Stupid Things I Have Done

[Jstpssng]

Have smelled flowers knowing that I am gonna just die from my allergy but they are just sooo gooood

For years I was immune to the smell. Growing up in my parents flower shop and greenhouse, when people came in and said "It smells so GOOD in here" I had a hard time not saying "What does?" One day I leaned over to smell a carnation before picking it... just as an earwig crawled out.

 

[airbiscuit]

So, we finally got some much needed rain, so I thought I'd quick go out and smooth the road last night. While driving out ot he garage, I heard a snap, felt a bang on the head, and then heard a crash. The $%^ emergency release cord got caught on my ROPS and released the door, sending it down on my head and having my ROPS crash through it. I am shortening that up. Luckily, only the bottom panel was damaged. Grrr

 

[Dftodd]

Told my wife she was throwing a hissy fit I won't make that mistake again

 

[MossRoad]

When I was 17 I had my first motorcycle, a Yamaha DT250 Enduro. I was sitting on it in front of my employer's office talking to a bunch of coworkers. I was revving the engine, and for some reason, just let go of the clutch. It was in gear.

Shot down the street doing a wheelie with my legs hanging off the pegs, arms outstretched holding on for dear life, looking at the sky. Somehow managed to pull myself up onto the seat, bring it back down to earth, and turn just missing running into the side of a building as the street curved.

At that point, I decided I'd better just keep on going, shifted into 2nd and rode home VS going back for ridicule.

 

[Dftodd]

When I was 17 I had my first motorcycle, a Yamaha DT250 Enduro. I was sitting on it in front of my employer's office talking to a bunch of coworkers. I was revving the engine, and for some reason, just let go of the clutch. It was in gear.

Shot down the street doing a wheelie with my legs hanging off the pegs, arms outstretched holding on for dear life, looking at the sky. Somehow managed to pull myself up onto the seat, bring it back down to earth, and turn just missing running into the side of a building as the street curved.

At that point, I decided I'd better just keep on going, shifted into 2nd and rode home VS going back for ridicule.

Buddy did something almost identical to what you described. Started reving the throttle and hand slipped off the clutch. Except his ordeal didn't work out as yours did.

Flew out his buddies driveway doing a wheelie, hopped the ditch across the road and ended up out in the pucker brush

Had another buddy who wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran into a parked truck.

Buddy came too in the back of the truck under a carport in someone's driveway.

Dude didn't realize his truck had been struck or that my buddy was unconscious in the back. Buddy wandered around for a while till he found a gas station and used the payphone to call me to come get him.

Found his bike laying on the side of the road where he thought it was

Took him quite a while to live that one down. We also stressed that he might ought to stick to something with 4 wheels instead of two if he wasn't gonna pay attention to what was around him.

 

[airbiscuit]

When I was in HS, had a 1962 Plymouth FBI car. It was very fast (only beat once by a SS 396 Chevelle 396 hp with headers and cutouts). We were leaving a roller skating rink, and some guys were drooling over a guy with a 283 Chev rapping off. My friends said show him what you've got.

So I pulled onto the highway and lit em up. Only problem is that it was October and there was dew on the pavement. We smoked the tires and promptly fishtaled into a steep ditch. It was like slow motion. I looked back at my buddies, and the color had drained from their faces. I knew I would be in bg trouble if I ended up in the swamp. So with the engne screaming and the spedo showing 70mph in 2nd gear, we slowly started creeping up. Hit the gravel shoulder and shot across the pavement into the oher steep ditch. Engne screaming it slowly came back up to the pavement.

This time, i let off the gas some, and after a few fishtails, I calmly went straight down the road like I had planned this all the time. I wish I could have heard the comments from the spectators.

 

[paulsharvey]

When we bought our house, I was a construction super, and had some old 'cover sheets' of metal roofing, and some old 4x4s and power pole cut offs. Build a 12x16 pole barn, sloping from about 7'6" down to about 7'2" on the low side, with 100% free material. Then, years later extended, and extended off the free base building. I Really wish I would have started from scratch. The roof slope is damn flat, the head room clearance is dang low, ect. At the time, I was very limited in spare money, but when I went to expend, I would have been Much better suited with starting over. Now, it's a 16x24 shed fully enclosed, with a 12x24 roofed open set of "bays".

A few hundred dollars would have made for a much more functional shed.

