sometimes, you're just lucky

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:42 pm

ok, so, I fell this huge black oak tree today, it was rotting at the base from old injuries,and, getting to look dangerous.......100' tall, probably 15K lbs.....30' dia at the base.

fell just as I hoped.

But,

as I was cutting it into manageable lengths, for clean up and lumber/firewood, I stepped up onto the trunk for better cutting angle.
I was using a "new to me" chainsaw, with a 36" bar........and, I stepped too high, as the chain had not come to a complete stop........
I felt it tug my pants, rip/cut......then a sensation on my leg, just above my kneecap.........
I didn't even want to look, knowing, in a severe injury situation, the pain is not always, immediate...........
I saw blood, sawdust, ripped cloth..........

"uh-oh".........

I set the saw down, stepped off the log to sit,, for inspection........

As I opened the shredded fabric of my pants (expecting to see skin in much the same condition), I found two, about 2" long cuts in my skin.....bleeding.......

dang....

I wiped the sawdust away, and, found,

"merely a flesh wound".......not super deep, fairly clean cuts........

the stopped bleeding shortly thereafter, moistening my pant leg only in the area of my knee............

"it could've been a lot worse.....I was lucky"........

lesson learned.

goathead · Post by **goathead** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:50 pm

did you go back to work?

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:53 pm

didn't stop......just looked at it and re-started the saw.
you should'a seen the expressions on the faces of my friends, who were there helping/watching......when they saw the shredded cut on my pants and the blood........they went quite pale.......

goathead · Post by **goathead** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:54 pm

city people I bet.
they always make me wonder.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:57 pm

one was, the worst concern was from my friend, the logger......he knew how bad it might have been..........he saw a fellow cut his patella tendon clean through in the same spot.....

goathead · Post by **goathead** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:06 pm

or bleeding out on the scene if you hit something major.
sounds like you did the right thing.
if you aint dead in a few minutes, its just a nice little break.

dirty bandana? to stop the flow and getting back to work.
Good Man.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:09 pm

goathead wrote:or bleeding out on the scene if you hit something major.
sounds like you did the right thing.
if you aint dead in a few minutes, its just a nice little break.

dirty bandana? to stop the flow and getting back to work.
Good Man.

nope, it seems the sawdust made a "patch".......until I scraped it off, anyway......

and, boy howdy, did that 7% (horse strength solution) iodine feel nice......

goathead · Post by **goathead** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:11 pm

sawdust is a great blood stop.
suprised you didn't just use everclear.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:13 pm

internal.............

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:14 pm

Ever consider truck driving? About daily, I almost kill someone... but their are a few incidents, that I remember with such clarity. Glad to hear it was just a fright!

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:15 pm

TomServo wrote:Ever consider truck driving? About daily, I almost kill someone... but their are a few incidents, that I remember with such clarity. Glad to hear it was just a fright!

well, share, that's what this thread is about..........

*scooting chair closer to screen*

Post by **Elderberry** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:20 pm

Damn Ygmir, glad you're ok! BE CAREFUL!!!

JK

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:31 pm

I would hate to have to shop for a one-legged prostitute these days, I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself .

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:34 pm

ygmir wrote:
TomServo wrote:Ever consider truck driving? About daily, I almost kill someone... but their are a few incidents, that I remember with such clarity. Glad to hear it was just a fright!
well, share, that's what this thread is about..........

*scooting chair closer to screen*

An actual kill? Aug.14, 2007 I-80 westbound, just before vallejo. Was passing an accident on the shoulder. Moved out of the slow lane, before passing. After checking all my mirrors, I proceeded to move back in the slow lane. About halfway their, I spotted a motorcycle helmet, outside my passenger window. I was fully loaded with kegs of beer, about 78,000GVW...but managed to stop the move. My truck, directly over the dotted line, I held it, so he could pass. But, for some reason, he slowed down and drifted off the road, and into a parked pickup truck. I watched in my side mirrors, as the bike came apart. Then I saw a red and white vapor. Then, what. I thought was, two helmets flying towards my truck. After I pulled my truck over, a man came running up..telling me I didn't want to see it.
Eventually, I saw it. His head was all over the freeway. And his body was facedown, in his socks. He got knocked out of his shoes...
Reading the newspaper, it said he had bought the bike...his first...three months prior.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:41 pm

As a truck driver, I thought that motorcycles didn't count as an actual kill.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:44 pm

thanks JK, OED.....yeah, I'm pretty familiar with chainsaws.....but, a new saw, and, a moments innattention......well, we all know the song.......

I was "just lucky" not to have stepped higher, tripped, or, had the saw at full revs..........

super sharp chain, too......it was slicing through that oak like it was cedar......

