Patience and Persistence

I have waited for this moment for a long time. May 26, 2010 – 9:15 AM. Today I harvested my first turkey in 11 years. I had been an avid hunter prior to my disability. I believed I would never be able to hunt again, especially by myself. Today’s success was the result of the labors of many people: my wife, who walked me out and help me set up, my nurse Rhonda, who came at 6 AM the mornings in May so I would have more time to hunt, my neighbor Mike, who allows me to hunt his land, my friend John, who gave me his time to set up blinds made out of snow fence and camouflage material, and so it goes. My wife likes to say “It takes a village”.

The blind

I am also proud of myself. Over the 11 years, I got discouraged; turkeys often were close enough to harvest but something always went wrong.  In the beginning it was my inability to camouflage my wheelchair well enough, then my finger couldn’t pull the trigger, or I had a muscle spasm which alerted the turkeys to my presence and were instantly gone. But I persisted and attempted to correct the challenges as they presented themselves. But at the end of each spring I had the same results — NOTHING. Often it was a process of trial and error, but gradually my efforts began to improve my chances. I created a trigger adapter which allows me to fire the shotgun using my mouth. Not only does this solve the problem of trying to find the trigger, but it also allows me to use both hands to steady the gun. At many points along the way it would’ve been easy to give up and quit. I know from experience it’s a lot easier to give advice to others than it is to take it myself. So get discouraged, get frustrated, but don’t give up.

The trigger adapter I made

One of the things I like the most about hunting is that it is totally irrelevant to the game that I am an individual with a disability. To the turkeys I hunt, I am just another predator and that’s all I ask for. Today was definitely a day worth waiting for.

The turkey on my lap. Notice the turkey call I adapted to sit on my thigh so I could use it one handed

A Quality Day

Going..

When I woke up this morning at a quarter of six the temperature outside was 27°. Even though it is May 10th you have to expect the possibility of this kind of temperature when you live in northern New York. My nurse arrived around six and the day began. I was ready to roll a little after eight o’clock but was delayed because of a problem my nurse had loading my shotgun. Bundled up in camouflage, my wife and I finally headed out of the house. I’m fortunate to be able to hunt across the street on a large area of abandoned farm land. I motored down the driveway, across a field, down an abandoned road and drove into the field to the place where I was going to hunt. At the edge of the field I back into an area of small trees and brush. One must blend in with the surroundings because turkeys have excellent vision and can spot anything out of place. Marge helped me with some final adjustments, covered my head with camouflage netting and left. Fifteen or twenty minutes after she left intermittently I began calling the turkeys. Turkeys call back and forth to locate each other during the mating season. Although it was cold with a brisk wind, it was a beautiful sun shiny day. Back in the hedgerow there was little wind and it wasn’t long before I could feel the warm rays of sun on my face.

going...

After a while I became aware of a bird jumping around from branch to branch.  A minute or two later it landed on my shotgun barrel and stayed for about 30 seconds. It was Black-capped Chickadee. They are cute and entertaining little birds. I glanced at its feet gripping the barrel of the shotgun. How can anything be so delicate? Even though we can have brutal winters, Chickadees are year-round residents. After it flew off I called a couple more times. Slowly my eyes began to close and I nodded off in the warm sunshine. When I awoke again the grass in the field was bending in the wind, as were the trees and bushes directly across from me, every shade of green rocking in the wind. I heard the raucous call of a crow. It kept repeating and each time after it was done I listened intensely for a gobble that never came. Often in the early spring during the mating season male turkeys will gobble when crows are calling. Again I became aware of movement in the bushes around me. This time it was a pair of Wood Thrushes who were also involved with the spring mating ritual. They have one of the most beautiful calls of the early spring morning but these two had other things on their mind.

gone

Sitting in the warm sunshine calling, nodding and watching, the morning passed quickly. I soon heard my wife’s voice as she arrived to walk me home. The hunting time ends at noon each day and Marge insists on walking me back home. Tomorrow is another day. Oh, by the way, I didn’t see or hear any turkeys, but it was only noon and I had already had a quality day. At one point during my recovery I never thought I would enjoy a day like this again.

How to Make an Easy Outdoor Ramp in No Time

By Javier Robles

Having been inspired by Rich Fabend a friend and Blogger on ThisAbled, I will be sharing a “down and dirty” trick to a quick outdoor ramp.

