Just another Miracle

This guy is hosing down the parking lot where the elephants and zebras lived while visiting Salt Lake City...

I leave for the train, actually the bus which then takes me to the train, way early now at 5:55 a.m., no later and some times even earlier. I am able to the hope up to the bus stop by 6:00 and my bus comes then about six minutes after the hour. Its way dark now when I leave for the bus and the darkness is OK—I am traveling through residential area and through a church parking lot to get to State street and my bus stop. My ride ride through the neighborhood is a quiet one and I have never really thought of what I would do if I ran into problems on this short leg of my morning commute. However, this morning gave me pause. This morning, I had just gotten past the church parking lot and I was on the sidewalk heading toward State street. I might mention usually at this point I use one of the driveways to leave the sidewalk and entry the street where I will stay until I cross State street and get to my bus bus stop. I am usually pretty good at this I don't know what happened tis morning. One moment I was safe on the sidewalk heading East toward a driveway to let me down to street level and the next moment I felt myself precariously balanced on the left side wheels of my power chair realizing I had just dropped myself off the side of an eight inch curb. On the scale of dangerous I could have done one being just galling out of my chair and “10” having my chair roll out of control in the front of an on coming Trax train this was about a four.

I had of those “ everything switches into slow motion” moments where a person can have extended and complicated thought in the split second impending trauma is finding the body. I immediately noted, I was no longer on the sidewalk, that I had done something completely stupid and that I was about to tip over my power chair with me in it and I was sorting out how to land if I had th option to control the fall at all, would I be able to get to my cell phone after I land to call Dianne or 911 to get me back in my chair and on with my life or would I just lay there until some geese monkey driving to work would stop and hopefully figure out a way to get me back into my chair. I just hope the such a person sees me and my chair laying there before both of us get run over. In the split second these thoughts were piercing my brain I say my hand on the controller push tom the right—I have to state his was not a conscious act. I pushed the joystick to right, hard and the chair followed and almost as quick, I was all four wheels on the ground, moving forward. I had to stop-right there and then and evaluate just what had happened and to make sure I was still in my chair. I did and I was. I had o stop and give a fast prayer of thanks before I continued on my way-- just seemed right. I tried not to ponder what could have been.

I left the train at my down town stop and cut through the Utah Paper Box Company parking lot and had just crossed the street , I was on the sidewalk almost to the office building when my backpack just fell off the front of my chair where I usually have it securely bungied up. As my back pack fell it turned upside spelling out my lunch, camera, bungee cord and a host of other items. It took a minute or two plus the assistance of a kindly stranger gut I definitely was getting the feeling that something strange was going on in my universe.

The circus left town for Denver this weekend, infact the last of the circus tucks left just a few hours after lunch. The hosiers moved in with their super powerful water cannon(s) BLASTING THE ELEPHANT AND ZEBRA POO off the parking lot and down the drain. The circus has left the city.

Whoa! I just came off curb, unexpectedly, i was on my two side wheels. I felt like i was going over! But i drove out of the fall. PTL!!

Bomb Scare

A number of years ago a tornado passed through Salt Lake City, I was working for Governor's Council at the time doing the job I essentially do now which is answering the phone doing information and referral. I rarely leave the city for work and during the month I am gone from time to time participating in various meeting but I am usually round. But, on the date in question I was in another City entirely(Provo) I think for an afternoon meeting—I drove my van to make this meeting not getting back to my office till after 3:30 pm. It was early in the day the tornado past through causing terror and destruction to the Wasatch Front. I missed the whole thing, probably the only tornado to visit this area—ever and I missed it. I always wanted to see a real tornado. I think not only seeing this weather disturbance I also want to feel the anxiety of Nature's angst and the excitement of the moment.

Yesterday morning I was waiting for the train, my usual train. There is one train which comes just after the bus drops me off—this train is the University train. I usually wave this train past choosing to wait for the Downtown train so I was taken a back when the driver gos out of his way to ask if I wanted to board this train since all the trains were being halted at 500 South the Court House stop because downtown was quarantined, no one was getting in or out on the train—actually it was just one area of downtown which had been isolated and the train cold not get passed this point. Downtown was 'locked don due to a suspicious item found near the Federal Court house. BOMB!!

I don't know if it was a bomb threat or a bomb scare, regardless the event was being taken seriously by SLCPD and various other State and Federal agents. I was impressed that the transit authority were on their toes and had put together a number of bus bridges to get the train passengers from the train to their downtown destinations, awkward but doable. As our train pulled into the Court House station there were emergency type vehicles everywhere—ed, yellow and blue lights flashed everywhere and a lot of milling round by suites and uniforms. The air was filled with chatter,static and excitement—something was going to happen. I zipped down the ramp and over to my waiting bus which I found out was full and I had wait for the next. I called Frank at the office—I could tell I was going to be late for work.

My bus followed same route as the train, dropping me off at my regular stop. I was only about ten minutes late—which, I guess, is not bad for a city wide emergency. You know I was glad things went smooth and I got to my office and and had a smooth,low-key day. Maybe I am getting old but the morning was just the right amount of excitement—no one died, especially me, and I had something to write and talk about. Maybe I can live without tornadoes.

Elephants for Dinner?

The worst thing about being physically disabled is being physically disabled, not being able to do what everyone else can do just because they have the physical means to do what they need to do. Usually, I get by my days in and days out with out having to deal with these issues too much but lately the issues have been piling up and I have been able passive-aggress my way out of having to deal with these issues for weeks and sometimes years at a time but my time has run out—I have hit the wall of responsibility and now I have to figure out how to get some very pressing issues met.

My house is a mess...I have a leaking roof, my ramp needs to be shored up, painted and made ready for the coming winter and there is the electrical issues with the house. One of the big things people with disabilities are encouraged to do is get into some sort of home ownership path. And true there is nothing like homeownership. I love not having a landlord come snooping round the door or coming home from work and have notices on the door of “this is happening” or “that is going to be date with time and date”. I guess the trade off is all the other stuff the landlord is typically responsible for, now, I am responsible for both financially and physically.

This weekend we entertained yet another contractor, who was another bag of bad news. He walked round the house, got on the roof and sat in his truck and wrote up his finding. $10,000 to do the job which needs to be done and that is $10,000.00 if they don't find anything once they strip the previous three roofs off to the flat boards of the roof. The contractor shook his head and said what he could do though—to help us get by was to give us a quote of giving his men a couple of packages of shingles, and roof repair( what ever that is) and having them do the best they can do for six hours and hopefully this will get us by fort another year. This was last Friday and he was going to “try” to get the quote back to us by the end of the day otherwise it would be Monday—so I am figuring we will get something today in the mail. When Dianne heard this we looked at each other and felt we could do something better with the same amount of money regardless of how much the quote might be.

So, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The biggest bite first, having to ask for help, then breaking up all the other 'bites' as to need. Roof, ramp, electrical,downstairs bathroom...one's got to start somewhere. I wish I were rich and could have contractors do an the work but I cannot so I am going to ask relatives and friends for some physical help and see where that goes. So brothers and cousins, good friends beware. If I cold do it myself I would...bite,chew and swallow...

Out

I graduated from high school forty years ago and this year is, of course is the 40 year reunion. Actually this year should have been my 41st year reunion due to the life changing accident I suffered the summer before I was to enter my tenth grade year. This accident mandated that I been in almost constant rehabilitation for the next year of my life forcing me to miss enough school so that I did not graduate with my class. To make matters worse, the accident left me a quadriplegic never walking again let alone climbing stairs. The hight school I should have attended, the school I wanted to attend, the high school I was bred to attend was Boise High school—the high school I did attend however, was Borah Sr. High School. Borah was a relatively new high school in Boise Valley in the 1960's. Borah had been around long enough to have developed a fierce cross town rival ship between the schools.

