When home projects go wrong

[Greenhorn2]

So my wife has been on me to build a new porch on front of the house with the A roof open gable since I  quit work. OK, so I  spent the last month building the porch and new shingles. Now it needs to be stained she says. So I  went and got stain and accessories and commenced the process Thursday. That is until my trusty extension ladder decided that it was sick and tired of holding my fat ass up and decided to make a run for it dumping me on the steps. As I  made my journey down the steps what felt like twice all I could think was this isn't good. When I came to rest with my face in the grass, all I could think about was whether or not air was ever going to enter my lungs again. After a few minutes the air came back and I began the process of figuring out what all was broke. Went to get up and the left thumb was pointing in the wrong direction,  right elbow was hanging out of the meat, couldn't hardly breath( bruised or cracked ribs in my back) and legs missing skin and meat. I thought, damn, could have been worse. Drug myself into the house and popped my thumb back in the knuckle, pulled what skin and meat that was left back over the elbow and cleaned up what else was damaged. After thinking about it and getting really pissed off. I decided this wasn't going to whip me. So I went back and finished staining the gable. When I started down the ladder I realized my right hip was really tight so I got all the plastic up, stain and accessories up and threw away trash. Jumped in the hot shower trying to alleviate some soreness to no avail. Spent the whole weekend on the couch eating antibiotics like tic tags trying to get the infection out of my cherry red, flaming hot elbow. Finally was able to get up and walk in the yard for a few minutes today but it will be a while before I  do anymore staining. Wife asked me when was I going to start on the new back porch. Sheesh.

[riderpride]

Yeesh. Glad you're relatively well 

Check the ladder for hacksaw marks JIC lol

Cheers

[El Presidente]

Bloody Hell!  Get well!

To be fair you dodged a bullet. Ken and I have a good mate who when retired decided to clean his gutters two stories up.  He fell badly and has probably never fully recovered from that accident although he has a few other trevails. Getting old can be challenging. 

I think once you get over a certain vintage the following maxim comes into play. "If you have to climb, spend the dime and get someone in". 

I am not sure what that age is as we are all different. I can say that while my core strength is good for my vintage, my flexibility is half what it was 20 years ago. When I jump onto the deck of a boat it is no feather light landing but rather a "clunk". These days, working from the top of a high ladder feels like a scene from Mission Impossible. 

Glad to hear your recovering! 

 

[mprach024]

Neighbor decided to shovel snow off his roof a few years back.  Yes you read that correctly.  You can fill in the rest.  

He didn’t die he broke both arms and had them in casts for months, that’s a miserable few months. Sure hope he had a bidet.

This is why I avoid all manual labor.  

[Fuzz]

Geez, I've heard of trying to get out of doing house work, but that is taking it to the extreme!! Get well soon.

3 hours ago, El Presidente said:

These days, working from the top of a high ladder feels like a scene from Mission Impossible. 

 

You have never been good on ladders.  Even 3 foot step ladders are a risky business for you.

[El Presidente]

2 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Geez, I've heard of trying to get out of doing house work, but that is taking it to the extreme!! Get well soon.

You have never been good on ladders.  Even 3 foot step ladders are a risky business for you.

.......l aspire to a 3 foot ladder 

[ha_banos]

Eesh. Hope you patched everything up ok. Might want to check those ribs are still sort of in the right position. 

[Ken Gargett]

4 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Bloody Hell!  Get well!

To be fair you dodged a bullet. Ken and I have a good mate who when retired decided to clean his gutters two stories up.  He fell badly and has probably never fully recovered from that accident although he has a few other trevails. Getting old can be challenging. 

I think once you get over a certain vintage the following maxim comes into play. "If you have to climb, spend the dime and get someone in". 

I am not sure what that age is as we are all different. I can say that while my core strength is good for my vintage, my flexibility is half what it was 20 years ago. When I jump onto the deck of a boat it is no feather light landing but rather a "clunk". These days, working from the top of a high ladder feels like a scene from Mission Impossible. 

Glad to hear your recovering! 

 

exactly who i was thinking of reading the troubles. although in his case, the doctor found some of those 'other trevails' when fixing him for this, which probably saved his life. 

flexibility is so much more important than we think, i believe. mine was good till about two years ago as i would would always do 10-15 minutes every morning. then the move, exile, shingles, hospital etc. was hoping to get back into it though the shingles leads to post herpatic neuralgia which is fun and does not help. and then a broken/cracked rib or two from the latest fishing trip has put the new start date even further back. and i really feel it. one mate would not get through the day if he did not do a solid 30-40 minutes stretching exercises every morning. 

i do recall doing the gutters at my old place. had my system in place (which was largely, leave it as long as possible and when the plants growing out of the gutter reach about a foot in height, then get the hoses up and flush it clean - used to take about 90 minutes and make a godawful mess). i'm up there one day - the ladder would allow me to come up to the gutter and just over, so it was a good height - means my head is about a foot above the height of the gutter. i'm flushing away. the hoses have been going for ages. suddenly, about two foot from me, the head of a large python pokes through the leaves and muck. seems i'd disturbed him (and he was not expecting a cold bath drowning him). not best pleased. just stared straight into my eyes. about 6-7 foot long. how the hell i did not fall off that ladder i will never know. carefully backed away down the steps and put the ladder up about six foot further along and then all hoses on the python and eventually flushed him out the far end of the gutter. he was not happy at all. slowly headed off into the bush and i reckon the gutter was removed from his peaceful places to hibernate list. 

get well. 

