I used to wonder what happen to roofers first. Seems about 30 years old they bug out . I guess it took a while to understand it was just like the leaves falling in the fall . Its somthing that seems to happen enough to be noticeable every year just like the fall colors.
I used to hear it from old timers still working in the trades. They talked a little about it . They never explained it . I think thats odd .
I brought up death and retirement a few times and its not a subject people enjoy talking about personally. This may not be a popular subject either.
When the pain or the inability to complete tasks over shadows the whole event , then you are in the final chapter.
Excessive sleep is another way to tell. The body has been wonderful at repairing it self and it will try to do it using sleep. At least the way I look at it .
Every time Ive went to the hospital they require me to get at least 3 days rest with induced sleep. So , Ive started doing the same and it works .
The loss of overtime is another way to tell. The time might come that putting in 6 to 8 hrs is a chore . Many try to pace themselves but they get kinda slow. <G>
Be an autumn leaf.
Tim
Memphest 2006
November 18th
Replies
aye matey!!!
this is one tough biz we be in!!
roofin is one of the harder parts...
I trake pride in telling peeps I don't roof!!!
roofing is for the young (dumb and full of come) :)
I still catch myself abusing my body at work.
payback is getting looonger...
Namaste
"The truth, when told does nothing but bolster a mans character." -Big Cal Stew 2006
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those who divide the world into 2 kinds of people and everyone else" -Gloria Steinham
"The shrub administration is a bunch of Focking CrIminals" -Me
"I still catch myself abusing my body at work."Killing spiders eh?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
feeling OK friend?
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Well, no one wants to hear how you are feeling.
I know they ask and some are concerned but most often they didnt really want to get into it . I dont like to because people normally start talking about ailments that lead to hospitals, doctors , home healing , medicines and the list goes on.
We have talked about it at length in the coffee shop. I was sitting there one morning when a woman stopped and asked an ole dude how he was doing ? He replied that he was still as honery as his reputation professed. That got a laugh and was a small talk answer. I knew that he wont make it another year . So the story goes. But however it wasnt my reason for the thread.
As from the answers Ive got so far no one has got into it either while I know its part of the trades. Its really a hard core subject that deals the truth in the final chapter of the trades.
Actually , you were the one who made me the idea of bringing it up. Ive followed your threads for several years now and I dont forget many things like that I read . Things like names and measuements , I have troubles.
Ive talked about retirement and got very few to really respond as well. Same with death although neither is the subject here.
Actually there are many things I dont do any more for the public that I was trained to do. I picked roofing but I did shingle a house this past summer after stripping it with a 12 year old grandson. It wasnt a smart thing to do from the business side of things but it gave the boy an experience . It would have been better if I had waited till now when the weather was more comfortable .
While I wouldnt tackle a house slab because I didnt have the help, I would pour my driveway slabs a section at a time plus the condensor pad and side walks. I probably wont do that anymore .
I wont frame any more for more reasons than roofing.
I wont hang drywall ceilings any more.
I hired some tree work done this past weekend I would have done my self a few years ago. They got it done in one day . There were two and one was an illegal person. The illegal person did most of the work and all of the climbing . The man I hired directed it and supplied what equipment he had . He wasnt very good and his saws didnt run right plus his chains needed work. None of the three saws he had started well even after they were warm nor did any of the three cut well. He was afraid to cut a tree completely with his helper in the tree so he pulled them down after partially cutting them. I would have rented a gradeall or a crane on a trailer and worked much less than they did . The still made awfully good wages . 600 hundred for the day with no insurance . I felt like I should have done it but my age and health draws a line now.
Those lines are hard to draw which is another subject under the heading . We didnt think about such things when we were younger. Now we have to pick what we do and still bring home money. Work smarter ? Thats a small statement to a huge fact .
Ive got a building permit for a triplex of my own. Im contemplating building 8 cabins and worked last week some on that idea. I found myself picking and choosing the jobs I needed to be doing instead of building them. Its so much different than just 5 years ago. Then I would have picked up a crew and went and done it . Now it looks like subs for the most part waiting on their schedules and paying their prices. I guess the loss of some control bothers me . Im always so frugal in spending this doesnt sit well with me . Its a change which is also under the heading .
Over all Im not complaining about anything at all . Just that life is so much different in these trades in the final chapter.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Painful watching someone do a job that you know you could have done better yourself.