Borah was where I was destined to attend my the simple fact that the facility was built on one floor where Boise High was build the turn of the century and was built on the roman style campus architecture with multiple buildings with hundreds and hundreds of stairs. The medical an educational professionals in my life all felt Borah High was the best place for me. Needless to say the first year that I was back in school was dreadful. I hardly spoke to any one. The second year I realized that I was cutting my nose off despite my face and I could see friends were everywhere and so—I made friends and eventually finished high school—not with my class and not with my original friends. I believe I have blogged on this before; last summer when I realized Boise High class of 1969 had held their reunion and I had missed it.

So fast forward to this year and the class of 1970 is having their reunion and I keep getting announcements the reunion is almost upon us. I have basically ignored these announcements
but with in the last week one of the reunion organizers has started emailing me asking me if I was going to go to the reunion. The reunion is in Boise and I am in Salt Lake there is no way I am driving five hours for a reunion of good people just not my high school or class. There I said it. I have been struggling with this 'outing' for some time. This struggle probably does not mean a thing to any one but me and a clarification that though, I never was I shall always be a Boise Brave. So I have the sad responsibility of telling old Barry ( the Borah High reunion coordinator) that I do not plan to be in Boise this weekend or next when ever the Borah High reunion is supposed to take place—nothing personal—it just that I was an alien at his school attending only because I had to not because I ever wanted to. I doubt if Barry will understand. Barry was a mighty, mighty Lion, Borah Lion.

Happiness

Restocking fee!!!??? I don't think so. Twenty or thirty dollars just give the product I was not happy with back!! So, I started listening to other options the best being to look over their remaining laptops and find a system which might better fit my need. So Mark, Jasmine and I returned to the the rows of laptops in the quest. Essentially we were looking at Toshibas, even though I had stated I wanted to try something different. I whole countenance was obvious that I wanted Toshiba or similar quality.
My quest did not take long. I found a Toshiba Satellite, with wider screen and the larger keys I needed. The satellite only cost a hundred more then I was paying for the HP so I figured the extra dollars would be well spent. Remember, please it was after 7:00 in the evening, I was tired and a little nervous on how this whole adventure was going to go down. When we went up to the salesperson with my decision he checked his database and indicated that because of school beginning the store was completely out of Toshiba Satellites in the model that I wanted. In fact on further inspection of their product base, all the Toshbas were gone all they had in inventory was what was sitting on the shelves. Of course then asked t he next basic question which was, then could I purchase the floor model and got a resounding “ ohhh, no we could not do that”. This was a front line flunky but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. So, then he volunteered to check to see what was available in other stores in the Salt lake vicinity and of course there were no Toshiba Satellites available. Then we decided to order in a new system just for me—this should take a couple of days and I should have my new system by the end of the following week. I thought for second knowing I would not be doing a whole lot with the new system over the reaming of the weekend anyway so why not? I could order the unit in and be set to go by the next weekend. I mean, I still had my Satellite with the broken key, at home and it worked fine if one over looked the back space key. There was a quick computer check of the Best Buy system and I knew something was wrong at the little sales person's face. He gulped an adolescent gulp and informed me that the model I wanted was no longer in production an there were no more available anywhere.

By this time I was beginning to draw a small crowd of Best Buy staff—with this new information I once again looked at the system and asked why I could not purchase the floor model especially if the floor model was the only system available. The time was now nine o clock on a Friday evening, Mark A was doing great negotiation with staff and their relentless objections and Jasmine was fine playing with the toy she had gotten with her kids meal—Jasmine just followed us round from piler to post until we finally ran into the store manager who reasonable indicated he did not have a problem selling me the floor model of the last remaining floor model of this specific Toshiba Satellite. The floor grunts just sat there with their mouths open as the manager unplugged the system and removed the sales data from the shelf and walked us up to the check out. The manager further informed me that since the floor model was a floor model the machine would cost me about seventy dollars less since it was not a “new machine”. I would still have the year warranty which came with the system and I elected to not take the “extended coverage” the staff always tried to “up sale”with when ever you by a new item. The manager informed me I could not take computer home with me right because they had to “wipe” the system's memory, it seems Best Buy installs their own software when the machine is on the display stands and the software has to come off. They even offered to have it ready in a half hour but I said I would pick it up the following morning Mark and Jasmine had to get home and I was tired.

I picked they system up the following morning. The system was an upgrade over the HP, the Satellite looked and felt like a better machine because it as a better machine. So I was able to get th whole upgrade or a mere $24.00 over what I ha paid for the HP. And I must admit the difference has made me happy.:-)

Invisble Man

I got the system. I caved and fell back to my tried and true Toshiba Satellite. You, who are my regular readers well remember I left you with the feeling that I had mastered my wants and purchased the HP DV5. A system I did not feel terribly comfortable with but felt I would get used to like a pair of new shoes—really a person has to wear them to break them in. I had made my decision, spent the money I had saved and allocated and such a purchase and I was done. I was ready to move on and start using my new system.

I of course Facebooked my purchase and the feeling I was experiencing with the purchase I thought I sounded OK, just my usual cynical self forcing myself to live with my HP decision. I really felt Iw would eventually warm (most likely sooner then later) and be a happy camper. So yesterday when Mark A came over to mow the lawn he started asked me how I really liked my new system. I continued to hem and haw about the system and then Dianne joined the party and asked to forget about mowing the yard and would he please help his father take back the HP and get what his father really wanted. I had slipped somewhere along the way and mentioned that I had seen some Toshiba systems which were very nice but there was no way I was going to go into debt just to get a better machine. But, the people I love,saw me blink, I wavered and soon Mark A was madly tearing down the HP while I was finding my receipts and such and Dianne was busy pushing the both us towards the front door and out to the van.

Mark A won me over by telling me that with a purchase of this magnitude—I should exhibit joy and happiness. I tried to reason with him that I just did not do that. I was always cynical and almost angry with my purchases, know I was going to get screwed one way or the other. Mark A let me know that was not true and he saw me experience joy when I had purchased my last lap top or even the lathes and what I was exhibiting now was not happiness. So I went with my son and granddaughter to do battle with the sales crew of Best Buy.

I was amazed. I must admit the experience was not without stress but the return went hundreds of time better then I thought the experience would. My excuse was the computer I had purchased, keys were small and I had too much difficulty hitting the keys and I I needed something with bigger keys. The kid in the white shirt and skinny tie shrugged and called the manager over. I was tired and just wanted to get out of there but when the manager informed

me I would have to pay a percentage fee to restock the system I was returning I knew it was going to be a long night. ( Tomorrow “Happiness")

Thanks Stan

The broadcast came out OK. I have know Stan Clawson for some time but have never been able to visit with him the way I did today and it was fun and educational. I am amazed at how much more enjoyable interviewing someone really interesting can be. I am glad the Stan's are out there.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9454297

Broadcast Day

I am slipping up gain and not getting posts in on a daily bases--its not that my life has gotten that dull as much as the business seems to have been ramped up. Today is a broadcast day and today I am interviewing a friend of mine, Stan Clawson, over achiever film director and connoisseur of life. I'll post the interview or a link to the interview when I get the chance...stay tuned

Riptide

I have been watching with interest the past couple of days as Hurricane Earl rolled on shore in North Carolina. These news channels and broadcast showed images of people , even though warnings have been issues, continue to swim and surf in the foaming broth lapping onto the seashore. The commentators indicate there are dangers in that surf namely under toes. Under toes those mysterious monsters which lurk just under the surface water just waiting to grab ones legs and pull them under the water and deposit the swimmer miles away wet and dead. I have written in the past, in this blog, that I spent hours and days of my youth swimming at the “twin bridges” in South Boise. I was always being told to watch out for the under toe it could kill you.

