Not as warm as yesterday, but well above freezing and way windy, which makes it as good a day as any to make a dent in the huge pile of backed-up laundry. I’ve kept ahead of the essentials, stump socks and the like, but the heavier things have gone begging through the weeks of really crappy weather. With the tiny washer I use indoors, it takes time to make a dent in the jeans and hoodies and such.
Yesterday was a really beautiful day, and I used the afternoon to do something far more fun…
I installed one of those 12 volt LED floods my brother sent in the powershed. I put a 110V CFL in there a couple of years ago, on a cheap socket with a pull chain which failed within a month. When I think of the trenching I had to do…well. A 12 volt lamp is a helluva lot better choice for that application, it being where the batteries are and all.
Also I was a bit skeptical about how much light one of these things really throws, and wanted to do this simple job before going to the trouble of putting them up above the porch only to learn they’d barely illuminate the stairs. Suppose I should do something a bit less unsightly about that connection…
But my skepticism was at least partly justified. In the center of the little 8X8 shed, the single flood throws a useful but far from uncomfortably bright light. No way it would illuminate the whole yard, I fear. I’m still going to put them up, but instead of spreading them out I’ll try concentrating them on the porch and stair. That way they’ll be of use even if they don’t do much wider good. Many nights I’ve crept down that stair with my hands full, a flashlight in my mouth, and my heart at least slightly in my throat. Amputees fall down a lot, you see, and that’s rather farther than I like to fall.
And now if you’ll forgive me, having gotten the laundry out of the way it’s bread day.
Betcha there are enough readers who would love an eco-tourism trip to the gulch to build you a ramp/several ramps with handrails so you don’t have to creep down those stairs. You’d roll down a ramp instead of falling, and you can wheel things up a ramp instead of carrying them up stairs. Some readers might even show up with lumber, nails, screws, saws, coolers, grills, food, drink. Announce a date, set up the solar shower, rent the PortAPotties and let’s git ‘er done.
No offense Zelda, but you’ve got me confused with somebody who might think that having a lot of strangers show up sounds attractive. I’ve had visitors in ones and twos and enjoyed the meeting, but there’s a reason I don’t go to a lot of parties…
Come on now, Zelda. Ain’t you never given a “no notice” party where you and a buncha folks just show up at somebody’s house with party fixin’s and say SURPRISE!!!
???
}:-]
Yup, I have. Ummmm, Mark, we’d all be in more trouble than I can imagine if we did that to Joel. My hair is turning grey and falling out just thinking about the consequences. It’s likely that even a quart of his favorite adult beverage wouldn’t make that OK. And Joel, strangers are just us folks you haven’t met yet. LOL
The pantry is looking good! Maybe sometime you should post a list of things, pantrywise, that you’d actually like to receive. For example, Claire mentioned in an earlier post fruits and vegetables. How about freeze dried stuff?
About the ramp idea. I wouldn’t make it the only means of coming and going. As someone with minor mobility impairments, I personally find ramps more likely to lose my footing than on stairs. It’d be great in addition to stairs, as Zelda said for wheeling loads into the lair.
CH, you and I are thinking along the same lines, but I’m pretty sure I’m not carpenter enough to pull it off. I’d like to extend the top of the stair into a larger sort of landing, preferably with a railing, coming off in a couple of different directions with stairs and/or ramp. But I truly don’t know how to build such a thing, and I shudder at the cost. Need to roof the porch someday before I die, too.
But this year I just want to tile the interior and side and paint the powershed.
For a ramp, maybe something like this moveable one. Not overly pricey but I don’t know how firmly it could be attached or if it’d be long enough not to be a too steep angle. I might have to look into this myself for DH and his walker until his back gets fixed.
http://www.amazon.com/Briefcase-Ramp-Medical-Mobility-Wheelchair/dp/B00EUITV6W/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1453741142&sr=8-6&keywords=wheelchair+ramp
ColoradoHermit, ramps can be covered or striped with non-slip materials, paint that contains sand, or indoor/outdoor carpet. They can also have thin strips of wood nailed across them at intervals as a speed bump. Have done all of them for different friends. In a cold, icy, snowy climate (where I live) ramps must be treated to be non-slip. I have not done that to my ramps and this winter came barreling out of the house on to one of my ramps (which does not yet have a railing or surface coating), which was coated with ice I didn’t notice, and had a spectacular fall, sliding down the ramp on the ice on my back with one leg and knee twisted under me. No permanent damage but it sure did hurt and I limped for a while. Ramps are wonderful for moving heavy loads. I can move items by myself with a dolly or wheelbarrow that I could never have carried up stairs. Ramps have to be individually designed, some with safe landings depending on the grade, so the grade is ADA compliant or they are not a lifestyle improvement. I decided on ramps instead of steps anticipating that I would live to be old enough to have mobility issues. Would love to see Joel set up with multiple ramps, wide steps, safe landings, and railings because I know from experience that properly done and surface finished it would be more efficient, safer, and easier on his body.