Age is going to take out every single one of us, and before it does it will have fun diminishing all our capabilities. If your planning to stay in your own home you better start preparing now. That can mean putting in ramps, lever knobs on your doors so your arthritic hands can open them. Lifting heavy things is already something I pay a price for when I do it, so I have started construction on the first of two devices I am building so I will be able to move heavy stuff around..

you see where I am going with this. the next one will be electric but the forks will be able to lift up just like on a fork lift.

Very true. For anyone building a new homestead or big out location, I would build a single story home. Have two storey now with walk out basement and in a pinch wouldn’t really need to go upstairs to often. We did plan for chair glide system and put plywood on the wall / behind drywall, so we could if needed, anchor it nice and solid.

Like you say, anything one can do now, would pay off in an emergency. Your mover is likely goi g to come in handy for your batteries!

Age is going to take out every single one of us, and before it does it will have fun diminishing all our capabilities. If your planning to stay in your own home you better start preparing now. That can mean putting in ramps, lever knobs on your doors so your arthritic hands can open them...

Two months ago, I was carrying items down the stairs. My vison was impaired in that I couldn't see the steps. I stepped down, missed the step and fell (I know, what an idiot). Needless to say, I was in a lot of pain. I thought that my ankle was twisted/sprained. So to make a long story short, although I was ambulatory, I wasn't able to get around as quickly for the next four weeks. It wasn't healing, so I drove to the hospital in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning (I thought it wouldn't be busy and I hate waiting for hours).

It turned-out that my timing was perfect. I was seen immediately, but I received some bad news. My leg was broken and my ankle was free floating from side to side. I required immediate surgery. I was discharged with one plate, 4 pins, 6 screws, 27 staples, 6 stitches and a cast along with strict instruction not to put any weight on my leg. In the in-term, the Surgeon gave me a choice to stay off my feet or be hospitalized. I chose to return home.

I went back to the hospital the day before yesterday (3 1/2 weeks later) to have the staples and stitches removed. The Surgeon didn't trust me not to put weight on a walking boot (I'm too stupid to realize that pain is trying to tell me not to walk on it), so he put me into a fiberglass cast for another 4 weeks. Hopefully I'll get a walking cast then and will be able to put some weight on the foot 2 weeks after that.

So I've had one month of walking around with a broken leg and almost a month as a couch potato. I've got six more weeks of the same, before I can start to walk (if my muscles remember how).

Sorry for the long story, but I'm seeing my home (upper, main and lower level) quit differently this past while. As I can't use crutches, I crawl. It certainly has given me a different perspective of the toilet. 🙂

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to get elderly to need special assistance in your day-to-day life. Thank God for a loving wife who has taken on much more than she should have to... It has driven home the need to document how to undertake those tasks that I normally do, so someone else has a clue.

A major and prolonged power outage isn't the only likely disaster to occur, It can be as easy as missing a step while walking down the stairs...

Sorry to hear that Wayne. But a good example of how we can be taken down. If we are the ones who others will look to, it is especially troublesome. Stupid accidents, can lead to infections, fevers or maybe even lights out! Cutting a hand will screw up all manner of things, so don’t be shy and wear those gloves. No less a “man”, just hedging your bets. Peppercorns and others stressing making things easy now is not to be undersold. Avoiding steps for daily heavy lifting should be avoided.

Reduce drama in chores, go slow and steady and think. Not easy when under stress, tired and discouraged. Only solution is to try and avoid all the pitfalls now. this will only help in the future.

We will do dumb things,( guilty as charged,) just need to cut down on them

Wayne,
Sorry you are going through the ouchie troubles. My grandfather's way of saying hurting like hell. As a guy, you most likely will say "no" right off the top but here goes for idea for you to keep from going crazy sitting there. Try teaching yourself how to knit or crochet. (if you don't already know how) My grandfather was stuck in bed several times that I can remember. My cousin reminded me the other day that every time he ended up in bed, he would pick up his knitting.

