sometimes, you're just lucky

[pinemom]

yes, to this day his wife refuses to watch the video!

[littleflower]

motorcycles scare me to death. i call 'em kamikazes. they come up on you very quickly on a crowded LA freeway, and get really pissed if you don't see them ... as if we are supposed to be looking everywhere at once, all the time! if do i see one coming, i move to the side and stay in my lane until they pass. too scary.

my lucky experience .... i was driving home late on a sunday evening, going about 75 in the fast lane of a very crowded highway 101 through the SF valley, when a tire blew. i managed to get over 4 lanes of heavy, fast-moving traffic without hitting anything, but i have no memory of it at all.... that's the creepy part...

[can't sit still]

ygmir, I just got another Husky for my new project. I stuck with a 24' bar. The longer bars need a whole new level of awareness and care. I just did a lot of work with a Stihl "pole saw" . That sucker extends out to 10 feet or so. I was forever swinging it into stuff.

Some years ago, I cleared 7 acres of standing dead Lodgepole pine. Mostly small stuff but the roots were rotted. It was falling right and left. Lotsa fun. Youtube is instructive for felling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs_nJyEG ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVTDpYRY ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=169Z_pv5 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVIEwDQe ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0mMLdm7 ... re=related

[ygmir]

nice vids...........yikes........

yeah, I've usually just used the long bar saws for falling, then, limb with the smaller ones.......it was just cutting so good, I kept going......and, learned a valuable lesson.

[Sail Man]

Ygmir, egads man Glad to hear your not needing that prophets staff as a second leg. My brother did the same thing that you did, gave me the willy's none the less back then as your wee flesh wound did now.

A couple weeks ago, I responded on a long fall from a tree. Guy was up in a tree, about 20' up with a chainsaw cutting off a large limb. When it came free it knocked him out of the tree and he landed on his feet. Fortunately he didnt come in contact with a running chainsaw on the way down. Unfortunately he came into contact with the ground which caused his left tib/fib to fracture, resulting in an open fracture. Even with alcohol on board he was receptive to morphine for some odd reason. My job often affords me a front seat for when good days become bad days. Weapons, power tools, motor vehicles, all provide my industry with job security. And the occasional Darwin Award.

Deb. Crap! I think I'll take that beer now.

[theCryptofishist]

A collection of scary stories. But we all know I can top them.

[jkisha]

A collection of scary stories. But we all know I can top them.

I never liked trains all the much to begin with.

JK

[Sail Man]

A collection of scary stories. But we all know I can top them.

yes, unfortunately, yes

[Shambala]

A collection of scary stories. But we all know I can top them.

While I know you can top it, you have a better attitude than anyone I know!

yg, glad you're ok. Don't do that again!

[littleflower]

i'm just glad you're still with us, fishy ....

[malikaziani]

It sounds like you are okay. Kudos for having your chaps on. In memory of the strong old tree you aptly described, I think of nothing but the years it lived rooted. You brought it down yesterday Nordicperson. It just needed to leave its mark with you.
Once when I was in band camp, a tree stood up and slapped me on my nose.In the right light, you can still see its mark.

[ygmir]

It sounds like you are okay. Kudos for having your chaps on. In memory of the strong old tree you aptly described, I think of nothing but the years it lived rooted. You brought it down yesterday Nordicperson. It just needed to leave its mark with you.
Once when I was in band camp, a tree stood up and slapped me on my nose.In the right light, you can still see its mark.

I have considered it a sort of "payment" for taking the tree.....

Know this:
I acknowledged it's presence, life, and gifts.........and, gave thank for same.
I warned it what was to come.
I will make use of all that can be used, in the best way I can.

This is the way of my Paganism..........

It was diseased, rotting at the trunk, from old injury. (evidenced after falling by substantial rotted areas within.

leaning very much over a building and garden area, and, would have destroyed much when it fell (who knows how long that would have been)
I am about to create something that, when completed, would preclude fall the tree in the spot, the only safe option, I did.

I was not wearing chaps, just work pants.........

[theCryptofishist]

I hope mentioning my experience hasn't chilled discussion on this thread. I think it's interesting and I didn't want to stop it, just give a gentle reminder that there are degrees, and properly speaking I should probably be dead.

It's a strange thought.

[ygmir]

I can't see your mention chilling any discussion here.
The thread is, I hope, for just that..........
sharing stories of being lucky, and avoiding catastrophe......to whatever degree the avoidance is, and, prevents..........

it's all degrees, is it not?
Your case, for some, would be "the end".
For you, it seems, a detour, but, you keep travelin that highway, anyway.
and,
good on ya, for that. We all benefit from your presence.

Mine, pales in comparison, but, still, could have been bad, but for "luck"........

TomServo, a little different, but still........

AntiM, too.

I'd just like to hear, and discuss, the events like this the affect folks.
makes a person realize what a fine line we walk, between life and death.


*speech over, carry on*

[malikaziani]

I wouild think of it nothing less than a transformation of life. I am surprised at the no chaps thing. I love to feel safe
...so I always wore my chaps (needless to say, I hit them once..no injury) and my boot too...It was my second sock that saved me) I am sure you are well aware of many things to create out of the old tree. Have you thought about taking a chunk...drilling some holes, plug in some shiitake mushroom plugs, throwing it into a damp dark corner and voila...shiitake burgers for all. Good luck to you.

