Dumb Luck?

[crazycarl]

I say dumb, because besides bad, it's the only luck I have. Most of the bad I cause.
Today I drove 5 miles to the bank. No biggie, except I had left the new solar panel, controller, wires, and 120v lithium charger on the tailgate of my truck. They were still there when I exited the bank. Dumb luck. Many years ago I was leaving for work and placed my mug of coffee on the rear bumper of my Jeep Wrangler. 9 1/2 miles, an "S" curve, and a bridge later, I arrived at work to have a coworker point and tell me "Don't forget your coffee". Dumb luck. Once I fell asleep in my fishing boat, it drifted 1/2 mile across the lake. I woke up to the sound of the aluminum hull hitting the top of the dam. There was about 3" of water cascading over the dam. The boat's draft was 8". Dumb luck. I had shoulder surgery and my arm was in a sling. I decided to install a dust collecting system in my wood shop. While standing on a work bench I was using a prybar to remove a bolt anchored in a cement wall. The bolt suddenly came out and the prybar hit me in the head knocking me off the bench. When I fell, the back of my head scraped the corner of the cast iron table saw top. I laid on the shop floor blinded by blood and very dizzy, but otherwise not too bad considering what could have happened. That would have killed a lesser man. Although I do have a history of head injuries. It's been said I was dropped on my head as a baby. More than once. Dumb luck? Absolutely. In each scenario I was being dumb and luck stepped in and saved my dumb @@s. 

[kickingbug2]

   moral of the story: dont stand close to carl for any reason

[Mas]

Well have been a car wreck caused by a drunk driver and survived the car roof being crushed below the level of my dash. Been in a bus wreck that injured everyone else on the bus except me and one other. Been on a paddling trip where a raft capsized that swept folks under a rock resulting in fatalities. Been in a plane crash and walked away from it, survived an emergent medical situation that comes with a 90% fatality rate for folks not even making it to the hospital, ...my wife acknowledges I am hard to kill. Clearly my guardian angels are working overtime and I have unfinished business left in this world!

With all that said, I have also left things on my tailgate and found them still there, Left a phone on the roof and found it still there many miles later when I heard it ringing, Knocked myself out when a pry bar slipped pulling up a post knocking me out. Yadda, yada!

Then again, I always get parking spots right up front at crowded venues, always seem to get favorite spots camping when mostly sold out, the same for concerts, never had a flat tire except once in my garage next to the air compressor, haven't been sick for almost two decades with the exception of Covid which was not that big a deal. Got it from a fully vaccinated and boosted friend who came up to ski with me, I was not vaccinated.

Moral of the story I guess is that stuff is gunna happen if you live life but we always believe the best outcome should be expected!

...oh Carl I've had someone also suggest staying away from me, to which I replied actually you may wish to get very close! No one next to me was ever injured.

[Urban Hermit]

Mas, I think you'll have the highest scratches on the tree trunk -- amazing!

Just to add my two cents, I died on an operating table for two minutes due to  PEA, pulseless electrical activity, which stopped my heart.  Said to be 80% fatal.  Not that I had anything to do with surviving it.  But -- Valentine's Day, 2018.  Don't say I don't have a sense of humor.

After helping put a loaded gurney into an ambulance I drove off with a Roliflex and big flash on a bracket on top of my car.  It didn't stay there.  My employer, a newspaper which owned the camera, was not pleased.

But here's the stupid one:  I was trying to cut mirror-image bevels into a piece of quarter-inch plastic stock about the size of my hand.  2.5-inch slot down the middle.  The piece was bluntly pointed on one side of the slot, flat on the other.  I had to feed the piece into the table saw from the back to get the other bevel.  Uh huh.  Blade threw it into my stomach at 225 mph (computed by the rpm and the diameter of the blade). Luckily it was the blunt side that hit me.  I think the pointed one would have penetrated and pierced my intestine.  Anyhoo I had to crawl away and when I got inside all I could do was lie on the floor on my side while trying to convince my wife that I was okay.