Peppercorn,
May I suggest you start thinking of ways on not having anything heavy to move; along with the tools to lift things. Heaven forbid anything happens but if you have an accident like Wayne did, you do much of anything from your couch / bed.

Since my health has become an issue I have had to accept that I can't do a heck of a lot anymore. I have also had to figure out ways to get things done. For example: 2 fence posts rotted off at ground level. I can build a fence when I am well, I have the skills / knowledge. The best solution that I could come up with (cheapest mostly) was to hire a couple of guys with a truck & strong backs. They had no skills. I sat there and talked them through the how to part - the digging, the sonotubes, gravel, mixing cement, leveling, how to use the tools - you get the idea. It only cost me $100.00 for the 2 guys compared to over $500 for guys that "knew" what they were doing.

Wow, that's quite the bust up Wayne. I can only offer a interesting series to watch while you heal..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTv1a_nACCs
I think it starts roughly 78-79 and follows him into the late 90s.

Oldschool, not lifting things is not a option for me, but I plan ahead much more now, by the way hiring two men for what must be a half day or more for 100 dollars is damn good.

Clarence I will address your coment about wood heating in this thread.

"Given your desire and I think everyone’s, to make life easier when one gets old, I think it would be worth people time to look at outside wood furnace. I had one for a decade and it was simply awesome. Farm neighbours would come over and look at it and they all have them now. Keeps wood outside, so no extra labour to bring in, no mess, bugs... a heck of a lot more efficient process. Efficient as hell, one load up a day is all it took. I could fully load it on a Friday night and come home on Sunday and it was still more then good. Ten minutes later, it was topped up and that’s it.
I used it to burn all the tree tops and small branches in it

I have hot water radiant heat in the floors and heated hot water tank. Never ever ran out of hot water. My neighbours connect it to their forced air systems and because the extra heat is easy to do, they have even started installing heaters in their work sheds..

They do need electricity to pump that heat into the house but not an issue for you

Anyone who has access to wood should really look at one"

Yes, if you heat with wood you have to plan ahead for when you get older, I have no problem with your out door boiler and in floor heat is great but when you start talking about it being more efficient, I have not seen that. I have seen the the manufacturers say that, but what I have seen is different. As you have one we can compare, and the only real way is by cords burnt per year, per sqft heated. I will give you my numbers first. I am just heating with my down stairs stove (last 4 years) total square footage is 2300 upstars+downstars walkout basement.
Last winter was the longest period of below 0 temperatures ever recorded for my area and I used the most wood ever at 4.35 cord but I am rounding up to say 4.5. its usually a consistant 4 cord even. I think that is pretty damn good.

I have only known two other people with out door boilers and despite what they tell me they burnt in a winter when I looked at their winter wood pile it sure looked to be 50% to 150% bigger than mine and that means a awful lot more cutting and stacking of wood when I am older.
No thanks!
Then there is the pump thats needed to circulate all that glycol. Have you measured how much power yours uses? let me just do a quick guesstimate, correct me is I am wrong.

I suspect at least a 1/2 hp motor, I will ball park 600 watts when running, and guess its on for 9 hrs a day in winter (-15 or so). Thats 5.4kwhs a day

Thats a lot of power, I run my whole house on less than that!

Thanks Guys; I appreciate your suggestions! Pural one, darn two... It reminds me of getting awful looking sweaters from my Aunts at Christmas when I was young. The ones I never wanted to wear, with Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer on the front... LOL Anybody have a similar experience?

Wow, that's quite the bust up Wayne. I can only offer a interesting series to watch while you heal..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTv1a_nACCs
I think it starts roughly 78-79 and follows him into the late 90s.

Oldschool, not lifting things is not a option for me, but I plan ahead much more now, by the way hiring two men for what must be a half day or more for 100 dollars is damn good.

Clarence I will address your coment about wood heating in this thread.

