accommodation to age

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
When I get the post and pictures up of my recent rendezvous, you will see my 'lodge', a 12'X12' pyramid tent of heavy canvas. I believe that tent, folded up weighs about 100 pounds. In storage, I put it on a big shelf in the garage that is about 5 1/2' high. In the past I could lift it up there. No more. Today, it was several big grunts and a lot of work getting it up. Afterwards I got smart and installed a game (deer, etc.) block and tackle hoist. Tools and mechanical leverage will have to take over from the part that went with the more youthful days.
 
Frank.......I'm 58. 12 years ago I woke up deaf in my right ear. 7 years ago I broke my back. 5 years ago I began having intermittant vertigo attacks. Nearly 2 years ago I quit smoking and have since gain 40 lbs. Only thing I can advice one on.......as you get older....you'd better develop a sense of humor about yourself....other wise ...you could live an awfully long time! :eek:
 
I agree with Ken on developing a sense of humor about the ageing Body. I'm 69 and among the many other things, the hearing is not so good.:rolleyes: As a matter of fact, my hearing reminds me of Mr. McGoo's eyesight problems in the old movie cartoons. I get a real laugh sometimes between what someone "actually says", and what I THOUGHT they said. When this first started happening, I would think, "I can't believe he/she said that":eek: and after I would ask for them to repeat, (louder and facing me so I could see their lips) I would cetrtainly be happy that I had not repeated what I thought they had said. :rofl::rofl::rofl: Now it just gives me a good chuckle, especially since I know that my loss cannot be fixed or improved with hearing aids.:D

Lifting things as you have noted requires some ingenuity with things that we used to just reach and get easily and think nothing of it, and now discover to our surprise that the thing won't even budge. After making my own plywood sheet carrier a while back and finding that it caused much back soreness because all the lifting was on one side, I did develop a new way to carry 3/4" 4' x 8' plywood sheets quite easily. ( I should have discovered this years ago, it works so well). I just stand it up and lean it slightly against a wall or something, then back up to it and squat slightly and reach behind me and grab each edge and straighten up leaning just slightly foreward so it rests firmly against my back, and I can carry it as far as I want with no strain. (Some new tricks for us Old Dogs are sure worth learning).:D
 
Y'all said it well. I'm 69 now and in pretty good shape (not the visual part :rolleyes: ) for my age. When we first started raising cattle, I had the boys at home. Great help. "Hold this", "hand me that", 'pull here", etc. When they went off to college, I had to learn to work alone and got very ingenious at some things. This is just another step in life's progress. Good news is that I can still do things like my reenactment activities. I'm not unhappy about this, just another part of the many passages of life. One of my philosophies is that when the time comes that I stop having fun, y'all are invited to shovel dirt on my face.
 
i`d much rather be gettin` old and whining about it than the alternitive:eek:;)
workin` by yourself has the advantage that nobody else knows how many mistakes it takes to make a presentable widgit...
 
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