from this and continue teaching his grandchildren bad habits (but not to start a fire with alcohol...).  The following just a few of the comments my sister and I have heard over the years when we have pulled a stupid human trick.
1.  Were you raised in a barn?
2. Are you butt on both ends?
3.  Are you brain damaged? (We watched a lot of Bill Cosby!)
4.  And my personal favorite...Get your head outta your butt!

Dad, if you can agree to never bring up me driving my car into flood waters, I will never bring your alcohol vs woodstove ever again!  Deal?

[Mooseherder]

mimidawn,  Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
I guess your Dad is fortunate to have a couple of Nurses in the family.
You can always start the conversation with "remember when... :D

[Faron]

_Deal :

By the way, how did you find this? ???

[isawlogs]

 Faron I am glad you're going to be alright, well till you are better and your daughter there gets a hold of you 

[mimidawn]

_Deal :

By the way, how did you find this? ???

Well, I went to search, keyword "burn" by faron...I'm a forestry forum stalker!!!  Don't worry, Dad, I won't spy on you here, but I wanted to comment on this.  I'm glad you are ok, love ya!!

[Burlkraft]

_Deal :

By the way, how did you find this? ???

Well, I went to search, keyword "burn" by faron...I'm a forestry forum stalker!!!  Don't worry, Dad, I won't spy on you here, but I wanted to comment on this.  I'm glad you are ok, love ya!!

She's lookin' out for ya  ;)

Sounds like like ya could use a little  ;D  ;D

[Jeff]

mimidawn, you are welcome to stalk here as long and as much as you like.

Faron! I'm certainly glad we are hearing about this from you.

[LeeB]

wow, some post there. Glad you made out alive Faron.

[Norm]

I guess we've all done some things with flammable liquids that aren't the smartest thing looking back on it.

Faron glad to hear that you're on the mend. mimidawn welcome to the posting side of FF good to have you aboard. 

[clww]

Glad you're okay and will live another day, Faron!

[Faron]

I just realized I had never updated you folks on the outcome of my little misadventure. I went to see my own doc the next Monday after I got burned.  I still looked pretty rough, and he prescribed some antibiotics, and some cream to use on the raw places, with instructions to return Friday.  I did, and he seemed shocked at my progress.  Most of the burns on my face had pretty well healed by then, although my wrists were raw.  He said he expected my face to be in about the condition my wrists were.  I was able to work a little Friday and Saturday, and got back in the swing of things by Monday, with bandages on my wrists.  I will say the temp that week was in the mid to upper 30's, but my ear felt like it was -10 with a stiff wind blowing.  I thought the thing was going to freeze off.  My wrists were burned worse, and they healed in about two weeks.  Doc figured they would be scarred some, but it looks like they won't even be scarred at all. 8) So I guess my modeling career is safe. ;)  I will need to be careful of sunburn this summer, wearing a wide brimmed hat and sunblock, but that is about all. 
My grandsons were commenting on how little damage was done.  I told them, "There just wasn't enough fire to burn this much pretty!" :D  That brought out a fair amount of groans and eye rolling. 8)  All in all, I feel very fortunate and extremely blessed.

[Patty]

So glad you are healing well and getting back to normal there, pretty boy!!  :D

[ljmathias]

Uh, oh, looks like Weisy got himself banned- guess that goes with the territory...

Lj

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Uh, oh, looks like Weisy got himself banned- guess that goes with the territory...

Lj

Bit of old news there LJ.

Weisy got a short term banning and made it back. He's been a bit better about not mis-using the Queen's English since coming back aboard.

Herb

[caveman]

I probably should not admit the dumb things I did today but...  Started off this morning trying to finish up the log arch that I started months ago but have not had time to work on.  After trying unsuccessfully to seat mobile home tires on the wheels (for use on the arch), using several methods (soap, grease, a tournaquet) I resorted to ether and a flame.  It worked.

