avalancher
Arboristsite Raconteur
Off topic I know,but I thought I would share a very big moment in my life that I observe each and every year.The day that I came within inches of killing my best friend/cousin.
It was June 16,1986 and the entire family had gathered to celebrate my grandmothers birthday.In honor of the special occasion,I had dragged along the full scale cannon that I had built in High School shop class.Yeah, I know what you are thinking,cannons in shop class?But Mr.Carson always figured that busy hands were learning hands, and he didnt care what we built as long as it was built right.Shoot,I even restored a German made WW2 machine gun to working order in that shop class.Okay,back to the story.
My uncles place had a lot of acreage,and we enjoyed firing the cannon.One pound of black powder and a lead sash weight was our preferred choice of ammo.As we headed out to the pasture to load the gun for grandmas salute,I realized that I had forgotten the fuses in the truck so Scott went ahead to the cannon parked out back.
When I got out to the gun,nobody was around,so I decided to load the gun by myself.One pound of black powder followed by one five pound lead weight were shoved down the barrel followed by a fuse shoved in the fuse hole.We were all ready for the gun salute.
I went back into the house to gather the family on the back porch for the firing,we had selected as our target a old truck hood leaning against a fence post a hundred yards out in the pasture.As was our custom,we each drew straws to see who got to ride on the gun when it fired.We would stand on the hitch and when the gun fired you were treated to a jarring ride backwards,sometimes as far as fifty feet or so.More times than not you fell off,but hey,we were kids right?
Scott drew the shortest straw,then followed a short scuffle among my cousins.As it turned out Scott had cheated by palming his own short straw and switched it out for the one he drew,and I decided at the last minute to cancel the ride.No better way to shut up a whole crowd of screaming kids than to take away the candy right?
It was getting close to dusk when I struck the match that would change my life forever.As the fuse burned its way down to the touch hole I casually sauntered back to the family excitedly awaiting the display of noise and flames.I had heard the old gal bark a million times already,one more firing was nothing new to me.I was already thinking about the oil leak in the truck,the strange noise that needed investigating from the tractor,and the curvy little neighbor gal that had caught my attention earlier that afternoon.
As the fire finally reached the powder,old betsy erupted with a noise that I had never heard before.As I spun around in shock,I was treated to the sight of that gun rearing back on her carraige and flopping right on her back.Pieces of carraige lay in the yard, and as the smoke cleared I realized that the entire rear of the gun was gone.
As it had turned out,when scott got to the gun he loaded it with its usual charge.Or so he thought.Taking a new can from the ammo box he didnt realize that I bought my powder in five lb cans and then broke them down into one pound cans to be used for each shot.What he really poured down the barrel was a five pound can,followed by one lead weight.To make matters worse,after I didnt show up,he went looking for me in the house,allowing me enough time to load the gun again.One charge on top of the previous weight followed by my own lead weight.
A month later my uncle found the breech of the gun.It had richoted up through the eaves of his shop fifty yards away, and up through the roof.He found the missing pieces laying innocently on the roof near the hole.
To this day I call my cousin on this day and we chat about small things, but eventually get back to why my guardian angel looks like Bill the Cat,hence my avatar.Life sure has its twists and turns,but I know in my heart that I have a guardian angel looking after me who has to work over time.Its been rare that I have ever endangered someone elses life,but I know that I would have never been able to live with myself if I had killed my cousin on my grandmothers birthday.
Here is the last picture taken of the old gal before she went to her place on the scrap heap
It was June 16,1986 and the entire family had gathered to celebrate my grandmothers birthday.In honor of the special occasion,I had dragged along the full scale cannon that I had built in High School shop class.Yeah, I know what you are thinking,cannons in shop class?But Mr.Carson always figured that busy hands were learning hands, and he didnt care what we built as long as it was built right.Shoot,I even restored a German made WW2 machine gun to working order in that shop class.Okay,back to the story.
My uncles place had a lot of acreage,and we enjoyed firing the cannon.One pound of black powder and a lead sash weight was our preferred choice of ammo.As we headed out to the pasture to load the gun for grandmas salute,I realized that I had forgotten the fuses in the truck so Scott went ahead to the cannon parked out back.
When I got out to the gun,nobody was around,so I decided to load the gun by myself.One pound of black powder followed by one five pound lead weight were shoved down the barrel followed by a fuse shoved in the fuse hole.We were all ready for the gun salute.
I went back into the house to gather the family on the back porch for the firing,we had selected as our target a old truck hood leaning against a fence post a hundred yards out in the pasture.As was our custom,we each drew straws to see who got to ride on the gun when it fired.We would stand on the hitch and when the gun fired you were treated to a jarring ride backwards,sometimes as far as fifty feet or so.More times than not you fell off,but hey,we were kids right?
Scott drew the shortest straw,then followed a short scuffle among my cousins.As it turned out Scott had cheated by palming his own short straw and switched it out for the one he drew,and I decided at the last minute to cancel the ride.No better way to shut up a whole crowd of screaming kids than to take away the candy right?
It was getting close to dusk when I struck the match that would change my life forever.As the fuse burned its way down to the touch hole I casually sauntered back to the family excitedly awaiting the display of noise and flames.I had heard the old gal bark a million times already,one more firing was nothing new to me.I was already thinking about the oil leak in the truck,the strange noise that needed investigating from the tractor,and the curvy little neighbor gal that had caught my attention earlier that afternoon.
As the fire finally reached the powder,old betsy erupted with a noise that I had never heard before.As I spun around in shock,I was treated to the sight of that gun rearing back on her carraige and flopping right on her back.Pieces of carraige lay in the yard, and as the smoke cleared I realized that the entire rear of the gun was gone.
As it had turned out,when scott got to the gun he loaded it with its usual charge.Or so he thought.Taking a new can from the ammo box he didnt realize that I bought my powder in five lb cans and then broke them down into one pound cans to be used for each shot.What he really poured down the barrel was a five pound can,followed by one lead weight.To make matters worse,after I didnt show up,he went looking for me in the house,allowing me enough time to load the gun again.One charge on top of the previous weight followed by my own lead weight.
A month later my uncle found the breech of the gun.It had richoted up through the eaves of his shop fifty yards away, and up through the roof.He found the missing pieces laying innocently on the roof near the hole.
To this day I call my cousin on this day and we chat about small things, but eventually get back to why my guardian angel looks like Bill the Cat,hence my avatar.Life sure has its twists and turns,but I know in my heart that I have a guardian angel looking after me who has to work over time.Its been rare that I have ever endangered someone elses life,but I know that I would have never been able to live with myself if I had killed my cousin on my grandmothers birthday.
Here is the last picture taken of the old gal before she went to her place on the scrap heap
