Stop Doing Stupid Stuff

[RitaB]

[QUOTE= a half full (or half empty) five gallon paint bucket as my step. As I was desending, I missed the center of the bucket and found myself on the concrete. I noticed a large scrape on my ankle, not to say my 64 yo body wasn't screaming, you fool. Daily, my ankle grew a large knot ( hematoma) and my ankle and foot turned black. It's getting better now. Moral of the story, stop doing stupid stuff and remember your brain might be 30 something but your body isn't.[/QUOTE]

I know your pain, although my body is 74 yo and not at the best of health and flexibility, my brain still thinks I'm 25 yo. I did promise my family that I would stop camping when I couldn't lift the hitch for the TV into it's receptor on my tv.
I'm not sure I can keep that promise. But I did get a 6' ladder so I could check my slideout for stuff before bringing the slide in.

[retiredcamper47]

Been there, done that. My brain keeps issuing checks that my body can't cash!


Bob

[XLTShaker]

Originally Posted by medalguy

I did the same thing, using a 5 gallon bucket for a step stool to another spot even higher up. Unfortunately when I stepped back down my foot went right through the lid. Fortunately the bucket wasn't full of paint. Lesson learned.

What is it with these 5 gallon buckets? About 10 or so yrs ago I was standing on a 5 gallon bucket checking something under the hood of my 57 Chevy while it was on a lift. My foot went through the lid. Not paint in bucket but professional grade carburetor cleaner (the stuff that really works), the kind you wear gloves when handling. When my foot went through and hit the liquid, it splashed up my leg. I was shouting for the DW while stripping off my shoes, socks, pants, etc. I rushed straight to the shower and washed really good. No problems afterwards, but if it had been on my skin any longer. . .
Now I have different sizes of the one level step stools. Ron

[PenJoe]

The year was 1971, two years into our marriage and building a new house on a shoestring. The house had an exposed basement at the rear and I was up two stories on an extension ladder hanging gutters-by myself with DW holding the ladder at the base. It went well until I was trying to install the down spout fitting. To do that, I had the ladder under the gutter leaning against about 2" of facia. While at the upper reaches, I felt the ladder slip ever so slightly, but knew I was in trouble. I started down when the ladder slipped below the facia and the ladder went down past the side of the house having the sloped hill. I rode the ladder down, the top of the ladder hit the ground first making the section I was on like a spring. I rolled off on the side of the ladder unhurt. I was laughing, but my wife was not. It is still a reminder of what might have been.

I have had many falls since while doing projects, but never from that height. Get up, dust myself off and get back to it. As for the 5 gal pail-been there and done that, but time is telling me a ladder is the better choice. Since having knee replacements, I carry a 2 step ladder to get into the truck bed. We also keep ladders handy in the garage, shed and basement so we are not tempted to use something not designed for climbing on.

[XLTShaker]

PenJoe,
In 1971, we too were in our 2nd year of marriage. Married 2 August 1969. Went to Niagara Falls and Canada last year for our 50th.

No knee surgery yet, but Rheumatoid Arthritis controls a lot of what I can do. I have a few ladders and those step stools I mentioned above. Just bought a nice collapsible 12.5 ft ladder from Amazon to carry in MH. It's a nice one and when leaned against the MH extends a couple of feet above roof. It will keep me from doing stupid stuff while traveling like standing on bed cover of Toad to reach things. I did a lot of reading before settling on this particular ladder. Ron

[buffalohunter]

Originally Posted by retiredcamper47

Been there, done that. My brain keeps issuing checks that my body can't cash!


Bob

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by retiredcamper47

Been there, done that. My brain keeps issuing checks that my body can't cash!


Bob

Bank account getting pretty well drained?

[pgandw]

Last words of a pilot: "Oh S__t! This is going to hurt!"
Last words of an engineer: "this will be a piece of cake!"
Last words of a redneck: "Hey Bubba! Hold my beer and watch this!"

[A32Deuce]

More reasons why Wives out live their Husbands!

[SniperDroid]

Wait! You waited until you were 64 to realize you had to stop doing "Stupid Stuff"? I'm 64 and I realized that when I turned 50! Didn't mean I stopped, just meant I knew I shouldn't do it ahead of time.



Hope your feeling better and heal up quicker than I do... Twisted my knee last October, still hurts.... Stupid Stuff.

[U.S.ArmyVeteran]

Originally Posted by CaptnJohn

In 1968 rappelling from a chopper the last of 4 to descend when ground fire erupted. Chopper pilot was a new guy and popped the chopper UP and I went DOWN. Back broke ~~ an experienced pilot came to pick me up as the 1st guy was in fear mode. Rarely use a ladder now.