Next, finish a few welds and slap some paint on the arch.  Welding in shorts is not too bad as long as you don't get too much spatter in your boots.

Later in the afternoon, helped Pop by putting two 4" x 12" x 12' syp on top of pallet racks so he can stack boxes.  Did I mention that these things are heavy? 

Before dark, I went over to a farm we have a few miles from the house to cut up some downed trees from a storm a few weeks ago.  I was using my new Carlton chain from Bailey's.  I was not wearing my PPE except for safety glasses and short pants--it was hot today.  After sawing for a while I walked around to the other side of the downed tree to relieve myself.  Right as I was finished, I noticed a coral snake about 2" away from my right boot.  I was in relatively tall brush so I could not determine where his head was to stomp on him so I waited patiently for him to squirm away.   

I guess I got lucky today.  Caveman

[WDH]

Good thing that you were not squatted down  .

[Warbird]

Wow Faron.  I missed this thread when it was posted and when you posted about your fire incident.  Thank God you are okay and healing well.

As for the rest of the posts, glad you guys are okay, too!  We all have our moments, don't we? 

[Taylortractornut]

I  have a few to tell.   One time  in community college  a friend of mine that was kinda wild.    THis was back in 99.    I was  outside machine shop and my buddy saw  one of these  3 foot diameter  helium balloons on a super long tether.   He was bragging to some folks how good a shot he was and after some arguing he pulled out an old Bolt action  .22 and shot at the balloon.   IN about 5 minutes it was  on the ground.       He went over to the  car dealer and asked about the balloon.     It ended up in my truck and home in the barn.    After thinking about what  could have happened with my friend shooting the  rifle on college grounds would have cost a ton to get out of.     

I was working on a job as an operator and  mechanic and was taking some   Oxy fuel welding lessons from an old welder.   He had a Oxy  Hydrogen set up for welding aluminum.      He and I were out at my shop and   fooling around  and  having a beer or two we  lit the torch and   made a welding flame and snuffed it with a glove.      I had siliconed a patch to the side of the old balloon and put the tip of the torch into the    fill valve of the balloon.        I called a friend that had  a long roll of  cannon fuse.    We set the balloon loose and it got several hundred feet up in the air.      It still had alot of the original tether on it and  thougth notthing of it.     Anyway when it  popped with a bang and fell back to earth it    was comming  right back home.     THe tether hit the old barn first then  drapped over the power line  and when it arced it   burnt a hole in the tin roof  on the barn.     


Slid a D5B Caterpillar off the side of a  tall Euipment trailer at work a few years ago.      Dad and I were building silt dams from brsh at work in the  toe of a new cell.    We back these up with  old round bales of hay we buy.    We bought several bales from a farmer and he  offerd us the use of his hay trailer.  It was made from an old  mobile home frame and  the tandems didnt have an equallizers   on it just a set of hangers per each axle.      It rode rough.  Pops was o nthe D5B  placing brush and   pushing the bales  off in the  dam.      I had questioned the   hitcxh on the trailer  but  the guy with me told me   its fits.       When I got to the top of the hill of the cell  I looked back to see the tongue of the trailer   pointing up.     I had time to  wheel the  truck around to watch it   shoot past the dozer. 



I had a large shop bending a chute i na brake for me and  this goofy kid was playing jokes on his   elders.  THey were doing stuff  like tack welding wrenches down and such to the tables.   THey was a can of either  sitting on  the welding table and this goofy kid comes up there and   tries to tack weld it to the table.  I was  too busy trying to get out of there.      luckily it wasnt a full can. 



 

[Chris Burchfield]

Faron, glad your healing well.  Having a personal nurse that is family probably helps.

My dumb ones: Part 1.

