Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael G.
I'm glad there's no more basement with the washer and dryer down those stairs in the house up north.
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True. We had such a place up north, 4 bedroom w/a large finished basement. Washer, dryer, etc. downstairs. Huge, two-tier yard. In other words, lots of upkeep. We'd recognized the basement stairs as a risk for some time but it wasn't the only one: deck, front porch, garage doorway, etc. all had steps. I'd had a couple of close calls but each time managed to rationalize it away as something OTHER than advancing age.
But it's not just stairs. We were fixing the place up to sell it and one day I was working on our deck; multi-level deal with crossbeams and lattice on the top. I was on a step ladder replacing the lattice, 2nd rung from the top of the ladder and sure enough, it went out from under me. The crossbeams were close enough so I managed to get one under an armpit, but that still left me with the problem of how to get down. It was a long drop, and I was scarcely six months removed from a total knee replacement. My wife was in the house so I tried calling out to her. Didn't work. Well, the only way down was to drop, so I grabbed a beam with both hands, let myself down far enough so I looked like an orangutan swinging from a branch, gauged the distance, made sure I'd land on the non-operative leg--and dropped. It worked, though the ankle of the leg I landed on was sore for a few days.
I laugh about it now, but I was VERY lucky. It was an eye-opener.