Left handed people are sinister. I learned that in Latin class 45 years ago.
I also learned that "de" means "from" and "lapida" means "stone". My simple mind then decided that a "dilapidated" building had to have been built out of stones.
de-lapidated would mean that it is missing some stones.
You know you're a geezer when...................
you have to one-up anyone else bragging about an injury or an ailment of any kind because yours is much worse than theirs.
I'm living proof of that based on what I did today. A young fellow (not 20 yet) showed me a couple little scars he got from falling off a roof when he was six years old. So, I pulled up one pant leg to show a scar that is more than twice his age (41+ years). Bizarre little trench running up the shin bone caused by a broken off dead weed stem that accidentally ran up the inside of my pant leg as I stepped down a very steep hill.
Holy Cow, post: 327366, member: 50 wrote: You know you're a geezer when...................
you have to one-up anyone else bragging about an injury or an ailment of any kind because yours is much worse than theirs.
Okay, my turn. This was my scalp about 3 weeks ago:
And these were the handi-wipes I used to gain control of the situation:
But I learned something I hadn't previously known about using a T-post driver...
Oooooooooooooooooooh, that looks sort of familiar.
Jim Frame, post: 327374, member: 10 wrote: Okay, my turn. This was my scalp about 3 weeks ago:
And these were the handi-wipes I used to gain control of the situation:
But I learned something I hadn't previously known about using a T-post driver...
Jim Frame,
You have to elaborate on how you managed to clock yourself like that with a T post driver so I can be sure to not follow in your footsteps.
Williwaw, post: 327482, member: 7066 wrote: Jim Frame,
You have to elaborate on how you managed to clock yourself like that with a T post driver so I can be sure to not follow in your footsteps.
Here's how you do it: start with hard ground and slow-going with the driver. Get concerned that the driving is going too slow, so keep eyes afixed to the post anchor to see when it get to the "good enough" point (anchor at or below ground level). Fail to adjust the driver stroke to account for post movement, eventually you'll reach a magic moment when the driver comes up off the top of the post, rotates rapidly backward, and delivers an unmistakable "hey, stupid" tap on the operator's head. Do a brief "what just happened" check, then resume driving. Once enough blood pools behind your hat brim, it'll come pouring forth, totally obscuring your vision, at which point it's time to take a break and find some handi-wipes or similar.
I was kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so once I got the bleeding under control I did an evaluation to see if I had any concussion symptoms (nausea, blurred vision, headache). I didn't, so I rested for a few minutes and got back to work. Had the situation been different, I was prepared to drive to the ER or even call 911, but I got lucky. Once I got home, though, it took my wife and son about an hour to get the wound cleaned up. (Neither one does very well with injuries, so they had to take turns working on me.)
Note that a hard hat would have rendered this nothing more than an "oops" event. But like I said, I was in farm country, with no one else anywhere around, so the thought never even occurred to me. Besides, how can you hit yourself in the head with a T-post driver?
Can you still use your T-Post driver?
lmbrls, post: 327493, member: 6823 wrote: Can you still use your T-Post driver?
No one has taken it away from me, if that's what you mean.
Back in the mid 60s our very tall instrument man decided to show his prowess at T post driving and lost his grip as his hand slid down the post pounder with high level force and he gouged out the meat part of his thumb on the corner of the T post.
He was not happy.
One of (and hopefully no more as I'm a safety freak) the two serous blood making accidents I've had as a 'supervisor' in 50 years of surveying.
Cheers,
Derek
I might mention that I was using the kind that has a pair of side handles rather than the kind that requires you to grip the cylinder. The handles give you more positive control up and down, but not nearly as much fore and aft, which is why I was unable to keep it from rotating onto my noggin when it slipped off the top of the past.
Jim Frame, post: 327500, member: 10 wrote: No one has taken it away from me, if that's what you mean.
No one is going to take it away. It is one of those jobs if you take it away you are the one in charge of running the heavy piece of machinery. You don't loose it until you die either from age or use.
Jim Frame, post: 327374, member: 10 wrote: Okay, my turn. This was my scalp about 3 weeks ago:
And these were the handi-wipes I used to gain control of the situation:
But I learned something I hadn't previously known about using a T-post driver...
I just threw up in my mouth. Gross.
So that's how it happened, eh? I had another possibility in mind. Some friends were constructing fences using 10-foot 'T' posts and leaving eight feet of post above ground. This required an extension to the post driver for the operator to be able to stand on the ground and whack a post that tall. Eventually a 10-footer becomes an 8-footer. Now you have to take the driver off of the post. The simple solution is to grab it in both hands as low as possible then fling it straight up as hard as possible so that it will leave the post and fall to the ground (or do bodily harm to the fool who just tossed it skyward).
Jim, to make you feel better, I'll share a similar sort of "oh, ****" moment" dating to my teen years. Spring had arrived and I was taking down the several hundred feet of snow fence that had helped protect our only driveway that winter. I had unwired the fencing and rolled it up. I was in process of removing the 'T' posts. You know, shove this way, shove that way, shove some other direction, start wiggling it around, eventually get it loosened enough you can pull it by hand. To save extra effort by bending over to pick up the loose posts, I would gently put them back into the hole the minimum amount to stay vertical. Once they were all loose I could then gather an armful at a time. Everything was going great until my charming teenage bride came out to check on me and we chatted for a few minutes. As she turned to leave, I promptly grabbed the post in front of me and gave a sharp tug towards me to begin loosening it. You guessed it. It was one I had already loosened and slipped back into the hole. My chin and lower lip took a couple of weeks to recover. Somehow none of my teeth were loosened by the sudden collision with a steel post.
Forty-three years have passed without a repeat performance and I have removed several hundred posts or more by hand using the same method.
Jim Frame, post: 327505, member: 10 wrote: I might mention that I was using the kind that has a pair of side handles rather than the kind that requires you to grip the cylinder. The handles give you more positive control up and down, but not nearly as much fore and aft, which is why I was unable to keep it from rotating onto my noggin when it slipped off the top of the past.
I hate those with handles, they are usually too short. My dad made one using about 3' of heavy walled pipe and then welded a 4" solid piece on top of that. It's heavy, so all you gotta do is lift it up and slam it down without holding on. I have made a few mis-licks with it but managed to get out of the way.
