Today's safety lesson: ladders.

Capt am sorry to hear about your mishap, def could have been worse. I had noticed you had recently got rather quiet and was wondering if things were ok...guess I am fairing better than you as I got my own issues recently as well lol.

Beerwieser and I both mentioned what we think of ladders a while back when we was talking about our manlift investments, them damm things can do unexpected things indeed. I had it drilled into me as a child about making sure the feet are secure and also how to "hold" a ladder for someone else. Being overly paranoid of having happen exactly what you had, I tie them in place or most commonly will use a tractor to work as a containment, be it jamming the feet of the ladder against the side of a tire or like when tarping a bale stack, I use the nose and with the loader in the air it works as kind of a cage up top where you are pulling on the tarp and such.
Even if I am having someone else climb one for me, I will secure it for them, some laugh at the idea, others who have had close calls themselves it often results in a conversation about new ideas.

Funny thing is for me the worst ladder incidents I have had were with those 6 footer alumminum step ladders, use them for washing windows and more on equipment, will never go near the top couple steps, but all you have to do is lean one way and the damm things begin to twist and more and be a few times the windex or the grease gun was disposed of in one hell of a hurry and you are grabbing onto whatever you can to stabilize yourself to get back down. Being the cheap prick I am I bought a nice set of light steel steps about ten feet long, want to put some big enough wheels so I can use them outside but the intention is to make my own set of mobile stairs as in this part of the world the manufactured ones are never cheap.

Hope things heal up ok

Ouch! Thanks for the safety reminder. I hadn't thought much about the pads getting hard. A couple of years ago I fell off a ladder and bruised myself quite badly. And that was off the first step of a step ladder! I hate ladders and try not to use them very often without someone to hang onto it for me. Hope you recover swiftly.

The best thing we ever bought on the farm was a scissor lift at an auction. It's a bit bulky and gas-powered, but it's well worth dragging out even to do something as simple as adjusting a door opener or changing a light. Might keep my eye open for either a smaller electric one for in-shop use, or a cherry-picker-style forklift where you go up with the forks carrying a man basket. Cousin bought one recently at auction and it's really slick. They are using it to mount lights in their shop.

Also on the list is a boom lift for opening and closing bin lids.

Yes this is why I haven't posted. Somewhat difficult the first few days getting everything rebooted.

One thing for sure that has really humbled me and broke me a couple times is the out pouring of support and offers to help etc. Heard so many times now I drop everything in a heartbeat to help anyone, it's the least they feel they can do.

It's the great part about small, tight nit communities, we do take care of each other, it's just extremely humbling.

We're going to have a party here when I get heeled up for everyone that helped or offered.

Hmmm, I was working on my shop door the other day and was working off the top step of my 12' step ladder to get into the attic on the shop...

Glad you aren't permanently out of commission and hope you make a full recovery soon. Be thankful for good neighbors and business partners, none of us would be anywhere without them. A simple heart-felt thankyou goes a long way.

I discussed the use of a scissor lift and perhaps if he knew of someone who owned a lift in a finished shop and wasn't using it much make a deal to rent it/have it sit there as he works on his shop if he wasn't willing to rent through a rental company. He did say he made up some sort of platform and tied it down onto his forks of his front end loader tractor ( I never saw it ) and I asked if he had made railings for it ... LOL. You know the answer to that and with such a platform means climbing up a ladder onto it so potential issues there if not careful. At least the contractors had done the ceiling tin but he had to still crawl up into the attic for more wiring and then eventually will get someone to blow in insulation. The radiant heat still has to be installed so that will be another fun project and then like I mentioned the upper half of the wall tin ( he is going horizontal with the tin, that's another story ). Pretty chilly in there now with the turn in the weather and no temporary heater that exhausts outside. I put the bug in his ear without being pushy as after all its not my funds going into building the shop.