# Bonehead mistake



## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

I always cut my sidewalk strip on the third notch of my mower. Most of the time I remember to raise it back up for the rest of the yard. It would have almost been perfect...


So feel free to post your boneheaded mistakes here to make me feel better.


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## bp2878 (Feb 13, 2019)

My dad once "cut" 3 acres in his tractor without turning the PTO on. Beer played a part in this bonehead mistake.


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## Jordan90 (Apr 7, 2019)

After I took the cutting head off. I didn't attach it to the drive shaft so I cut about half the yard without the reel even spinning

:-|


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## RDZed (Jul 13, 2018)

bp2878 said:


> My dad once "cut" 3 acres in his tractor without turning the PTO on. Beer played a part in this bonehead mistake.


Haha! I may have done that once or three times albeit it not 3 acres. Maybe 200 feet.

My old retired GnySgt neighbor was always fun to watch. He had a $9k custom Dixie Chopper and loved to drink and mow. He ran over his mailbox twice, hit his own $100k AMG Mercedes, and flooded his crawlspace by ripping out the hose bib by way of getting his garden hose caught up in a mandrel. Best part is he didn't realize the latter until the next day. After the flood, his wife hired a service. Dude was a riot.

RIP Jack, you were one of a kind.


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

I'm an air traffic controller and I worked the midnight shift last night, walked out to my car at 6am with a dead battery that wouldn't jump start. Have to go get a battery. Finally get home to meet the truck driver who's delivering 15 tons of sand for my leveling project today. Went to pull the Jeep out for my wife before he dumped the sand and blocked the entrance. Forgot my car was parked in the corner of the driveway...



No damage to the Jeep's steel rear bumper I installed last year. Fatigue was definitely a contributing factor.


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## TNTurf (Mar 20, 2019)

I went the opposite way, I moved the height to adjust the reel and forgot to put it back to the lower setting. I cut a while thinking I should have waited a day more to cut. I was barely cutting anything but to me it looked like it was ready to mow. Look down and see I am cutting three notches above my normal setting and had to start over. I have gone "too low" at least once but its been a while. As it is, I am on the lowest setting on my C27.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

bp2878 said:


> My dad once "cut" 3 acres in his tractor without turning the PTO on. Beer played a part in this bonehead mistake.


Hey those tires still stripe! I love this one.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

socerplaye said:


> I'm an air traffic controller and I worked the midnight shift last night, walked out to my car at 6am with a dead battery that wouldn't jump start. Have to go get a battery. Finally get home to meet the truck driver who's delivering 15 tons of sand for my leveling project today. Went to pull the Jeep out for my wife before he dumped the sand and blocked the entrance. Forgot my car was parked in the corner of the driveway...
> 
> 
> 
> No damage to the Jeep's steel rear bumper I installed last year. Fatigue was definitely a contributing factor.


Well, it is a good thing insurance also covers your own negligence.  That definitely isn't going to just buff out. Ouch...!


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Y'all are helping my feelings. At least I didn't back into my own car. That one hurts.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

I have a toro rotary that I use for cleanup needs... after aerating this year, I was trying to use it to cut and suck up all the torn up grass from the aerator not pulling perfect cores... made 2-3 long passes in my big back yard, and got madder and madder about it not sucking anything up into the bag.. finally realized I forgot to flip the gate from mulching to bagging mode...... no harm done, just a bonehead waste of time, energy, and frustration ha


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I did a mix of T-Nex and Dominion today. When calculating the mix rate of the Dominion I realized that I have been going double rate on my last two apps of T-Nex. That explains a lot of what I have been seeing with the grass. I let it go out to 315 GDDs and did an app at .25/K today. I did my math correctly this time! @985arrowhead


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Ouch @socerplaye...Im a retired ATC (3 years now) and I don't miss mid-shifts at all. Been to MEM many times on different projects. I started at VNY and ended at Fort Worth regional office working for HQ. Did you know a guy named Mike Martin? We worked at VNY together back in the glory days when our traffic count had us at # 3 or 4 in the nation for volume  ATC is the best job ever!!


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Ouch @socerplaye...Im a retired ATC (3 years now) and I don't miss mid-shifts at all. Been to MEM many times on different projects. I started at VNY and ended at Fort Worth regional office working for HQ. Did you know a guy named Mike Martin? We worked at VNY together back in the glory days when our traffic count had us at # 3 or 4 in the nation for volume  ATC is the best job ever!!


I love the job. Staffing is steadily becoming an issue, though, and we are in to 6 day work weeks now at Memphis Center. I work with a Mike Martin now, but I'm sure its a different one. I'm about to hit the 10 year mark, and the schedule is starting to wear on me. It definitely makes it difficult to stay on top of all this stuff.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

socerplaye said:


> ctrav said:
> 
> 
> > Ouch @socerplaye...Im a retired ATC (3 years now) and I don't miss mid-shifts at all. Been to MEM many times on different projects. I started at VNY and ended at Fort Worth regional office working for HQ. Did you know a guy named Mike Martin? We worked at VNY together back in the glory days when our traffic count had us at # 3 or 4 in the nation for volume  ATC is the best job ever!!
> ...


Yep 6 day work weeks suck as well except every other Tuesday  Hang in there, save your money, invest in TSP and retire as soon as you can!!


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

ctrav said:


> socerplaye said:
> 
> 
> > ctrav said:
> ...


Definitely, shooting for as soon as I'm eligible!!