Right elbow is needing a rest, when & how? Who's gonna do it if I don't?
Joe H
Thats part of it and seems to be the greater core of it .
Someone else on here was printing such stuff wrong with them.
They have to medicate their arm so they can drive nails every morning and somtimes at lunch.
Im left handed and I cant swing a framming hammer. I cant lift a framming gun with my left arm but I can fire it . It has to be lifted with the right and I normally fire it with my left. Air guns have become a blessing and drill drivers. I could not have shingled the house with a hachet but it was possible with a gun.
Watching someone that needs coaching is painful.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
"Watching someone that needs coaching is painful."Watching yes. Coaching maybe or maybe not.It depends on what the end goal is.Getting a job done, or educating someone.
Thats true Bill. In this case it was a contractor doing tree work. He wasnt going to listen to me . <G>
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Watching someone that needs coaching is painful
Paying them while they learn (or don't) is more painful.
Stubborn helps, I have plenty of it. Sooner or later I get it done.
Joe H
I'm going thru that whole thing that is a hard mental and emotional adjustment where things I used to do all day long I can only handle an hour or two and then feel bushed and bear-caught. I have to watch a helper take three times to do a deed that I used to could do in ...It is so frustrating that I have to leave the job and get into the office, do things with subs and stay home designing the next one. INspect the job while I am fresh in the AM set diretions and answer questions and then get out of the way so they can produce without me in the way.But there was something about the tenor of your first post that got me worried about you.I know I used to maybe once or twice a year get so tired that all I felt I could do on that saturday was sit and count my toes. now I get those days more like once every couple weeks - reminded me when you spokle of the enforced three day rests...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
We had some trouble over it for a while .
We both were used to working 7 days a week. We enjoyed working her days off together on our stuff. Looking back thats how we did the rentals to start with as we didnt have much extra money. We kept buying rentals and fixing them and that kept us poor for other things. Somthing about being poor makes you work harder and longer.
Then I couldnt work the weekends at all after the surgery. Started just piddling trying to get my hand to work and I couldnt lift. That wass demoralizing to me and I felt like I wasnt a man anymore. She did work around me in the house . The work failed to get done and thankfully I was pretty caught up when the heart attack and stroke happened. I went back to work as an inspector and had another heart attack. I havent been the same since , but IM a lot better. Sometimes she gets geared up to work on Saturday at least and I crash in the bed instead. Weve had some words over it . Im able to work 5 days now but not full speed. Sometimes I feel like IM just there. When I feel like that I go to the house like you. I work in the office if I feel good enough or just go to bed in the middle of the day. Shes finally learned that if Im laying down I feel bad. Sometimes I go to bed after supper and sleep all night and sometimes not . Shes pretty much adjusted to it but the work still falls behind. la ta da so goes the story.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Interesting thread guys. I'm not a tradesman. Just a serious DIYer that loves the DIY routine and now retired from many types of work. The latest being an hourly worker on an assembly line building trucks. Physical stuff most of my life.
Wasn't feeling too great about 3-4 years ago, but being a guy and stubborn, well, you know the routine. Stuff/life to do for DW, kids,grandkids,friends,etc. 2 & 1/2 yrs ago I could barely walk from my truck to my locker. One day I'm in for a 4 way by-pass. Mortality has a way of getting your attention. After that I decided that no matter how much I tried to do, it wouldn't get done if I dropped. So, change of attitude. Did what I could to pass things on to the next generation, admitted I won't live forever, promised myself and DW to enjoy a little more.
I finally decided that to keep up what I was doing wasn't worth the few extra $$ I thought I needed. I just walked away from it all. We are now doing what we always "dreamed" about, although on a more modest scale. Once I got over the ego thing and admitted to myself my own mortality and shortfalls it all fell into place. I've been lucky. A second chance, every day is precious and I won't waste them this time around. Perspectives change.
You've been productive all your life. Now it is time to follow your heart and soul. Get comfortable with yourself, no regrets. Start a new chapter, if you wish.
The sun will come up tomorrow, enjoy it with a quiet moment and good cup o'jo.
bum
...a bad day at the beach is better than a good day anywhere else... :)
What a wonderful post .
I was just fixing to post back to Piffin and explain the end to it . DW and the grandkid were pulling me away a while a go. Im quite sure you just said it better than Im going to.
