Did something dumb today.

firefighter ontheside · December 01, 2020, 07:13:34 PM

For my latest trick.....I was so mentally exhausted last night after days of trying to keep a fire department manned that I accidentally took my sons medicine. Wife asked me to get it ready for him. Got the 2 pills out and then my brain just said, "you're holding pills, it must be time to take medicine" When she asked if I had his pills ready, I was like, uh oh. I remember taking a drink of water, but not actually swallowing the pills. I went to bed right after that. The med was not a concern for me.

WDH · December 01, 2020, 08:12:37 PM

When you get tired bad things can happen. Hopefully you will get some time off and recover.

Nebraska · December 05, 2020, 08:26:59 AM

So just to get this back to the top for the weekend... I just about broke the recoil rope on my 390 Honda on the mill. I saw the frayed end pop through the grommet at the end of the pull last time I started the motor. Now I haven't done it yet....so this is just to reinforce the fact that if I have daylight left after work today I need to fix it FIRST before I absent mindedly try to start the mill. Just trying to stave off a potential not so glorious moment and the use of those special words.

FFOS- hope you've gotten some rest.

SawyerTed · December 05, 2020, 05:24:36 PM

It has taken a few weeks to work up the humility to share this because d4mn it it WAS SERIOUSLY dumb!

So in August the Doctor and I were fortunate enough to add a new boat to the stable.

About six weeks ago I installed a nice boat cover on the boat but I didn't have enough 1" nylon straps to completely secure the cover. I bought additional strapping and plastic buckles in a kit to secure the cover.

Of course I had to cut the straps to length since the material came on a 50' roll. The ends needed to be burned/melted so they wouldn't fray.

I decided to use my propane torch to melt the ends and pinch them with pliers to provide a uniform end. It didn't work out too good. I worked my way around the boat cutting straps, burning the ends of the straps and pinching the ends with pliers.

Apparently one strap didn't get put out completely, it smoldered and reignited. Did I say the cover was on the boat?

A couple minutes later as I worked on the opposite side of the boat, I smelled smoke. When I checked, the cover was on fire. It wasn't a big fire and thankfully it didn't catch the boat on fire. I put the fire out with my insulated shirt but managed to burn both hands pretty badly. It burned a section of cover about 40" long and 10" wide. The cover material is acrylic and the straps are nylon with plastic buckles. All that synthetic material was a molten sticky plastic that burned my hands and left 2nd and 3rd degree burns.

In retrospect I should have cut all the straps to length, pulled off the boat/cover/trailer and melted the ends of the straps on a bench. Did I say DUMB.

Thankful it didn't turn out worse....

firefighter ontheside · December 05, 2020, 06:24:30 PM

Dang, man, I hope your burns have completely healed.

Durf700 · December 05, 2020, 06:37:47 PM

ouch!! that sucks... one of those things that you could do 99 out of 100 times and not have that problem... hope your hands heal up quickly!

Walnut Beast · December 05, 2020, 07:32:19 PM

Glad your ok 👍

samandothers · December 05, 2020, 08:33:43 PM

Not good! Hope you are healing well and no infection issues. Think of the fun times next summer at Ocracoke and hopefully the pain will ease.

K-Guy · December 08, 2020, 09:29:32 AM

If it makes you feel better, I can completely see myself doing the same thing. I'm glad you didn't lose the boat.

Heal fast.

terrifictimbersllc · December 08, 2020, 03:46:15 PM

Sorry to hear sawyerted. Hope you are feeling better.

firefighter ontheside · December 08, 2020, 05:18:37 PM

So I have been at this FD for 27 years. I can't tell you how many times we have been dispatched to a fire at a crematorium in the middle of the night because people see smoke and flames coming from the furnace stack. We always get there and disregard all incoming trucks. Well, this morning at 5 that all changed. Heavy fire and smoke in the building. Within 10 minutes of getting there there was fire coming thought the roof. As the incident commander I struck a second alarm when all firefighters on scene were working. In about 45 minutes we had the fire under control. Couldn't save the "occupants", 23 previously deceased bodies. The only one that burned was the one that was actually being cremated. Our guys did have to move 9 bodies to a different part of the buillding that was unaffected.

doc henderson · December 08, 2020, 05:28:10 PM

well, I started to push the like button, but always feel that it implies the wrong sentiment in statements like this. even though the folks were already gone, it would add insult to injury to the families to have their family members bodies unceremoniously burned. thanks for being there with all due respect.

Durf700 · December 08, 2020, 09:55:56 PM

good news today!! I got the call that my glass, seal and new door handle was in from Kubota!!! I ran over and picked up on lunch break and just finished installing my new glass and stuff on the tractor! I feel much better now to have the door fixed!!

I didn't even go out to the barn and look at the tractor till tonight when I fixed it.. now I can hopefully get back to some milling this friday!

SawyerTed · December 09, 2020, 04:52:29 PM

It's always a relief when the reminder of an accident is gone!

Vautour · December 10, 2020, 06:12:38 PM

Man that's a nice boat... who says sawing lumber doesn't pay 8)

Durf700 · December 10, 2020, 06:44:20 PM

Quote from: SawyerTed on December 09, 2020, 04:52:29 PM
It's always a relief when the reminder of an accident is gone!

did you get a new tarp on that nice boat yet?

SawyerTed · December 10, 2020, 07:20:54 PM

The new boat is only possible for three reasons. One is my dear wife retired in December of 2018 only to go to work part time in August of 2019. She's an adjunct faculty member at a nearby university. The second is sawmilling does turn a bit of profit. The third is my banker is loaning money like crazy! 😜

The boat cover burned section is about 12" x 40" once I cut the burned area out. My daughter is sewing a patch we will be sewing to the bigger cover some time next week. The semi custom cover was $500 so a fix will be easier than replacement.

FWIW my hands have healed considerably and I'll be back to sawing next week. No infection but apparently small bits of molten plastic was embedded in the burns. My body has been rejecting those little bits of plastic. It IS gross! 🤢

sawguy21 · December 12, 2020, 08:32:01 PM

Well, this is embarrassing! I needed to make a call this morning and couldn't find my phone. I retraced my steps after taking the mutt for a walk but nothing. I saw a friend active on facebook so asked her to call me. I heard it ring but couldn't locate it so finally sat down on the easy chair and felt a vibration in my butt, I was sitting on it! The DanG thing was in my hip pocket with my wallet. I have no idea why I put it there so blamed the dog but she didn't care.

GAB · December 12, 2020, 09:31:45 PM

sawguy 21 Sir:
After blaming the dog, I hope you fed the pooch an extra scoop and sure am glad there was no blood letting or trips to the hospital.
GAB

SawyerTed · December 13, 2020, 06:17:59 AM

I live by the old saying "a place for everything and everything in its place" but only on the Tuesday after Easter.

I feel your pain! Looked for my hunting rifle this morning for a minute or so until I realized it was on my shoulder