Working at Spo's

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I headed over to Spo’s place early that morning to do some chores for Mimi. It would be my first time there since his death and I knew there would be plenty of small tasks that needed to be done. Mimi had told me that water had been spilling over the gutters on the porch and that the water had been running in. I knew I’d need to get up to the second level and clear the downspout. As soon as I arrived, I went for the shed and grabbed the extension ladder. As I made my way across the back of the house and onto the deck, Mimi spotted me and yelled at me to drop what I was doing and get inside for a cup of coffee. Bob always insisted on sitting and drinking a cup while discussing what we’d be doing that day and to catch up on what had happened in our lives since our last get-together. She knew it and was making certain I started the work day in the only truly proper fashion – being social.

I know I make Mimi nervous with the way I work. I don’t think she like to see me climbing twenty feet to her second story to mess with something as harmless as dead leaves. The gutters were going to keep flooding into the porch unless I removed them, I explained and so after the coffee I climbed to the roof.

Now…my eyes aren’t what they were and maybe my brain was a half a bubble off, but as I began to climb, it seemed that the ladder was not as secure as it should have been. By the time I realized the problem, I was too far along to remedy the situation. I’d extended the ladder a little less than I should have and its ends were touching the gutter about mid-way up and no higher. Normally, I’d run it a full rung past the top of the gutters and I thought I had, but now I was a rung from the top and moving very gingerly. I didn’t want to bounce at all as I could see that it would take very little to dislodge my placement and send me to the deck. I could retreat and extend it farther, but that would mean I’d climbed to the top and not taken any leaves from the gutters. Not going to happen. I slowly reached over head and began pulling leaves and tossing them to the ground. I covered about a five foot stretch on either side of the ladder, breathing slowly, before beginning my descent. I hadn’t been able to take my pulse, but I’m sure it was higher than the work I was doing warranted. I reached the ground and extended the ladder another couple of feet before climbing back to the roof.

I tried to make the morning a workout. I hustled all around the property clearing gutters, raking leaves, dumping them in the woods, fixing lights and drain pipes, and moving old, heavy televisions. I continually did a ‘hip’ check, but it was pain-free throughout. I broke a decent sweat and headed for home in the early afternoon thinking I’d hop on the bike before the bonfire/picnic we were scheduled to attend later that evening. As it turned out, Holly had some work for me back home and I never had the chance to ride. I suppose I was okay with that since I was still nervous about the hip. There was always tomorrow and at least I’d had an active day.