Wow. THANK YOU everyone for the great advice and options provided, both in the forum and by private email.  At times, this can be a, um, cantankerous, group, but the - for lack of a better word - gentleness with which everyone responded really amazed me.  I guess I am not the first person on this list to deal with the issues of an aging body and physically intensive hobby/career/passion.  A few comments in response:

I had not thought about going to eight frames, and that is definitely something worth considering.  Although, it would mean replacing all the stands, screened bottom boards, slatted racks, shims, lids, covers, etc., unless I put some kind of sealed end-spacers in every box (Can you spread out eight frames in a 10 frame box?).  Plus, my frames are all Pierco, and some of them are over 10 years old and showing their age.  So, I would not be very upset to have to replace them all, if I went to mediums (would always keep a few around as bait stations in deep boxes, like I do now).  So, overall, given all the necessary hardware changes, the cost could actually be less to go to mediums.  But, either way, in the end it is about what works best for my back, not the final cost.

Would definitely need to wear eye-protection for the cutting.  I use a pneumatic nail gun, and it never ceases to amaze me the paths that some nails take, especially when they go THROUGH the side of a new box.  Ugh.  I would almost certainly hit a nail or two doing a cutdown.

But, it sounds like I could also drop down to just two deeps and be fine.  I'm guessing I'd need queen excluders for that arrangement, unless I don't mind brood in the supers?  It's a non-issue with three deeps and the most I've ever seen a queen lay is in the bottom two and about a third up into the top deep.  So, I don't have any experience with excluders.

I think a horizontal TBH would be cool to try.  Our winters up here have been milder of late, but we still get down to -16F/-27C with extended periods where the high is below 32F/0c.  However, I've read (mostly from Michael Bush's site) that bees still can do fine in a horizontal design in this climate.  Any thoughts? Guess it would render my radial extractor useless, right?  Not that I'm really in it for the honey, but it would be nice to be able to extract, when I want to and have the time.  UNLESS, I built the one that fits medium frames (from MB's site).  Could just fill it with all medium frames and the excess could be extracted normally.  Hmmm.  To be honest, I am not much of a carpenter.  Cutting down boxes is one thing, but building a bunch of trapezoidal hives, wellll.  If I had the time it would be different.  But, at this stage of my life, probably not.  However, it would be cool to try one as an experiment, and see how it does.  If it worked out well, I'd have another option for down the road.  I think I'll look into that this winter.

Bob had a great suggestion about mentoring (i.e. let someone else do the heavy lifting).  Unfortunately, I have the same problem there as I have with woodworking.  My schedule is such that I pretty much live on the road (FDA regulatory consultant).  So, everything I do is catch-as-catch-can, and beekeeping is squeezed in between yard and house work.  Hard to work with others with such an erratic schedule, especially when there is no one close by (i.e. within walking distance).  I should've gotten married years ago and had a bunch of kids, then I wouldn't have these problems now.

One more question:  for those of you, who run nine frames in a 10 frame box, are there any issues, do you have to take any special precautions, like modify the boxes, or can you just space out the frames?  I tried it in supers for a while to make the comb 'fatter' for uncapping, but gave up, because the transition from the 10 frame deeps to the nine frame supers was a mess of bridge comb.

So, new options I am also considering:

Going to eight frame deeps with everything else being the same.

Going to nine frame deeps and dropping to two deeps for the main hive.

Making an experimental  horizontal TBH.

Again, a big THANK YOU for all the advice.  I'm going to see how I do this winter.  If I can keep my back healthy, that will definitely impact the direction I take.  Will let you know down the road.

BTW, for those of you, who may be dealing with early stage lower back issues, Google 'Mckenzie back exercise'.  Basically, you lay on your stomach and rise up on your elbows for a minute at a time, several times a day.  It compresses the rear of the spine and opens it forward, gently pushing the disk(s) back into position.  It's really easy, and you can do it without equipment, like in a hotel room.  It feels great, too.  In about a month, between this exercise and using my inversion table, when I am home, I'd say I am 80% recovered or better.  Right leg hardly goes numb anymore.  Sitting properly at the computer and walking upright with shoulders back (like I have a stick up my butt) also helps a lot.  BE VERY CAREFUL WITH YOGA.  I was doing various extreme forward stretches and extensions (without guidance, of course) that felt great for the tight ligaments and pulled muscles, but that only made things worse for one disk.  For disk issues, forward stretching bad, reverse stretching good.  Of course, I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

Bill

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