After reading Kiwiloggers post I got to thinking about ol' Harry.
My first rigging job in Alaska was setting chokers on a big Washington 208 interlock tower. It was a bit different from "down south", no safety whistle's just one to go ahead and one to stop. None of us knew the other because it was startup time in the spring.
Things were going fine in the morning with Harry running it smooth as silk. Right at 2PM the slinger stopped the rigging. The chokers were in the air and just as we got there to untangle them the butthooks crashed to the ground right at our feet. That can really get you excited. We were short handed enough that nobody wanted to quit because it would mean shutting down the side and we had just flew out the day before.
We learned real quick that after 2PM the thing to do was lower the rigging to the ground then pullthe chokers back, get them ready to bell then do it and run. No way would you blow for a tight line and be any ways near the lines. Harry might not hear the stop and that 208 could pull about any stump there was. No matter how many whistle's the slinger blew he would usually have the lines sounding like a Star Wars battle. We called him Scarey Harry or tightline Harry.
After about a week they finally got another yarder engineer to replace him. Come to find out Harry was taking heart meds at lunch and they must have started to Kick in at 2. They for sure were the "do not operate heavy machinery" kind. I hope things turned out OK for Harry cause he was a good guy.
My first rigging job in Alaska was setting chokers on a big Washington 208 interlock tower. It was a bit different from "down south", no safety whistle's just one to go ahead and one to stop. None of us knew the other because it was startup time in the spring.
Things were going fine in the morning with Harry running it smooth as silk. Right at 2PM the slinger stopped the rigging. The chokers were in the air and just as we got there to untangle them the butthooks crashed to the ground right at our feet. That can really get you excited. We were short handed enough that nobody wanted to quit because it would mean shutting down the side and we had just flew out the day before.
We learned real quick that after 2PM the thing to do was lower the rigging to the ground then pullthe chokers back, get them ready to bell then do it and run. No way would you blow for a tight line and be any ways near the lines. Harry might not hear the stop and that 208 could pull about any stump there was. No matter how many whistle's the slinger blew he would usually have the lines sounding like a Star Wars battle. We called him Scarey Harry or tightline Harry.
After about a week they finally got another yarder engineer to replace him. Come to find out Harry was taking heart meds at lunch and they must have started to Kick in at 2. They for sure were the "do not operate heavy machinery" kind. I hope things turned out OK for Harry cause he was a good guy.
John...good yarn! Sounds like something Findlay Hayes would tell.
