The aging homesteader

I was up on the roof yesterday cleaning the chimney and making some repairs.  The chimney has double stacks that serve two fireplaces.  When the wind is right, the smoke tends to come out of one and be drawn down the other.  I put in a wall between the two stacks to try to limit the draw down.   We will see if that works.

The trip to the roof is worth noting because I suspect it may be my last one.  Getting off the ladder onto the roof challenged my ability to bend.  Also walking across the slope of the roof was not as easy as it once was.   Oddly, I had no trouble getting off the roof onto the ladder.  Anyway, in keeping with my first rule of life, “Don’t do dumb things”,   I will be thinking long and hard about getting on the roof again.

John F Dean wrote:   Oddly, I had no trouble getting off the roof onto the ladder.  Anyway, in keeping with my first rule of life, “Don’t do dumb things”,   I will be thinking long and hard about getting on the roof again.

The thinking is the important step! Hubby installed some scaffolding a couple years back so that he could sweep the chimneys more safely and easily. It doesn't show that much from the street.

He also installed some proper "roof tiedowns" (for lack of knowing their proper name) and has a decent fall-arrest harness.

So there is definitely a "time to retire from that job" approach, but there's also a "think about how this can be done safer" approach as we age and *both* have a place in our tool-box.

You have me checking out the price of harnesses. They are pretty inexpensive.

There are a lot of drawbacks to a low, flat, roof (namely leaks and coyotes sleeping by the warm chimney).
Now a benefit: I am grateful that, with care - and practicing 3-point-touch on the ladder - I don't need to buy a safety harness!

This morning I watched Happen Films (permaculture-focused) production of "The Life of an Inspiring 85-Year-Old Change Maker!"  I found it very positive - inspirational and aspirational - as I consider my own future. Only 12 minutes, it's given me a lot to think about.

Beautiful video! Thanks so much for sharing it, Amy.

This 10-minute, permaculture-oriented film from Reflections of Life film makers speaks to transformative loss and how the interdependence of the many beings on the homestead that depend on us is a source of healing. As the darkness of Winter Solstice nears, I found great comfort in hearing how this amazing person holds loss with grace and dignity. I’ve watched it at least 5 times gaining more insights on each viewing. Maybe it will speak to others in this thread.

I feel that some of the most important thing an aging homesteader can do is to stay active and learn how to deal with aches and pains.

One of the first steps is to accept and expect the aging process. Trying to figure out strategies to age gracefully goes a long ways.

Staying motivated helps with the challenges and rewards.

Eating right, staying fit, learn the art of self massage like T-touch, do breathing exercises, and drink lots of water.

Hi Anne,

Good point. The aches and pains are very real.  Injuries that I used to be able to shake off in 24 hours or less I now feel for 6 months or more. I am still nursing a muscle pull from last May.  

Anne Miller wrote:I feel that some of the most important thing an aging homesteader can do is to stay active and learn how to deal with aches and pains.

I consider myself a pretty resilient person, but this year was challenging.  Had a minor ankle sprain and in the following weeks I overcompensated with the other foot and ended up with another sprain.  It didn't stop me but boy did it slow me down.  Between the sprains and a bum knee, kneeling wasn't an issue, but getting back up was.  So for Christmas hubby has bought me one of those combination bench/kneelers.   Currently doing physical therapy at home along with strengthening exercises to prepare for the new gardening season.

Thank you for the book...I am guilty of pushing through til the task is done...which I"m trying to complete my tasks in bite-sizes  

Rebecca Hyde wrote:Carol Deppe, who wrote The Resilent Gardener, mentioned many tips for saving ones back and otherwise lasting longer while being productive. I always remember her advice to resist “completionism” — that compulsion to just push through until the task is done.  

The screen at the top of the chimney started clogging.
I was getting smoke back in the house when I opened the woodburner door.

There is a tree limb above the house I can tie a safety rope to, but the whole process of climbing up on the roof and getting over to the chimney is work and a bit risky.

The piping got disconnected in the house so all that was left was the straight 8" pipe up.
  I have an electric leaf blower, put it through a hole in a 5-gallon bucket lid that was used to seal against the chimney inside.

Turned it on and it cleaned the screen right out. Even put a paper ball in there to bounce around and clean the walls a little.

I'm going to have to become more inventive as I get older. If I want to keep heating/cooking with wood.
That was so much easier than climbing on the roof and it hasn't clogged again in the weeks since.

