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

Button Board

Surf The Web Using Your Mouse

This morning when I open my e-mail I found the most interesting letter.  Dominic Valentino  wrote me about a website he constructed called Button Board buttonboard.com , which allows an individual to surf the web using just the mouse. He built the website for his own personal use but was wondering if it would be helpful to other people who have limited range of motion or other problems. I tried the website and it works great. It amazes me the technological skills that some people have.

There are two other commercially available products which may make your computer more user friendly. The first is the UBS Haspel 4 Port Web Hub which connects to a UBS port in the back of your computer. A 3 foot long cord on a reel allows you to place the plug in device anywhere you want it. There are four UBS ports located around a  4” circular hub. If your dexterity is limited when you go to connect something like a scan disk at least one port is usually facing the right way. The cost at Radio Shack is less than $10. The second, also available at Radio Shack, is a Logitech Trackman Marble (Computer Mouse) The mouse ball is on the top as opposed to the bottom. The entire device stays in one place and you just manipulate the ball. It can be setup for right or left-handed people. You can choose what function you want the easily accessible button to perform. Also it enables you to control the speed of the cursor. I encourage you to try the Button Board website and forward it on to anybody you believe would find it useful. Please if you have created something like Dominic which would be useful to others contact us.

Two User Friendly Products

                                              

ROLLING PROUD by Andrew Levinson

Who’s David Cameron and Why Should We Care?

In the past, I posted about Australia’s efforts to reform its long-term care system for people with disabilities via a proposal called the NDIS. It got me to thinking: What about Australia’s former colonial master in the United Kingdom?

It turns out that Britain has been making headlines in the area of disability rights as well. First of all, David Cameron, and the Conservative Party that he leads, is ahead of incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party going into a parliamentary election due to happen by June.

All right. So…who cares?

Well, Cameron recently lost his six-year old son to multiple disabilities, in the forms of epilepsy and cerebral palsy. (Remember Bruce Bonyhady of Australia and his sons with cerebral palsy)? Does this mean that disability rights advocates could have a strong ally in a new British prime minister next year?

Cameron would not only be inheriting a country with major economic problems that are similar to the U.S., but will also be taking the helm at a time when his political opponents in the Labour Party , in another British parallel to Australia, have been discussing long-term care reform in Britain. Britain’s universal health care system, the NHS (National Health Service), does not include provisions for home care for the elderly and people with disabilities. Would Cameron advocate for such reforms as well, with present budgetary constraints in Britain? This remains to be seen, although Cameron has already gone against members of his own party to oppose cuts to the NHS in memory of his son.

We also shouldn’t forget that Britain will be hosting the Summer Paralympics in 2012. What might a Prime Minister Cameron do to prepare and celebrate this event in the run-up to it? This also remains to be seen.  Stay tuned…

Avatar – A broomstick stuck through the spokes in a wheelchair.

By Professirx

Take a look at these 3 videos. This is what inspired me to write this blog.

http://www.facebook.com/l/38c78;www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OyrXd-uZRE

http://www.facebook.com/l/38c78;www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ1Z9-Hdmrs

http://www.facebook.com/l/38c78;www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbD8QVNuXZM

OK,I said, ”Let me check out this movie, finally someone with a disability is in a box office smash.” Boy was I wrong. I spent 2 hours waiting to get to the point of why this paraplegic was involved in this virtual world. Was he going to find a cure and walk at the end. Why did he even have to be paralyzed for this story. I never got to understand the impact his paralysis was going to inspire. Oh sure, I must be a hermit because I didn’t even know this guy has been in other movies and to my surprise, he can walk.WTF . I need to watch moves more. Yea right. Outside of the disability issue in the media, the movie is pretty dam good but this is bullshit. The actor is a great actor, but the role could of been played by a real paraplegic. Sigourney Weaver was suffice enough to draw an audience.

But Professir X, if the actor was really paralyzed, how could he could do all that running and jumping.

Dude, it was a computer generated image, the flesh and blood man only spent 10 minutes in this film. Did you not see the video where Christopher Reeve walked, that was superimposed.

OK my point is this. with today’s technology, anything’s possible, able or disable. I don’t know about you, but disability is the new Black. The media is discriminating us from our human rights to get a fair chance. I Rallied for Stem Cell, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act and other causes , I found an organization who’s mission is to help aspiring disable actors get into the media. I wrote them last year, haven’t received a reply yet, hey give them some time , they may be busy on their own agenda huh.

Well 2010 wasn’t a year I wait on a phone to ring before I move. I will always rank as soldier, Christopher Reeve will forever be General, but my mission for 2010 is to collaborate with as many others as possible. Make our own and share it all over the world. We have the Internet, you can get a camera for under 200.00, get you ideas on video and upload it all over the web. I truly have to thank the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, they made it possible for me to continue to bring awareness for Spinal Cord Injury. I also thank Leroy Moore for his work with Krip Hop. Bringing aspiring artist together and not waiting on a so called Hollywood decision.

If anyone with a disability is interested in collaborating. Read this article and send me your material.

http://www.facebook.com/l/38c78;communities.kintera.org/REEVE/forums/thread/68794.aspx