[TobaccoRoad]

Out of all your injuries those ribs are going to be the killer. I've cracked ribs twice in my life and still wince when I think about it. Hoping for a speedy recovery for you!

PS- If things get too bad PM me and I'll grab a bottle of Bourbon and head to Mayodan 😏

[Greenhorn2]

17 hours ago, TobaccoRoad said:

Out of all your injuries those ribs are going to be the killer. I've cracked ribs twice in my life and still wince when I think about it. Hoping for a speedy recovery for you!

PS- If things get too bad PM me and I'll grab a bottle of Bourbon and head to Mayodan 😏

You might want to bring a barrel of bourbon. Lol

 

On 9/27/2022 at 12:44 PM, El Presidente said:

Bloody Hell!  Get well!

To be fair you dodged a bullet. Ken and I have a good mate who when retired decided to clean his gutters two stories up.  He fell badly and has probably never fully recovered from that accident although he has a few other trevails. Getting old can be challenging. 

I think once you get over a certain vintage the following maxim comes into play. "If you have to climb, spend the dime and get someone in". 

I am not sure what that age is as we are all different. I can say that while my core strength is good for my vintage, my flexibility is half what it was 20 years ago. When I jump onto the deck of a boat it is no feather light landing but rather a "clunk". These days, working from the top of a high ladder feels like a scene from Mission Impossible. 

Glad to hear your recovering! 

 

I'm looking for the nearest gay pride parade. I can show my support by pulling down my pants and show off the rainbow flag tattoo on my hip and thigh. Colors are almost a perfect match. Lol.

 

22 hours ago, ha_banos said:

Eesh. Hope you patched everything up ok. Might want to check those ribs are still sort of in the right position. 

I think the ribs are just bruised pretty good. I've cracked a couple at work before and that was a miserable 6-8 weeks. Having problems getting the infection down in the elbow but it's getting better now that it's starting to scab over. It will take a little time.

 

On 9/27/2022 at 12:10 PM, riderpride said:

Yeesh. Glad you're relatively well 

Check the ladder for hacksaw marks JIC lol

Cheers

Ladder is fine. It just decided that it had enough of holding my 6'3" 265 lbs 55 year old carcass up. Felt like a hell of a car wreck without the car.

[Chibearsv]

7 hours ago, Greenhorn2 said:

I'm looking for the nearest gay pride parade. I can show my support by pulling down my pants

This might be one of those "out of context quotes" that can keep you out of the presidency....or win it for you.  😁

[Greenhorn2]

4 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

This might be one of those "out of context quotes" that can keep you out of the presidency....or win it for you.  😁

That's one job I wouldn't want. Heck, different strokes for different folks. Takes all kinds of people to make the world go around. 

[Fuzz]

The reason you hire professionals is because they have something very important... no, not skills.... insurance!!!

[Greenhorn2]

9 hours ago, dinisoperator said:

Get well! Why did you go to ER? I would definitely want to get checked after that. And this is one of the reasons I almost never engage in any hope projects and prefer to hire contractors to do the most complicated jobs. They are professionals, and they know way better how to do that correctly.
 

Well, I  worked for mechanical contractors for the last 28 years building and maintaining factories. I quit back in the spring  to get some work done around the house before I  start a new job in November. Since I  don't have any insurance the ER is definitely out of the picture. I  figured if I  can help build factories from the ground up,  a porch would be a piece of cake, which it was except for the ladder.

[Capn_Jackson]

Bourbon heals all wounds.

well okay, not all of ‘em. Hope you’re doing better now!

[Greenhorn2]

9 minutes ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Bourbon heals all wounds.

well okay, not all of ‘em. Hope you’re doing better now!

I'm pretty good except for the thumb and sore ribs. The bourbon really helps.  Thanks!

[Capn_Jackson]

Just now, Greenhorn2 said:

I'm pretty good except for the thumb and sore ribs. The bourbon really helps.  Thanks!

That’s good to hear. The elbow part of the story sounded pretty gruesome. The rest I’ve experienced, but not bone popping out.

[Greenhorn2]

11 minutes ago, Capn_Jackson said:

That’s good to hear. The elbow part of the story sounded pretty gruesome. The rest I’ve experienced, but not bone popping out.

It's still about twice the size of my other elbow and is still scabing over but other than that, it's good. It had me worried for about a week,  thought I was going to have to go to the doctor with it for a while.