 

[Jstpssng]

So, we finally got some much needed rain, so I thought I'd quick go out and smooth the road last night. While driving out ot he garage, I heard a snap, felt a bang on the head, and then heard a crash. The $%^ emergency release cord got caught on my ROPS and released the door, sending it down on my head and having my ROPS crash through it. I am shortening that up. Luckily, only the bottom panel was damaged. Grrr

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Never mind the door, you're lucky that wasn't your head!!!!

When I was 17 I had my first motorcycle, a Yamaha DT250 Enduro. I was sitting on it in front of my employer's office talking to a bunch of coworkers. I was revving the engine, and for some reason, just let go of the clutch. It was in gear.

Shot down the street doing a wheelie with my legs hanging off the pegs, arms outstretched holding on for dear life, looking at the sky. Somehow managed to pull myself up onto the seat, bring it back down to earth, and turn just missing running into the side of a building as the street curved.

At that point, I decided I'd better just keep on going, shifted into 2nd and rode home VS going back for ridicule.

I had an old 1973 Honda DOHC CB450. It was quick for it's size and notoriously hard handling. It also had carburetor issues. I headed out the long driveway from work one day and the engine stumbled so I kicked it down a gear and it took off... on the rear wheel. I went the full length of the 250 footdriveway and just got the front end down in time to brake before going into the ditch on the other side of the road.
That wasn't the first time it had come up unexpectedly but it was the worst and last. I went down a tooth on front and up a tooth on back. It didn't come up as easily but I did get it up to 135 mph one afternoon... not one of my smartest moves.

 

[dirttoys]

So, we finally got some much needed rain, so I thought I'd quick go out and smooth the road last night. While driving out ot he garage, I heard a snap, felt a bang on the head, and then heard a crash. The $%^ emergency release cord got caught on my ROPS and released the door, sending it down on my head and having my ROPS crash through it. I am shortening that up. Luckily, only the bottom panel was damaged. Grrr

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I'm sorry... I did the same thing with the boom on an x, but the door didn't come down. If a person was trying to catch that dumb cord on purpose it would take an hour

 

[MossRoad]

Never mind the door, you're lucky that wasn't your head!!!!

I had an old 1973 Honda DOHC CB450. It was quick for it's size and notoriously hard handling. It also had carburetor issues. I headed out the long driveway from work one day and the engine stumbled so I kicked it down a gear and it took off... on the rear wheel. I went the full length of the 250 footdriveway and just got the front end down in time to brake before going into the ditch on the other side of the road.
That wasn't the first time it had come up unexpectedly but it was the worst and last. I went down a tooth on front and up a tooth on back. It didn't come up as easily but I did get it up to 135 mph one afternoon... not one of my smartest moves.

I took that same Yamaha DT250 out onto some trails. Started having fun. Got used to it. Started taking jumps faster and farther and hitting harder and not losing control. Really had a blast!

Got home and realized I'd shaken the filaments out of the headlight and all 4 turn signals.

 

[WinterDeere]

Geez, you guys are a bunch of idiots.

Unfortunately, I'm right there with you. Like the time I left the ROPS up on my zero turn, and went zooming under a mature ornamental cherry tree with low branches. Pulled a wheelie like you've never seen done, on a zero-turn mower, before I cleared the branch and was on my way. It all happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to process what was even happening, but I'd guess it was the closest I've ever come to turning one of those over backwards.

I've also done the backing into the shed with the ROPS up thing with the CUT, and also got whacked by a tree branch that had been caught by my zero turn ROPS on another occasion, almost ejecting me off the machine. Now other than a few very specific and limited occasions, ALL ROPS's stay down in ALL machines ALL of the time. Far more likely to cause damage than to save me from it, given our numerous trees.

 

[dirttoys]

I am oddly surprised at number of stupid things I have done (and forgotten). Seems like every story reminds me of two of my own. I won't tell any of my motorcycle stories, but, one on my buddy. Known the guy since third grade, still good friends, and he is one of the best riders I have rode with:

Dressed up to go cruise the boulevard on saturday night, buddy on an old honda 650 (cb I think) still had a backup kick start. We filled up the bikes, jumped on, and I watch my stone sober, best rider I know, buddy, fall over in slow motion, wildly flailing his right leg. Turns out the poor guy had the kick start arm slide inside his jeans leg, and very very slowly dropped the bike while doing everything possible to get free........ cost: mirror, tail light, and pair of 501's getting to see it: priceless.

