The Scariest Place You've Ever Been?

as a field auditor, I showed up twice as arranged only to find husband had fallen off roof due to slightly iced shingles in CA's Northern Sierra.. another guy fell and died cleaning gutter..

50% of people who fall 20' or more die..

my wife - an RN - saw so many crippling injuries and fatalities she wouldn't let me climb ladder after age 45...

"most" guys seem to lose the balance they had in their teens & twenties but still think they have same agility..

I inherited non-diabetic peripheral neuropathy.. my echolocation and balance is shot (along with hearing) due to almost constant proximity to howitzers w/o protection and I can't stand up if I close my eyes unless touching/leaning against something solid and stable.. I'll go right through shower curtain with shampoo in my eyes unless holding a bar..

climbing a ladder? not a chance if more than three rungs.. wound care can dig in my toes/heel 3/8"-1/2" and I don't know it.. he'll, they were doing preliminary testing and asked me to tell them when I felt something poking bottom of foot.. I said "there! arch of left foot"

they told me they're poking big toe of right foot..
I think my wife is right..

crap!! I was hoping to take up funambulism

I guess it's Nature's way of culling the Human Herd..

 

If you read my posts 35 and 38, I assume you realize I worked on some very dangerous situations. Weirdly or ironically, I was about two or 3 steps up a step ladder-- about 3 feet above the ground-- the ladder slipped and I screwed my ankle up --hurt like hell!! Obviously, had I had an incident with the 40 foot ladder I mentioned--I no doubt wouldn't have made it!!

 

glad you're still with us..
getting to be like a family here; whether we agree or argue!

Nor Cal (the REAL Nor Cal) near Oregon border doesn't seem to have much representation here..

 

I don't think that anyone has claimed to be from the state of Jefferson here. At least, I don't recall.

 

Charlie Daniels wrote a song about such a place titled "Uneasy Rider".

 

Laying in a ditch while a tornado passes overhead.

 

I was backpacking in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. After hiking about 8 miles or so, it was beginning to get dark, so I pitched my tent on a nice flat area where it should be quite comfortable. At about 4am, there was a small noise under my head, it got louder, and louder, and louder. Then it scared the heck out of me. It was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. It sounded like thunder from hell, which is appropriate as the location was Devils Postpile National Monument.

 

nice place.. 1970-1985 it was our reg getaway from LA.. be glad you weren't soaking in Hot Creek (near airport/Convict Lake Rd).. biggest volcano in CA (not tallest.. I live at base of tallest).. but quakes have a way of shifting rocks and boiling water has new vents..

 

Me and a friend were playing golf in Oceanside, CA when a freak storm storm came in over the ocean. We were as far away from the clubhouse as you could be. Before we knew it was Armageddon…..Thunder, Lightning, & Hail that covered the course like snow. We had no choice but to hunker down under a tree….bad but only choice! 20 minutes and the storm was gone as quickly as it came in. We were freaked out. Temps had dropped 20 degrees….Tank tops and shorts. After that, everybody had left and we had the course to ourselves…..alive and well!

 

Two pilots touched wings in their F104s and came down in our neighborhood outside of Langley AFB. It seemed the world had caught on fire.

 

I worked at St. Joseph’s in Eureka in 1999. Nothing like breakfast at the Samoa cookhouse, walking out to the jetty to watch the huge waves rolling in afterwards,
Farmers Market and Lox/ Bagels at the square in Arcata on the weekends, and of course famous 420 Humboldt Herb! Proximity to the Redwoods and Surfing with my
Brother a bit North in Port Orford ,Oregon! Love the “ Lost Coast”!

 

Visited Eureka with my parents on a trip to Wally World in 59. My dad sold redwood in Wisconsin and we stayed in Georgia Pacific guest house in Samoa. My dad was the macho type so off we went driving on the beach….for a while. Got stuck in the sand and spent a frantic hour freeing our vehicle before the tide came in. Life in cheeseland didn’t prepare him for the Humboldt coast!

 

Scariest? Getting caught in a backdraft fighting a fire. When the flames rolled over me as I was flat on the floor. Still holding the hose line in my hands. And realizing my partner was not directly behind me.

My thought was that he was gone, like not alive. I managed to get out but I honestly don't know how I did. My turnout gear was condemned. Seems that they don't like burnt gear.
My partner? Turns out he saw it developing. Yelled to me. Tried to grab me as he was backing up. But I was totally unaware of it. I ended up with some minor burns but that was it. I was lucky.

Believe me when I say it's nothing like you see on TV or in the movies.

 

outside of our van in a New England small town being searched by several police with several "sheets" hidden , we were stuck in a parking lot for a few days as the driveshaft bracket had broke, this was about 30 years ago so........