The years passed and the undertows of the Ridenbough canal never grabbed and killed me and I still hear the warnings. I still don’t know exactly what the voices mean but I think I was subjected to something similar a couple of weeks ago at work. I guess the riptide which caused the under toe first washed up on my shore when my boss asked if I was going to attend a reception for the State senator who sounds like he is on the brink of retirement. Without hesitation I said “no”. I do not really like this guy, his politics are his music. There was a silence after my statement when I realized that I had wandered into a politically mined employment minefield. The boss subtly indicated that I might want to re think my decision and how my attendance might look very good to program which is starved for funding as mine is. I made more excuses, real ones of meetings and responsibilities could or should be doing at this exact same time. This held no water, I clearly saw my boss expected me to attend the reception. I gulped and said sure I would be there. As the day of the reception got closer and closer I tried to put the event from my mind hoping against hope that people would forget the reception and I would deftly blow off the event at the last moment and the boss would not notice my absence in the excitement of the event. This thought was dashed when on the day of the senator’s reception the boss asked how we were going to attend and I acknowledged I was going and I was going by public transit but I would be there, with secrete hopes that an act of God would intervene keeping me from the event; nothing big, bus break down, wheelchair failure or bus hijacking.

My only hope now was an Act of God. Turns out the God is a Republican. I made my connections perfectly and was soon at the blind center a State facility with a huge gathering area. There were gimps everywhere as well as agency and private non-profit people who service people with disabilities. I saw my workmates and boss and joined them to hang round eat what was offered then leave as soon as I could hoping that I would not be recognized by too many folks I know in the system. I followed my friends and got in line for the refreshments, a long slow line. It was then I got caught in the undertow, the riptide as this sea of people surged toward the Senator. I smiled, gulped and rolled forward. The senator was set up at the head of the food table. You had to shake hand with the guest before you got you veggies and punch. They had the Senator set up like a Santa picture op at Sears. Thankfully the photo incident was less painful then I anticipated they rushed us up and maneuvered the chair they snapped the image and I was gone. They talked over my head and I did not have to interface, just smile and look lost.

I forgot about the image and was surprised when I got an email of all the images taken at the event and there I was. There is not justice. I was caught in the riptide of humanity—it sucks.

Transit Whale Pods

The local transit authority has gone all mod and is really delivering some effecting transit options for people wanting “to park their cars and ride:” Traxx= the train, they also have Express busses( expensive rides which ‘bullet’ to direct points no stopping or wandering all over the countryside pick up kids for school. The Express whales offer Wi-Fi, lay back seats and probably music, then there are the Commuter buses ( the kind I used and described in Monday’s post). So you have all these transit systems all coming single point destinations called Transit Hubs. I think the hubs are kinda need. People are hanging round waiting , a trnsit whale pulls in and a segment of the folks peal off from the mass enter the whale and it ‘swims’ away. There is a strange, low grade excitement which permeates the area. I kind of liked it—I wished I had taken some images or footage capturing the essence of the transit hub or pod for transit whales.

Training

Boy, I have not posted for almost a week. I have been sorta out of town and just could note get it together enough over the weekend to do anything extra curricular like posting. But, I am back and I hope to be in-station all week.

I did the training in Orem, not far from Salt Lake , but fat enough. The training was for a concept called Options Counseling (OC) which is basically “institutional information” and referral and Person Centered thinking a concept the Developmental Council has pushed for some time. The training was hosted the ADRC (Aging and Disability Resource Connection) and to be honest, I was not to thrilled with having to attend this event. But my boss thought that attendance might be helpful, from a funding stand point. I am not too sure about funding but the event was rich with information I can use in my regular State job with information and referral.

Orem is about forty miles South of Salt Lake City/ Murray and serviced very well by the local public transit provider Utah Transit Authority( UTA). I have know for years that a person in a wheelchair can travel between cities but have never done the trip myself; this was my chance to see the system at work and if the system worked. And the system did work, for me. Granted the trip which would take forty five minutes by van took me two hours and three transfers to complete the trip one way. Plus I had to deal with the issues of major over crowding due to the fact there is a community college in between the cities and the bus leaved the interstate and wanders the country side, as in rural countryside. Seriously by the time we got to Utah Valley Community College kids were standing in the isles and the driver just kept picking kids up and shouting the line further and further to the back of the bus. The wheelchair seating section is in the front of the vehicle and takes up four seating positions—the first day I listened hard for grumbling and ‘hard words’ but heard non. I have t admit I was impressed with these kids. So I went from a bus to the train to a bus to get to my final destination. The time piece sounds long but actually going through the stops and rides did not feel like two hours. I was super glad though that Dee Dee would drive over to the train station to pick me up when the night train got in. Deed Dee does many things for me and fetching me at the station on especially long day is very appreciated.

The tree days away from my desk and at this training refilled my word well, to write about in the blog. So I will be dipping into the well from time to time to cover thoughts and observations of the event and experiences on the bus and trains going back and forth. I am including a video from today’s rain storm on the way to work. I missed most the down poor.

Homebound. Training over, weekend starts now!

Almost to meeting site. Only issue, i lost shoe in bus transfer spasm.

This bus is crammed full.

Just Crashing Into The week

This is going top be a challenging week I have know that for some time. I will only be in my office one day, today and tomorrow I fund I have to take since I work Friday (one of the days of my usual weekend).I am hating this conference thing which is eating up my week but I am trying to put the best face on the whole event. I of course would not even be going if I was not being strong armed by my boss, who thinks by attending will help in finding funding for my position—and who knows she might be right. She is the boss!! However because I will be attending this conference which is n another city, only forty miles away, which is serviced by local public transit and which will run full day into my typical weekend I will essentially be off for the rest of the week! Tomorrow I am taking off because hours of leave time earned must be taken in the same forty hour week, then conferencing is conferencing. I plan to attend the conference in good spirit but conferences , I have found, regardless of how good, and well prepared they might be are basically a waste of time: hours upon hours of lecturers droning on and on about materials they hand out which is basically the same material the lecturer is droning on and on, on. Looks as if some meals are provided , not counting the infamous “continental ‘breakfast’”. Much of the material being covered is material I already know if not at least a little familiar with since I am a resource coordinator. So I should be OK and worst case scenario I might learn something related to my job. But my cynical side says I probably will not.

I will be riding public transit going and coming and that should be interesting. I am kind of looking forward to this aspect or the conferencing to see how well the transit works out of county and especially how well the over the road(OTR) vehicles work. I figure I will traveling at least 180 minutes a day just in travel—this also means that I will not necessarily be expected to be at the conference on time since the conference command knows I am coming in on transit. I will be there when I get there. How ever, near as I can tell I should be OK. I should be at the conference site way before the conference begins.

Things never turn out as they seem or should seem and the best laid plans of mice and men or often dashed by the cold reality of being but I am looking forward to this week of challenge and accepting my place in reality. I don’t know how well I will post this week but I will try to update my Twitter and Face book accounts from my cell and maybe I’ll even do some short blog updates from my cell. Maybe I’ll et access to a system somewhere at the conference one can never tell.

Storm

I am finally waking up and it’s a little past two in the afternoon. It goes without saying that I did not sleep well last night and actually I thought that I had slept OK. I over slept even and that rarely happens. But I was able to get up get through my routine and up to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. I could not shake the sleep no matter how I tried. I skipped my local breakfast so I booked over to the mall as soon as I got to theoffice and had opened it up and other staff had showed up so I dashed across the street to the mall and got a micky D breakfast :OJ, sausage breakfast sandwich and a breakfast sausage breakfast burrito and don’t forget the fried potato thing. Before I dashed over to the mall I made coffee or tried. We are seriously out of coffee and since Iam the only one drinking the stuff the whole coffee thing at the office is my responsibility.. I really thought I had enough java left to get me through the weekend since today is my Friday. So rather then jet me through my morning with my usual ten cup pot I was dragging through with a four cup load and that was pretty watered down. So I am way down on my caffeine levels.

