My new chair is fast, not as fast as some, but fast enough for me. We worked all day yesterday cleaning the house . The wedding draws near and we are expecting a influx of family who will be needed a place to stay while here in Salt Lake for the nuptial event. We are extremely excited that Michelle and her family will spend time with us.
This will be the first time to see our grand daughter Riley. Riley is 13 mo is walking now and is extremely interested what ever and wherever her world is at any given time. So we are excavating guest rooms and associated rooms cleaning and baby-proofing the house. Yesterday we worked on the guestroom and my room, the computer room. This is a perfect time to go though my book collection and cull volumes I have held onto long enough. I also through lots of wheelchair materials I have been hanging onto for far too long. I tossed through wheelchair cushions, computer boxes and papers which have seemed to multiply since the last family function (family functions are the times when we tend to clean like this). We don’t see a lot of folk at our home other then immediate family and we know they except us as is and tend to look beyond out foibles and cut us slack, however, other family, who actually I know would also cut us slack, we tend to go an extra mile; and we appreciate this, for who know how difficult the task of cleaning would be if we did not have these clan gathering events.
The days have been cool the last part of this I took ownership of my new power chair and I have been working which has not given me much time to “road test” the chair But yesterday, which was not balmy by any means was warmer then the few preceding and as we worked through the day, was warm enough for me to volunteer to run up to the KFC a few blocks from my house to fetch dinner. I had been in the chair all afternoon being the guy to run garbage out to the bins as it became available or materials out to the van for their final trip to Savers or Deseret Industries the two places we send items we no longer want but cannot find it in ourselves to throw away. This way we pretend some deserving family or unfortunate will take custody of our throw-offs when in reality the receiving entity will still be the dump or rag mill somewhere in a third world country.
The chair had been working wonderfully for this duty but I needed to get some real road time.
I am a little concerned bout the fit of this new chair The chair seems tight and the cushion is not as comfortable as I was expected but the cushions seems to be doing the job of protecting my butt and I am hopping the back will loosen up a bit. I can mount the chair with about the same ease as the former, which is challenging but doable. I don’t hand holds or grab places as I did with the other but I m learning what I can use to transfer safely and independently, and the process should get easier with time. But all in all the chair seems to be a good chair an I felt pretty cool as I came down my ramp and headed out onto the street. Once on the street if front of my house I shifted my chair into P-4 the maximum power level the level the sales guys said to use only when there was enough room to go the speed P-4 will allow. I gathered speed and dogs barked as I began to zoom through my neighborhood. I could have used the sidewalks but I know I would not have control on sidewalks with their cracks and narrowness. There is little traffic on the neighbor streets at 5:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon. I nodded to neighbors as I flew past their houses not wanting to take my hands off the controls to wave. Before log I was at the KFC and had got my order and I was on my way home. I had made the trip in record time. When I reached the house, Dianne had asked if I has forgotten something thinking returned to get something I had forgotten. I produced my double sacked barrel of chicken and various sides. Dianne was amazed and I was pleased.
Another winter/spring storm system rumbled through or region early this morning bringing high winds and snow and low temps. It will be cold going into work tomorrow but a warm up is expected by the end of the week. The warm days of Spring will be here soon enough My chair is not as fast as say my buddy’s, Andrew’s who is still young and needs the speed but mine is fast enough for an old guy who just needs to catch a train and fetch dinner on Saturday nights
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