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

beenthere · February 20, 2011, 10:27:16 PM

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

Patty · February 21, 2011, 05:53:44 PM

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 · February 21, 2011, 08:09:48 PM

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 · February 21, 2011, 08:18:21 PM

Whhooaaa Faron...

Glad you are going to be okay.

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

mimidawn · February 21, 2011, 08:19:59 PM

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 · February 21, 2011, 08:54:05 PM

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 · February 21, 2011, 09:04:21 PM

_Deal :

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

isawlogs · February 21, 2011, 09:09:21 PM

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 · February 21, 2011, 09:18:37 PM

Quote from: Faron on February 21, 2011, 09:04:21 PM
_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 · February 21, 2011, 09:29:07 PM

Quote from: mimidawn on February 21, 2011, 09:18:37 PM
Quote from: Faron on February 21, 2011, 09:04:21 PM
_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 · February 21, 2011, 09:47:18 PM

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 · February 22, 2011, 07:51:11 AM

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

Norm · February 22, 2011, 07:57:01 AM

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 · February 22, 2011, 09:01:45 AM

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

Faron · April 14, 2011, 10:40:59 PM

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 · April 15, 2011, 04:05:40 PM

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

ljmathias · April 15, 2011, 09:00:03 PM

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

Lj

PC-Urban-Sawyer · April 15, 2011, 09:26:32 PM

Quote from: ljmathias on April 15, 2011, 09:00:03 PM
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 · April 16, 2011, 09:45:53 PM

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 · April 16, 2011, 10:03:55 PM

Good thing that you were not squatted down

.

Warbird · April 16, 2011, 11:27:12 PM

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 · April 17, 2011, 11:49:43 PM

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 · April 19, 2011, 03:55:17 PM

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 · April 19, 2011, 04:44:07 PM

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 · April 19, 2011, 05:58:32 PM

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.