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Hey, I worked with a Mike Martin in the USAF. Did either of the Mikes you guys know work as a Spanish linguist?


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

Redtwin said:


> Hey, I worked with a Mike Martin in the USAF. Did either of the Mikes you guys know work as a Spanish linguist?


The Mike I know is civilian, and grew up in the Nashville area. He was a private commercial pilot before he got into ATC and I don't think he has a prior military background.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

@Redtwin not that I know. Mike was in the Air Force then VNY, ORD and MEM. Really sharp controller...


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## melliott2005 (Jul 8, 2018)

Good to see I'm not the only absent-minded one here.

I got super excited on Saturday when I called up to the sod place and they offered to give me a discount on remnants of Royal Zoysia they had gotten in that day. I rushed up there and grabbed half a pallet, did a quick prep with the verticutter and laid it down.

Then I remembered I sprayed prodiamine the day before.....

I'm guessing that establishment rates will be pretty poor.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Always remember to mix 0.002 ounces per gallon of MSM and not 0.02.

The good news is minus nutsedge I'm weed free!


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## crzipilot (Jul 4, 2018)

@socerplaye @ctrav Hey you controllers better be getting your rest. Don't want to wake up and find you sleeping at your desk....."Who was checking in??? Was on land line......." HA


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

crzipilot said:


> @socerplaye @ctrav Hey you controllers better be getting your rest. Don't want to wake up and find you sleeping at your desk....."Who was checking in??? Was on land line......." HA


No worries here as Im retired. My granddaughter is learning the lingo and every time she sees an airplane she says "turn left, turn right, cleared to land, taxi to the gate" :thumbup:


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## Groundskeeper Willie (Feb 22, 2019)

Never spritz Roundup on Zoysia to spot treat cool season weeds, no matter how dormant the Zoysia appears to be. I did that this past winter. Apparently transport in zoysia from crown area to roots never completely ceases, not even in the depths of winter. I had read you could do this with Bermuda. There are holes in the Emerald Zoysia along the driveway which persist to this day, right out at the street where everybody can see them. Some say the holes are so deep they go right through to China. I would try to plug the holes, but I am not 100% positive that this is in fact Emerald Zoysia.


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## TulsaFan (May 1, 2017)

The first greens mower I purchased was late summer/fall. I had already purchased an Accu-gage in advance of the mower arriving. So, I was super excited to set the HOC to 0.75" and try out the mower. However, I ignored the small dial and only paid attention to the large dial. As you can imagine, I scalped a 2' section of my lawn at 0.375", which was 0.075" higher than the original setting of 0.3"! :lol:

Best part of the story, it never grew back and I had to look at it all winter! :roll:


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

crzipilot said:


> @socerplaye @ctrav Hey you controllers better be getting your rest. Don't want to wake up and find you sleeping at your desk....."Who was checking in??? Was on land line......." HA


The land line excuse is legitimate...most of the time! 😜


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## crzipilot (Jul 4, 2018)

@socerplaye So is our, "sorry didn't hear the radio call, we were busy taking care of something up here" hahah


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Last summer was my first year with a new mower in years. I told myself I was going to baby it like one of my children. It came time for the "break in" oil change and I decided to sharpen the blades at the same time. I warmed it up, tipped it on its side, and removed the blades. I set it back over, removed the dipstick, and tipped back to drain the oil. While it drained I sharpened the blades. When I was done I wanted to make sure I got the fresh oil back in so I set back up and put the oil in. You can see where this is going. After 3 or 4 pours to get the level perfect I completely forgot about the blades. I started it and took over to my lawn. I engaged the blades and didn't notice the lack of sound because I was jamming out with my headphones in. One pass and I was dumbfounded. It wasn't till about 2 minutes later that I saw the angle grinder sitting in the driveway that I realized that I am a complete moron.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Don't be like "ctrav"...
After my reel mower was fixed I had it set at .75" by the mechanic. I made two passes at .75" down from 1" and it was smooth sailing. So I take my homemade HOC gauge and remove one of the nuts thinking all will be well. Did I take the time to measure...NO! So I cut a small area on the other side of the driveway and it takes me like 10 passes and 3 lawn bags of clippings. Of course Im freaking out just a bit and asking all sorts of questions. Turns out I wasn't cutting at .50" I was cutting at 4/16 :shock:

Moral of the story MEASURE!!
Don't be like "ctrav"
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Don't be like "ctrav"...
> After my reel mower was fixed I had it set at .75" by the mechanic. I made two passes at .75" down from 1" and it was smooth sailing. So I take my homemade HOC gauge and remove one of the nuts thinking all will be well. Did I take the time to measure...NO! So I cut a small area on the other side of the driveway and it takes me like 10 passes and 3 lawn bags of clippings. Of course Im freaking out just a bit and asking all sorts of questions. Turns out I wasn't cutting at .50" I was cutting at 4/16 :shock:
> 
> Moral of the story MEASURE!!
> ...


4/16... 1/2... 4"... 8"... It's all the same till someone notices. :lol:


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## anthonybilotta (Aug 11, 2018)

Placed my daughters splash mat on the grass to dry in the sun .......whoops


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

anthonybilotta said:


> Placed my daughters splash mat on the grass to dry in the sun .......whoops


I don't have pictures but while installing a new storm door at my old house I opened the box in the front yard and laid the new door in the yard while I installed the trim pieces. Then it was time for lunch. Then my son wanted to help me use the drill. A few hours later and the glass acted like a magnifying glass and I had perfectly sized burnt spots in the yard.


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