Author Archives: Jean

Sherman the TankChair

24 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by in General Farm Stuff, Rural life, Uncategorized

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About ten years ago my oldest son was exploring a creek north of Phoenix and came across a couple of guys testing and taking videos of an amazing off road wheelchair. The minute he saw it, he knew I needed it. He introduced himself to the fellows and talked to them at length about the chair and it’s capabilities. As soon as he got home he called me to tell me all about it and how it would be able to get me down to the waters of a nearby lake so that I could fish again. After looking the chair up on the internet I knew I wanted one, I just didn’t think I needed one that badly. We had a budget and that budget just wasn’t going to allow for an expensive item that would only be used to get me to the shoreline to fish. But I didn’t forget about the chair.

A few years later we moved out of the city to our small three acre farm, put up a barn and filled that barn with miniature horses. I had a manual wheelchair and an inexpensive power chair to help me feed, water and groom the horses, but no way to go out into the corrals to train and play with them or take them out into the sand of the dry wash to exercise them. I remembered the TankChair, made an appointment with the fellow that invented it and a few days later he brought one out to the farm for me to test drive. Here’s a link to a video taken the day I met the TankChair that Billiam would dub “Sherman”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZdkxCstY3o

Since childhood I have preferred outdoors to in, since childhood I’ve hated shopping and loved the wild yet peaceful freedom of the countryside. My soul was not engineered for a life lived on pavement. As I grow older, this need for being outdoors does not lessen, but rather grows stronger. I do not wish my last glimpse of life to be at a ceiling or walls, but a blue sky with puffy white clouds framed by leaves and limbs.

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I could have given up the horses because of my handicaps, but I wouldn’t have really been living. I could have confined myself to only where a manual wheelchair could take me, but I’d only have been breathing. Many, do not understand my deep need for living in this manner, but that’s okay, I don’t understand their ability to adapt to places where they cannot see a horizon and only touch pavement and not earth. For people like me, however, ponies, TankChairs, a view of mountains and the sights and sounds of the natural world are what make getting out of bed every morning worthwhile.

Video William and I made of how well Sherman helps me on the farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOmTlEwatEI

The TankChair was created by Brad Soden, of Phoenix, for his wife Liz. Liz was paralyzed in an accident and her outdoor loving life came to an abrupt halt. She was stymied from enjoying camping trips, hikes and playing in the snow with Brad and their children. In true DIY fashion Brad knew he could do something about that and set to work in his garage to build a freedom machine for Liz. He also invented the seriously awesome Speedster wheelchair for in town travels. The speedster gets a wheelchair bound person above “butt and crotch” level. Trying to look up from someone’s crotch and carry on a serious conversation has been one of the banes of my wheelbound existence, nevermind the exposure to noxious fumes from behind when queued up for a restaurant table or movie. If I ever win the lottery, a Speedster will be mine, because it would definitely make the time I am forced to stay on pavement much more acceptable.

Brad and Liz Soden and the Speedster

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Surprise Project 2 – The surprise is on us.

19 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized, Wood Crafts

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Remember that I mentioned this blog has to do with How-to and How-Not-To? Yes, well, today was extremely educational. Mistakes always are. The actual mistake was on the part of the 6 pack a day (or more) builder, our mistake was in not noticing and fully understanding the gravity (pun intended which you will understand in a later post) of his mistake. So, here we go, the good, the bad and the ugly side of learning to do stuff yourself.

First among the lessons we learned today is to not put off worrying about something you know is going to be a problem later in your haste to start work on a really cool project. That problem may well come back to stymie the entire plan, so figure it out first to be sure the project is even possible as you have planned it. Don’t just assume the way you see something done on the internet will apply to your particular situation, ESPECIALLY, if you’re trying to figure out a problem that could have potentially lethal consequences. If you’re building something that is ultimately going to be used for people to sit or recline on, consider the load it will bear in every step of the process and in every area of the project. In these crucial instances, always double check your ideas with a professional.

Second among the lessons learned today is that even though one way of doing something seems easier, it may not actually BE easier than doing it the right way to begin with. Good luck with that one. For instance, our task today was to affix two eight foot 4 x 4s lengthwise to two wood pallets. I asked John if we should take the bottom boards off the pallets and fix the 4 x 4s in place that way. John explained that the bottom boards are there to keep the top boards from bowing. He suggested we just thread the 4 x 4s through between the top and bottom boards. We knew it would be a snug fit, but 30 minutes of pounding with a sledgehammer and we realized just how “snug” that fit was. We decided to remove the bottom boards and then put them back on once we had the 4 x 4s in place. This led us to lesson number 3.

Third among the things we learned today is that there are great nails that you really want to use to hold things together, but only if you’re relatively certain you will never want to take that thing apart, or at least know you won’t care about all that splintered wood you’ll be using for fire pit kindling. The nail shown below is so efficient at it’s job that you can’t pry it out of a toothpick without splintering the wood into shards suitable for mice teeth or kindling.

