CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Yeah like when the guys says "I'll just put you up in this here loader so as you can reach it and I'll go real slow with the tractor. Then you wont have to climb the tree cause thats dangerous!"..
H
hornett22
Guest
don't feel bad on that one.
i'm sure my day is coming.i have nightmares about cutting down the wrong tree.you would think i'd have nightmares about falling or cutting myself with an ms200.
i'm sure my day is coming.i have nightmares about cutting down the wrong tree.you would think i'd have nightmares about falling or cutting myself with an ms200.
H
hornett22
Guest
i figured that out.
fortunately ,it wasn't a big deal.western mass electric fixed it for free.now when the guys on the ground have a great idea,i remind them it's my insurance and if they have their own,we'll do it their way because i'm not using mine when there ideas go wrong.
fortunately ,it wasn't a big deal.western mass electric fixed it for free.now when the guys on the ground have a great idea,i remind them it's my insurance and if they have their own,we'll do it their way because i'm not using mine when there ideas go wrong.
treetx
Traveler extraordinaire
Listening to other people and groundies is important. You have to weight their points quickly vs what your gut says........but ALWAYS trust your gut.
Blunders...pfft.... I'm perfect!
Blunders...pfft.... I'm perfect!
FJR
Treehouser
This is an embarrassing story, but I might as well share. This is right when I had first started working for my dad and I was around 18. It was a Siberian elm in a back yard, and we had a man lift that could access it. It was cold outside, extremely windy and the tree went over the power lines. I had a lowering line set, but no tag line. As I saw the limb coming down my heart had stopped... you guessed it I knocked out the power. As the live wire was now on the ground, the entire neighborhood walked out their back door and saw me.
I came down from the man lift and was so embarrassed. My dad had convinced me to get back up and finish as there was only about 15 minutes of work left. He knew I messed up really bad but he was the first one to say shit happens and told me not to hang my head. I still remember everyone in their surrounding backyards looking up at me and being extremely pissed.
Fortunately, Com Ed had come out immediately and they fixed my blunder for free. To this day I try to be extra cautious and spend the extra time for the added safety in having everything work out right. What a horrible feeling that was, I remember going home like a dog with it's tail between it's legs.
I came down from the man lift and was so embarrassed. My dad had convinced me to get back up and finish as there was only about 15 minutes of work left. He knew I messed up really bad but he was the first one to say shit happens and told me not to hang my head. I still remember everyone in their surrounding backyards looking up at me and being extremely pissed.
Fortunately, Com Ed had come out immediately and they fixed my blunder for free. To this day I try to be extra cautious and spend the extra time for the added safety in having everything work out right. What a horrible feeling that was, I remember going home like a dog with it's tail between it's legs.
Tree Reb
TreeHouser
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
I've ripped down powerlines more times than I care to tell. I made direct contact with a primary a few years ago. I dont laugh about that. By the grace of God and by not grounding well I am here today. I fought a guy once in a customers front yard. Chip trucks and police cars dont look good together in the driveway of a multi million dollar estate.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Lordy.
T
top hopper
Guest
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #60
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
I've done the same thing, more than once and nothing I would brag on. No cops were involved, so far.
B
Blinky
Guest
Did the same when I was a teenager, filled a gas truck up with diesel.
I've also mis-read a big pine top and had to have a wedge and felling bar sent up with the top mostly cut... praying for no wind.
I've taken out phone and CATV lines a couple of times but my worst blunder was, without a doubt, incorrectly assessing the roots of a 3 stemmed maple which subsequently fell after I had taken two of the stems and seriously altered the balance. The last stem fell when I got near the top... it significantly altered my appearance for a few months and now I'm paranoid in dead trees.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
OUCH
One time my Uncle's guy filled the bin carrier's hydraulic tank with gasoline and then my Uncle sent me to another ranch with it. It had a hydra-static drive so when I got about a half mile down the road the hycraulic oil/gasoline mixture got hot enough to start evaporating and the only vent was a little hole in the pipe-cap on the hydraulic tank. It sounded like someone blowing compressed air, but nothing caught on fire. My Dad came by and went back and got the gas wagon and reversed the connections on the pump and sucked the mixture back into the gas tank (which was 350 gallons). My Uncle was worried that having 20 gallons of hydraulic oil would mess up the gas but we never knew the difference.