Those who know my history know one of the reasons I am gulping my coffee now is not for the refreshing jag t my system as much as it is to hydrate my self since I am cutting down on my liquid intakes on the night side; trying to figure out a way to get thru the night with having to get up as little as possible.

All morning, outside my window I have been watching a bank of clouds get darker and darker and the sky looked as if the sky was going to rip open any second and downpour. The doun pour started about 11:15—the skies ripped open and the rains fell. IT almost looked like tornado weather. I sat in my office and enjoyed the cloud burst.


Today is also executive committee meeting for the Utah Development Disability Council, a noon meal. Traditionally meals are not provided to those who come—actually the council did provide meals until a year ago when the State Legislature mandated that offices like ours could no longer feed their councils—but anyway one of the council is pretty involved with CP and wanted some form of pasta. I looked out my window and it did appear as if the storm was abating and drawing to an end. Staff was busy and someone needed to fetch the noodles our council member wanted for his lunch. I figured the storm was now just sprinkling I would be OK and get a little damp. Wrong! There wad quite a bit of rain still falling and after I left the office the rain fell even harder. I was able to get the meals, get drenched and back in no time. I turned on my hair dryer and I was dryer in no time. I am still a little damp but not uncomfortable an I will dry before I have to leave for a American with Disabilities Act this afternoon when I have yet top catch another bus. The skies outside my window re blue now, the storm has passed and if I am lucky I will do the reception and get home dry to start my weekend.

Cookies!

Last night was a rough night! I was up twice, once at 12:30 and again at 3:30 to drain my bladder—weird how I don’t really pee any more I drain my bladder( with the catheter, remember?) Really draining the ladder is the same as peeing even if the product is the same—anyway, maybe too much information. The point is I did not get as much sleep as I apparently needed to feel decent today.

I often wonder as I wait for the train, and now the bus and the train. “what is there was a doughnut place near by? I am probably lucky there is not but sometime that sugar joint would be nice until I can get to them office and get coffee made and get my self ‘pepped up. I needed something: dozing waiting for the train and on the way into the city.

Imagine my relief when I got to work and found the box of cookies brought in late Thursday afternoon by one of the local hotels the office uses to put consumers from month to month. I really thought the cookies were goners. I really thought staff would take them home if not them then maybe the cleaning people but no did and there the cookies were the first thing this morning, quietly sitting in their box, where they have rested since Thursday—dried and crisp a perfect cooking since I am the only staff which will eat food that old.

So, I am still groggy and I think the grogginess will remain with me for remainder of the day. I just have to pace myself to get through—return letters and starting writing “thank “you letters for the next interviews for Access Utah. It’s going to be a long afternoon but just knowing there are cookies in the back makes all the difference

I got the following email earlier this week…

Attached please find the flyer invitation for distribution to your staff and their direct reports to attend this year’s Company Picnic which will be held at Liberty Park on August 25, 2010. Our invitation is for our employees and their immediate family. Employees must RSVP no later than 8/16 as to whether or not they will be attending and a count of their family members to ensure we have enough food for all attending. All Board Members have been invited as well as the team at Western Region…they were Bcc’d…

John

The company picnic: that venerable institution which brings employer and employees together in a semi-social encounter, usually at the end of the Summer and may or may not be fun. The email set in motion a host of thought s of company picnics our family attended as I was growing up. I am sure I have mentioned at one place or another in this blog that my dad was a sheet metal worker and a union man. He worked for a shop which installed and repaired furnace and air conditioners. The shop had about forty employees and every summer they had a company picnic. The picnic was held in Julie Davis Park in the heart of Boise. Some years it was burgers and hot dogs—in the good years they served fried chicken from the Plantation Golf course—Bob Taylor, the boss, I am sure was a major golfer and a member of the Plantation. Regardless of burgers or chicken there was always watermelon tons of watermelon. Beer too but some how that seemed so alien we tended to block(psychologically) the tubs of iced beer which I am sure were somewhere in the vicinity..

I hardly ever saw my dad in casual clothes usually overalls or his church clothes. And he would go to these event casual, even stranger was seeing my dad interact with his peers but I did at the company picnic. We ate chicken—had Clover Clubs potato chips from ‘industrial sized’white bags number 3 red dyed punch and watermelon and a chance to see the other folks in my dads life and their weird families( which I am sure we looked just as weird to them). The picnic was one of the biggest events of our summer.

I work in a State office of five or six people—everyone likes each other but not enough to meet them omn their own time outside of work to eat KFC , bottled water and maybe melon from Cosco chunked and that you eat with tooth picks. Somehow it is just not the same…

Broken Arm Work of Art

So the conspiracy continues…this morning as I am heading out the door the left side of my wheelchair literally comes off in my hands. I cannot say that I was surprised I was frustrated and dismayed. Actually, as much as I would enjoy blaming this incident on my machinery against Mark theory I cannot. I have only myself to blame.

I transfer in and out of my power wheelchair by raising the arm—the arm is hinged atcthe back so when I raise the arm up, the arm kind flips back on a hinge at the back of my power chair. I have noted the past couple of weeks the arm has become more and more “wiggly”. I was either really bending the arm and I was going to break it off if I continued on with this course of action or the arm was coming more and more loose and sooner or later something was going to literarily fall off—this morning at 5:50 am the arm came off in my hands. I should have just saddled up when I noticed the part was getting “wiggly” and gone to Magic rest and took advantage of their free “ten minute tune up”. But I chose not to be proactive.

Part of the arm assembly fell on the floor, part was in my hand and part was still attached to the wheelchair and since I was still attached to the wheelchair I figured I would head to work an see how far I got. I could have stayed home and waited for the shop to open and bus there and have them fix it after all that is where I bought the sucker. But that would be a four hour wait. I hate waiting and besides I knew Frank would be at work when I got there and I know Frank at least would take a stab at repairing the arm. It took a few minutes but Fr\ank came through—he went out to his truck and got the set of tools he got on sale Pep Boys, Western Auto or some car place like that—one of those rd plastic, hard plastic containers which has about thirty thousand pieces of which you will only ever use two. Frank put me back together again—I did not have to catch the bus to points south and mess up my day. I did pull Frank of task but I don’t think Frank minded all that much. I think Frank did a great job but I still need to take my chair in and have the mechanics look at it, the chair still does not feel right..

Unrelated but interesting aside—I felt brave this morning as I dressed for work. I chose blue slacks and a white, pure white pull over with a collar. I even ate breakfast without a shirt to keep myself presentable but a round 9:45 a m, the coffee cold( but still goods). I was holding the up in one hand very tenuous for a quadriplegic and as I eas holding the cup I tough to myself, ‘what if I should spill his all over me ?’within a second I did. Luckily for me the brew was quite devoid of heat and never use real sugar so I did not become sticky but I as a mess.. the mess dried. I was chilly for an hour or so and I got strange looks from Café Trang when I picked up my munch. But now I my white shirt with coffee stain as a work of art.

Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy Theory


I am getting a little spooked and a little paranoid and I am getting the feeling that the machines of this world are conspiring to get me and I will try to boor my three or four readers further with my diatribe and angst about what machine simple and complex are doing to me.

