Lesson learned

63DH8 · Jul 12, 2009

Yesterday, while getting my riding mower off my trailer (I was getting ready to take my tractor and brush hog to a lady friend's place. Whole different story), something hug up while the mower was on the ramps. "No big deal!" I thought. I pulled forward to get some momentum backwards to bump over whatever hung me up. I got stuck again. I decided to call y daughter to give me a hand, but decided to give the momentum thing one more chance. That's when disaster almost happened! The next thing I saw was sky. About the time I hit the ground, everything went in slow motion. I saw the rider falling towards me. I thought, "Awe CR@P! This is gonna HURT!" I remembered from a long forgotten marshal arts class taken decades ago that it's easier to deflect a blow than stop it. With everything I had, I pushed with my right leg and pushed towards the left with my arms. I got up swearing and cussing! No damage to me, and several scraps to my mower. I'm a little stiff, but that may be from the brush hogging at my lady friend's place.

Watch! In a few years, the feral government is going to require rops for riding mowers!

newbury · Jul 12, 2009

63DH8 said:
<snip>
Watch! In a few years, the feral government is going to require rops for riding mowers!

Feral? Freudian slip?

Anyways - they will probably require a CML - commercial mowers license - for anything over 6HP.

kebo · Jul 12, 2009

Our gov't has gone wild with spending money, so feral is the correct term!!

dirt ditch · Jul 12, 2009

The good thing is you were not hurt.

Slatecreek · Jul 12, 2009

Glad to hear that your ok, I can just imagine how bad something like that could have ended up. You are very lucky to walk away with only a few sore spots and a couple of scratches on your tractor.

tugboat-2 · Jul 12, 2009

Sorry 63DH8,.... I seem to have missed the cause of this unfortunate near disaster. What exactly was it you were hung up on? Was it the mower catching one of the ramps and your final "ramming" knocked it off and upset the machine on you?

Please clarify that for us. Could be a lesson here? Sure it sounds silly (to some) but with a ROPS and snug seat belt,..you could have ridden it down, albeit with a crash landing,...but you would not have had to put your martial-arts expertise to work.

Glad "you" are ok,....any other damage? Perhaps a fortunate thing you had not summoned your daughter after all. Hope she wasn't near as that would likely have been a traumatic experience for her to witness. How old is she?

Take good care,......and please tell us about these details, (unless your daughter is of the delicate age that would cause you to tell a lie, hee, hee!)
. . tug

63DH8 · Jul 12, 2009

newbury said:
Feral? Freudian slip?

Anyways - they will probably require a CML - commercial mowers license - for anything over 6HP.

Wikipedia said:
A feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to a wild state.
Feral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pretty much describes our Government!

63DH8 · Jul 12, 2009

tugboat-2 said:
Sorry 63DH8,.... I seem to have missed the cause of this unfortunate near disaster. What exactly was it you were hung up on? Was it the mower catching one of the ramps and your final "ramming" knocked it off and upset the machine on you?

Please clarify that for us. Could be a lesson here? Sure it sounds silly (to some) but with a ROPS and snug seat belt,..you could have ridden it down, albeit with a crash landing,...but you would not have had to put your martial-arts expertise to work.

Glad "you" are ok,....any other damage? Perhaps a fortunate thing you had not summoned your daughter after all. Hope she wasn't near as that would likely have been a traumatic experience for her to witness. How old is she?

Take good care,......and please tell us about these details, (unless your daughter is of the delicate age that would cause you to tell a lie, hee, hee!)
. . tug

The mower deck got caught on the ramps. If the ramps wasn't in such a steep angle, the deck wouldn't have gotten caught. If there was a ROPS system on the mower, I would be hanging from the seatbelt, but okay. It may look silly, but it could save someone's life who wasn't strong enough in the legs to push the mower aside.

As for my daughter, she's 19. She's the type who would stick feathers in my nostrils, paint pictures on my face, stick a wet finger in my ear, take pictures and post them on the internet and laugh while I was pinned. As long as she knows I'm not hurt, she'll antagonize me. Comes from being raise by a single dad.

tugboat-2 · Jul 13, 2009

OK Dad, got it. Thanks for the details, kinda what I suspected. Take care in future,...don't go messin up what sounds like a happy family!
CHEERS,
. . tug

63DH8 · Jul 13, 2009

I'll have to admit, I do have an outstanding family. I also have an older daughter who has cerebral palsy, non verbal, and a quadriplegic. She's attending college, is into investments via the internet, and loves to travel. We don't let the wheelchair slow us down much. Liz is included in what ever the rest of the family does. At the moment, our main project is to get this house paid off, torn down, and rebuilt so Liz can go anywhere she wants in the house with her wheelchair. When my ex and I bought this place, I told her this can't be our last place because of Liz's needs. She left back in 1996, and left me in a financial situation where I'm just now able to do more than just pay bills, so I couldn't sell this place and buy or build a house for my daughter's needs. Just a few more years, and this house is coming down, and a house for Lizzie's needs goes up!

Oh! This gave me an excuse to get a new tractor! While my younger daughter was in Japan, I told her that, if she gets "A"s and "B"s, I'll buy a tractor with a backhoe and let her tear down this house when it's time. She kept her side of the deal, so I'm going to keep my promise! She gets closure from her mom, and I get a new tractor with a backhoe!