First got my Lincon AC 220.  First project was coat hangers for the fire station.  Cut the parts to length out of 1/4" cold roll.  Bent to shape.  Hot summer in Memphis under a lean to off the shop.  Shorts, tennis shoes and tee shirt.  Oh yea, welding hood.  By 3:p.m. got so hot and I was sweating so bad I pulled off my tee shirt.  During the process, a couple of times slag or molten metal pelts would burn through the shoes and socks and stop between my toes.  I do the indian rain dance stomping my feet on the ground.  Finished about 75 hangers joining a hook "J" to a bent rod.  That night after supper went back to take a shower.  OMG, I noticed I was very red standing in front of a mirror after taking my shirt off.  Stepped into the shower, water hit my front and God had left the building and had no part of my screaming.  I'm sure it hurt his ears.  Wife came back to the commotion  by then I was out of the shower.  It hurt to dry off.  It hurt to air dry.  Wife, a medical assistant to the doc. called in Silvadine ointment for burns.  Two tubes.  Took most of a tube to cover my belly and under the tender of both arms.  After an hour and a half, the pain declined.  The ointment had turned grey drawing the poison out.  I took a shower to get that off.  Pain all over again.  Second coating of ointment.  Slept on my back, just skivvies, no sheet.  Showers continued to be a pain for a few days. Stayed home sick from the station a couple of days.  I stayed inside under a fan in air-conditioning.  Couple of weeks later I began pealing skin off a large area.

[Chris Burchfield]

My Dumb Ones:  Part 2

I was refining some lead tire weight down.  Tee shirt, tennis shoes and shorts, hot memphis summer time.  Typical Austrian PPEs.  Skimming off the steel and trash that floated to the top.  I was under the lean to off my shop.  During the process, a rain storm passed through the area.  I'd left the ladle and muffin tins out in the rain while the next batch of lead was melting.  I dumped the muffin tins, dried em off real good.  Grabbed the wet ladle holding it in front of the flame until it appeared dry.  I gently stirred it a little and dug deep off into the bottom of bucket.  When I did, "Big Boom."  I was turning my head away from and diving away from the bucket. The bucket was bounced by the Boom and all that molten lead was heading toward the ground that had water still standing. I stayed low and rolled in the largest puddles I could find to cool off anything that needed cooling off about my body.  Freckles my female red healer came running like she was going to help.  Tuff my blue male healer shagged butt not even hanging around to help.  I walked quickly to the back deck inside the rear privacy fenced back yard.  Stripping, kicking off my shoes. One shoe was leaded to my tennis sock. Lead splatter was all under my right arm pit and ribs, some on the right side of my belly.  Grabbed and charged the water hose, bled the hose of hot water till it ran cool.  Began rinsing off from head to heal.  Wife had come out after the Boom, saw me wallering in the water puddles.  Looking over me as I showered checking for damage.  Burn second and some third the size of a silver dollar where the sock leaded to the tennis shoe.  Inside to the shower with antibiotic soap.  Out dried off in skivvies to sit on the floor in front of a box fan. In Memphis, we have a burn unit in our only class III ER.  Wife was calling in some more Silvadine ointment for burns.  I called and spoke to the head nurse of the burn unit.  I told her I was not coming in but, I told her everything I had done up to this point.  She said the only other thing they would have done was to de bred the second and third degree burns.  I said what's that? She said scraping the dead skin from those areas.  She said I did not have to do it if I didn't want to, it would bust and drain on it's own in a day or two.  I said I was a little too sober at the time.  Wife, where's the whiskey?  Took a couple of weeks before I could wear shoes with socks.  The head nurse at the burn unit told me to clean it daily. While the bandages were off, I had to hyper extend my ankle by sitting on my foot.  This caused the skin to stretch in the burn area and not contract.  If not my ankle would not flex properly at the joint because of scar tissue.  Barely tell where the scar is now.  I was picking lead splatter from my hair.  Could have been real bad.  In retrospect and examination of the ladle, the handle to ladle was spot welded.  Though initially appearing dry, there was still water between the handle and ladle.  When water converts to steam it expands 1600 times it's original volume.  It was a big boom.