This morning bright and early a little before 5:00 a.m I had just transferred from my wheelchair to the showerbench as I do every morning and then I push my wheelchair straight back more often then not the chair veers to the side allowing me the swing needed to shut and then reopen the shower door. Every once in a while the wheelchair does not veer and the chair just keep rolling back until; it runs into the bed but way out of my reach even with my longest stick. No problem though. I called and woke Dianne who happily pushed the chair back. If the events of the day had ceased then I would have not thought twice about the collusive events of the machines in my life.

I actually made pretty good time getting ready, having time to eat some breakfast and get up to my bus stop wit time to spare. I was till groggy, however, so I laid myself back in my power chair—and then trying to right myself, nothing happened—dead. The chair would recline further but would not return me to the upright position.—the pressure plate. I thought I had this problem resolved when I had the boys ay Magic Rest disconnect the pressure sensors which stop the function of the power chair. So there I lay until the bus stops. I was expecting a driver I have sort of developed a relation with over the past month but he was not driving today. I called to the driver, informed her of my need and she dismounted from her driver seat and I actually was able to talk her into making my chair operational allowing me to motor own my way. I had effectively dodged the bullet again and my concern rose another level if I had to give level a color I color that concern yellow.

By 8:30 I had drunk my coffee, gone over weekend events with staff and needed the nature call and I zoomed out of the office to restroom. When I got t the bathroom the door was pried open—remember the folks in this building lock the bathrooms—many time the poor and non documented must get a key from somewhere to unlock o if the do get a key many will often lock the dead bolt with the door open thus preventing the door from closing all the way. The door was pried open this way so I thought. Actually what had happened was that someone had actually traumatized the door know/level breaking the door lever and living the “tongue out preventing the door closing and when I went in and pulled the door shut behind me I was locked because no matter how hard you pulled on the lever it was no going to engage and pull the plunger out of the striker and let the door open.

I m almost never without my cellphone, today I left it on my desk. So I beat on the door until I got the attention of someone in my office, who got the boss who called Mikes Lock and key. Mike showed up minutes later and got the process going. Mike drilled out the old lock making a hole large enough to pass screw drivers though. The doorknob had two little bitty Phillip head screws and I was being told if I wanted out I was going to have to dismantle the door knob, a partial quadriplegic and you know what..I did it. The mounting screws of door know assembly are very long talking many turns of a screw driver but I finally did it…all the while Mike from the lock and key place cheered me on. This was pathetically Jerry Lewis but what can you say? I am out and I have just about finished my day. I just ant to get home intact and away from machinery the Borg is out there I know and he is hunting…hunting me

Addicted to Lathe Part Two

Glenn gave me directions to his home but I knew better then to pay attention to them knowing myself. If I try to follow written directions invariably I get lost—I hate driving lost, I drive and drive getting more and more frustrated and burning more and more gas and more and more lost. I found the house with little frustration by driving the famous Utah grid system. Since I was locked in my van with a pendant which would not work I called Glenn on my cell causing Glenn great confusion until I told him I was outside of his house. He came out and go the lift deployed and soon I was gazing at the lather.

It would do. The lathe is an old Craftsman anchored to a sturdy stand a little higher then I would have preferred but will work. There is others things on the lathe I will need to change but I was pleased over all will worth seventy-five. In fact there was a discrepancy on the price. He thought he had the piece listed at $100.00 and was wiling to knock off ten dollars and when I indicated he had the lathe listed at $75.00 he was taken back. We could not check on the price right then due to the INTERNET being ‘down’. Also, I did not bring any money with me because I was not sure if I was going to purchase the lathe and I was not really planning the lathe then either because I would have to get a truck to carry the lathe back to my house and that was going to take some time. I was pleasantly shocked when Glenn volunteered bring the lathe over. Great! We agreed that I would return home and wait for him to check his offering when his system comes back on line., In the mean time I would stop at my back and pull the needed cash out of the ATM. I figured I had hours. A brief side note. I tried to have Glenn plug my pendant back into the lift pump—I pull the plug sometime when I back my chair up and usually it is a simple fix. But not this time, Glenn plugged the pendant into the only outlet he could find and nothing happened. I hope I have not destroyed another pendant but I will have to take the van in for service…grrr.

I had just gotten home, Dianne had opened the van, I had down loaded and was having a bite to eat and the phone rang. It was Glenn saying he had the lathe loaded with the help of a neighbor and we was coming over to deliver and would there be someone there to help down load the lathe…”sure” I responded thinking I would find someone in the neighborhood when he got here. Glenn was on his way!! 3:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon and there was no one insight! I could implore my next door neighbor Al and he would help but he is in his eighties and that would be just wrong. I cruised up the streets of my hood and there were some young backs but I did not know them from dirt and if I had larger kahunas I could have asked them and they would have probably helped but I just did not feel comfortable. I called my brother. He was not home and my son in law and they were not home—my son Mark was at work so that was a no go. Just as I was zooming round the corner the US Postal service pulled up for mail delivery. The postman got out and gave me my mail and I toyed with asking him but saw his hangs full of mail and know his motto I chickened out. Ten minutes later my lathe arrived Glen had made good time. I confessed I had no one to help but that did not seem matter but at the same moment Nathen our new postman walked up to his truck for another load of mail. I called out and laid out the situation and he agreed right off and in five minutes we had the lathe down. All afternoon the wind had been gusting and the clouds were massing into an angry dark bank of moisture which looked as if it was going to release on us at any time. I knew I had no room min the garage right now so we pulled the lathe long side of the house and I got a great blue tarp from the garage and Glenn being a former Coast-guardsman bundled the lathe up safe and dry as the first drops fell.

It is going to be awhile before I enjoy my new Craftsman lathe—I know this but I will soon.

Addicted to Lathe

I cannot help myself, I really can’t. I am addicted pure and simple. I spend a lot of my time at work searching for solutions for people with disabilities. I especially search for pieces of assistive technology which well help folks with disabilities live more independently. I have found one of the best places to find assistive technology in on the local NBC affiliate, KSL web page KSL.com. Usually on Monday mornings if I have the time I look for wheelchair lift vans, power chairs, manual wheelchairs, catheters and wood lathes Yes I know lathes are a far reach to be included as assistive tech and they aren’t but I figure since I am in the neighborhood why not see if there is anything new?

I frankly, am amaze at how many lathes and other pieces of wood working equipment list listed on this web page. Last wee I was doing a fast looksee on KSL.com and there was lathe, Craftsman very similar to the lathe I gave to my brother., the lathe on the website is an older Craftsman but say works fine. The best part was the parry was asking $75.00 !! $75.00 for a working lathe is almost nothing!! I mulled the idea of getting another lathe over in my mind, which I found hard to justify especially with having ort of a perfectly good lathe in the garage. I cannot get to this lathe right now and the machine needs some work on it before I use it again, anyway, I placed the call on Wednesday morning and committed to go out today and check the lathe out.

So this morning looked good. I called Glenn, the guy who had the lathe, and he stilt had the piece. There was a question as if he would have the lathe available. Another person had called on the lathe before me—a couple of weeks before -- and Glen had not heard back from him and he said the lathe was still on the market. I told him I would be over to check it out and if the lathe checked out I would seal the deal. Alright! This was when things started to go .weird. I went out to the van, transferred into the driver’s seat and turned the key and somehow the key bent! The key came out in `my hand and the end of the key was bent at almost a ninety degree angle! I could not believe I just sat there looking at the key. I called Dianne and came out to the van and she took the key amd tried to straightened it. I figured this was going to be an “iffy” endeavor at best. The key broke which I sort of expected.

