Back in the saddle

Boondox · Feb 16, 2002

Hi guys! Had eye surgery last Wednesday (had an old piece of shrapnel removed and some muscle damage repaired) and was unable -- on doctor's orders -- to go outside till today. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gifBoy did I make up for it today, though! I must have plowed half of Vermont, and moved huge piles of snow just for the sake of practice!

I still look awful, eyes are completely bloodshot with no white showing...but if I stick out the lower lip and gaze at my wife with those teary, bloodshot eyes she pretty much lets me do anything I want! Hmmm, I wonder if I could get a new implement out of this...

Pete

Harv · Feb 16, 2002

Holy cow, Pete! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

How long were you running around with shrapnel in your eye? I hope getting it removed was more fun than getting it in there in the first place.

<font color=blue>I still look awful</font color=blue>

Nahhh... you still look the same to us. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif Glad you're recovering okay, but if your wife is like mine, it's going to take a more important body part than just an eye to get enough sympathy for new tractor toys.

Boondox · Feb 16, 2002

It was embedded in the socket for almost 27 years, but it was only troublesome for the last three or so when it started wandering around interfering with things. The surgery went well. I showed up with fifteen pounds of freshly roasted coffee for all the nurses...they treated me like royalty! And with that great blood supply to the eyes, everything is healing very quickly.

Unfortunately, my wife and yours seem to be cut from the same block of wood. Plenty of sympathy, but not enough to earn me a new toy.

Pete

s1120 · Feb 16, 2002

Ow, I know where you are coming from. I had a peice of steel in my eye for a few weeks last fall. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I got it from cutting a u joint out of the drive shaft on my Jeep. No safty glasses ofcorse. I know better now.

alan40 · Feb 16, 2002

Holy cow Pete, that sounds like some kind of experiance. That look would be good to scare some out-of-towners when they park by your place though!!!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
You must not be trying hard enough if you can't get another attachment out of this. Maybe a rotatiller so you can plant her favorite green things. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Take care,

Boondox · Feb 16, 2002

Well, I stared at her thru bloodshot eyes and said only a backhoe would make me feel better. She went over to my desk, flipped thru the Woods Backhoe brochure, then grabbed her keys and drove off. Man oh man did I have my hopes up...till she came home with a half gallon of ice cream!

Pete

RobertN · Feb 16, 2002

It's wonderful to get back out! Back in '95, I caught a virus that severely weakened muscles in my left eye. Went through batteries of tests, MRI, eeg, spinal tap, various iv drug therapies. The Spinal tap put me down for two weeks. If you've ever had the spinal tap head aches...

Then, they cut the muscles of the inside corners of both eyes, reattached to take up slack, and sent me along. My eyes were so sensitive to dust and breeze/wind, that for a few months I could do nothing out side.

It was great to be able to get back outside(even if it was pre-tractor days)

I am glad it worked out for you. Having your eyes messed with can be a nervous and scary thing.

Thomas · Feb 16, 2002

Glad to read everything turn out okay Pete and you got outside and relax.
Looks like little snow for Sunday..maybe some more seat time for you. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Harv · Feb 16, 2002

<font color=blue>she came home with a half gallon of ice cream!</font color=blue>

Now that's not so bad, is it?

frank_f15 · Feb 16, 2002

PETE: very glad to hear your eye is on the mend.always get nervous when the eye is envolved.now i know u love your tractor, and u like to buy new toys, but don't u think that when your bride is feeling sympathy for u , u migt be able to lift your sights just a tad?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

cowboydoc · Feb 16, 2002

I know how you feel Pete. I had an aneurysm in my left optic artery about three years and had to undergo major surgery for that. It's not too much fun. I couldn't even have any light to my eyes for about six days. Had to go around with these big sunglasses that covered my entire eyes even inside. It wasn't fun.

Boondox · Feb 17, 2002

Heck, Frank, I did lift my sights a tad! From a tiller to a backhoe! Seriously, it's become something of a joke with us, and the gentle teasing about implements have become part of our love play. I don't know many other couples who tolerate and even appreciate each other's quirks the way we do. Our lives are intertwined and I can't imagine life any other way. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Regards, Pete

RobS · Feb 17, 2002

Ouch Pete, that doesn't sound like any fun at all. Glad to hear you're on the mend /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

cedarranch · Feb 19, 2002

So did you know it was there these 27 years?
In 1989 I was working on a refueler. The pumps where running and a gauge was leaking. I walked about 15 feet away to get a line wrench when one of the pumps squealed and exploded. The only damage I got was a scratch on the leg next to my knee were a piece of the pump tore through my pants or so I believed. In 2000 my knee started giving me a lot pain. Xray showed a tiny piece of metal behind my knee cap.

Boondox · Feb 19, 2002

CR -- Yup, every time I had an xray it was there, and occasionally when I was wanded at the airport it would beep. The stuff in my legs pretty much worked its way out the first five years, but this piece was really in there!

Good thing you chose that moment to walk away from the pump! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Luck is a fickle thing, ain't it?

Pete

cedarranch · Feb 19, 2002

Yep!
Also got a bath in JP5 (jet fuel) once. Fitting broke while I was under the panel. I was stripping my clothes off as I was running for the shower. That was the rawest I have ever been. Still have a scar that only my can see! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif That will put poison oak to shame! I seem to have good luck in some ways and bad in others. I had good luck that I was not bad hurt. But bad luck that I seem to always get stuck working behind the morons that caused both of these "accidents". During the 6 months that I worked their I filed 3 accident reports. All three were due to people not doing their job!

MarkV · Feb 19, 2002

Pete,

I have been behind on my reading and just saw your post about the surgery. Glad to hear it is working out well. That had to be a scary thing to go through. You sure your sled run didn’t jar something loose?/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

MarkV

Devildog · Feb 19, 2002

Pete, Hey Bro, Glad to here your doing good after the sugery. I know about the eye surgery stuff but it wasnt no shrapnel. Have to carefull with them. Also glad to see you getting some seat time. You need to aim a little higher like telling the wife you need a bigger tractor and then settle on the backhoe/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif But if she's anything like my wife that wouldnt work either/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
_________________________________________
Take care Bro, Jim

Boondox · Feb 20, 2002

Thanks, Jim. I'm actually looking forward to my next wand at the airport; it'll be nice not to set the thing to beeping!

I took advantage of the warm (30F) weather and lack of forecast snow to pop off the front wheels and have them reloaded with washer fluid. Lost the ballast in one when I let the pressure drop too low and the rubber separated from the bead. Lost the other when I ran over a logging hook and poked a hole in the thing. So both tires are having tubes added and filled. Really noticed the loss of traction on ice and snow without that additional weight up front.

BTW: Yet another reason for an FEL is the ease with which front wheels can be removed. Just lifted the front end by curling the bucket full down and left it there for several days. Nice and easy.

Semper fi, Pete