[thecfarm]

My story is kinda boring after all that.    I bought back 7 acres of the old farm. The guy had a shed on it. I wanted all the trees cleared off so I could see the lower end of the field. Kinda of a grown up pasture,tress growing 2-3-4 in a clump,8-10 inches through. For weeks I got down one tree at a time from these clumps and things have been good. Was a clump of 2 trees that grew right next to the shed. One kinda hangs over the shed the other tree hands over away from the shed. I thought I would cut low and the one that hangs away will pull the other one over. I start to cut,had the notch all set. When just about done the tree that hangs over the shed starts to fall towards the shed the other one away from the shed. Like a dumber I just stand there and watch one tree hit the eves. I was not standing long.  Next thing I know I'm on the ground about 20 feet away from my saw and my arm hurts. Lost a bunch of skin on my arm and seem like a knot on my head. I knew better,just taking a chance for no reason at all. Lucky I did not get hurt bad.

[WDH]

Chris,

I see a pattern here...You need to stay out of that lean to off your shop in hot summers in Memphis  :D.

[Don_Papenburg]

I concour.  In fact he should either tear it off or put walls around it or build a leanto on the other side  to work under.

[timerover51]

I have three brothers, and growing up we did some crazy things.  However, once the kids began to arrive, we all had a rule never to discuss what we did when we were younger with the kids or within range of their eager little ears.

Probably the most dangerous thing that I have done was in May of 2002, when in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.  I was working for National Geographic, but when we arrived in the Solomons, the US consul in Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, asked if I could take a look at a bomb that had been dug up on the island of Kolombangara near a village and boarding school.  As one of the reasons for my being there was to be the expedition explosives and weapons expert, i said yes.  So on May 22, 2002, a launch ran me from Gizo, where I was staying, to Kolombangara.  The bomb was located on the property of the Kolombangara Forest Products Limited.  There is a fair amount of land on Kolombangara that will never be logged, as it is so full of metal from World War 2, along with some areas littered with unexploded ordnance.  Why the logging crew dug this up, I have not the foggiest idea.  The forest company head drove me as near the bomb as they could and then we hiked in about 100 yards.  Dense canopy jungle, so not a lot of undergrowth.  Got out there, and discovered that it was a US 2,000 pounder that had landed sideways, no fins on it.  I climbed down next to it and determine that the arming wires were gone, and the fuze was screwed all of the way into the bomb, so it was armed.  Ditto tail fuze.  Ground was soft enough so the side impact did not set off the bomb, but moving it was not going to work.  The forestry supervisor was looking at me going over the bomb like I was out of my ever loving mind.

Climbed out of the hole and told them that I had seen enough.  The rest of the crew moved right smartly for the pickup truck.  Thought that was funny.  Got treated to a very nice lunch by the forest supervisor and then got caught in a tropical downpour on the way back to Gizo in the launch.  After we found PT-109, the Prime Minister came up from Honiara for a big party.  I spent about 2 hours with his private secretary going over how to get rid of the bomb by blowing in in place.  Could not move it with the fuzes armed.  Heard later that they had successfully detonated it with no problems. 

Not your average walk in the woods, or in this case, jungle.

[Just Me]

A long time ago I was a state game warden here in Virginia. I was transferred to an eastern Virginia county where part of my duty was to oversee the state boat landings and put-in ramps. There was this landing which attracted a LOT of barley pop consumption with the attendant litter. The state didn't see fit to fund litter receptacles at the time so I rounded up a nice 55 gallon steel drum, figured I could get the highway department boys to swing by from time to time and dump it for me. Next problem was to put a drain hole in the bottom to let the rain water out. This was before the invention of battery powered drills and old me forgot to drill a hole before I took it to the landing. Being a creative sort, I whipped out my trusty Smith & Wesson .38 pistola, squatted down right in front of that barrel and let off a round. SPANG! Guess what? NO HOLE! That round flattened out and came out of that barrel and missed my stupid self somehow someway. I never figured that thin steel bottom would stop a .38 round. I thanked my creator for his care for idiots and hauled that puppy home and drilled it like I should have in the first place. I also never got around to telling this little tale to my sargeant....

