50+ thread

Oh, and I finished my tree

Went with the s'mores camping theme this year.
My favorite one

 

on a fake tree? no. i'd never get it all off.

 

ladder story of my own...
many moons ago, when i was living in Alaska, land of @MQQSE , my (now ex) husband and I were finishing up the place we were living in. The garage had a loft area about 10' up and the only way to that was via ladder. We had been up and down that damn thing dozens of times that day. It was afternoon, we were just about done doing what we were doing and were putting tools and supplies up in the loft and I was on my way down. I had just gone to make the first step down and the ladder slid off the ledge and took me down with it. Even though I was shocked I somehow managed to hook my elbows on the edge of the loft. My FIL was up there with me and I remember him lunging for me but as I fell my legs got tangled in the rungs and the weight of the ladder swung me and took me over the edge before he could grab me. I think it had slowly slid down to the lower angle each trip we made that day and we never bothered to readjust it. It just happened to be me on it when it slid completely down. I landed on my right side. Somehow managed to not land on the 2 5-gallon buckets full of tools and crap sticking out of them (would have impaled myself on something if i had). Crashed down on the concrete, legs tangled in the ladder with the rungs up around my thighs. I remember I screamed both out of pain and shock. My ex was on the ground floor, my FIL was in the loft. My ex panicked and I remember my FIL yelling at him to get the ladder so he could get down. Both of them checked me over. I was feeling sick to my stomach and after the initial shock pain the adrenaline kicked in and I didn't feel much pain. The urgent care clinic was a mile away so they loaded me up in the truck and drove me there. Everyone there dropped what they were doing when the three of us stumbled in the door. X-rays on my elbow, hip, and ribs within 15 minutes of arrival. More ice packs than I can count. Stayed for a while while they did the mental eval, oriented to place and time. Xrays back, nothing broken. Slight concussion and a knot on my skull the size of a golf ball. Went home with strict orders for my ex to redo the mental eval every couple of hours throughout the night. Doc was a family friend, he called later that evening and again the next day before he left his house to go to the office to check in on me. I spent the better part of a week in the recliner with an ice pack on my head, elbow and hip. The swelling in the knot on my head killed off my hair follicles for a while and I had a bald spot about the size of a nickel up there. That was fun when it started to regrow, still have a cowlick there. And I still have a slight lump on my head where it crashed into the concrete.
No idea how I walked away with just a few bumps and bruises. Sure it wouldn't be the same outcome today. I just got damn lucky.

 

Hey now....i was told there would be no long term effects...
But, yeah, I dodged a bullet that day.
Amazing the details I remember like my FIL trying to grab me and feeling the ladder swing me away. When I landed I just sort of took stock for a moment, fingers and toes still there, and screamed. I remember one bucket of tools was near my butt and another the ladder had tipped over, would have been under my hip. Can't imagine the outcome if I had landed right on top of it. Almost a good thing I hit only the concrete!

I've seen videos of folks doing stuff like that on ladders and on buckets and scaffolding. Nope, never, not me.

 

Don't touch it. Or look directly at it.