Im happy for ya.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Wow thats depressing, im 53 and really starting to feel the roofing, my knees and back hurt, maybe not to much longer but i just do what i can and dont worry about it, Funny thing is i found framing to be harder then roofing on me as long as one does not count bringing up theroofing. Framing i was always hanging over in a odd manner or bending over nailing
Well , Bobby,
You just said part of it .
We just do what we can.
What a big statement thats hardcore to the heading . As Howard Cosell would say , to tell it the way it is . I know there are ones that disagreed with him, but still he tried to talk about the hardcore facts.
I dont remember the name but I was watching a game on Monday night football years ago. He stated the running back was only a shell of the man he used to be but he was the running back. Ive seen many more pro football players loose their edge which spells the final chapter.
Its not all that bad a deal as long as we can work in other capacities where we are valuable .
Theres a man here in town thats been a roofer his whole life . Hes got to be 60 now. He bids work and has a good sized crew and hes high in price . Mostly he works for insurance bids. He cant work for contractors because of pricing . He never touches a shingle. Hes thought of as the most successfull roofing contractor around. They work every single day of the work week and seem to be always booked. He himself lives an above average life. He used to be the man who nailed the roof when he was hired.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
This last year , One friend, a stone mason, 54 died of lung cancer, another car mehanic 50 died drank himself to death after his wife died, a carpenter freind was run over on his MC. My friend that worked at the lumberyard shot himself after his wife left him. If i knew how long i was gonna live id sell my rentals and do what i want to do and never work again, But both grandfathers went till there 80s and grannies till there 90s. The only thing i do as a protest against working to hard is i dont put on my big tool belt much anymore. just kinda hang my tape and stuff in my pockets
Mr. Mooney you don,t know me from Adam,but I have
written you about 3 paragraphs just now-only to erase them-
without posting.
When a man starts thinking about his own mortality,he
cant help thinking about his own morality and allsorts
of what ifs,as the ole rock mason said to me when I was
much younger" If ye touch a rock, pick it up and put it
somewhere in the wall, don't handel it twice" Those few
words have been applied to many instances in my life,
Ive got to stay healthy/around long enough to raise these
little younguns ive got running through the house, demanding
some more wrigglys juicey fruit gum.Whelp, your life has
touched the life of your granbaby also, so what i,m trying
to say is you got unfinished buisness with that youngun you
got to take care of first, before ya lay down.
peace be with you Mr.Moony dw` ``
Thanks for the post .
Makes me wonder what you deleted.
"as the ole rock mason said to me when I was
much younger" If ye touch a rock, pick it up and put it
somewhere in the wall, don't handel it twice"
Thats part of the final chapter .
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
OHH IT wasnt nothing durogatory,or anything just
some museings watching the mighty Newriver flow by.
My, my you sure have a lot of irons in the fire, not withstanding
the physical parts of what you do,but how do you handle the
stress,I mean hell fire, new rental units being built,renters
not paying,subs to manage etc.etc.Thats enough stress to
kill three men and a boy, ya know,come to think about
it, there is a whole lot of ole masons that still sling mud, that
are ancient by the other trades standards, maybe what I do
aint so bad on a fellow after all. hey I,m taking off this week
to give my oldest daughter away in Holy matramony on
saturday. I reckon I'm just being in a retrospective mood.
Well, I do what I can do and am still learning what I shouldnt . I pretty well know what I cant . Ive got more going on than you mentioned . I guess I have to credit DW as she keeps me pointed in the right direction. Shes flawless on business and is why she makes good money doing it . She takes me on as a small job in addtion to what she does. I have many faults that she doesnt have so the united in marriage as ONE really hits the nail hard at my house . I credit her and she credits me for doing the dealing with people . At least she credits me with somthing , huh? <G>
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Tim, what are you doing comtemplating mortality at 2:30 in the a.m.?
be an autumn leaf of vibrant color
Andrew Clifford of Clifford Renovations, who serves as a steward of our history for future generations
We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measureable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.
Forrest - makin' magic every day
I guess you ae the second person thinking mortality out of this. Makes me feel like I failed at getting it across . I guess thats three with Piffin.
Na , more like Bum just said , as its a change in life but its about life.
Pull up a chair and listen to me , lol.