"Given your desire and I think everyone’s, to make life easier when one gets old, I think it would be worth people time to look at outside wood furnace. I had one for a decade and it was simply awesome. Farm neighbours would come over and look at it and they all have them now. Keeps wood outside, so no extra labour to bring in, no mess, bugs... a heck of a lot more efficient process. Efficient as hell, one load up a day is all it took. I could fully load it on a Friday night and come home on Sunday and it was still more then good. Ten minutes later, it was topped up and that’s it.
I used it to burn all the tree tops and small branches in it

I have hot water radiant heat in the floors and heated hot water tank. Never ever ran out of hot water. My neighbours connect it to their forced air systems and because the extra heat is easy to do, they have even started installing heaters in their work sheds..

They do need electricity to pump that heat into the house but not an issue for you

Anyone who has access to wood should really look at one"

Yes, if you heat with wood you have to plan ahead for when you get older, I have no problem with your out door boiler and in floor heat is great but when you start talking about it being more efficient, I have not seen that. I have seen the the manufacturers say that, but what I have seen is different. As you have one we can compare, and the only real way is by cords burnt per year, per sqft heated. I will give you my numbers first. I am just heating with my down stairs stove (last 4 years) total square footage is 2300 upstars+downstars walkout basement.
Last winter was the longest period of below 0 temperatures ever recorded for my area and I used the most wood ever at 4.35 cord but I am rounding up to say 4.5. its usually a consistant 4 cord even. I think that is pretty damn good.

I have only known two other people with out door boilers and despite what they tell me they burnt in a winter when I looked at their winter wood pile it sure looked to be 50% to 150% bigger than mine and that means a awful lot more cutting and stacking of wood when I am older.
No thanks!
Then there is the pump thats needed to circulate all that glycol. Have you measured how much power yours uses? let me just do a quick guesstimate, correct me is I am wrong.

I suspect at least a 1/2 hp motor, I will ball park 600 watts when running, and guess its on for 9 hrs a day in winter (-15 or so). Thats 5.4kwhs a day

Thats a lot of power, I run my whole house on less than that!

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

heres my experience. 2,500 square feet over three floors. Always under 30 ( thirty) face cords

fired it up in late august ( mainly for hot water) and shut it down in mid June. ( again, hot water and take dampness out on those soggy wet days)
we used to keep the house at 85 F 😆 seriously, why wear heavy cloths when you can walk around barefoot ad in shorts!
We only used water in the lines and outside run was insulated and as water was always circuating between house and furnace, things would never freeze. Now your pump is something that i did not concern myself with at the time and you are certainly correct that it WOULD be in a bad situation.

If in your qualified solar shoes, and if i had the money for extra solar panels and batteries, i would still run one. cut down on temp of course to stretch out wood! but the concepts were still great. AND, brother, you will never run out of hot water. great for my tired bones!. had three ladies in the house and we never had a warm shower.

the other thing people could do, is buy or make a wood furnace for inside the house and attach the hot water tank to it. Maybe use it in the basement and you get the hot water side benefit and use typical wood stoves for upstairs. ?

just thought of this as well, but if pump power was an issue, you could put it on a timer to run only every two hours.. start up juice is more but maybe you would still save?

One other huge benefit. you never have to worry about your house catching on fire with a outdoors furnace and "chimney" be a bugger to lose your nice home during a disaster.

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

heres my experience. 2,500 square feet over three floors. Always under 30 ( thirty) face cords

fired it up in late august ( mainly for hot water) and shut it down in mid June. ( again, hot water and take dampness out on those soggy wet days)
we used to keep the house at 85 F 😆 seriously, why wear heavy cloths when you can walk around barefoot ad in shorts!
We only used water in the lines and outside run was insulated and as water was always circuating between house and furnace, things would never freeze. Now your pump is something that i did not concern myself with at the time and you are certainly correct that it WOULD be in a bad situation.

If in your qualified solar shoes, and if i had the money for extra solar panels and batteries, i would still run one. cut down on temp of course to stretch out wood! but the concepts were still great. AND, brother, you will never run out of hot water. great for my tired bones!. had three ladies in the house and we never had a warm shower.

the other thing people could do, is buy or make a wood furnace for inside the house and attach the hot water tank to it. Maybe use it in the basement and you get the hot water side benefit and use typical wood stoves for upstairs. ?

just thought of this as well, but if pump power was an issue, you could put it on a timer to run only every two hours.. start up juice is more but maybe you would still save?