Well I knew I was not going anywhere until I got at least another key so I dismounted and returned to the house and we did not have a spare. Dianne did some quick calling round and found GMC dealership just a few blocks a way was open and would cut the key for me. So I took the broken key, the title to the vehicle and the title zoomed up to the dealership in my power chair. Thirty minutes and 40.00 dollars later and three keys later I was on the road to West Valley City Utah to look at the lathe. Oh yeah I neglected to tell that somehow when I had mounted my van. I pulled the pendant out of the lift. The pendant is the electrical device which allows me to operate the lift, independently, from inside of the vehicle independently. The exterior switches still operated perfectly an I figured I could get Glenn to open the lift up for me when I got to his residence but have to confess I was beginning this was not the day for me to be around machinery It seemed as if everything I was touching I was destroying… to be continued.

What's the MATTER?

One of the things I hate about Barnes and Noble and other big box bookstores is stuff they stick in the ‘science fiction’. I love for good science fiction I kinda of live for good science fiction so imagine the taste left in my mouth when I pick up an expensive ( for me) volume, a fat volume( thinking this read will take me to the end of the summer ) and find out my investment is not science fiction but some science fiction/fantasy hybrid.Gross like downing four or five chugs of cold milk straight of out of the fridge, straight out of the cartoon to find the milk sour, clotted and un swallow able.

Why do the book stores? Does the management really believe that hard core sci-fiers well not notice frilly silly fantasy volumes intermingled with the real sci-fi lit? I guess I should not bitch too much I have access to the INTERNET and I know how to use it and I did not. I got lazy, I guess. Saturday I was wandering round Barnes and Noble killing time until my optometrist appointment. I was closing in the end of the novel I was currently reading, cyber punk—a very acceptable genre of sci-fi and I needed something to transition into for August and my end of summer read. Friday night as I was charging round the “Net” and specifically Amazon.com—I noticed I couple of titles from Iain M. Banks—which I had noticed before and sounded good.

“Banks tells me that he has spent the past three months writing another Culture novel. It will be called Matter and is to be published next February. "It's a real shelf-breaker," he says enthusiastically. "It's 204,000 words long and the last 4,000 consist of appendices and glossaries. It's so complicated that even in its complexity it's complex. I'm not sure the publishers will go for the appendices, but readers will need them. It's filled with neologisms and characters who disappear for 150 pages and come back, with lots of flashbacks and -forwards. And the story involves different civilizations at different stages of technological evolution. There's even one group who have disappeared up their own fundaments into non-matter-based societie” , the write-up sounded enticing and sounded like a challenge. The first red flag should have been the writer is British or Scottish. But I have experienced a lot of good Sci-fi from the Brits. Especially cyber-punk. M The title: Matter just sounds like hard science fiction boy was I sucker bunched. I dot even read a couple of pages before I bought the volume an rolled out of the store and did not start reading till Monday morning when I was on the train going to work and my gag reflex kicked in: horses, princes, kings and magic!!! 600 pages or so..

So I started reading, since I bought the volume, and I have to admit I have sucked in. I don’t necessarily like it yet but the read has become entertaining—lets just see…I’ll keep you informed.

Lollygagging

Dianne and I have been talking for a couple of years now about getting a new roof on the house. To me this is huge, especially since I cannot climb up on the roof with my brothers or a couple of neighbors or folks from a church or some other ‘happy can I help you’ agency’. That’s the way we did it—actually it was just Dad and the boys laying down the shingles and doing it right. But each heavy snowfall and rain produces unacceptable drips in ur downstairs bathroom. I have put the finger on my great brother who has spent hours on the roof trying to find the leak and seal it. We have also had a couple of outfits who are supposed to be leak and roof specialist to do the job but not of these interventions have met our needs. Now our roof is also sagging like a ‘bangers pants’ and I have had to admit we need a new roof but how. I don’t have the connection here like I did I Boise to maybe have the labor donated by those referred to above. Dianne has never had this kind of help and feels uncomfortable in having ‘volunteers’ do this job and we suspect we are also talking bout having to replace sections if not all of the deck from roof rot.

So we are considering a new roof..A NEW ROOF $$$$.Dianne diligently started contacting different roofers and soon had some bids from a couple we felt pretty good about but the cost was up there, no pun intended. We are talking in excess of 10,000.00 which means we are going to have to consider some sort of loan; actually any kind of work we will have to consider a loan—from a bank. Last Friday we finally had all the document the bank person told Dianne we needed to begin the process.

Going to the bank for anything other then cashing a check, I guess, is like going to church, you gotta act pious, dress nice and pray for a miracle. So. I dressed in long pants and wore shoes and a shirt with a collar. I suppose what happens next is as much our fault as the banks since we just dropped in without making n appointment with the loan officer. When we arrived Matt had this redhead at his desk and it did look like they were doing some kind of bank business but it was weird, everything seemed to shift into slow motion –and its not like we were going anywhere either. This bank business was all we had scheduled for the day so we waited and aited and waited while the too seemed to lollygag—gag is right. Dianne read magazines and I rolled round the bank, lying my wheelchair down here and there to take the weight off my butt. I am sure we did not wait more then an hour but it seemed for ever. I was surprised that when the they were finally finished and Matt called us in—I gave Matt to option of taking a bathroom break before he started on us but he smiled and called us back say everything was just fine.

The interview, I assumed went fine, we have not heard anything yet—we have some other options, hopefully. I just hope we have the roof done my the

Caratarcs!?!

I went to get new glasses today, the exam and everything. The event took much longer then I had anticipated--requiring me to hang round the mall for a couple of hours. Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Carl's. The eye doc was ancient but I think competent very awkward though, the office was not accessible to examine me from my chair and they sort of freaked wanting me to go to the hospital until I showed them I could transfer from chair and to the exam from the regular exam chair--all went well. I got the glasses ordered and the news I have stage one cataracts...typical.

Mom

I have been working on my hard drive at the office and found some files and video of the 2007 family reunion. Mom, of course, was in the LTC at this point and Dianne and I spent some time with her. I had forgotten this video I had made…

Sleepy Pioneer Day

Its hot and its Pioneer Day I Utah a major holiday and the day has been warm but nice. I have not done any thing productive mainly since Dianne and I stayed up till 4:00 a.m. watching movies on the tube—we kept getting sucked into movies as one end and another begin. We don’t stay up late too often but everyone once in a while. So today we were late getting up and we never really got going.

Dianne had expressed an interest in watching the fireworks during the fourth of July—but because of my Butt that day was a no go and I promised we would take in the display on the Twenty fourth of July celebration which is today. So I was surprised when I inquired as to which event she wanted to attend and said she was not sure she wanted to go out. I was sort of shocked by her not wanting to go out but really not surprised after the late night. So, were staying in not wanting face the crowsds, traffic and frustration of having to put up with humanity Happy Pioneer Day.

Nikes for Dogs

I am still in the midst of butt rehab—no wound per se but the skin is thin and seems to be getting thinner, I try to depression lift and lay back my chair as much as I can and all the works seem to help but I m still having to lay down when ever I am at home in order to preserve enough skin integrity to go to work the next day or week. I have also been working less then my whole shift of ten hours. This last week has been eights—I start at 7:00 am and leave at 3:30pm.

So yesterday, I leave work and jump my train heading South bound an I was surprised to see the front section where I have to ride sense I am wheelchair and there was young fam with three kids and a stroller in the crip section—that’s not supposed to happen but what can you do? It’s not worth it to fight bu what was weird was people in wheelchairs kept getting on he train at each stop! One of the folks sitting right infront of me was a blind with hi guide dog—he seemed a perturbed as I with all the people in the disabled section .At twenty one hundred a drunk smoker wheelhair user boarded and he smelt bad and tried to make conversation with the blind guy and kept trying to pet the dog and the blind guy kept telling him the dog was working and leave the dog alone. The animal had its hands-paws full trying to keep it’s tail from being smashed by on of the many wheelchairs crowded into the section as well as trying to dodge the touches drunk. This was when I noticed the dog was out fitted with nikes—I had never see anything like this before but made since the mutt was on his feet as much as they are. I wished I had gotten a better image of all four but I did manage to get one. The drunk rolled off at 45 hundred

Over Done

I Think I over did it at the reunion on Saturday—I think I was up too long and the skin on my butt is getting dangerously thin so yesterday I spent all day in bed trying to toughen the skin back up; I plan to leave the office today after 8 hours rather then my usual 10 hours. I have the hours so why not? I came in and returned calls and gave sparkling great information—but now I must run home and jump back on the bed until tomorrow to return to work. I really hope to someday fix my rear end so I can enjoy my time off.