You of all people know you and I both get to thinkin. <G>
I thought why not talk about the final race in the trades. At 50 yrs old in the trades , you are in the final chapter. Most people retire by 65 but trades people dont often go that far actually doing it . So many are disabled from it . That doesnt mean they are disabled for the pure sense of the word. Arthritis stops many tradespeople . Back problems probably head the list of stopping carpenters. Theres too many to talk about . If you can make it to 60 in the trades you have out done a bunch of folks trying to live out their life doing it .
Now to the point ;
Its like we were born into the world and had to learn everything.
Dad said "boys" learned how to make money from 20 to 30. <G>
They spent money from 30 to 40 often blowing the prime with nothing to show for it .
40 to 50 they get serious and put there head down and pull . They accumalate more those ten years than all the years before. Money in the latter end of that is easy to make because of experience and ability.
From 50 to 60 they are cruising with the road at a slight down hill slant . They kids are gone , the home gets paid for and they dont owe any bills because they have what they need. They dont want a bigger house , they need a smaller one . Throttle back at idle and they can easily survive. Some enjoy making money and top it out to retirement . Some just wait for it and say Ive got so many years left and Im out of here. Thats pretty much what he said .
He didnt add what its like to do it . Im sure there are guys who feel good at 60 but there arent any here that have told it that I remember.
Just saying that now all the training and ability has passed before us by the final chapter. Now we have to learn how to live again. How to work and play all over again.
To you and Piff;
I didnt mean to sound negative . Im not .
Doc said last time ; Tim its time to quit . Ill help you get your disability. You deserve it .
I go home and tell the wife and she says DO IT.
I say , I dont want it . The reason I dont want it cause it marks the end and Im not ready for that yet. I still like to work when I feel good . I still dig it . I might have to take a nap but I enjoyed what I did that morning .
The reason you see me on any time at night is because I crashed sometime too early and woke up. I get up and compute and go back to bed or stay up. Schedule sucks. I can have an easy day and make it till 10 pm just like you . When ever I get tired I lay down. Ill work the weekend though if a renter needs caught. Any day is just another day. I dont get paid on Friday unless it happens to be the first of the month. I often forget its Saturday. It just dont matter . I can be in the driveway of a renter at 6 am to meet them going to work or be there at 7 pm after they cash their check. I might meet the police in the middle of the night at a property. I have a weird life Rez.
I got another rental today and its a dandy. As George Jones said , Im not ready yet . When Im ready Ill go , but I aint ready yet . Im gonna have to shoot some pics of my new rental and share it . I still get turned on by the deals .
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
I didn't see this until tonight. I turned 63 13th of last month. I teach school days and work evenings and Saturdays repairing houses. I worked some in the trades but never regularly. I am doing a siding job and just finished installing 17 windows in the summer. The siding removal found a nest of termites so I had to take time to fix those things up. The first words out of my mouth when someone wants me to do something is: "If you are in a rush, hire someone else".
I do enjoy good health and I listen to my body. When it gets too tired to move, I stop a rest awhile but then I get going again. My dad lived until 97 and my mom to 91. So I am sure genetics has more to do with my health than most anything else although I did decide to be a lot more careful about what I eat. Chloresterol is low and so is the blood pressure.
Good Luck to all,
john
I go to McDonalds every morning through the week for a bisquit and coffee . Bunch of breakfast/coffee drinkers. [used to be two apple pies and a sr coffee for 1.50]
I sit against the wall and we are up front across from the registrar so I get to see everyone as they walk in and order.
I think about them every morning . Most that have white hair dont move so well but there are some that look athletic. I always think they are blessed.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
I can still move pretty well, torn miniscus aside, but no one would accuse me of being athletic looking. I will probably be banned from this forum for saying so but I am a vegetarian. I adopted this trying to save my gall bladder (didn't) but stayed with it because I felt better and had more energy.
I still have a strong yearning for steak and some fajitas, but I had some problems that were getting worse with gout. Not one time since the switch though. My last two doctors said they had some pills to control it but they gave me stomach problems and the doc said he had some pills for that. I switched doctors.
john
Think some morning I'm gonna choke to death on one of those glucosamine-chondroitin pills. Healthy & dead.
Joe H
'Course I'm thinking mortality. Who was lying in the hospital after a life threatening heart attack. Roar!
Actually meant it more along the lines of humor as you were talking so much about sleep and saw your post reading 2:27am.
You know, for some folk having no set schedule is a good schedule. That's why I live teh way I do. Try to intentionally not have to be somewhere at a certain time.
But in this day and age it's getting harder and harder to do.
be the littlest hobo...
