Be Carful

   / Be Carful #1  

Giles

Silver Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
157
Location
Florence Alabama
Tractor
2009 Kubota B2320---Wheelhorse lawn mower--- Case 480D Backhoe
Last summer I noticed a new guy bushogging the property next to me. I know the guy and he is the type person that goes wide open at everything he does. I have bushoged the property for the previous owner so I knew a little about it.
I thought I better go out and warn him about a power pole guide wire on the property that was unmarked and virtually unseen with grown up vegitation.
Just as I got close to the property line, I was too late
He hit the wire just inside the right front wheel, the front of the tractor came up about a foot off the ground, the top of the Power pole moved toward the property--what looked like 3 foot.
A ball of fire--for lack of proper term--came down the guide wire and for some reason heated the netwire fencing to the point of starting about four fires along the 660' fence.:(
LUCKY he wasn't hurt--just had to change his underware before he could help me fight the fire.:thumbsup:
My power was knocked out so the power company was notified and they immediately placed a yellow covering on the outside of the guide wire. :)
 
   / Be Carful #2  
You are very consciences and I'm sure he appreciates it now even if not so much before.
 
   / Be Carful #3  
You are very consciences and I'm sure he appreciates it now even if not so much before.

Maybe...can't fix stupid though...

Good post, Giles!
 
   / Be Carful #6  
Yeah, but they were serving "manwichs":(


Sorry a little black humor

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Those are always "messy"

Branson MO, Huh? grew up down the road in Harrison!
 
   / Be Carful #7  
True story..... Many years ago (probably about 32?) when I was younger I used to spend the July 4th week at an uncle's lakehouse in central Florida (near Lake Wales, Fla) to go skiing and fishing. One day were all sitting at the table eating lunch. We were about finished when the lights flickered, but we thought nothing of it. Right after we finished eating, a cousin and I decided to drive around to the fish camp, which meant we had to go out the short access road to a secondary hwy, then drive a short distance on the hwy to get to the dirt road that led down to Uncle Joe's Fish Camp.

Along the access road was a good sized drainage ditch, being that it usually rains a lot in Florida and it was very close to the lake it had a good bit of water in it. There was a big tractor with a bush hog attached to it stuck in the ditch. The front tires had climbed up the ditch, but one rear tire was in the ditch and it had gotten stuck at a 45deg angle to the ditch. Directly behind the tractor was a straight path where it had just mowed through some pretty dense vegetation and brush, it was pretty tall stuff most of it over my head. I think that tract had been cleared at one point, but left to re-vegitate on its own.

Well, there was no tractor operator in sight of the tractor. Still, didn't think anything about it and drove on up the access road. Got up to the hwy and turned right to go to Uncle Joe's dirt road, which was maybe about 3 telephone poles away. At the middle pole there was a truck pulled over. A guy was standing over someone lying on the ground a few feet from the pole. We stopped mostly out of curiosity and learned it was the tractor operator. Unfortunately, she was deceased. I vividly recall seeing one of her hands laying a few feet from her, and one of those plastic hairnets with a small piece of gray brain matter caught in it also lying close to her. The body was that of a young black woman who was working for Polk County and they were cutting the ROW along the secondary hwy that day. We didn't know it at that moment, but she had a coworker operating another tractor maybe a mile or so up the road.

The passerby who was already there explained that the tractor had somehow caught the guy wire on the pole, rared up in the front, and threw the operator off the back of the seat. Apparently she had landed between the tractor and bushhog and got ran over by the bushhog, and the tractor continued on its way. Sure enough, there was a nicely cut path leading through the heavy brush to where we had just seen the tractor stuck in the ditch. He had already informed the coworker, who had gone off to make some calls I think (this was before cell phones, you know). He had come in from the other direction and saw the first tractor, and then came upon the woman's body, and the mowed path, and put 2 & 2 together. He had also notified the Polk County Sheriffs Dept. I think he said he had also driven around the access road and found the tractor still running and got out and shut it off, and then went back up to where she was laying at.

We didn't stick around for the police to show up. I'm not sure how the accident had happened. Either the front axle ran up on the guy wire, or the guy wire had gotten caught under (or on) the canopy. That's what had caused the lights to flicker earlier at the lakehouse. Either way would cause the front end to rare up like it did and pitch her off the back of the seat. I know that had to be terrifying to her when it happened. The guy wire had no yellow sleeves on it at the time. I guess that was about when they first starting putting sleeves on guy wires??

Anyway, to pound it in one more time we can't ever be too careful on a tractor. This might have better belonged in the Safety forum but thought I would add it here. Seemed like a good place/time for the story anyway.
 
   / Be Carful #8  
:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Those are always "messy"

Branson MO, Huh? grew up down the road in Harrison!

Ironic, I work in Harrison,, (for Windstream communications)

James K0UA
 
 
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