There are many things I love to do when the weather breaks, however, my favorites are landscaping and gardening.  Although, I physically cannot do everything involved in these two loves, I can usually get a volunteer or pay someone a few bucks to get the job done.  It is with this method that between my family and I we have managed to basically redo our whole yard and house front.  This week I undertook a project I have been thinking about doing in the backyard, for a few years now.  It was really easier to do than I anticipated, but it took some time, patience and ingenuity.

The project was to make seating area under an Oak tree we have in the back yard corner of the house.  During the hot summer it is a great place to relax and keep cool.  We did have some chairs under the tree but the problem was that the ground had become uneven, mainly due to tree roots. The furniture never sat right on the ground and it really needed to be a more defined area.

What I decided to do was build a retaining wall around the front of the tree (a half circle), then fill it with topsoil, to even it out.  I went Loews, picked out some red interlocking bricks.  I brought 46 of the least expensive, at 98 cents a brick. Each brick was about a foot long and I needed 24 feet of wall.  After making a 2 to 3 inch ditch to bury the bottom bricks, using a level to make sure they were even, we put them in.  The bottom set of bricks must be level and you can basically make the wall as round or square as you wish.  Then the top set was put on, no concrete needed, these bricks interlock with each other and are held on by the pressure created from the dirt fill.  The retaining wall raised the seating area about 7 inches.

The new height of the seating area presented a problem for me.  I would not be able to access the cool area under the Oak in my power chair.  I was tired of building at this point and wanted a quick but sturdy solution.  It also had to be inexpensive. I went on a search in a builders warehouse outlet open to the public.  Clayton, is located in Edison, NJ but search your local directory or Home store, for this item.   I looked around for a while, then when I was about to give-up, there was my answer.  Pre-Fabricated concrete  splash guards, about 36 inches long and 9 inches wide.  You flipped them and it is the perfect texture for a ramp.  I brought 2 of them at $16 each, a bag of paving gravel and sand $6, for a total of $38 dollars.

I found the shortest area between the top of the new brick wall and the soil.  We edged out a shape, cleaned it up, and then filled with gravel, sand, in an upward slope.  Tamp down dirt with tamper and insure it is sturdy.  It took a number of tries but we eventually placed both splashguards so they became a ramp.  You want to separate them according to your wheelchair width, fill middle space with gravel and dirt.  For longer ramps add more splashguards, they also sell an 18-inch long splashguard, which you could use. You will want to make sure the sides are filled with dirt or edged out with bricks, to give an even and safe ramp area.

This project took three days and ramp took 4 hours to complete, mainly due to cutting some tree roots.

Raised Garden Boxes

Plans For A Raised Garden Box

Would you like to raise some flowers and/or grow some vegetables for your own consumption? Raised bed garden boxes will let you do that and it is great exercise. Each spring the soil must be worked up and planted. During the growing season the vegetables must be weeded and

thinned. If the weather is not cooperating the plants must be watered. The wilted flower heads must be picked off the plants (called deadheading) which is great exercise for fingers. A box does not take up much room if space is an issue. Prior to placing a box, the area under it must be prepared. This is not necessary if it will be placed on cement or any other solid surface. If placed on the ground you must assure good drainage.

The height of the box opening should be a few inches taller than the armrests of the wheelchair. The width of the growing area should be several inches less than twice the gardener’s arm length which will allow the covering of the entire planting area. Built from pressure treated lumber, the box is open on two sides so one can drive a wheelchair underneath it and work straight on. 

The first year my boxes presented some unique problems because of the construction.  The 2” by 8” which made up the planting area did not allow for the soil to be deep enough for vegetables so most of the vegetables planted did not grow very well.  The following year, as you can see from the picture, we added about 3 inches to the height of the planting area.  This allowed adding another 250 pounds of soil to the bed.  Also, in an effort to cut down on moisture evaporation we added Hydro-Sorb to the soil. Hydro-Sorb retains water and releases it a little at a time.  These two changes made the boxes much more successful. We did not find it necessary to increase the depth of the flower boxes.               

I have 6 boxes, four I plant with vegetables and the other two with annual flowers. I enjoy working these boxes very much. I use adaptive garden tools which can be purchased online. The vegetable boxes can grow salt potatoes, broccoli, onions, baby carrots, beets and garlic. Gardening is good for many different reasons. Check out the video   Raised Bed Gardening

Raised Fower Box In Bloom

Working A Raised Garden Box