Did something dumb today.

[chickenchaser]

Surely you caught the dumb "tongue in cheek" where I was attempting to change the TV channel with the flipping house phone.   smiley_dizzy    :

:D
MM, you got me on that.

I was just about to reply that it wouldn't work around my house.
Grandma can keep up with the remote better than she can her phone.

I had an episode similar to that not long ago - I just can't remember what it was!
???

CC

[richhiway]

I'm trying to figure out how to add a block heater to my backhoe so it'll start when it gets good and cold out. Yesterday I finally remembered to take it out of the barn and into the sun so I could take a few pictures of the engine so I could ask for assistance in where the block heater would go (I'm still confused). Well, I reversed the backhoe out of the barn into the sun, yanked up the parking brake and raised the loader, so I could see the engine better. I even remembered the safety stop so the loader could crash down on top of me! I then went to the passenger side and pulled off the engine cover, to see the throttle linkage or whatever it's called that you can rev the engine with at the engine. The engine was a little cold and I goosed it a bit and I noticed the machine lurch a little, hmm, that's weird. Oh crud! It's still in reverse! I went around and sure enough. The parking brake did its job.

Luckily, I was standing in front of the front tire, so it wouldn't have easily run me over, but also luckily I didn't put it in forward gear, that could have gotten bad quickly.

Uh, I got lucky.

They make heaters that go in the radiator hose. Easier to install.

[Nebraska]

I use a magnetic one that sticks to the oil pan. We have one at the clinic to warm the hydraulic reservoir on the cattle chute. Can't be much easier than that. 

[Hilltop366]

I have had the heater hose (not rad hose) one and the magnetic one, I found they worked poorly even when left on all night with blanket over the hood. With the engine block one I have now will start like a summer day after 30 or 40 min.

[Southside]

When we got cable as a kid my uncle lived next door and got cable too, well back then everyone had the same remote.  I would sit outside of his window while he watched TV and change the channel, turn the thing off, wait until he walked over to the TV and when he was 1' away turn it back on..... Ahh the good old days.

[sawguy21]

You were a very naughty child! :D

[Machinebuilder]

my turn with the cone hat.

I made a big mistake dropping a maple tree.

I cut the notch i bit small and it didn't want to fall over, when it did it put my Husquavarna 465 Rancher into it's grave.
The tree was a little bigger than I thought, probably 26". and it fell at a bit different angle than I thought it would.

I don't think there is any plastic that's not broken.

[beenthere]

Sorry to hear that.  :( :(

[chet]

The saw taking a hit is always preferable to the guy running it gittin' wacked.

[Old Greenhorn]

Agreed, Glad the saw took all the damage. I always try to lay the saw behind an off to the side of the back cut, but stuff happens and you can't always do that. Saws cost money but not blood costs a lot more and injuries can be forever. Just glad you are OK. I had an ash break the hinge and fall 90° off the intended direction, weirdest thing I ever saw, so I never assume and always get away.

[K-Guy]

I have had the heater hose (not rad hose) one and the magnetic one, I found they worked poorly even when left on all night with blanket over the hood

The rad hose type worked very well in Ft St John, BC in the middle of winters(temps down to -50 °C) but it has to be sized correctly. I know one guy had one of a JD tractor that would also melt the snow on his hood.

Note: Be care that the heat is turned on full in the cab or it will melt your rad hose.

[aigheadish]

I've bought the freeze plug style heater and I'm awaiting the motivation to install it. They are calling for snow and cold over the next week or two, so I'm hoping that motivation shows up today. Unfortunately, I need to drain the antifreeze and possibly remove a filter to get to the hole.

[SawyerTed]

my turn with the cone hat.

I made a big mistake dropping a maple tree.

I cut the notch i bit small and it didn't want to fall over, when it did it put my Husquavarna 465 Rancher into it's grave.
The tree was a little bigger than I thought, probably 26". and it fell at a bit different angle than I thought it would.

I don't think there is any plastic that's not broken.

Glad it was just a saw damaged. 

While cutting a 24" diameter white oak log several years ago, the log decided to roll.  As it did it pinched my Husky 455 Rancher.  The log continued to roll, saw stuck in the kerf and I couldn't stop it.  Bent bar, crushed the plastics, bent/broke the handle etc.  The shop where I bought it put it back together with both new and used parts.  Used it yesterday. 

Maybe all is not lost.

