Did something dumb today.

[beenthere]

ffots
Your son looks very capable of following your directions, so he uses his back..  ;) ;)  and save yours. 

Hope all is better now, and you are limping back home soon for a make-over. 

[firefighter ontheside]

My 16 year old was helping me and he told me that he would do all the laying under the camper because of my back.  He was a big help.  He was under there doing it and I wanted to get going so I got under there too to make it go quicker.

Several years ago I was sitting on a chair outside the camper and just happened to notice that one of the tires had turned into a perfect donut.  Had to take the tire  off and take it to walmart to get a tire put on it.  

[K-Guy]

Something I learned years ago from a heavy duty mechanic, wire trailers with bx cable because it's armoured.  Then rodents can't get at it and trigs and other road debris as well

[Crossroads]

Dang it, I had to many things going on in my head (more than 1) and tried to drive off with my front jack down 😤 not only did it shear off the 4 - 3/8" carriage bolts, but the corner of the jack mounting bracket cut a hole in my hydraulic box 😤😤 sometimes I really make me mad. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Dang it.  I hate when that happens.  It was last year at this time that I pulled the camper out of the carport because I wanted better access to check the air in the tires.  Of course I hadn't unplugged the power cord yet.  Broke the plug on the camper and the plug on the shed where the camper plugs in.

[Southside]

I did that with a water wagon a few years ago. Left the hose hooked to the 300 gallon tub and drove off. Never knew a 50' garden hose can become a 200' sling shot. It made a unique noise when she let go. 

[SawyerTed]

A fellow I met at the coast 15 or 20 years ago pulled his boat trailer 100 miles with the tongue jack down. It was ground off so bad the wheel was completely gone.

[Don P]

I think if they put an 8th pin in it and some bigger screws on the plug it'll tow.

[WV Sawmiller]

   My dumb move of the week was getting my primary saw pinched in about a 16-18 inch poplar, could not wedge it free then cut the tree from the back with a small back up saw and instead of loosening the head I was going to pull it out of the way when the tree let go. Guess who was not quick enough to get his 6 month old saw out of the way? All I had to do was loosened 2 nuts. I bet that would have been cheaper than replacing the cracked plastic case and the handle and such.

[Crossroads]

I must be off of my game, this is the third time I've tried to drive away with the jack down this year. The first time I made it to the pavement when I saw my customer doing an interesting dance in an effort to get my attention 🙈

[Roundhouse]

Apparently the dumb thing I did this week was take my camper on a trip.  We havent used it since last august.  Got hooked up to it and pulled it forward to check the tire pressure.  Had to put a few pounds in but no much.  Right before we would have left i decided to check turn signals.  Nothing.  No tail lights.  Went thru all the troubleshooting and nothing.  I'm sure that squirrels or other rodents have chewed thru the wire harness going to the rear.  The only option I had was to go buy a 100' roll of trailer wire and run temporary wire to get me blinkers and brake lights.  I can't drive after dark because I didnt wire for that.
Had to ziptie the wire to the underside of the camper and wire into the trailer harness at the front.  Made it to Branson and got hooked up to power.  Hooked up water and turned it on.  My son said theres water leaking underneat.  Looked behind the cabinet where the water hooks up and found that the rodents had chewed thru 3 water supply hoses.  Luckily I was able to run to home depot and get washer supply hoses and fixed it.  Of course I have a bad back and shouldnt be doing any of this.  Last night called for a few beers.

A guy I know was at a recent volunteer work day where he showed a few of us the Magnetic LED Wireless Towing Light Kit he recently acquired from a discount chain tool seller. Pretty slick, the transmitter just plugs into a standard harness on the vehicle and the lights respond to all the standard commands within 100 ft. They have a magnet base and the only mod he uses is to zip-tie each in place for added security. I have not picked up a set myself, but with 10 trailers of all sizes I can see the day is coming where I have a set.

[Magicman]

We all get distracted which points out the value of always making a final "walk around" before pulling out.

Hitch, safety chains, & lights.  Outriggers.  Rear saw head safety chain.    Canthooks and other tools.

