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Sue-
This is great! "When my Dad was in his 70's he treated himself to a 5-hour workday."
I love my shop work building musical instruments, but I'm learning not to feel guilty about my shorter work hours. I'm learning to take my time, be patient and not injure myself or work to exhaustion.
Two work sessions of 2-3 hours gets a lot done.
I'm not sure those 10 hour work days were such a good practice.
Replies to "Sue- This is great! "When my Dad was in his 70's he treated himself to a..."
I was a house painter for a long time, as a summer 2nd vocation, and I'm not sure I could stand to have someone else paint my house. I'm a perfectionist. Actually I have dual diagnoses - perfectionist and procrastinator.
I agree about ladders. I have one lightweight extension ladder that I only use for things like getting on the roof of a trailer. All of the rest of them are contractor grade, from a 4 foot step ladder to a 26 foot extension ladder that I have to have help leaning it up against the house. 20 years ago it was only mildly difficult. If I'm going to be on a ladder, I don't want to be swaying in the wind. My orthopedist opposes ladders. But I told him that an important reason I want my other Achilles tendon taken care of is that I need to be able to climb ladders.
I finished scraping the shed this afternoon. I found it challenging because my shoulders complained. Levofloxacin caused tendonitis in both elbows and in my left rotator cuff. It has really handicapped me, taking that antibiotic. But switching back and forth from one arm to the other, along with a number of water breaks, I managed to get the job done. Tomorrow I'll sand and prime. That's a lot less strenuous. The siding is in good shape, so I only have to paint the trim, which is something I've always enjoyed doing. And yes, it was a much shorter work day than I put in when I was 60.
We did have a contractor install new windows, tear out the carpet and replace it with Pergo, replace the front door, insulate the attic and the crawl space and put on a metal roof and gutters. That would have taken me a lot longer to do than a crew did.
Jim
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My younger brother found out the (really) hard way last fall - he pushed on trying to finish a woodworking project for his granddaughter before a planned vacation trip - at about 11pm, his hand slipped and the table saw took one finger & damaged nerves and tendons in 3 others. 2 surgeries and a missed vacation later, he admitted he knew he was too tired and should have stopped.
The old saying was "too soon old, too late smart."