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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    70
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    2,730

    Default Lost all my brownie points!

    I need to replan and rerun my Monday. Time machine anyone? After a couple of days working on a hard prune of my mangoe tree I was doing the final trimming back of the spiky stumps of the main branches - using the wrong tool for the job - a corded ozito electric pole pruner. I should have reverted to the bow saw for the girth I was attacking! I thought I had it all planned out, branch tied off etc, but when I eventually cut through something went wrong and I parted way with the lower half of the ladder I was standing on and landed akwardly. Now in hospital recovering after surgery to do a plate repair of the ulna, there was a cm or 2 of light between the ends on the xray. You know you've done a real job when the radiographer whistles and says I haven't seen that before.
    Franklin

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Sutherland Shire, Sydney
    Age
    71
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    1,301

    Default

    Cripes! You don't do things by halves, do you?
    Hope the recovery goes well, it will certainly slow you down for a while.

    Alan...

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,756

    Default

    Ladders (after grinders and mowers) are the number 3 DIY injury cause for attendance at hospital emergency, #1 for DIY injury cause Hospital admission

  5. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    70
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    Default

    Doc just showed me an xray of the plate. LOTS of screws. I suppose a nice dovetail joint would have shortened things too much.

    Fingers crossed for a healthy heal!
    Franklin

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Sunbury, Vic
    Age
    84
    Posts
    2,713

    Default

    Hope it all goes well.

    After a fall from a ladder. a specialist told me that the only place for a ladder owned by anyone over 50 was out on the nature strip for hard rubbish collection
    Tom

    "It's good enough" is low aim

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh
    Posts
    7,696

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Chesand View Post
    Hope it all goes well.

    After a fall from a ladder. a specialist told me that the only place for a ladder owned by anyone over 50 was out on the nature strip for hard rubbish collection
    I have also been told similar, I put a permanent bracket on the side of the garage to secure the ladder I used to climb.
    CHRIS

  8. #7
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    70
    Posts
    2,730

    Default

    Yes I had used one of those small rolling platforms for the last few indoor jobs I completed inside rather than ladders and is was brilliant, but my sloping garden is a greater challenge. Unfortunately the only truly useful solution would be to terrace it somehow, but there is very limited access for machinery and I have already tried getting quotes from a number of local landscapers who all say just too difficult. It's really a civil engineering job and they like big machinery.
    STA_7517.jpg
    Franklin

  9. #8
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    70
    Posts
    2,730

    Default

    I'm back home again and have had a look at the scene and it's fairly clear now what went wrong. It looks like there wasn't enough slack in the rope I had tied to the butt end of the branch i was cutting through. It must have swung somewhat before hitting the ground knocking the bottom of the ladder and sending me flying off it. And with only three more cuts to finish the job... next season maybe.... from the ground only.
    Franklin

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Sunbury, Vic
    Age
    84
    Posts
    2,713

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fuzzie View Post
    ... next season maybe.... from the ground only.
    Or pay someone to risk their neck - much cheaper than hospital and doctors' bills.
    Tom

    "It's good enough" is low aim

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    back in Alberta for a while
    Age
    68
    Posts
    12,006

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fuzzie View Post
    Now in hospital recovering after surgery to do a plate repair of the ulna, there was a cm or 2 of light between the ends on the xray. You know you've done a real job when the radiographer whistles and says I haven't seen that before.
    Quote Originally Posted by Fuzzie View Post
    Doc just showed me an xray of the plate. LOTS of screws.
    You're going to have fun next time you go through an air port scanner !!
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    se Melbourne
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,567

    Default

    I guess Fuzzie was not only your name when you landed.

    Speedy recovery.

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    blue mountains
    Posts
    4,882

    Default

    Hi Fuzzie,
    Sorry to hear you hurt yourself and hope it all heals up soon as possible.
    You would not be the first to come unstuck messing around with trees and I confess to doing a few dumb tree cutting stunts in the past. A couple of near misses finally made me see the light.
    Regards
    John

  14. #13
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
    Age
    70
    Posts
    2,730

    Default

    Thanks to all for your thoughts! I think I appreciate how lucky I am that things didn't turn out worse, there was a real possibility it could have been my head that took the blow and not my arm. It probably is one of those life changing moments.

    And for Ian who asked...
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Franklin

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Oz
    Posts
    615

    Default

    Ladders are the cause of so many accidents, particularly the elderly - anyone over around 50. I have a mezzanine type shelf in my workshop for storing wood, this requires me to use a step ladder I made. The ladder is only around a metre high and has a single pole attached to the top to hang onto, not ideal. My hands are useless now so I avoid ladders as much as possible. I hate to think of the damage if I was to fall, might have to lower that shelf, but requires the use of a ladder???

    I made another recumbent the other week but the seat ended up so high that I fell over trying to get on the thing, putting a nice gash in my leg, back to the drawing board I think.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  16. #15
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast
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    70
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    Default

    Sac, by recumbent do you mean a bicycle? Or is it some new lay upon workbench? I might need to find a new relaxed setup to use in the shed for the next few weeks.
    Franklin

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