Reunion

Just a few words for now just let it be known the Reunion is over and family is returning to their homes--but it Reunion was a good event--we missed some folk and I feel a bit of a loss and hope I can make contact with them in the near future--be we had some fun in the heat and the food. This was the first Reunion since mom died and things are still a little rough--it seemed to me--but Paul and Carl pulled it off even with with a visit from Aunt Elaine who did a cameo for a couple of hours on Saturday.

Cousins were sparse(young ones anyway) but what there were seemed to have a good time playing manically`letting their parents gab relentlessly about the old times. Fried chicken was the main course and lots of chips and watermelon and home made rootbeer--too much food but better to error on too much to eat then too little...I hope to get some images up soon...happy summer.

Running out of Samaritans

Twice now in the same week I have had my chair in the recline position when the chair refused to return to its upright position and each time has been when I have been out on the tarmac early in the morning after I had ‘rattled ‘ a fairly long distance in my power chair, on my way to work.

Thursday I was actually on the train inbound. Yes, I am one of those folk whom will position my chair in the recline position and snatch a few ZZzzzz’s on the way to work. I was totally chagrined when I tried to right myself and nothing would happen—I could lower my chair further in the down position but I could not bring the chair back up. When this happens I turn into a frenzied idiot trying to produce magic and have the chair start\ working, running through all my bits or superstitious behavior until something works or not.. I was beginning to panic as I got closer and closer to my stop and I was still gazing at the ceiling of the train car. There was about only one other person close to me on the train, an older guy bout my age but I had seen him on the train many times. I finally got the nerve to yell or help and sure enough he came over and I was able to talk him into fixing the problem and I got the char operational just as we got to my stop.

I thought I had solved the problem a number of weeks ago when I had been stranded laying back—I got tech to talk me through the problem—there are sensors under my seat which are in place to stop the chair’s to stop the chair from laying back or sitting up is a finger or tail should be in the way—the sensors are pressure plates of protection. I learned that if these were disconnected the stopping would cease at the cost of a broken finger or amputated tail-no sweat. I had the tech make the adjustment and I thought I was home free. So imagine my stress when th\is morning after I had got to the train station and was leaning back trying to catch a few before my bus arrives to take me to the train ( this is another blog entry) I am sitting there on State Street about 0545 actually I am laying there and I realize the chair is ‘frozen’ in the down position knowing my only chance is to be lucky enough the bus driver, when he does come will help- me work through my problem. Believe me there is noone round , walking the street at 5:45 a.m. there hardly even any traffic but there is some. I was doing the moving the joystick forward helplessly hoping something would catch and allow me to come down. I next started flailing my arms as cars would drive by hoping someone would figure out I needed some assistance—a number of folk waved and once again I was getting desperate.
Then all of the sudden an ancient Subaru buzzed past and I noticed a sudden flash of his brake lights as he slowed and turned and swung round come back as asked if I needed help.

Once again I was saved by a Samaritan! So, I am now committing myself to take my chair in again to see if we can unhook the pressure plates again and do it right this time because I am just frightened I am running out of Samaritans.

Back to work. Early too early.

Captain Dunsel

It's three o clock on my Sunday afternoon—that time of the weekend when you know the weekend is over and that tomorrow you are returning to work to slave for another forty hours and the next weekend of three wonderful days or R&R. Not that really do anything worth while on my time off, which I realized from the past couple of weeks healing up from the minor skin wound I had—where I missed work and voluntarily sent myself to bed. This bed time was where I realized that on most weekend, I watch TV , read and just hang out. I sometimes count the time I spend on my lap time as productive weekend time but really I could have accomplished most of this effort laying in bed.

Yesterday for example Bridget and Gabe came over to help Dianne load trash in to Gabes trailer when he ran out to the dump. Dianne has been in a mind boggling effort of get the house for the insurance inspection. We have taken t least four loads of garbage to the county dump. Limbs, and tons of fire wood and just building wood which has lain in our back yard for decades, getting grayer each year—actually I was ‘curing’ the wood to use to build small boxes …some day. Well someday never came where the day of the insurance man did. Everyone was working, chopping, pulling or selling. Anakah felt yesterday would be a good day to open up her beverage stand and trying to make some money. So rather then look like a complete donsel I was Anakah’s support person which is basically there to stand by to buoy her up when sales don’t go as she wish they might have.

We began the day with seaching my paper supplies to find an adequate piece to be the poster for the front of the coolaid stand—then the magic markers and the setting the stand up. Anakah was focused on marketing ‘real’ lemonade in fact Anakah arrived with six shinny yellow lemons in tow plus numerous 12 packs of pop and bottled water.

The day was a beautiful day clear, mostly of clouds, hot and full of promise. Anakah sat on the lawn strip right off the street in front of our house, a perfect place to be seen by folks diing past in their cars or on their bikes. So Anakah was in from of her ice chest and sign and I was back on the ramp, under the trees a d we waited` and we waited. But they hords did not show. Cars drifted by in one and two vehicle clusters but no one stopped.—family members purchased can of this or that and a couple of neighbors came buy and purchased a can of this or that but in reality maybe three ‘real’ customers stopped by to purchase drinks and in one case someone stopped gave dollar and drove away—the high point of her day was someone bought a bottle of water and paid with a five dollar bill and gave the change as a tip and Anakah was ecstatic. We manned the stand until 7:00 pm. The trash had been hauled off and the yard spruced up and Gave hd even got the sprinklers operating. I was burned out from doing absolutely nothing except assist Ani in her sales operationbut I was exhausted by the end of the day Anakah and I had the “good daya and bad days talk” and what a sales person has to do isa keep stepping up to the plate and get ready for the next pitch and every day is a new day

I noticed today on the table when I got up was Anakah’s cash box—she cared about the sales I am sure. I believe she like the meeting people and the sales concept and having access to unlimited beverages but not enough to take her hard earned cash home—very strange—unlesss what sh wqas really there for in her lemonade stand , all day in the searing sun was to make sure certain Grandpa was taken care on ‘clean up day.

Charge!!

I just hate not being able to trust my equipment! I motored to work in my power chair—as I usually do—I took off over lunch and found something over at the downtown mall Taco Time which was OK but not as good. Fast food is never as good as you think it’s going to be but I got back to the office plugged in and started charging my chair for the roll home.

I have found that what the charge level says on my controller is not necessarily what charge the batteries are feeling which is a real drag. Anyway, I took off from work with my batteries indicating I had a 90% charge which I thought was more then enough juice to get home from my trainstop. I was doing ok as I came off the train at Murray Central but I knew I was “dragging” as I stated climbing the overpass to my home. I was sensing a significant reduction speed as I challenged the over-pass. But I made the summit and got up to acceptable speed on the down side and all was good until I reached the foot of the over pass. I was making OK time but o the usual time and I was burning through my energy indicator exceptionally quick. By the time I had almost reach the intersection where I turn to access my street my power levels were slow that my chair was stopping for lack of power when just trying to negotiate a curb cut.