Looks like we're comin' into town.Seems like this train is slowin' down.Can't help but wonder what's in store.Could be I've been here once before.A-driftin'. The world is my friend.I'm travlin' along the road without end.Ridin' these rails town to town.Sometimes I think I'll settle down.But I know I'd hunger to be free.Rovin's the only life for me.A-driftin'. The world is my friend.I'm travlin' along the road without end.
Andrew Clifford of Clifford Renovations, who serves as a steward of our history for future generations
We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measureable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
Seems life has always given me what I thought I took. After the dust cleared I had no braggin to do for it wasnt me really.
The last two big things that happened to me ;
I was in a cafe and really needed to be out there hittin it making a showing . It was 100 degrees and I didnt really care . Nothing wrong with me , I shoulda been out there. Gone . A friend walks in when Im done eatin but I wander over to his table to visit. He says hey, you wanna buy my land? History.
Weve been talking over taking an eldery lady in cause shes got no where to go but a nursing home. Its come to a time in her final chapter she cant live alone. Her one son is blind. DW has been doing things for her for a while and Ive been doing little things on her house . Nothing major . Just to get her by and Im gone . Anyway, we went to her house last night to tell her we wanted her to live with us instead of going to a nursing home . Neither DW or I could stand it cause we like her alot. This morning she calls us back over and gives us her house . It will be added to the rentals . We will take care of her till we cant do it anymore or she fails .Shes 87 yrs old. We were going to do it anyway with her help of what she draws. So in reality she was going to pay her way. She didnt think that was right , so her and DW went to town to make it final today. I think its a gift and she thinks I will deserve it . I told her we been keeping up our grand kids , whats one more? Anyway life dealt those cards and the one above . The deal above is not final so I wont tell it but its pretty sweet. If it happens , it will unfold nicely to finalize semi retirement as far as Im concerned.
We worked the rentals but what we got was what they let us have . What Im getting at , the cards had to be there or I didnt get to buy anything . So I had little to do with it in the beginning . Life is a dealer not a player .
At the boat ramp this summer I saw a woman back a man and his boat in the water with accuracy. He sat there and waited on her while she parked the truck. I was camped by the ramp, so when they came in I got to watch her again. Flawless. If Im liein Im diein , he was guzzling a beer while she was hookin up the boat to the trailer .
I strolled over and asked him; How did you get a woman like that ? With a half way grin he said , Dumb azz luck. I nodded my head cause I knew he was tellin the truth.
And like you said , I was 95 percent blocked and I lived. That wasnt supposed to happen. The surgeon told me to thank my local hospital because that kind of blockage doesnt make it 100 miles in an ambulance.
While they were doing it I had a stroke on the table and they didnt know it . I spend 4 days on the ventilator and not comming concious.. I finally woke up mad about the tube in my throat .
Six months later I have another heart attack. They do a heart cath and tell me theres nothing they can do for me except give me medicine. I ask if this mendicine is keeping me alive ? Cardi says yea it is .I asked him if it would heal me and he lowers his head and says Im afraid not. At time to leave for the Katrina thing I get checked with an expensive test. He tells me I tested clear but Im not strong enough to be well. Ive got a white count thats abnormal but my arteries are open. I keep thinking someone lied to me and probably more than once . Doc says this happens every now and then. Its that life as a dealer thing again.
Ive had a good life no matter what happens. Im not a cat .
Tim
Memphest 2006
November 18th
12:59am.
You were early. Now see you were back at it at 7:01.
be a laptop at MickeyD's
Andrew Clifford of Clifford Renovations, who serves as a steward of our history for future generations
We can imagine something that only exists in our heads, in a form that has no measureable, tangible reality, and make it actually occur in the real world. Where there was nothing, now there is something.Forrest - makin' magic every day
roarMemphest 2006
November 18th
"Mornin" Mooney,
Remember that quiet moment with a cup o'jo, I mentioned? Here it is. Enjoy...
View Image
...a bad day at the beach is better than a good day anywhere else... :o)
Edited 10/7/2006 10:29 am by oldbeachbum
To give credit where it is due, here is the link for that photo
http://www.mousam-river.com/MUTLEYS/MUTLEY.HTM...a bad day at the beach is better than a good day anywhere else... :)
I don't know if I should thank you or not...just cost me $40.00
I'm kidding about the thank you...I really liked the picture.
john