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We needed a few supplies and had a list of questions regarding our “problem” that we took to Home Depot. An hour later we exited the building with fewer supplies than we’d gone for and a grand education regarding house structure. The project is still going ahead, but we’re going to have to move to either plan B or C to implement it.

Stay tuned.

Surprise Project 1

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Uncategorized, Wood Crafts

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I’m going to write about this project a little differently. It’s the largest DIY project we’ve tackled so far, both in size and difficulty. There are a lot of things we’re going to have to figure out along the way and new wood skills we will have to learn. Thus, I thought it’d be fun to just blog about each step as we go along. Well, that’s my story and it’s sticking to me, as William always used to say. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it’s a project John and I are both excited about, I’m overly anxious to tell everyone about it, and I simply can’t wait until we’re done to write about it.

Here are the materials we’ve collected so far. Again, most of the stuff we’re using is reclaimed lumber that was donated to our cause by the guys at http://articulatemotion.com/ , in Phoenix, or found on Craig’s List. Since Craig’s list hasn’t shown me good lumber in a couple of weeks, I did go out and buy some inexpensive 4 x 4s at Home Depot. You’ll also notice in the picture some found items we plan to incorporate into the design.

hangingbedmaterials

Dreams

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Grief, Uncategorized

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Generally my dreams of William have been joyful ones, at least until I wake up and realize I was dreaming. They consist of various versions of “Honey I’m home!” and last only a few seconds until I leap up in shocked surprise and grab him in a bearhug that would crush a car.

But yesterday, as I dozed resting my back, I dreamed that John and I had gone to Disneyland. I’ve never been to a theme park of any kind, and in this dream Disneyland was only about an hour drive from our house. Somehow, John and I got separated in this vast park and I spent hours rolling my manual wheelchair through miles upon miles of rides, restaurants, vendors, through maze-like corridors in beautifully appointed buildings, up ramps and down until my arms could absolutely do no more.

Lost, terrified, helpless, too exhausted to move, I burst into hopeless sobs. A hand grasped my shoulder, and I turned to see William there. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re alright. You’re fine. I’m here. I found you.” And for that second, it was indeed the happiest place on earth.

Reclaimed Cabinet Door Serving Trays

14 Monday Apr 2014

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Most of the old cabinet doors we found on Craig’s List were the sizes we wanted to make a surround for the grill, planter boxes, and bench seats. I also spied a few odd sized doors there and immediately knew they’d make great serving trays so I loaded those up too. I mean, if I’m going to have a nice new patio one day, I’m going to want to serve food out there right?

This is an extremely easy project, and is only time consuming because of the wait times for paint and poly to dry. Unless you just like hanging out watching paint dry, you can go back to whatever else you need to do.

For the project you will need:

1. An old cabinet door, preferably unpainted. If the door is painted you can either strip it or let the old paint become one of the colors in the finished project. 2. A sample jar of paint in what ever color appeals to you. 3. Stain. I use MinWax Espresso. On used cabinet doors, I find a dark stain makes a more noticeable difference and adds to the “old” look I’m trying to achieve. 4. Medium grade sand paper. 5. High Durability polyurethane. 6. Door pulls.

cabinettray1This reclaimed cabinet door had seen some abuse. It started as a golden oak, then apparently someone had applied a polyshade to one side (good grief, they didn’t even do both sides, didn’t that bug them whenever they opened that door?).

cabinettray2I had seen someone refurbish an old dresser using red paint and then distressing it. I liked it so I thought I’d use that on my trays. Everyone needs a dash of red somewhere. I picked up a sample jar of red which is enough to do probably 6 of these trays. I didn’t even try to paint a nice even coat. I just slapped it on the door in a medium thickness coat. Once dry, I went over them with a medium grit sand paper to get through the paint, through the polystain, and through the original stain in some areas, and to rough up the paint a bit all round.

cabinettray3After wiping off the sanding dust I liberally coated both doors with stain and let it set in for 10-15 minutes before thoroughly wiping it off. This will take at least two rags to remove all the excess stain.

cabinettray4Now you can see the aged look the stain gives to the red and how it darkens the original wood.

cabinettray5Once the stain has cured and there are no sticky spots or glistening stain on the doors. Apply at least two coats of High Durability polyurethane. You won’t be able to slice cheese on these trays, but you want to be able to wipe salsa off of them easily. If you want to have a tray that you can put food directly on, get an untreated, unstained wood board and apply a non-toxic, food grade oil before adding the handles. The handles I used for these trays are reclaimed cabinet door pulls I found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Once the urethane cures and hardens, it will hold up just fine to the normal abuse from chip and dip bowls, popcorn bowls, coffee cups, cold drinks, etc.and it will wipe clean with a damp rag.

No one says you have to use this weathered look and go through these steps. If you like lime green, purple, black, gold leaf, polka dots or whatever your heart desires, just paint your doors the way you love, rough the paint up just a little and urethane it before adding the handles.