Thursday, May 13, 2021

After you are about 50 you have to be more careful on Ladders or roofs

We keep a fluorescent or LED light in the garage and leave it on so we don't fall down in there because it is so dark day or night there unless we open the garage door to the outside. We noticed recently that the fluorescent bulb we keep on so no one gets injured in the dark burned out. However, I have to get on my tallest ladder to change this bulb which is a really tall aluminum ladder which will get me up to around 15 feet high or more in my garage where the bulb goes on the ceiling. However, at 73 it's not something I relish doing because I have friends that have either been seriously injured rolling off of roofs or have eventually died from their injuries who are also over 50 years old (I'm 73). So, I waited until I sensed it would be safe enough for me to do this. I had to vibe it right for my own safety.

However, there are always unexpected results often in situations like this one. The good news was that I survived the ordeal without falling or the Ladder collapsing on one rung or something like this. The bad news is that I went barefoot for added safety in being able to feel each rung with my feet better. If you have an emergency in the rain especially going barefoot can save your life. When my wife's house flat roof

that she owned when we first met flooded and water came out one wall because the drains were plugged

I took off my shoes after a friend of mine went up the ladder in leather soled shoes first and flipped 

upside down and hurt himself. So, by going up barefoot and raising my pant legs in the 1 to 2 foot of 

water on the roof once I got there I could clear the drains from the downpour before it collapsed my 

then girlfriend's roof to her house. Luckily, I succeeded before the roof collapsed even though the

water shot out about 5 feet when I cleared the main drains. So, the water stopped coming out of the 

walls. (This was in around 1995 when we had a lot of flooding rains here and whole bridges washed

away here on the northern CAlifornia coast. However, she sold that house in 1999 and we bought a bigger

one by then because we had a 2 1/2 year old by 1999 when we bought a new one after her mother and stepmother  died and I almost died that year.

However, today I must have made a mistake of some kind because I felt a pull on my right toe like I 

scratched it on the underside of the tall aluminum ladder. By the time I got to the bottom I noticed 

that the crocks I took off to go up the ladder barefoot for safety were covered with blood. So, I realized

that I might have injured myself more than a scratch. Rather than get blood all over the carpeting in the 

house I realized I need to call my wife who was taking care of one of my grandsons who is around 3 1/2.

So, I called out to her to keep the blood on the cement floor of the garage. She brought a large bandaid

and said I might need stitches under my toe. I said "I hope not". However, with a 3 inch wide Bandaid

we were able to stop the bleeding. However, over time we both realized that I within one or more

of my medicines is a blood thinner which would naturally increase bleeding if you are injured. But,

luckily the second big 3 inch wide bandaid we used made the bleeding stop. Eventually either my

wife or I will go down and clean up the pools of blood all over the cement garage floor. However,

alls well that ends well because I changed the bad bulb in the ceiling with an LED bulb which is actually

brighter and might even use less electricity than the fluorescent bulb that burned out after around 

5 years or so in the Garage.

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