One other huge benefit. you never have to worry about your house catching on fire with a outdoors furnace and "chimney" be a bugger to lose your nice home during a disaster.

No I dont wear a lot of clothes in the winter, the house is toasty warm. My cords are 4x4x8, First my downstairs wood stove can burn for 12 hrs per load on low, thats roughly temperatures down to -10-12 ,at temperatures colder then its 8hrs a load. The walls of my basement are concrete 6 or 8 inches thick and are insulated on the out side with r20 foam on 3 sides. so I have a massive thermal heat sink. The stair way is dead smack in the center of the house so the heat from the basement rises up the staircase and spreads evenly upstairs. I have all the hot water I need 10 months out of the year from solar water heating, with it sometimes being a little tight for hot water late nov to mid Jan. Though if I needed to I could heat house water with the upstairs wood stove but I try not to use it now. Now that you mention that you are running your system without glycol and thus are running your circulation pump continuously (though maybe a little smaller motor then)I will just ball bark your electrical consumption at say a 500 watt motor x 24 hrs= 12kwhrs per day. I will round down and just say 10 000 watts a day is a huge amount of power, you could run a 1000 watt electric heater for 10 hrs straight!

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

heres my experience. 2,500 square feet over three floors. Always under 30 ( thirty) face cords

fired it up in late august ( mainly for hot water) and shut it down in mid June. ( again, hot water and take dampness out on those soggy wet days)
we used to keep the house at 85 F 😆 seriously, why wear heavy cloths when you can walk around barefoot ad in shorts!
We only used water in the lines and outside run was insulated and as water was always circuating between house and furnace, things would never freeze. Now your pump is something that i did not concern myself with at the time and you are certainly correct that it WOULD be in a bad situation.

If in your qualified solar shoes, and if i had the money for extra solar panels and batteries, i would still run one. cut down on temp of course to stretch out wood! but the concepts were still great. AND, brother, you will never run out of hot water. great for my tired bones!. had three ladies in the house and we never had a warm shower.

the other thing people could do, is buy or make a wood furnace for inside the house and attach the hot water tank to it. Maybe use it in the basement and you get the hot water side benefit and use typical wood stoves for upstairs. ?

just thought of this as well, but if pump power was an issue, you could put it on a timer to run only every two hours.. start up juice is more but maybe you would still save?

One other huge benefit. you never have to worry about your house catching on fire with a outdoors furnace and "chimney" be a bugger to lose your nice home during a disaster.

No I dont wear a lot of clothes in the winter, the house is toasty warm. My cords are 4x4x8, First my downstairs wood stove can burn for 12 hrs per load on low, thats roughly temperatures down to -10-12 ,at temperatures colder then its 8hrs a load. The walls of my basement are concrete 6 or 8 inches thick and are insulated on the out side with r20 foam on 3 sides. so I have a massive thermal heat sink. The stair way is dead smack in the center of the house so the heat from the basement rises up the staircase and spreads evenly upstairs. I have all the hot water I need 10 months out of the year from solar water heating, with it sometimes being a little tight for hot water late nov to mid Jan. Though if I needed to I could heat house water with the upstairs wood stove but I try not to use it now. Now that you mention that you are running your system without glycol and thus are running your circulation pump continuously (though maybe a little smaller motor then)I will just ball bark your electrical consumption at say a 500 watt motor x 24 hrs= 12kwhrs per day. I will round down and just say 10 000 watts a day is a huge amount of power, you could run a 1000 watt electric heater for 10 hrs straight!

We did insulate our basement pretty good as well but it’s a walkout with good amount of glass so not so good for heat conservation. No wood boiler anymore, got to busy years back to cut the wood. Regret not having kept the thing but alas, to busy to think properly. A close to 24/7 lifestyle doesn’t permit much thinking beyond the immediate

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

heres my experience. 2,500 square feet over three floors. Always under 30 ( thirty) face cords.