During the past 20 years, I have failed on all of the above especially if the customer is trying to help.  Occasionally I have to tell the customer/tailgunners; "When I load it I know where it is.  If you load it, I'll have to look for it."

[moosehunter]

I'm with mm on this one. Almost every client offers to help load up at the end of the day. My standard response is, thank you very much but if I don't do it , in order, I will forget something. 
I do a final walk around before leaving AND then I stop in a few hundred yards down the road and do a second walk around.
My Momma always said to me " if the good Lord hadn't thought to attach your head to your shoulders, you would forget that too"
mh

[SawyerTed]

I only trust three people to load or prepare the mill for travel, my wife, my son and myself.  I check behind the first two...well I check behind all three.   :D

[Crossroads]

Yeah, I've had a different year with less mobile jobs, more custom milling at home and more excavation work, so I think I've fallen out of good habits. I'm going to have to be sure to get back to them. 

[SawyerTed]

@'*&$#,;(&$*!

My son is cutting trees for a driveway to his build site.  Today I was helping.

Long story short, the power company didn't charge us for reconnecting the overhead electric service to my son's current home.  

One of the trees didn't fall as the other 20 did, despite the rope and chain line being pulled by the tractor.  

[firefighter ontheside]

Oh boy!

[doc henderson]

we learn more from our mistakes than our successes.  we just have to survive to reap the benefits.

[Resonator]

Good experience comes from getting through past failures.

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted,

   Been there - done that. The neighbors also are not pleased when you knock out power for several miles along the line. : Glad you got off with no charges from the power company.

[doc henderson]

my yard had been marked many times, and I was just digging to put in another sprinkler line and head.  snagged a gas line on a Sunday.  that means double time and a half.  I could hear it and my track loader idle started to go up.  move it back.   folded the end of the line in half and clamped it with a hose clamp plier.  the gas guys were mad, but when the marker people came and saw it, they said, that is over here on the map.  I got out of the charges.  It was a gas line to the neighbor's shop added years after their house, and they came onto my yard about 20 feet, so they did not have to disrupt their driveway.  before we owned the house here.  it was supposed to be 24 inches deep, and it was only about 9.  In the end we were all ok, and they said, well "we are making good money since it is Sunday".  

[SawyerTed]

Our good fortune landed on the shoulders of the lineman who came to do the repair.  

He came without chainsaw or pole saw so my son and I removed the tree per his instructions.  That way we didn't do additional damage.  

My son asked if they charged for the call.  The lineman said he would put it down as "weather related " and there would be no charge.  He also said, " I've done the same thing myself."  

[Old Greenhorn]

I just got home and saw a raft of alerts on my screen from this thread (and others) and thought "OK, somebody is fessing up, this could be good. ;D" It was, and let he say that he who is is without should sin cast the first stone. :D  (and that's NOT me) You've joined the blue flash club, it happens, and sucks for a moment or two every time, but nobody got hurt and your adrenaline got a little test shot.
Not so bad and you got a 'buy' from the lineman, so all good. We know you are just distracted by the big event happening mid-week and can't focus, I couldn't either.

[Resonator]

Had a tree vs. powerline problem few years ago that was not my fault, but it was on my property...

We had an overnight snowstorm (4" or 5"), so I went out early the next morning did my snow plowing and came back home. The sky cleared up, the wind got gusty, and one of the evergreens along my driveway (heavy laden with snow), snapped off and hit the power line. The tree top leaned right against the top of the pole. It proceeded to smoke, and if it weren't for the snow, would have become a full blown fire. 
I went out to see what was going on, and within minutes the powerline got hot enough to snap and fall. Not only cutting off my power, but also dropping the live wire end onto the highway.
A county plow truck was out plowing the highway, and by some miracle I got him to stop. I told him the situation, and he put on his strobes and blocked traffic. I parked my pickup and blocked traffic from the other direction, and told people to detour rather than risk it. The power company was out pretty quick, got the highway open, and within an hour or so they had my power back on.

[Southside]

I had a truck full of limbs and such snag a phone drop line to my place. When I called to report it the girl asked how it happened, my response was "I was always told if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all", she laughed and said not to worry about it.