Best,

ed

 

[Jim Shooz]

Dressed up to go cruise the boulevard on saturday night, buddy on an old honda 650 (cb I think) still had a backup kick start. We filled up the bikes, jumped on, and I watch my stone sober, best rider I know, buddy, fall over in slow motion, wildly flailing his right leg. Turns out the poor guy had the kick start arm slide inside his jeans leg, and very very slowly dropped the bike while doing everything possible to get free........ cost: mirror, tail light, and pair of 501's getting to see it: priceless.

Best,

ed

Did a similar thing on a Suzuki commuting home from work. Slowing down for a stoplight, went to put my foot down to the ground. leg rouldn't move and I gently toppled over to lay on the ground. In the middle of 2 lanes of traffic. seems that when i had got on the kick start had gone up the leg of my trousers.

 

[thepumpguysc]

After a LOOONG day on the lake in my pontoon boat, I jump out at the landing to get the Bronco backed up..
Got everything situated and
got the boat on the trailer and winched down..
I jumped back in the Bronco and pull the “EMERGENCY BRAKE”.,, the truck wouldn’t move..
I was there for a good, seemed like an hour trying to get it to move..
In the meantime, I had to wave off about 5 different boats trying to get out of this 1 lane ramp.!!
They WERE NOT HAPPY.!!
After a few minutes this guy comes over and asks what the problem was..
I told him I heard the distinct “clunk” of the brakes unlocking.. He opened the drivers door, reached in and pulled the “BRAKE” release..
INSTEAD OF THE “HOOD” release.!!!
The 2 sounds are very similar..(try it)

 

[WinterDeere]

I told him I heard the distinct “clunk” of the brakes unlocking.. He opened the drivers door, reached in and pulled the “BRAKE” release..
INSTEAD OF THE “HOOD” release.!!!
The 2 sounds are very similar..(try it)

Also at a marina in Avalon NJ, ca.1984, my mother was forced to drive the kids home in a friend's Honda Civic. Having owned mostly Fords, she wasn't familiar with the center console brake lever, so she's hunting around down by her knees for a brake release. She finds the T-handle and pulls it, and the hood pops up.

A guy leaning against the bulkhead in front of us turns around, chuckles, walks over, and pushes our hood back down before shouting, "those cars have the parking brake in the center console."

I think we were probably holding up the retrieval of tools or the tow vehicle from our house, but at least we weren't blocking the ramp!

 

[Alien]

Geez, you guys are a bunch of idiots.

Unfortunately, I'm right there with you. Like the time I left the ROPS up on my zero turn, and went zooming under a mature ornamental cherry tree with low branches. Pulled a wheelie like you've never seen done, on a zero-turn mower, before I cleared the branch and was on my way. It all happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to process what was even happening, but I'd guess it was the closest I've ever come to turning one of those over backwards.

I've also done the backing into the shed with the ROPS up thing with the CUT, and also got whacked by a tree branch that had been caught by my zero turn ROPS on another occasion, almost ejecting me off the machine. Now other than a few very specific and limited occasions, ALL ROPS's stay down in ALL machines ALL of the time. Far more likely to cause damage than to save me from it, given our numerous trees.

Rops on my ZT broke a branch off a tree which came down and wedged me in the chest and broke a rib.
I have removed the one from my Tractor completely after doing damage with it.

 

[bigtiller]

I bought a taller lawn mower last fall so over the winter I raised up all my trees so the tractors ROPS would clear all the branches.

 

[Aquamoose]

I bought a taller lawn mower last fall so over the winter I raised up all my trees so the tractors ROPS would clear all the branches.

Now how did you manage to do that? Stuff dirt under the root balls?

 

[oosik]

1985 My brand new Ford 1700 was only three years old. Tried crossing the ice covered moat between my two lakes. Moat = 400 foot long drainage swale connecting the two lakes.

Anyhow - the ice was too thin. Front dropped thru the ice. Kept the engine running and out of the water with the FEL and bucket. Back to the house - got the cable come along. Took the better part of an hour but finally got the tractor out of the water.

Lesson learned - never cross the ice covered moat with the tractor. Besides - there is seldom any GOOD reason to be up on my high pasture in the dead of winter.

Now - I wouldn't make a winter crossing for ANY reason. My Kubota M6040 weighs 4X what the Ford did.

 

[BnRidge]

Student driving for the first time in the 67 impala along with the instructor and 2 others in the back. Ok now, so use your blinker, then make a left turn. I flipped the blinker lever up (automatic shift lever), launched everything in reverse, and left a nice long burnout. Everything came to a halt for what seemed like a very long time.