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
Top hopper, its a long story but I will sum it up quickly. Doing a removal over a road, a lady sped past our flagger and stayed on the gas hard. She weaved through our cones at full speed. She slowed down as she got to me at the chipper and i was fuming. I pounded on the trunk of her car with my fist as she went by and yelled at her. She was NUTS! Her husband or whatever came back an hour later and picked a fight with me. neighbor saw it and called Johnny Law. They fined that lady and her husband.
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
I chalk that up to a bad decision because I should have laughed and walked away. There's certain things i will roll up my sleeves over if i need but that certainly wasnt one of them. Could have cost my boss a 25 year customer, cost me a job, and cost me 30 days in the county.
sawinredneck
Treehouser
In that case, I think a chunk of wood might have somehow "slipped" out of my hands breaking some part of the car. But I don't seem to play well with others
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top hopper
Guest
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #68
Understandable, I get fumed too when idiot drivers fly by the work zone. Sorry to hear you lost your job over it. At least you didnt lose any teeth 
Paul B
I dig hammocks.
I saw a flag lady throws her stop/go sign at a car after it sped past her, funny, the backhoe 40 meters further up the road just 'mistakenly' put his boom out a bit past the cones and the car 'accidentally' needed a new windshield and some body work.
Bodean
Cali dreamer
I watched someone throw a chunk sidehill and have it bounce
through the back door of the neighbor's garage,
knocking it off it's hinges and setting off the home alarm shrieking
as neighbors walked their dogs.
The chunk rolled between two high end cars.
We sent a ground guy to grab the chunk out of the garage
and we just kept working, had to get the tree finished.
I was soooooo glad I didn't do that, or my ass woulda gotten beat.
through the back door of the neighbor's garage,
knocking it off it's hinges and setting off the home alarm shrieking
as neighbors walked their dogs.
The chunk rolled between two high end cars.
We sent a ground guy to grab the chunk out of the garage
and we just kept working, had to get the tree finished.
I was soooooo glad I didn't do that, or my ass woulda gotten beat.
S
swampy036
Guest
wacking off your thumb is easy :what:
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Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
I didnt lose my job.....could have. Another big blunder though was not double checking the port-a-wrap one time while a rookie groundie was under me. He was doing so well lowering that I got a little lax about things. I should have glanced down at how many wraps he took before i cut the top of an ash loose. I watched that top soar like Peter Pan right through all the utility lines. It was a sick feeling as i watched that top hinge over....and fall....and fall...and keep falling. I didnt have an experienced groundie at that job who could mentor and supervise him. I told him 2 wraps and he got cocky and took half a wrap. I should have glanced down to be sure.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
Probably not my biggest blunder, but an eye opener for sure. Back when I used to mow lawns I launched a good sized rock through a window into the customers corn flakes. What a mess.
sawinredneck
Treehouser
Mitre saw, doing hardwood flooring. It's a lot easier than you think!
Not tying a tag line on a limb:
the laaaast six inches of the tip brushed a guy wire for the support pole for the power pole across the road...the wire shook>>the pole shook>>>the wire going across the road shook more>>>the power pole shook even more>>>then the primaries started to sway...cccrrrackkkk, sparks and smoke...
I had the traffic stopped and EVERYONE was watching!
It tripped a circuit, Belco turned up to see what was going on, reset it...
the laaaast six inches of the tip brushed a guy wire for the support pole for the power pole across the road...the wire shook>>the pole shook>>>the wire going across the road shook more>>>the power pole shook even more>>>then the primaries started to sway...cccrrrackkkk, sparks and smoke...
I had the traffic stopped and EVERYONE was watching!
It tripped a circuit, Belco turned up to see what was going on, reset it...