I was fortunate enough to be infront of a house with shaded drive way I was able to pull into and call Dianne and have to ask for a ride. I was close to the intersection where I would have to cross at least four set of tracks and I know from experience that when my charge is as low as it last night the who chair cold very well have its forward motion stop trying to get over the tracks and that is a scary place to be.—I have played this scenario in my head before having my chair quit infront of an oncoming Trax vehicle: what would I do? I think if this were to happen I thing I could dive out of my chair and roll to some sort of safety—but why risk that fantasy coming true.?

I called Dianne and ofcourse I got Anakah who was riding ‘shotgun’ in the van heading home. I had called home first and got the answering machine \ so next I called Dianne’s new cell phone and that is when I got Anakah. Dianne assured me that she was dropping off then would come over and save me. Which she did. This was a first for me in actually being stranded out on the tarmac. I have had the batteries showing low charges before but not stopping the chair completely—I really thought showing 90% I would be safe and good to go but now. So now, I am patiently sitting at my desk—tethered to the charger and again hoping I’ll have enough juice to make the home bound journey. One I option I may choose is to jump one of the North bound buses at my stop and will drop me off just a couple blocks from my house, which I know I can make he homerun from there. I just have to wait from the bus to wait out its time frame, plus having the driver tie me down and reverse the process when I get to my stop then I wind my way through the neighborhood to the house. I would just as soon motor straight from the station over the over pass and home but that’s not going to happen now because I can trust my chair or my batteries—life should be this

Stop Whining Please

I’m working today, the butt seems to holding up but I’ll know lot better when I get home and can get a look at what today’s trauma wrought. The weekend was nothing but laying in bed, sleeping and reading and watch the holiday and summer flow right down the drain. I actually got up for a little while yesterday to write Macs letter but when the letter was done I as back flat on my back or side.

The fireworks must have been grand this year I listened to the fireworks, Friday night, Saturday night and even Sunday night. It really sounded if the works were being launched close to our house if not the neighborhood. In the past there has been some of the neighbors who have gotten pretty large, illegal and effective fireworks probably from Evanston, Wy (2 hours ) and each episode of launches seemed to last at least twenty minutes of continued explosions. I missed them and so did Dianne.

I really get hold of myself and start realizing how lucky I am. When I was for a short while one of the morning I consulted the internet, going to one of my favorite websites http://www.apparelyzed.com/index.html and researched comments regarding decubiti wounds read how any folks were out there who have been bed ridden for literally years and they get by. I have even had callers who been down for two and three years so really I must count myself lucky and smart being as proactive as I am trying to be. But, being proactive can sure be a grind.

But seriously, people please tell me to stop whining and just deal with it.

Sitting up going to work. Short week-hope my but makes it.

Go, go out an enjoy this day like i cannot. Happy 4th. Go make fireworks all day long!

I hate missing fireworks.

Fragile

Sunday we bought an edger from Sears. A Craftsman edger, the entry model, orange and lots of plastic, the cheapest priced unit they had for edging your yard. The grass has been creeping all over the driveway and the sidewalks almost out of control so it was time to invest in another piece of equipment. Of course the tool comes in pieces and assembly is required. But Dianne had the edger put together and ready to go when I go home. The unit is fairly light weight to the point where maybe I could use it but I would not hold my breath. In fact the unit is so light weight I was not sure the edger would be able to cut through the thick growth on our sidewalks but was pleasantly surprised when we plugged the unit in and Dianne was soon making a fine edge next to sidewalk. The weather is hot in Salt Lake now in the nineties and the ground had dried hard and produced a great cloud of dust as Dianne pushed the edger along the walks.

My job was follow along Dianne and every few feet reach over with my rake and pull the cut grass away from the edger which I was able to do fairly well. I must admit for the little Craftsman entry level edger the little bugger did a great job. Following the edging ofcourse was the clean up which means sweeping all the ct grass into piles to put into the trash and we do have push-broom and that was my job a well. I made piles and piles of cut grass and dust.

I cannot believe it by the time I had finished the job I was feeling a sever pain in my right shoulder. Somehow, had actually pulled something doing physical labor. I medicated up when I went to bed and I was able to get up this morning, get dressed and out the door, independently but just barely and I have gotten by all day at work. The pain is still there but not as bad as this morning or last night. I plan to take it easy to night and send the pain away-I still can not believe that little amount of work almost debilitated me. I need to get stickers on me “Fragile handle with care”

Wuss

Dianne mentioned yesterday that she wants to see fire works this July fourth . I must admit I have become quite a stick in the mud as far as going to firework displays especially firework displays which fall on the even of work days. Really, I am such a wuss. I think this urge to see a fire work display was brought on when we learned that BB&A were headed up to their cabin for the holidays and there cabin is very close to Evanston Nevada where blowing up people and parts seems to be perfectly—the kids even brought back hundreds of ladyfinger and bottle rockets but we have never used them—we tried to once right after we got them but we got intimidated but our neighbors who kept giving us the evil eye and kept talking about calling the police on another set of neighbors with “illegals “. These neighbors were launching real fireworks. So I have been sitting on this treasure of explosives now for going on five years. I really need to blow something up.

Its not like I hate the fire work displays it’s just having to leave my nice little house and co-mingle with humanity and have to co-mingle after dark!! I mean even if we were invited to this trip to Evanston it would necessitate atleast two` hours travel in an vehicle most likely my van; this means being on the roads and highways during a national holiday just begging to be a statistic in the argument of why not go out on national holidays.

Sometimes I wonder if I am letting my chair or my disability rule my life. Do I use to be part of humanity because doing so is just too hard, maybe. But something deep down tells me I would be just as boring even without my disability—I think I am just a home body sad but true==but Dianne does needs to see the event so I am going to try to be involved this holiday season and remember in Utah firework season is a season because the State always celebrates even harder on the 24th. I am not going to beg us onto the Evanston trip but come Monday night we will be somewhere, sitting on a lawn, hanging out way past my bed time waiting for the skies to erupt in fire and smoke and wonder…maybe I’ll even take vacation on the Monday after.

Roofers

Summer finally got to Murray and it’s now hot and dry…just the way I like it—true, I lost a week or two due to medical issues but I am quite right again and looking forward to a busy productive summer. One of the things we have talked for couple of years or when ever the heavy rains come is our need to put a new roof on the house and new roofs to be I like the “big time” of home ownership like plumbing, electrical or doing a new driveway. The roof is something that typically you have to enlist friends, relatives or people from the church who always say” just give us a call if We can be of help. That is how I learned you go to your network for this kind of help. Actually there were enough kids that my dad just conscripted us into working. New roof? no problem. Dad just purchased the materials and up on the roof we went-the project took a weekend or two but we got the. job done

But that was then and this is now. I obviously cannot climb onto the roof and Dianne is uncomfortable with amateurs up on the house so we are bidding the job out. So out they come with their red pickup trucks, Lexus vehicle or pickup with ladders on top. We visit for a minute then they walk round the house and then climb up measure and then disappear into their vehicle for an hour and return with the quote. It’s that painfully simple. It looks like the project is going to run7 to 9 grand and I don’t know how we will do it be we have to…something to do with insurance guys coming out to check on the place. So we have become highly motivated. We are even going to retain the deck and who know what else. Summer timer and the living is easy.

Watchful

I am back at work., riding the train in my old chair and everything is going fine. I am still very concerned about my butt healing and staying healed. I am working this week half days and I cannot believe how swift the mornings go and then I book home and usually go to bed for the remainder of the day. I HATE DOING GOING TO BED but I realize that I have to if I am going to have any kind of Summer at all. I am working half days the remainder of this week and next week I am going to back to whole days—that’s a little spooky but I am going to watch the skin very close for breakdown.