[Bert]

Must be something about the Ranchers. I kept one on the skidder and got off to cut some limbs out of the skid trail. Set it down to wipe off the window. Got back in and ran it over then drug the logs over it too. The only thing salvageable was the bar nuts.

[GAB]

Must be something about the Ranchers. I kept one on the skidder and got off to cut some limbs out of the skid trail. Set it down to wipe off the window. Got back in and ran it over then drug the logs over it too. The only thing salvageable was the bar nuts.

You have mastered the art of fast depreciation of equipment.
GAB

[NE Woodburner]

I did something like Bert did many years ago when I first bought my land and built my house, but the end result was not quote as bad.

I had an old Ferguson TO35 with a manure bucket, which was really too small to be useful for much but it's all I could afford at the time. I was out cutting firewood and had the bucket overloaded with fuel, oil, saw, etc and my Husqvarna 266 fell out of the bucket when I went over a rock or stump. I didn't notice and ran it over with both the tractor and the trailer I was towing. That was a really nice saw at the time and I really couldn't afford to replace it. Fortunately, the ground was soft and there was not as much plastic on those 80's saws so I got away with replacing the handle and living with some bad dents and scratches.

[TimW]

So that is what.....3 saws crushed in the last year or so.  I ran over my new 461, a year or so ago, with my excavator.

[Old Greenhorn]

Seems to be a lot of that going around. I myself have never had the urge.... ;D

[TimW]

Seems to be a lot of that going around. I myself have never had the urge.... ;D

I think Ted mentioned once that if you saw long enough, a tree, a log, or equipment will find your saw.
So I add to your post....................................Yet.

[chickenchaser]

I think Ted mentioned once that if you saw long enough, a tree, a log, or equipment will find your saw.
So I add to your post....................................Yet.

Let me add " my dog ate my homework " story:

Back in the early summer I had unloaded my sawing equipment amongst various other tools and lumber stacks in the back end of my barn. In the back end of the barn. Where cows have never been and never will go.

Days or maybe weeks later I hear abnormal cattle bawling and try to find the cause.

The Lewis and Clark of the cow world had led an expedition into the back end of the barn and reorganized the world inside.

I'll not continue with random details but months later when I needed my MS251, I realized it was missing the throttle button/trigger.
Confused, I thought it was stuck in the upper position.
No...missing totally.
I then figured out that one of the bovines neatly stepped through the handle and broke the trigger. No other marks or scratches.

The saw actually just came back before Christmas. It took over two months to get the part in.

The world I live in...

CC

[Machinebuilder]

Y'all are good at making a person realize that they're not the only one destroying things.

Mine is hurt so bad it was almost completely buried.
When I picked it up it barely held together. I knew it was over.

My next trip to town I'll give the Coop more money for a new saw.

I took a better look at my stump, the too small of a notch is why it didn't want to fall.
the slightly angled back cut is why it didn't fall the direction I expected.
I wasn't able to get the saw out of the cut when it started to fall so I backed up and watched the carnage.

Nobody was hurt so it's all good

[firefighter ontheside]

I did something kind of dumb yesterday, but we do our best to help people, especially when they are in distress.  I happened to be on the phone with a 911 dispatcher yesterday about another matter when she said, "I think you guys are getting a call, hold on".  She came back and said a very distraught woman was on the phone because there was a dead cat in her garage.  Normally not something we do, but like I said, we do what we can.  All of my units were at headquarters having their  annual mask fit testing, so I just grabbed one guy and said come with me, we have a call to handle.  I told him to bring a trash bag.  When we got there and pulled up in front of the garage, there was a dead cat right at the front of the garage.  It was looking right at us.  The poor cat had tried to escape from the garage as the door was closing.  It managed to stick its head out just as the door came down on its neck.  It wasn't the ladys cat, but a stray which had come into her garage.  I called a local veterinarian office and asked if they could help me in disposing of the cat.  They said yes.  I had my firefighter put the cat in the bag and we took it away.  Now the lady was dressed all in black because she was a funeral director.  She said she can handle all the dead humans, but not a dead animal.  I guess you get used to one and not the other.  No, we do not rescue cats from trees.

[firefighter ontheside]

Machinebuilder, have you ever tried the boring/backcut method of falling.  It can be useful, especially if the direction of fall is a little questionable.

[chickenchaser]

Firefighter

If you decide to change your board name to Cat Coroner - I still have the rights to the "CC" signature.

;D

[GAB]

I ran over my new 461, a year or so ago, with my excavator.

Well at least you had the proper tool handy for a quick burial.
GAB