This is how I drill all my burning barrels. May have to rethink that........

[iffy]

Although I have numerous scars and a few extremely close calls, one of the incidents that stands out didn't even remove any skin. Built a new house about 35 yrs ago and was trying to prepare a garden plot. Big dead stump right where I wanted my garden. Tried digging around it with my little 8n ford and loader, but that didn't do much. Watered it for a few days, and could then wiggle it just a little. Decided to dig it out by hand. After a few hours, got a hole under the stump right by the tap root and lots of blisters.
At the time I was doing a lot of gunsmithing and had bought out an old timer. He had lots of old partial cans of smokeless powder, and unlabeled can he thought was blasting powder, and a nearly full can of black powder that was starting to bead. I mixed all that together in one bigger can, stuffed it under the stump, and stuck a quarter stick of dynamite under that. Put in a blasting cap, strung the wires, tamped a bunch of dirt back down in the hole, then connected up the hand generator.
Thought my wife might like to see this, so called her out and told her she could have the honors, and it was going to be really impressive. We were backed up against the house, 30 or 40 yards from the stump. I took out the safety pin and she gave the handle a twist. I hadn't lied, it was pretty impressive. The stump came clear out of the ground, made about a turn and a half, and came back down in the hole. About a pickup load of mud in small pieces was headed out direction, tho, and it painted the house as well as us. Looked over at the wife and there were just two pretty white eyes peering out from a quite black face. Couldn't help it, started laughing. She didn't.
Somehow we are celebrating our 45th this summer.

[Just Me]

Weisyboy, you'd better Weise up before you find yourself in a wheelchair...or worse.  It seems great to appear like a tough guy right now, but the mortgage rates are stiff.  Try to keep it together until your brain starts working, eh? :

Wiesyboy

The man speaks the truth here, pay attention.

I was one of the wild children, up into my 40's. I've broken 63 bones, cut off a couple of parts, and just generally always had the be the toughest SOB in the patch.

I am paying the price now at 55 I can tell you.

I have to get up at 5 because the pain won't let me sleep, and I need a couple of hours to be able to go to work and get anything done. When I get done with a days work I don't come home and work on a project, I can't. A days work is all I can do and I can see that program ending in the not so distant future. I'm in a mad dash to have my retirement set before all this abuse I piled on myself comes home to roost in a way that will not allow me to work at all.

People told me that I would end up like this, but the people that told me were not like me so I did not pay much attention. Well, I am like you and I am telling you that being the toughest guy in the patch won't buy you spit, and the people that you think you are impressing don't remember your name 5 years down the road, and if they do they are laughing at you. Protect what you have. I'm not saying you have to be a wuss, but you have nothing to prove to anyone, remember that always just before you make a decision that you know in your heart is going to hurt.

Remember, you have nothing to prove to anyone, but you do have to make sure you can walk on your own when you are what seems to you to be old. Do you think I ever thought I would be 55? Hell no! The thought never crossed my mind, but it happens so fast it is amazing, especailly if you don't just sit on your duff and actually go out and do something, which it sounds like you do.

I think you are a good fellow, don't be a good crippled fellow.......

Larry

[WH_Conley]

iffy. I am not sure if she stays because she loves you or just wants to see what what is gonna happen next. :D :D

[iffy]

Prolly the latter. Any more when I suddenly stop working and head for the bathroom holding on to some appendage or another, she just tells me to try not to bleed on anything that will stain.  :D
When I stuck my finger in the lancelot last yr she asked me how come I didn't go to the ER and get sewed up. Told her there was nothing to sew, they woulda had to darn it.
Super glue has reduced my expenditure for stitches on stuff that could be stitched.

