flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Thirsty, my dad's bootlegging days were over and he was farming. He was cultivating corn with a hand lift, 2-row cultivator and I and my brother was sitting on the drawbar of an Alais Chalmers WD4, and I was running my fingers up and down the cogs in the manual lift gear that would hold the cultivator up at the end of the row. Well, I had fallen asleep and left the ring finger of my right hand in one of the cogs. The end of the row came and Thirst lifted the cultivator up and cut my ring finger off. It was only held on by the skin. He took me to the doctor, and he sowed it back on. He said it would hurt, and it did. It's fine now, a few scares on it and a funny-looking nail. But it works o.k.

Do you have any true stories to tell us about your yesteryears? Let's hear them.

Grizzly 17 Loc: South central Pa

Leo when I was at the chicken farm I came close to losing a finger tip. Was taking my son to the doctor in a couple hrs. Got in a hurry. Feeder chain clogged. Instead of walking 10' to turn it off I took a chance. Figured if I kept one finger on each side of the sprocket I could clear it. Worked great till it didn't. One crunching sound alot of pain n blood. From the first joint to the fingernail hung a chunk of meat. Was a sliver of skin holding it on. They couldn't stitch it. Taped it down n put a cage on my finger. It took more years than I can remember before the big knot on the tip went away. Came close to getting my chest crushed in the same farm. Had a load of shelled Coen on a 1952 Ford dump truck. Backed up to the grain bin hopper to unload. Had it in gear n brake on. I leaned it to open grain gate. Engine must have lost some compression. Truck came back just enough to pin me against grain bin. I was able to squeeze out. Had a sore chest for awhile. Another half inch n results could have been much different. I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting y'all 👍😊

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

Fall of 1966, I was 10 yrs old. We kept our 26ft Dodge cabin cruiser between 2 mooring pilings in Clinton Harbor. We would borrow a 16ft Brockway wooden skiff from a rental dock to get back and forth to shore. After a stormy Blackfishing trip we picked up the skiff and motored out to the mooring. The wind was giving my father fits trying to maneuver the boat between the pilings. I was in charge of the skiff, towing behind us. He tried powering in and when he threw it into reverse, the skiff was still coming towards the transom. I leaned over the back of the transom and caught the stem of the bow with both hands, and tried to keep it from hitting the transom. I failed and my left hand got squashed between the boats. My left ring finger got split open about 2 inches , down to the bone. I wrapped a rag around my hand and told Mom I was ok.I finally showed it to her on the drive home, and needless to say, we went straight to the ER for some stitches. Starting the next year, we kept the boat at a dock in the Hammonasset River.

Nice and secure in the river from then on.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

No blood and guts story here but a close call indeed.

I was walking backwards on a 4 story apartment building where the exterior walls were not up yet. Had the dummy end of my 50' tape measure secured and walking off some measurements to bring some pipes up through the floor.

Don't know why I stopped was not paying much attention. When I did my heels were on the edge. I guess the dummy end was now the one I was holding.

Yep, that was a wake up call.

Grizzly 17 Loc: South central Pa

That's definitely a wake up call. I think back at some of my close calls. When I first got into construction myself n other worker came within a couple feet of being crushed in a cave in. 20' ditch laying pipe in Myersville. Had trench Jacks in. Before they got next one in place one side came down. We both came topside n said screw it. I wasn't going back down. After a few cigarettes n and shaking a couple pounds off I looked down in that damn hole n realized how lucky we got. When I got my own crew n backhoe I never dug a ditch I wouldn't go in myself. 👍

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

And you still live in CT.

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

I think a guy remembers the bad times longer than the good times.

Grizzly 17 Loc: South central Pa

Not sure about that Leo. I've had some good times I'll never forget. Some of those got me into rather precarious situations but it was fun. 🤣😊

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Now that you mention it, I was in a minor one up to my crotch height. Ditch was only 8' deep at the most and with zero warning the sides came in. No jacks installed for we were not in the hook up section at 14' quite yet. At that point we could have parked a semi in that hole now knowing the ground was so loose.

Fastest connection ever made and that was in the Cast Iron pipe days.

Grizzly 17 Loc: South central Pa

I seen it happen too many time Bob. Loader rolling up to dump stones would trigger it sometimes. One kid got caught waist deep got broken leg. Definitely had to be aware. At the county we had to use trench boxes over a certain depth. No more Jack's. They was getting ready to place a jack at myersville. Lucky the guys didn't come down with it. They let go of the jack n ran. Alot of dangerous jobs out there.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

That there is Butch but I am sure you remember our mentality back then. Look at all the skin cancers we are having cooked off just from going shirtless to impress the girls.

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

Yeah Leo, hopefully that will be over in the near future.

basshawg48 Loc: Louisiana

THe good old days, im only 50 so to young to remember but my grandfather owned a cotton gin. which the building is still standing and we still use. Many men lost there hand in the gin, my grandfather was one.

Bcmech1 Loc: Clinton Wisconsin

I remember back in 1970, I was 10 years old, I walked into the garage where my dad was welding with an old arc welder and I just stood there watching him for about 5 minutes. He stopped, flipped up his welding helmet and saw me there and turned white. He asked how long I had been there. When I told him, he took me straight to the doctor. By the time we were there I could barely see. The doc said I had burned my retinas in both eyes. Long story short, I was totally blind for 2 weeks and impaired for a month after that. Now 5 decades later, actually started 15 years ago, I sit here wearing bifocal glasses so I can see. If you ask me, I would say I was very lucky to not lose my sight entirely.

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Ya, I was a lifeguard, in HS. Road construction after that, no shirt, no sunblock, and no hearing protection back then. If you are going to dance, you have to pay the fiddler.