How'd it go today?

My small chipper was a hair from being damaged today. One of the pins-hinge-like holding the folding tray lost its circlip and slided out of its bore, toward the inside of course. 9/16 diam x 1" 1/4, steel. The knifes wouldn't be the only parts wrecked. When I drove the chipper back to my van at the day's end, I saw the pin almost completely out, holding just by its circlip's groove on the the edge of the panel. Next limb, it would be done.
I hate when other people use my gear. Almost each time, there's a problem.
 
I watched my uncle castrate hogs when I was about 10 or 12...quite an experience. My cousin, Noah, who was my age, but a tough-as-nails farm boy, would grab the shoats by the hind legs and flip them over. Then Uncle Hamp would squat down to do the deed. I can still remember the shrieking of all the hogs when one was getting cut. Then it got real quiet...until he cut the next one. Pure bedlam. I remember he had a hawkbill knife, held the scrotum low and tight to make the skin tight and made his slice. The testicles popped out into his hand and he pulled them out a bit so that he could cut the Vas Defrens...then slung them away. And the other hogs ate them. Crazy stuff. Hogs will eat anything.
 
Yeah, never caught that episode of on the farm with friends and family :lol: then i decided to go look at other stuff and try to forget that terrifying visual!
 
Got stood up by the client today. Had moved my kit in. I was a little behind this morning. Took his kid to school. Wife texted me that he would be right back. Waited an hour and went back to the shop. Two day stint just went down to one. He can have a couple more in Nov. Never done this before. So I'll for give him this episode. Worked on a splitter at the shop. Reloded some shot shell for Wed practice. Cooked dinner and had a visit from a buddy with a deer tag. Neighbor already took a 3x3 behind our property. So only doe's today. Timing is everything. These were just over the hill.
There is a 4x4 inthat group of all legal bucks. received_408356387568546.jpeg
 
Closed down the course yesterday. Did final ball recovery & mowing. Boss lady handed me some bonus cash and said thanks for my efforts.
Today: prep all the machines for winter storage & whatever else the boss needs help with.

Tomorrow: heading out for a few days vacation in Tenn.
 
Ha! Mowed about 1 1//2 hrs. and the boss said let the rest go until I get back form vacation...I can deal with that! 8)

Gary, music is what it's all about! Going to a music camp...3 days of personal instruction from Justin Branum (who just won the Ala State fiddle championship last weekend. Will also be jamming with a bunch of pickers I only know from a musician's forum I help moderate.
 
@treesmith
Life lesson: When in a tight, side with Uncle Hamp and Cousin Noah...

You are right there. Uncle Hamp was a Battalion Scout, WW2, Italian campaign...doing recon before the main troops arrived. I know of 2 occasions where Noah tangled with a 6-8 foot alligator. Once in a boat he had to finish off one that he had shot with a 30-06. It "came back" and was going after his little brother, Ike. Not a good idea to shoot it again while in the boat. He killed that one with a pocket knife. Another time, he ran over one in the night on the country road near his house. It skittered into a corn patch. He took his tire iron and found it in a big "crop circle" where it had thrashed around escaping. He dispatched that one with a tire iron.

Noah was my hero for a long time...best shot I ever knew. We'd go dove hunting...25 shells to a box. He'd get 20 birds. I was happy to get 2 or 3 from a box of 25.
 
Let's just keep this simple: don't F with Uncle Hamp and Noah. Just dont do it. It will not end well for you. ;)

What's Noah doing these days??:wall:
 
Noah had so much going right for him at a young age....tough, strong, funny, agile...he got bested by a horizontal ladder challenge at a fair as a teenager so he went home and made one and learned to beat it. He took exception once to a soldier that was dumb enough to waltz in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen in Adel, GA, where Noah was hanging out. Noah said they ended up in a fight. Noah usually won fights but not this time. He found out later the soldier was a Green Beret so I guess it was OK to get whipped by a bonafide badass (this was late 60's, early 70's).

But being young, braggadocious, and full of life he took some wrong turns. Fast driving, drinking, things teenagers often do. But he could not handle the demons. He had alcohol problems for years, then a serious hand injury (let hand...almost amputated by a radial arm saw making aluminum storm windows. They re-attached but he needed a real hand specialist. We told him to come to Atlanta where we had a good surgeon lined up for him. But, the local orthopod assured them he could handle it. He could not...poor blood supply, nerve issues, etc. He never got good function again, hand withered, he wore a single black glove so folks didn't have to see how bad it was. Long story short, after that he also had medication issues for pain to complicate things. That led to marriage problems and divorce. At some point he had an issue with an elbow problem. It all came to be too much...a self-inflicted .45 to the heart was his final shot. Pretty sad stuff.

I work to keep alive the younger Noah memories...and still miss him. I am still in touch with Ike, Noah's younger brother that was the target of the gator in the boat. Ike laughs just like Noah. He is a S. GA pastor, as good a fellow as you could hope for. We have fun re-living Noah stories when we get together.
 
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