Did something dumb today.

[thecfarm]

Last night, just about dark, I am bush hogging the field. I had my head lamp on so I could see on the sides better.
I mowed around one of my bird houses with a rock on each side. I mowed all around the rock and bird  house. Then I had to mow between the 2 rocks. I have a hard time turning my neck so had the bird house just out of the corner of my eyes. I backed up against the pole of the bird house and made it between the rocks without hitting either rock, just enough room. I went back a little too far and the pole went in behind the bushhog and the tractor. I tried to go forward and the birdhouse was just a rocking!!!! Then I noticed some things around me. That's odd, it's all grass, no leaves here. BAM!!! Something hit me in the head. BAM!! another hit. I knew what it was. HORNETS and they are mad. And there is Ray, still caught behind the post of the birdhouse. Did not really dare to turn sharp and go over the rock, because it's a high one. Back up and set over and drove out the way I came in. As the BAM affect is happening. Hindsight I should of shut my head lamp off, but I was in too much pain due to the BAM factor. Even as I drove away, they was still after me.
I had made a good path around the birdhouse so I told them, you let me go by without giving me a hard time, I won't go get the magic stuff.
When I did go by, I turned my head so I did not light up the nest. The nest was just about the size of a basketball. If I would of looked up while mowing around the birdhouse I would of been just about eye level with the nest.

[SawyerTed]

The flashlight and hornets nest thing is a lesson I learned the hard way.  

Found a yellow jacket nest while bush hogging during daylight many years ago.  I escaped without getting stung.  

I went back with the can of gas after dark strolling along carrying a flashlight.  Yep, BAM I got it 4 or 5 times before I realized the light was attracting them. 

I learned to mark the nest some way and go back without a light.  

[aigheadish]

We have bee hives in the back field that I mow around occasionally and when I've been on the small mower I can get closer to them but they seem a bit more protective when that happens. I've gotten stung a couple times doing that and it scares me real bad when I've seen several more homing in on me. I do not like the idea of being stung tens or hundreds of times. The guy that keeps the bees will wear his gear and weed eat around them, so I let him do that usually, while staying around 10 feet away.

[thecfarm]

I was fine until I hit the pole!!!!!
I was within a few feet of their nest, and all was fine. 
Until I hit the post.

[SawyerTed]

I noticed my hydraulic blade tensioner was leaking at the filler plug this afternoon,  the plug was loose by a 1/2 to 3/4 turn.  Decided to add some fluid.   It's easy right?   Take the plug out, pull the idle wheel out and add fluid.  

Wrong!   There's a simple but essential step of manually moving the inside hydraulic shaft out that I was missing.  It is not attached to the idle wheel shaft assembly.  Moving the idle wheel in and out does not move the hydraulic shaft in and out.  Moving the idle wheel IN with the plug OUT results in a surprising geyser of hydraulic fluid that complicates refilling the reservoir.  

That's 45 minutes I messed around with it until I consulted Forestry Forum and YouTube that I'll never get back.  I wasted a little fluid as well.  

Sometimes I don't know what I don't know but really think I do!  Dumb.  

[TimW]

My trailer had acquired a bad vibration.  I had to replace one of the tires last summer from the 54 days of 100 degree heat, after it blew before I could get to the tire shop.  I was thinking another tire went bad. The tires were about 4 years old.  I hauled logs Tuesday morning (just 3 miles from the house) and decided to  take the trailer to the tire shop before parking it.

  I was all set to go when I found the largest dirt dobber nest I ever saw on a wheel.  I decided to take it for a test run, after breaking it loose from the wheel.  The vibration was gone and I didn't have to look stupid and feel dumb when the tire guys would have found an easy to see dirt dobber nest. 

[GAB]

I noticed my hydraulic blade tensioner was leaking at the filler plug this afternoon,  the plug was loose by a 1/2 to 3/4 turn.  Decided to add some fluid.  It's easy right?  Take the plug out, pull the idle wheel out and add fluid. 

Wrong!  There's a simple but essential step of manually moving the inside hydraulic shaft out that I was missing.  It is not attached to the idle wheel shaft assembly.  Moving the idle wheel in and out does not move the hydraulic shaft in and out.  Moving the idle wheel IN with the plug OUT results in a surprising geyser of hydraulic fluid that complicates refilling the reservoir. 

