Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

Hi all, 2 weeks ago I took a bad fall off a roof and broke my back. I just got home from the hospital yesterday. I now have 2 rods and 4 screws in my spine. My days of climbing to mount bat boxes like I used to are over.......Any climbing I do now will be on a very limited basis........I will have about 3 months off work so hopefully I can upload some more pictures on here. I also have an idea for mounting multiple bat boxes without climbing......kind of hard to explain but hope to make some sketches to put on here........

[cloudman75]

Terry,
Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad the docs were able to patch you. My wife made me quit climbing several years ago and I did not give her much argument. She also made me quit riding my motorcycle. In retrospect I think my wife is smarter than I am. Even when we are careful accidents will happen.
I will be looking forward to your new method of operation sketches. I'm getting a lot of remarks from my relatives about how bad my bat boxes look so I may try to make a new mount for them to clean up my act somewhat.
Be sure and be very careful not to injure your back and especially until it has time to heal compltely.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Frank...........my idea for a no-climb mounting system is basically a wooden wheel.........maybe 8 feet in diameter mounted on a post.......I'm thinking an 8 foot long post set 3 feet into the ground.

A large shaft would come out of the top of the post horizontally to mount the wheel onto much like an axle. Probably would need 2 posts.....

Bat boxes could then be mounted to the perimeter of the wheel in a way that they could hang and remain vertical as the wheel is turned.......

It would basically be like a sideways ferris wheel. The bottom bat box would hang at about eye level and the top one roughly 10 or 12 feet high.....the wheel could be rotated to mount new boxes or do maintenance work on them at ground level. I hope to construct a trial version of this next summer..........

[marius]

Golly Terry, I missed this news. So sorry to hear about your accident and hope you are mending quickly. Here I was feeling sorry for myself because of six days of stomach flu! It was horrible but I didn't have to go to the hospital and there are no pins or such in me. On the good side of things, a friend of mine had an accident similar to yours several years ago and he recovered very nicely. Modern medicine is amazing. Let us know how you are progressing.

Laura (marius)

[Terry Lobdell]

Marius, Thank you for thinking of me........Yes I am progressing well......2 more months in a back brace.........I am not sure when I will be able to go back to work.........I am glad you are feeling better! I get the flu shot every year and that seems to help me avoid the flu........

[Joe Spencer]

I missed this post! Broke mine in 1991 but didn't need rods and was very fortunate. God speed to you Terry!

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Joe! I hope to be back putting up bat houses late this spring! I've got a lot of projects planned!

[JR0835]

Terry,
I just read about your attempt at flying. Leave that to the bats. Terrible injury, I know from experience. My mother-in-law broke hers in an auto accident.

Doctor: "I've got very bad news - you've got cancer and Alzheimer's"
Patient: "Well, at least I don't have cancer"

Hope you're doing well.
Jack Roberts

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Jack! It has definitely slowed me down........I still can't lift much.......have a 30lb limit on how much I can lift and am not supposed to bend over for 6 - 9 months........Am probably going to build the larger bat boxes for this summer in smaller components this winter and spring then assemble them on site so I don't have to lift an entire bat box......

[alyssaly]

Life is full of accident!We should take it easy and learn from them!

[Emersombiguns]

I just read this post months later! Terry that is terrible. Leave the climbing for the young guys. Consider a block with rope to pull up the house on a pivoting mount. Then get someone else to do the work. Supervise!!!!! Sounds like me these days. Still think I am 25, in a 55 yr old body!!!