[Faron]

Well, at least a lot of you can blame youth for your mistakes.  I can't, as I pulled a boner last night that could have cost me my life.
I came home Saturday night after a long day with two chores yet to do, fire up the outdoor wood burner and feed the calves.  I had brought some firewood from the other farm, as I had used the last at my house in the morning.  Opening the door, I discovered the fire was out.  I dug around in the ashes looking for a few live embers. No luck.  The fire was ALL gone.  I usually keep a little diesel fuel around for starting fires.  None in the jug.  So I put a little wood in the stove and dumped a handful of wood pellets.  I had a little jelled alcohol, and put a little on the pellets.  I figured the fire when I lit it would burn out the pellets without starting much of the wood afire, so I looked around the garage for something to help ignite the firewood.  I spied a partial gallon jug of alcohol we use to freeze brand cattle.  That will work.  A few ounces of alcohol around the pellets ought to do the job.  As I sprinkled a little out of the jug, it suddenly ignited.  I think it startled me, and I likely jostled more out of the jug as I removed it from the stove.  At any rate, there was a sudden flash, and then the jug in my hand exploded, and I was surrounded by fire.  I had on a heavy  Carhart coat, cloth gloves, and a hat.  The blast knocked off my hat, and I felt and smelled my hair burning, and my gloves were on fire.  I immediately dropped to the ground and rolled on to my hands to put them out.  I realized there was fire elsewhere,so I began rolling.Soon as I did, my gloves and sleeve re lit.  I knew I was in real trouble.  I continued to roll, but to little effect.  My woodburner is in the back of my garage, and there is a hydrant at the front.   I began rolling toward the hydrant.  I was afraid to get on my feet to reach the hydrant, as I was sure fire would envelop my face.  My right wrist was getting very hot, and I ditched my right glove as I rolled, hoping it was the source of much of the fire.  It may have been, but my sleeve was now on fire.  At one point I opened my eyes to locate the hydrant, and it looked like flames might be jumping 3 or 4 feet above me.  I rolled about 40 feet to the hydrant and opened it, soaking myself down.  About the time I got the fire out, I heard Chris calling my name.  She had come to bring me a bottle of jelled fuel, and found a big fire in the woodburner,  and a trail of fire in the grass.  She helped me to the house, and realized I was burned.  We made a quick trip to the nearest hospital.  I found I had  second degree burns on my wrists, face, and ears.  Jasper hospital staff believed I ought to be seen at the burn unit at the University of Louisville.  We were going to go by car, but when they gave me my second pain shot,  I became very nauseous,  and vomited for a couple of hours.  They did not feel I could go by car in that shape, so I was transferred by ambulance.   After a most annoying night at that hospital, it was determined I would not require surgery,  but would heal on my own. 
So here I sit tonight, with blisters on my wrists, face, and ears.  Thanks to Facebook and my daughters, there were hundreds of people praying for a good outcome last night for me, and I am convinced it helped.  I am grateful to be alive, but annoyed at myself for such a reckless action.  I blame a weather phenomenon,  cranial rectal inversion, for my misfortune.

I just realized I am a lot better off tonight than I was one year ago tonight.  The docs figured I would have some scarring on my wrist, but most of the time I can not even see where I was burned.  I was very fortunate.   Be careful out there, folks!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

but im here for a good time not a long time.

Reading Jeff's reply......seems like you hit the nail on the head!  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[shinnlinger]

One time I was hauling a big oxygen cylinder back from the welding shop and stupidly did not have it strapped down.
by the time I got home it had migrated to the front of my pu bed.
Being lazy I decided to burp the throttle in granny low to move the tank to the back.
Well the old F100 didn't like that and the  torque broke a motor mount which not only pinned the truck at WOT but disabled the clutch linkage as well
Being in granny low, the truck took off like a dragster smoking the tires, the clutch useless. Me pinned back in my seat finally came to my senses and turned off the ignition but I was about to run into a bike path full of commuters (Eugene, Oregon) so I slammed on the brakes and the cylinder hit the front of the bed so hard it pushed it into the cab.
Fortunately the tank stayed together but the fan had also nicked the radiator so when my neighbors looked out to see what all the noise was and saw me siting in a smoke show.