Welcome Home Captain John. Thank You for your Service!


Gotta love a new guy pilot



As far as the topic, I don't remember ever doing anything stupid. But I sure hurt a lot

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by XLTShaker

PenJoe,
In 1971, we too were in our 2nd year of marriage. Married 2 August 1969. Went to Niagara Falls and Canada last year for our 50th.

No knee surgery yet, but Rheumatoid Arthritis controls a lot of what I can do. I have a few ladders and those step stools I mentioned above. Just bought a nice collapsible 12.5 ft ladder from Amazon to carry in MH. It's a nice one and when leaned against the MH extends a couple of feet above roof. It will keep me from doing stupid stuff while traveling like standing on bed cover of Toad to reach things. I did a lot of reading before settling on this particular ladder. Ron

You had a week head start on us. Was looking at you garage stable and have a question. How did you manage to get a distinction between mine and yours?

[XLTShaker]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

You had a week head start on us. Was looking at you garage stable and have a question. How did you manage to get a distinction between mine and yours?

In reality all the vehicles are ours and all are in both our names. DW wanted a PT Cruiser when they first came out, so we ordered one and she picked the color. I immediately, transformed it into a '50s car, wide whites, lakes pipes, custom grille, etc. etc. Just recently we had it repainted and added ghost flames. She wanted the Nomad for an anniversary 6 or so yrs ago and I bought her the Mustang over 2 years ago for a retirement present (only has just over 8k miles on it). She wanted the Ranger and we needed a Toad, so she picked Gold (Saber) for our 50th. She did have a '03 Mini Cooper, but wanted something larger for the Toad. Was trying to sell the Mini, but Son totalled it 3 wks ago. We ended up getting $2k more than what we were trying to sell it for. The biggest problem with the DW having the same interests is I don't have time to work on mine. I have been redoing the Nomad for 4 years now. She surprised me with the '50 F1 on my 56th bday. I did it up like Tow Mater from the movie CARS.

Long answer for short question, sorry. Ron

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by Dave1941

So two weeks ago I was replacing the rusty screws with ss screws on the ladder on my 2861. Instead of using a step stool or ladder, I choose a half full (or half empty) five gallon paint bucket as my step. As I was desending, I missed the center of the bucket and found myself on the concrete. Of course after looking to see if anyone saw my misshap, I noticed a large scrape on my ankle, not to say my 64 yo body wasn't screaming, you fool. Daily, my ankle grew a large knot ( hematoma) and my ankle and foot turned black. It's getting better now. Moral of the story, stop doing stupid stuff and remember your brain might be 30 something but your body isn't.

That advice is all well and good Dave, and also true, but if I stopped doing "Stupid Stuff" I don;t think Id ever accomplish anything!

[DrBob_007]

If you think you have the body of a 16 year old, just reverse those two digits to give your brain true sense and act like you are 61. Dem bones ain't what they once were. I made it a point to get a stepladder and keep it in the camper for things like stringing lights, clearing slide outs, changing lights, and clearing/cleaning the roof. I'm 71 and most of the time act my age. Nuff said.

~ Bob ~

[rjshiflet]

And we wonder why in the world one of the questions the doctor ALWAYS asks is "Have you experienced any falls recently?"

My standard answer is "NO" (and let them prove otherwise).

[Pipeman]

I want to find the guy who said 70 is the new 50. He lied, he lied a lot. I was a soldier and then a Firefighter for 35 years. I did a lot of things that normal human beings shouldn't but they got done. The body hurts, the brain functions and the wife gives backhand 101 with follow through every once in a while. That's for nothing, wait until I do something stupid. I know a guy who has had just abut all the joints in his body replaced. That's because he jumped out of perfectly good planes. Anyway for all us old/young guys stay safe out there and sometimes rethink what you're about to do and it won't hurt so much.....or get somebody else to do it.....darn it's hard to admit that tho'...

[AT-82Collectors]

True

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by rjshiflet

And we wonder why in the world one of the questions the doctor ALWAYS asks is "Have you experienced any falls recently?"

My standard answer is "NO" (and let them prove otherwise).

The doctor's office gives me a tablet to fill out a questionaire for Medicare. One of the questions is how many times have you fallen in the past year. Having lost count, 0 is as good a count as any. It may be none. If I estimated, it would be wrong anyway! How can they possibly expect a straight answer from bipeds?

[campers302]

Originally Posted by Blank

When doing dumb stuff, if you have to think about whether its safe or not, it is generally too late!!!

Kinda like that moment just before your hammer smashes into your thumb.
Or the stanley knife rips across you palm.


You know, that brief moment of,

This is gonna hurt!