Clarence, 30 face cords is approximately 10 full/bush cords of wood. This equates to a sizable amount of work to fell, transport, chop and stack it, as well as load, burn and remove ashes.

You say you work almost 24/7 Where do you find the time? A large home, family, cutting wood, prepping. You're a machine!

I'm only 65. but there's no way I look into my future and would expect that this much work would be sustainable into old age...

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

heres my experience. 2,500 square feet over three floors. Always under 30 ( thirty) face cords.

Clarence, 30 face cords is approximately 10 full/bush cords of wood. This equates to a sizable amount of work to fell, transport, chop and stack it, as well as load, burn and remove ashes.

You say you work almost 24/7 Where do you find the time? A large home, family, cutting wood, prepping. You're a machine!

I'm only 65. but there's no way I look into my future and would expect that this much work would be sustainable into old age...

Well, the reason we sold the wood boiler is because I simply no longer had the time to do all that work. 30 cords was some good work to do on weekends that was not raining, snowing or filled with parties and growing family. Then there was close to 200 acres of bush and field, miles of fence lines and trails. Career was the type that had me creeping around at night.., Now that I am semi retired, I could in theory do it. A lot slower and with greater back pain 🙂 but could still do in a pinch.
Yeppers, prepping and having oneself ready to deal with a bad situation takes as we all know, all our time. It will be worth it and I will keep at it till I no longer can. Getting old so thankfully, a lot of my stuff is done

After doing and setting up things for easier living into old age in the country, the other thing that may bite you...and you can do nothing (or little) about is the authorities, authorities in all their forms. Those with a licence to interfere will be looking to do so, and more so as you age. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Just a month or so ago a perfectly healthy Lady, happily living in the country Had her Doctor over rule her optometrist by telling her he was going to pull her licence...She can see fine, but within something like 6 weeks her home was sold(super cheap)and off to the old folks home she went.

I know of another committed to a home against her will, and that of her family, Took a lawyer and buckets of money to undue.

Another who at something like 63 ish had his doctor pull his drivers licence for some less than specific reason... nothing could be done about it.

Imagine your older and lets say you have had a knee replacement, maybe home care comes by to change you bandages and decides they think your wood stove looks dangerous and reports it to the safety authorities who follow up with a visit and declare your home not fit for habitation until a new gas heating system is put in.

I have always found once "Authorities" start snooping around there is no end to the problems they can cause. Just something to think about.

After doing and setting up things for easier living into old age in the country, the other thing that may bite you...and you can do nothing (or little) about is the authorities, authorities in all their forms. Those with a licence to interfere will be looking to do so, and more so as you age. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Just a month or so ago a perfectly healthy Lady, happily living in the country Had her Doctor over rule her optometrist by telling her he was going to pull her licence...She can see fine, but within something like 6 weeks her home was sold(super cheap)and off to the old folks home she went.

I know of another committed to a home against her will, and that of her family, Took a lawyer and buckets of money to undue.

Another who at something like 63 ish had his doctor pull his drivers licence for some less than specific reason... nothing could be done about it.

Imagine your older and lets say you have had a knee replacement, maybe home care comes by to change you bandages and decides they think your wood stove looks dangerous and reports it to the safety authorities who follow up with a visit and declare your home not fit for habitation until a new gas heating system is put in.

I have always found once "Authorities" start snooping around there is no end to the problems they can cause. Just something to think about.

Very valid point. we need to be in tip top shape or have people who can represent us. the more money you have will also help keep them in their corner.

Sweet Jesus! 4.5 face cords or full cords? if face cords, you must wear a heck of a lot of cloths or like things "fresh" 😯

I was looking at my wood stack today and realised I screwed up when I said I can heat with 4.5 cord, both levels of my house using the downstairs stove...I forgot that I am using dimensional lumber (scrap from the lumber yard). That's not directly comparable to ordinary tree fire wood as it is stacked and measured without the voids that are in a cord made up of logs. I don't know how much the voids in a cord made up of wood would come to, I would guess 1/5, I must be close, so that means I would be nearer to 5.5.