Brilliant way to stay off the roof Craig!
Your statement,

I'm going to have to become more inventive as I get older

is profound and far-reaching. Improvisation in daily life is deeply fulfilling.

4 years ago I wrote this

Fortunately I have a good news story.
I am 70 + and can do almost everything I did before without problems.
Except for the activity I could once do all night and cant do once a week now!
I do pace myself, and use levers etc to make things easier.
I still race motorcycles and I never ran so I cant report on that.
I think the techniques I now use have been things I no doubt either learned about or was told.
So good luck everybody.

6 Months ago I broke my back in 4 places in an accident, at 75 years young!
 At the time I remember checking if I could move my toes because I wondered if I had done enough damage to prevent it.
My left toes moved, so I just lay there across the ladder I had used as a landing spot and waited.
3 days later I had an operation which involved bars and screws up most of my spine,,,,arghh. It took me until recently to investigate the repairs.
I had a call from a fellow sidecar racer, Brian Williams who asked what I wanted to do, I explained I was planning to walk so I could race again.
He said put that into your mind and stick to it.

I had helped others in the past to rebuild nerves etc by constantly moving muscles anyway that was possible, just out of experience and I
was confident I could do it again.
At first I was pretty despondent for a few days, but Brians call triggered something, then I had a Physio who pushed me to try and sit up, then get out of bed and walk.
The pain, lack of mobility was profound, but a mate of mine walked in just as I was trying to put it all together for the first time and later he mentioned, " I have seen you as stubborn as anyone before, but watching you scream, push and shove your way to your feet was amazing. And then you took a step, with the physio's support, and slowly moved off groaning and crying out. But then you had to be stopped and turned around."
Anyway, I can now drive, can work with my screen business and drive a van, all carefully.
Customers have been great in recognising my limitations and are supportive.  
I tell you the story because anything may be possible for you.
In my case without any gods help.

John F Dean wrote:

...looking into the future, are pricing a chair lift to get us in and out of the basement. If nothing else, it might be useful to transport boxes,etc.

So, I wonder, what adaptive measures have others taken or plan to take?

I have a creative neighbor who is not afraid to try his mind's eye images
So on a roll, he built his basement blocks 13' high
A humongous in ground pool he never finished
A hand winching dumb waiter from his humongous basement all the way to the part of his house that is 2 storeys high

I smile and tell him never mind, he always has room for a giant!

Anyway, I think I want to have a go with his dumb waiter idea to move things from my 7' basement all the way to ground level 4' up, and then another 5' to the main level of my little 850 SQ ft house

More convenient for moving out an old washing machine that leaks and soon to be used for rainwater catchment summer laundry...
Storing the bigger air compressor and fetching outside on occasion...
Maybe doing a massive basement storage reworking while I am still motivated and capable ...

Wouldn't it be nice if someone knew how to use bicycle power to power a winch, like a crazy teenager who built a bike elevator to his treehouse on YouTube

So one sits on a reclaimed roadside stationary bike and pedals up and down -- perhaps a floating platform with an extension using a trailer hitch type platform
Well you can see how despite age difference my neighbor and I get along great!

Anyway, yeah I love the idea of stacking functions any which way

What's more, if you needed the winch for another job, you could design it so it could be removed and returned
Say, if you had a trailer with something like scrap metal needing winching on

Jan 2025
Current age 68
 I've decided to pay local help to dig my septic instead of doing it myself, mostly because it's affordable as per/hr increments instead of the outlay to purchase a machine.
 I also am keeping core strength ongoing as I plan to set the foundation blocks myself at 500+/- pounds lifting and toting each day for that task point to build in desert conditions.
  Prebuilding framing is ongoing, and being stockpiled. I will purchase a deer hunting hanging rack for the truck hitch which will position and pulley-lift framing

Kat Peters-Midland wrote:Thank you for the book...I am guilty of pushing through til the task is done...which I"m trying to complete my tasks in bite-sizes  

Rebecca Hyde wrote:Carol Deppe, who wrote The Resilent Gardener, mentioned many tips for saving ones back and otherwise lasting longer while being productive. I always remember her advice to resist “completionism” — that compulsion to just push through until the task is done.  

I call my core strength chores outside and inside efforts 'pilates' !!! Less than half hour any given lifting pulling pushing toting digging chopping gathering scenario, then go do some other effort and keeping the to-do list at only two things today, and lots of nutrition for the tasks.