I have considered it a sort of "payment" for taking the tree.....

Know this:
I acknowledged it's presence, life, and gifts.........and, gave thank for same.
I warned it what was to come.
I will make use of all that can be used, in the best way I can.

This is the way of my Paganism..........

It was diseased, rotting at the trunk, from old injury. (evidenced after falling by substantial rotted areas within.

leaning very much over a building and garden area, and, would have destroyed much when it fell (who knows how long that would have been)
I am about to create something that, when completed, would preclude fall the tree in the spot, the only safe option, I did.

I was not wearing chaps, just work pants.........[/quote]

[gyre]

Enable bbcode on your profile and on the posts.
And smilies.
It should all work in preview.

[ygmir]

mmmmmmmm

mushrooms........

[Deb Prothero]

Mushrooms is a very clever idea. And tasty too. Mushroom caps stuffed with crab meat would be a perfect treat at your mountain cabin party!

[magicmarty]

Right on, Deb!

Stuffed mushrooms! Yuuuuummmmmmm!

[ygmir]

Mushrooms is a very clever idea. And tasty too. Mushroom caps stuffed with crab meat would be a perfect treat at your mountain cabin party!

we have crawdads up there.....so, mighty be good stuffed with that?

[Deb Prothero]

okay, ygmir, I'll bite: What's a crawdad? Never heard of that.

[ygmir]

[Deb Prothero]

Is it edible? If so, is it good? Might be nice in the mushroom caps.

[ygmir]

fresh water lobster.........very tasty.............

[pinemom]

unless of course you try to harvest them (crayfish)out of the Truckee River....ewwww!

Yes, the TREE.
We too had that unfortunate death (same tree in Video) but it has been given a second leash on life.
A wizard sculpture, and all its 9 cords went to all our friends to prevent hardship of heating their homes in the winter.

[AntiM]

After my bouts with cancer, my doctors kept gushing about second chances and fresh starts and opportunities. I find that while I do have an altered perspective of life now, I certainly have not shaped up and saved the world. Do people who've survived neat-misses feel the same way? That they have to "do" something special now? Or does life go back to a new version of the same old same old?

I'm guessing it is as individual as... individuals. But I'd still like to hear how people feel about getting lucky. Well, you know, not that getting lucky, the not dying getting lucky.

[ygmir]

I've had several close brushes with death........not disease, but, accident, or, near accidents........
and, had friends "not so lucky"......

to me, I'm not so much driven to "save the world" or change something, as, I am to make sure those I love know it,
those I can help, I do,
and, those that need a smile, get one.


the rest, well........no time for it......

[Deb Prothero]

Good question, AntiM.

Not sure that I really changed much after narrowly escaping hitting that car this year. I took a few minutes to think about what had happened and several months to firmly decide that I really couldn't have managed the situation any better.

When at the side of the road, I went over the whole scene in my mind several times. Walked around a bit to get control of the shakes and then I focussed on what I wanted to do next - get to the burn.

It's kind of the pattern of how I've dealt with stuff in the past. Review it, figure out what to do to prevent it or do something better next time and then focus on the future.

I did start a suicide group for burners online (with professional assistance) and a suicide phone tree for burners this year after Caleb died. Together that group has actively prevented four more suicides.

In a way, that's a different way of looking at life but I have started different organizations before in my past, this one just happens to be focussed on suicide awareness and prevention. When I've seen something that needed doing, I've done it, so even doing that is not really different.

After one major car accident in 1983 where I totaled a car but limped away with only two cracked knee caps, I had to give up jogging. I've never really replaced that jogging with anything else physical either which is a shame 'cause I used to love it. I'd like to replace it with getting lucky someday.

[theCryptofishist]

Hm. I didn't go back to work for 8 months. I have drastically changed, in some ways.

What has happened, turning 40, losing Scott, the accident I'm a bit more impatient with time wasting nonsense. I used to read really crappy books, because at least I was reading. Now I very seldom do that. Finishing a book is a conscious choice. I don't know if it goes much deeper than that. I plonk eplayans I can't cope with--I don't want them wasting my precious time, I don't want to waste my own time arguing with them.

Is that enough change for you, AntiM?

[magicmarty]

I was really pondering whether talking about mortality was something that might be a downer, but here goes. At my age, one really does look at a relatively short and finite time that one can be a part of the living life. And the short of it is that what Fishy says, you don't tolerate time wasters. You tend ot do and say what you feel and as my Pagan friend says you tell folks that you love, that you love them. You try to live among the young, because it makes you feel young. Inside my head, I am still 25 and have all of the feelings that I had back then. It is why I so love being part of this and being part of Burning Man. As my dear wife says, if not now, then when. Enjoy, children! You only go through this life once, and it is up to you to make it all that you want it to be. Taste, feel, experience, love and immerse yourself in the beauty and joy that is around you. Sure, there is a lot of shitty stuff that is there as well, but focus on the bright and have fun. Do what you can as Ygmir says. You can't change the world, but you can make a difference in the little world that surrounds you and that feels good. We try to touch a life here and there when we can and that is how we do it.

Sorry to have gone on so long. Better shut my trap about now.