Thought I got shot at today

[rox]

Spiker,

You are right. t was a fire cracker that was a hollow tube about as big around as a finger and length about to the first knuckle, perhaps a tad linger. Now that i think about it, it could not have been an M80 it wan't that loud. stiLl it was pretty doll garned loud.

we had a very good ahrvest this year, 4,000 liters it took us a month to harvest. The weather is so nice 51 to 52 F and sunny that for the last 2 days we have started pruning our trees. we ahve about 700 of them to prune. These trees are way way too tall, I am taking of 6' & 8' form the tops. My hsuband is so sweet, I ahve all the power tools and he has all the manula tools. I have a stihl Pole saw, which is basically a small chain saw and also an electric secature. A secature is basically an extreemly pwoerful electic pruning shears. You wear a battery pack to power it, it will cut through branches an in and a half across in one pull of the trigger. So I ahve all the good stuff and my husbans uses a small hand arborist saw, a big lopers and a hand pruning shears.

i really like that tishl chainsaw on a pole, it is from thier combi sysem line. I like to be away from the area that the limb is going to fall and with that long pole saw i am able to stay out of the fall area. it is not that big a deal really because the branches always get hung up so there is very little risk in hurting yourself. the main risk is getting sawdust in your eyes from looking up at the cutting ara. I ahve started wearing safety glases after about the 10 speck of sawdust in my eyes.

Our trees look great very hardy and healthy, no diseases or pests. Anyone we have evry ahd over who commercially grows olive tress is completely amazed with our trees. My hsuband and I keep working on them to keep them that way. We msut have ideal climate and soil becasue these olive trees literally grow 2 feet a year, both up and wide. it is crazy jsut trying to keep up with keeping them pruned. I take it back we do have one sick one which I am going to massivley ahve to prune back in order to get some new vigerous re-growth. after watching these trees grow i am not shy about cutting them really short. Ones i cut last year are already to tall. to tall meaning they are higher than the harvesting equipment. you don't want to have tree growth where you cna't get upt here and pick. This year I am really gutsy and cutting them shorter that i did last year, becaue now i have to go around and re-cut those ones i did last eyar becaue they are too tall.

I hope the weather holds nice. lst year we got a good 2 weeks the first weeks of january that we warm and sunny I hope this year it is the same.

 

[SPIKER]

ROX:

glad to hear you had a great year: my fruit trees been in the ground 2~5 years and I FINALLY got 2 pears this year and they weren't fit to eat due to bugs anyhow good to have you back posting.

markM

 

[jinman]

Rox, kids do crazy things for no reason at all. I know, because I did some very crazy things with fireworks as a kid.

As I remember, the three "biggies" of fireworks were the M80s, Cherry Bombs, and Baby Giants. The M80s were silver gray and had a fuse coming out the side. Cherry Bombs were a favorite because they were cheaper to buy and sounded much like a shotgun going off. Also, the fuse would burn in water, so you could "fish" with them. We lived in the country beside a railroad track that was down in a deep trench. That trench was the sight of many war games using fireworks as bombs.

My dad rented a shop building to a fellow with a used car lot. He had several close friends who used the shop and one fellow in particular was a real cut-up kind of guy who was always joking and pulling pranks on people. One day my brother and I saw him working on a car with his head below the hood. (I think I was about 12 and my brother 15.) We had a cherry bomb and walked toward where he was. When we got near, we lit the cherry bomb and threw it down by the railroad track. The fuse burned slowly, so we had time to walk up and call him by name before the thing went off. BOOM!

The poor guy hit the ground. He just immediately dropped down and completely flat and it shocked both my brother and me. Then, he got up and he was shaking all over. We apologized right away and told him we didn't mean to scare him that badly, just play a joke. He mumbled something and then closed the hood, got into the car, and drove away. We looked at each other and realized we had done something really wrong.

When my dad got home, he took us aside and had a really firm talk with us. He said our joking friend had been in the war and had suffered from shell-shock. Any other joke would have been fine, but the firecracker had triggered a panic response. If we felt bad before, we now felt really bad. The next day we went to see that fellow and told him how sorry we were. It was a lesson I will never forget and the end to my dad allowing us to have fireworks.

Your little friend is a kid. He would do the same thing with friends his own age. What he did was very wrong, but I don't think he meant to hurt you. In his mind he was probably just playing a prank and would probably not have done it if you had been a stranger. By seeing your response, he too immediately learned how flawed his judgement was. Or, that's my guess.

I'm sure glad you are okay.