Wow, Tomservo.......

you were lucky, the bikerider, not.........

magicmarty · Post by **magicmarty** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:53 pm

Happy to hear your ok Ygmir

Be careful, the life you save may be your own!

Deb Prothero · Post by **Deb Prothero** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:14 pm

Glad to hear you're okay, ygmir.

I haven't told this story yet since it happened this year on the way to the burn and I wanted to figure out in my own mind if I could have done anything differently. I'm afraid to say I think I did all I could. Any advice from truck drivers as to how I could have avoided this would be appreciated.

Approaching a place on I80 where two lanes went to the right and two went to the left for one of those major direction changes just before a major city. Can't think where just now. I was in the second lane to proceed to the right. A truck was about three car lengths behind me but in the far right lane.

All of a sudden I realize (with the help of my passenger screaming) that the vehicle I am approaching in my lane has its four ways on and is NOT moving. As in, sitting on the lane and NOT moving. Glancing in the mirror I realize I can just make it in front of that truck if I give it some gas. So I swerve into that lane. And we did swerve 'cause it went up on two wheels. Fortunately I was able to hold it and get straightened around.

Just as I get straight, I look in my rear view mirrors, I realize the truck had swerved into the lane I had been in possibly thinking that he needed to do this to avoid me. He hit that car that was sitting still and blew it to smithereens. I saw the pieces fly.

I pulled over 'cause I was shaking like a leaf. Stayed on the side of the road for about a half hour. I was on the end of the curve at the side of the road so I could not see any parts of the vehicle that had been hit by the truck. I could see that the truck had come to rest in the median just before hitting a bridge abuttment.

I've been thinking about this incident long and hard. I don't know if I could have done anything differently. And I don't know if I could have warned the truck driver but it was all I could do to avoid hitting that car myself.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:22 am

Stopped cars on the freeway are a particular problem. but semis are even worse.
They don't seem to register due to the size.

The river bridge always makes me nervous because there is nowhere to go.
The last few breakdowns on there were hit almost immediately by trucks, so I guess it's even worse than I thought.

I was passing someone recently and had a bike start tailgating me.
As I came over I saw he was already on my right.
If I had snapped right, I would have highsided him and the passenger.
There was only two feet of median to the edge.
I hope I scared them good.

For close calls, I had a car try to force me over.
They suddenly snapped across the front of my car and hit the car on my left hard.
I coasted through and thought I'd been hit.
Not a scratch, but melted rubber on the chrome bumper edge.
He'd locked the tire against my bumper.
I still feel bad for the guy on my left.
He was doing all that was possible to help me avoid an accident.
He got hit front and rear.

Maybe I should tell the story about the missing hand?

Ygmir, I'm guessing you know not to use a saw in an arc that has any body parts in line with it?
Glad you're okay.

I became much more anxious about saws when a very tall tree I was cutting went the wrong way.
I suddenly felt the saw bind.
I pulled once, then let go and ran.
The tree jumped off the stump and dropped where I had been.
Then it fell the wrong way.
It wouldn't have reached the neighbor's house, but the top let go from the speed and went through their roof.
I had nightmares for awhile.

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:27 am

Deb Prothero wrote:Glad to hear you're okay, ygmir.

I haven't told this story yet since it happened this year on the way to the burn and I wanted to figure out in my own mind if I could have done anything differently. I'm afraid to say I think I did all I could. Any advice from truck drivers as to how I could have avoided this would be appreciated.

Approaching a place on I80 where two lanes went to the right and two went to the left for one of those major direction changes just before a major city. Can't think where just now. I was in the second lane to proceed to the right. A truck was about three car lengths behind me but in the far right lane.

All of a sudden I realize (with the help of my passenger screaming) that the vehicle I am approaching in my lane has its four ways on and is NOT moving. As in, sitting on the lane and NOT moving. Glancing in the mirror I realize I can just make it in front of that truck if I give it some gas. So I swerve into that lane. And we did swerve 'cause it went up on two wheels. Fortunately I was able to hold it and get straightened around.

Just as I get straight, I look in my rear view mirrors, I realize the truck had swerved into the lane I had been in possibly thinking that he needed to do this to avoid me. He hit that car that was sitting still and blew it to smithereens. I saw the pieces fly.

I pulled over 'cause I was shaking like a leaf. Stayed on the side of the road for about a half hour. I was on the end of the curve at the side of the road so I could not see any parts of the vehicle that had been hit by the truck. I could see that the truck had come to rest in the median just before hitting a bridge abuttment.

I've been thinking about this incident long and hard. I don't know if I could have done anything differently. And I don't know if I could have warned the truck driver but it was all I could do to avoid hitting that car myself.

