When working in the fields, let?s be careful out there

I have thought about writing a ?Be Careful? article about tractor safety each time we have had a terrible accident. There have been several over the past year or so. Too many.

But I never knew what to say that would help; that would prevent another terrible accident. And I feared of hurting the family all over again.

What could anyone say or do to prevent an accident? Would slowing down one?s pace help? Would keeping your mind on what your doing help? Should you stop occasionally and think about the next few steps; to ensure that your performing logical steps that will bring the task to a safe completion?

All of my accidents happened so fast that I was just along for the ride, and I?m not taking about in a vehicle necessarily. No one sets out to get hurt. We merely live and work at the speed of life. Usually in a hurry.

I?m guessing the Latin for ?accident? must be, ?getting hurt during an event that occurs too fast to control.? My dictionary says it is an unintentional and undesirable happening. Like saying old age is inconvenient.

I want you to keep on ?Keeping On? with a degree of caution. Ball trucks will be zipping around the buildings; skid loaders will be turning on a dime; and semi-trailers will slip in to soft ground occasionally.

Saw a fella with a broke nose and black eyes because the log chain broke while jerking a load. He saw it coming but couldn?t make the first step out of danger.

So buy the troops some pizza and sit them down for a few minutes. Like the shift commander on Hill Street Blues said after the daily briefing, ?Be careful, it?s a jungle out there.? Or words to that effect.

? I sure did enjoy working outside the past weekend, and Monday was the warmest. I hurried to get as much done between daylight and dark as I could. I had a lot of little 30-minute jobs that took 3 hours each. Seems to be standard for me.

I learned to never brag on how well my chain saw cranks, because it won?t crank tomorrow at all.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours !!

The nice thing about the holidays is you get to spend time with your family. The bad thing about the holidays is you get to spend time with your family.