That's 45 minutes I messed around with it until I consulted Forestry Forum and YouTube that I'll never get back.  I wasted a little fluid as well. 

Sometimes I don't know what I don't know but really think I do!  Dumb. 

I found that the air compressor with a rubber tipped end works great for moving the cylinder to add oil.
GAB

[doc henderson]

drove on a muddy sandy snowy road in Nebraska to and from my sister and BIL there.  Coming home, it shook like crazy at highway speeds.  had to stop in a town and hit with a carwash.  better but not perfect.  go home and despite the snow melt, I had to remove each wheel and scrub, and pressure wash the inner rim on all 4 wheels.

[Resonator]

Reminds me of when I drove semi (pulling belly dump trailers) building roads in the oil fields out west. All of our haul roads were dirt roads, and in heavy rain and the project would shut down. If we worked while the roads were still wet, there would literally be hundreds of pounds of mud caked everywhere on the truck. Weekends I spent pressure washing, as the mud was so heavy it would make the loaded weight of the truck overweight. Mud or rocks could get caught between the duals. It not only could put them off balance, but become a slingshot ready to fly and take out a windshield.
Also spent many hours crawling on the "cardboard creeper" checking every inch of the rig, and greasing every zerk that would take it. Even a small pebble of gravel could cause trouble if it got caught between the iron brake drum and the pads.

[RetiredTech]

Mud buildup is a common problem here. Mainly on my wife's car. We have a long "gravel" road to travel anytime we leave the house. The problem is the county doesn't like to actually put gravel on it. Most of the road has little to no gravel left so when it rains for a day or two it gets  pretty nasty. It doesn't seem to bother my truck. But it throws the little CRV's wheels out of balance fairly often. Just the price of living in the country.

[moosehunter]

Dumb and Lucky,...
On my way to this past Saturdays job I stopped for fuel for the mill. On the way back I stopped to refill the other tank for the mill. I used my business debit card in the morning that I keep in my wallet. Used my fleet card, kept in the truck, at a different station on the way home. After my fuel stop in the evening I stopped by tractor supply to get some ATF for the mill. During a frantic search for my wallet I realized I had left it on the hydraulic box of the mill when I filled up in the morning, 11 hours ago!
 Knowing that there was close to zero chance of my wallet still being where it fell off, I retraced my route. Through some really rough city roads, then a high speed run up a long hill. I was about to take an exit to go back home but decided at the last second to go one more exit. There alongside the road is my wallet!!!! A couple of cards had blow / fallen out but only one of those remains missing.
mh

[thecfarm]

Now that's a lucky end to a bad story.

[TimW]

I attempt to be anal when it comes to putting credit cards back in my wallet and my wallet always in my back pocket.  But age is creeping up on me.

A few weeks ago was getting lawnmower gas and put the debit card in my top pocket.
The next day I was going to use it and it was gone.  I drove around town retracing my steps and found it in the laundry hamper at home.

When debit cards first came out, Dad forgot to remove his from a cash machine.

It happens.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, it's surprising how far along something will even sit on a bumper of a truck bouncing down the road. 

[Resonator]

I always keep a wedge handy when I'm bucking tree length into saw logs, (to put in the kerf if the saw starts to pinch). I had just set one down on top of the log and then didn't know where it went. Umm...found it.

[Magicman]

You big dummy.  I only saw mine part way through...

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yeah but his cost less than yours.

[Resonator]

It fell off in between the logs, and somehow got under the log I was cutting. At least it kept the chain out of the dirt...

[Magicman]

I was bucking a pinched limb off of the main stem. 


The green mark on the far right and I had pressure/stress from different directions. 

[SawyerTed]

Where the heck are those pretty orange shavings coming from?!? Is what I thought when I did that the last time...

[TimW]

Stihl wedges make pretty shavings.  I have 4 I use to back a blade out.  Two of them have melted slots in them by the back side of the blade rubbing on them.

[aigheadish]

It's become fairly regular for me to not remember wedges and get grumpy when I inevitably get my saw stuck in log. My yard isn't that big but I don't usually want to walk back up to the house to get them. Maybe these last few posts will help me remember.

[doc henderson]

Not such a good day at work #adamrose #construction #workers (youtube.com)

[TimW]

Ouch!

[SwampDonkey]

They play kinda rough.