Sounds like the truck driver should have been ready for you to swerve around that vehicle. Unfortunately, a lot of truckers fall into the same lazy habits that 4-wheelers have. I always keep a regular record, of who's behind me, ahead of me and on either side.
Getting ahead of the truck, by gunning your engine was probably the best thing you could have done..especially if a head on collision was unavoidable. I wish more people did that on onramps. I think its fair, to hold truck drivers to higher standards, considering the ridiculous amount of weight they have behind them. He or she should have been prepared for your move. The stopped car had its 4ways on, the driver should have moved his truck away from a possible situation.

Ygmir... do chainsaws need breaking in? Or are they just different animals, brand to brand?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:32 am

Some have much more aggressive teeth.

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:35 am

oneeyeddick wrote:As a truck driver, I thought that motorcycles didn't count as an actual kill.

Rice rockets do, because they tend to look for trouble... this driver never actually came in contact with my truck, or trailer, until after he hit the parked truck. Last time I saw trailer 840, the stain was still their.

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:51 am

Truck drivers sit so high up they can see much further ahead. Those four ways should have registered with him.

I was with MyLarry for a slow speed incident.

He was hauling containers of cheese curds from Idaho to Wisconsin. we had to detour through a town and back onto the Interstate, I don't recall which one offhand. The traffic was bad and we were crawling. As we approached the ramp on city streets, the right lane became a right turn only, and the left a left only. There was a light and then the center lane went straight onto the ramp, candlestick cones on the left and cement k-rails on the right.

We finally got a green light and began inching into the intersection. A small sedan came roaring up on the right. I saw her in the mirrors and pointed to her as she came up beside the passenger door, Larry had thought she'd turned. She started honking at us. Larry had gotten the rig rolling and there was no way he could slow much more without coming to a dead stop, nor pull to the left or stop to let her in. You just don't stop a semi in an intersection! She started flipping us off, I could see into her car clearly as she was right behind my door. She never got ahead of the truck, or even the front door.

Suddenly, she looks up and sees she is about to go head on into the K-rails. Did she pull to the right into the empty lane? No, she jerked left... directly under the trailer. Larry had been watching her at this point. He managed to stop a fully loaded rig and not touch her car. The hood was angled between the back tandems and the drop down turn signal. Had he kept rolling, he would have crushed the front end of her car, and probably hurt her badly. She had to back up so he could move at all; she just sat there until I leaned out the window and waved at her to move. I cold see a clearly terrified elderly couple in the back seat!

Once we got up on the interstate (could have been a divided highway), she blew by us... after she'd waited for the rest of the line of cars because no one else would let her in. Larry called his safety people, just in case, but nothing came of it. We don't know if she was crazy or trying to play the Big Rig lottery. High? Stoned? Road raging? I would love to her her version of this story... mean old trucker wouldnt let her in?

Dumped the front containers of cheese curd, which meant extra hours going to a salvage company after the delivery, and washing out the trailer. I bet she had no clue she was costing Larry and the company so much time and money.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:08 am

So good to hear your OK YGMIR!!!!!

yes, one of these days Ill try to get the Video downloaded on utube so ya'll can see the near miss of our friend cutting the front tree down!

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:13 am

I ran over a cat once.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:23 am

Ok I found it and downloaded it...sorry its sideways.....

[youtube][/youtube]

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:35 am

TomServo:

Do chainsaws need breaking in?
well,
yes.

if brand new..........you try not to work it under super heavy, sustained load for extended periods of time for the first 20hours or so..........just to let the rings and cylinder mesh. Not meaning low rpm use, but, not "lugging" as such, it creates high heat situation. High rpms , light load is best.

the chain, if new, will stretch a fair amount initially, and, should be checked and adjusted often, again for the first number of hours.

Deb:
wow, that sounds down right scary....glad you made it through.........sounds like the best defensive driving technique you could have managed in that situation.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:38 am

egad Pinemom........

that fellow is so lucky to be alive...........
looks like he cut that off in one cut.........instead of an under cut and back cut.........
YIKES!!

was he just sitting on that limb, or was he tied to the tree?

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:42 am

He was "somewhat" tied to the tree, he did a under cut, but the wind and the angle of the cut....knocked his hat off, thats how lucky he was!

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:53 am

dang.........

yup, he was lucky............

I saw a fellow working in a tree sort if like that, tied in (which, he should have been), when the limb went the wrong way, (it was long), it stuck between him and the tree, with the rope/harness/ belt, holding him on the tree, but also the limb wedged in and levering against him.....he was screaming and finally able to get the limb out of there..........it would have killed him if it knocked him down.........