Needles to say, I climbed in the bed to get the cylinder this time.....

[Okrafarmer]

Fellas, I can top you all.


:(

I rode in a taxi in Shanghai.

[Chuck White]

I rode in a samlar (sp) in Thailand. 

It's a 3-wheeled (tricycle) mode of transportation with the peddler in the front and up to 2 passengers in the back.

[Okrafarmer]

I rode in a samlar (sp) in Thailand. 

It's a 3-wheeled (tricycle) mode of transportation with the peddler in the front and up to 2 passengers in the back.

:D Yes, I rode in one or two of those in China, too. Hard to believe the size of the calves on those guys legs-- nearly as big as their waists. But the taxi ride in Shanghai-- I honestly don't know how I got out of that one alive and with no physical injuries-- jury's still out on the mental injuries-- they're just so hard to quantify..... 

[SPIKER]

Well the old F100 didn't like that and the  torque broke a motor mount which not only pinned the truck at WOT but disabled the clutch linkage as well
Being in granny low, the truck took off like a dragster smoking the tires, the clutch useless. Me pinned back in my seat finally came to my senses and turned off the ignition ...

I had a 62 F1 with a 352 (built w 390 heads & big cam and granny gear)   pulled a power shift after a tune up I went down end of a dead end road turned around nailed it pulled up thru second and hit 3rd dumped the clutch and heard something "DING" turned out to be the clutch push rod falling out...   I made it down to the end of the road let out of gas and as it was loping at idle maybe 30mph I down shifted using gas into second dropped me to a 15 mph and turned key off coasted to a stop...

well it was dumping gas as the engine and brake slowed it down...   ya stuck it in granny gear and hit the ignition as it sparked back up I think it dang near tore the cab off the frame-rails!   It dented the cab corners a bit on the bed where it yanked back.   Pulled the rag joint apart/out as I was holding onto the steering wheel freely rotating in my hand without connection any longer to the steering box.  I was straight heading towards out garage at the dead end (with a high speed road cross traffic between me and the garage without steering or clutch! ) 

I was 17 or 18 at the time  :   I hit my head on the back glass and left a knot that lasted about a week.   I managed to push the steering column shaft down enough to grab the box and steer it around the garage..   I was a little shaky as I rode my bike down to the end of the road to get the clutch linkage/rod that fell out and put it back together.

Mark

[shinnlinger]

Yeah the whole"let's set the clutch linkage between a frame rail and the transmission which moves independently" doesn't seem so great in hindsight.
Related stupid f100 story is I had just put punched out 302 in and replaced the 3 on the tree with a granny low floor unit and 3 of my housemates decided to hit the town in Seattle.  At a stop light a Camaro was revving its engine and I decided to show him something and dropped it into granny low and popped the clutch.  Well I smoked the tires pretty good for about 2 feet before a u joint broke.  We coasted to a stop as the Camaro roared away.
My embarrassment was mitigate d somewhat by  dumb luck I had a used u joint on the dashboard because of the recent tranny swap and my tools were in the back so we still made it to the bar...

[Al_Smith]

The most stupid thing I've ever done could have done me in .

Shoving out a big dead oak about 36" in diameter with the root ball still attached the log climbed on the blade of a D4 Caterpiller .Like an idiot I raised the blade and kept on pushing .Sure enough it came over the blade and back on me -almost .No sweeps no roll cage .

As luck was with me when it rolled over the hood it crushed the intake and stalled the diesel .When I finally reacted and hit the hand clutch ,my hand was right up against the log .

After I regained my composer and beat the dents out of the hood,pulled the log off with a 4020 John Deere I did get the tree out .Hooked about 40 foot of log chain on that pup like I should have done in the first place