Edmonton Soaring Club Orders Glider With Hand Controls

Perkoz

One way to evaporate those winter blahs is to look forward to a new piece of equipment to master when summer-weather arrives, thereby increasing one's knowledge and skill level  (a nearly-plausible way for a guy to explain the rationality of a 'new toy to play with'). Just the thought of the summer breeze, sunny days, and being active outside can totally transport you into that world, allowing you to forget about the winter storm raging outside. You sit by the window with a contented grin, ignoring the winter wonderland.

We all need something to look forward to, something to remind us that good times lie ahead. Now don't get me wrong, winter is not THAT bad, but when  you're a quadriplegic that's mostly cold-blooded (to the point of being a p.i.a. to the general population), residing 2,500 miles North of the palm trees and need to listen to Jimmy Buffett via satellite, by the end of February it's been long enough.

A new toy? While we're conjuring up a good day-dream, how about a brand-new high-performance sailplane, equipped with hand-controls, a volunteer instructor, a lift to get wheelchair-users into the cockpit, and a Piper Pawnee to tug it into the air ... that oughta do it!

Quadriplegic Lifestyle: Fishing

Okay, even though it has been a good winter … that's enough for me. This is the time of the year that I get most of my computer work completed while I'm confined to the indoors. Part of the stuff I do on the computer is editing the videos we've taken during the summer. Here is a video on fishing. In working on it I was transformed back to that great day. Now I'm looking forward to summer more than ever!
It was a perfect autumn day, the sun was shining, the weather was warm, and the fish were biting! This video shows a bit of how with the help of a friend I can catch fish, and even though I'm clumsy (us quadriplegics are like that ) in handling the rod and reel (and just about everything else), it works out okay in the end. You “Up-Rights” need to have patience when dealing with us … LOL.
I hope you enjoy it!

Life Lessons: Materialism

2007 "Eco Tour" in the Keys

Heck I’d never even seen the tropics before and I was blown away by the warmth, sun and smells, and here it was January! The ocean was the most spectacular iridescent blue, and from the bridges that joined the Keys we could see fish jumping, boats, and birds on the water. There were palm trees and mangroves and flowers that were all new to me. The people all seemed to be wearing shorts, loud flowery shirts, and flip-flops. Everybody seemed to be laid-back, operating on “Keys Time". We read a pamphlet that summed up the local attitude; “Key West is a quaint little drinking town with a tourist problem.” The cost of camping was a paltry price to pay to experience this, and I was eager to take in all I could. We set up camp amongst the palms, and soon were exploring down by the water and over by the marina. That's where we met Captain Tom.

Life As A New Quadriplegic

I was asked to do a presentation on Life As A Quadriplegic for a group of local junior high students, and asked not to sugarcoat the situation as I am prone to do. I like to focus on what I CAN do, but the teacher pointed out that "we don't want it to look like it's all fun, because it CAN'T be". She was right, I have a habit of hiding the tough stuff and focusing on the positive, a survival tactic us gimps use. I have been very fortunate to surround myself with a lot of very positive people, and I'd like to keep it that way! Well I was asked to write something that shows what it's really like to be a quadriplegic, something that will make them pay attention to the presentation and remind them that it isn't always easy. Now don't get me wrong, I received top-notch care and have no bad feelings about the care-givers that were required to perform such a difficult job. So here it is, what the kids got, and now I can go back to thinking on the positive side again!

Life As A New Quadriplegic

Imagine you are struggling, fighting to escape. You are held firmly down to a bed. Two white-coats are holding your head still while trying to insert a hose about the diameter of your finger up your nose. You struggle, trying to thrash side to side but cannot move. Your arms and legs are immobilised, you are lying flat on your back, and it feels is if you are encased in steel. The feeling of claustrophobia is taking over.

Low Budget Four Wheel Drive Wheelchair

     Here is a short video that shows how we took a Quickie P 300 power wheelchair and converted it into a four-wheel-drive power wheelchair. The total cost was a little over $100. One of the problems I've always found was wanting to go outdoors more, but there were very few wilderness locations that were wheelchair accessible. Inevitably when I did find a place with fishing opportunities that was wheelchair accessible it would be very crowded with people and not so crowded with fish. This new four-wheel-drive wheelchair has opened up the world, and I'm having to rethink about the areas that are possible for me to get to. I can see now that the streams in the mountains will be accessible for fly fishing, and trails in the forests will be possible for bow hunting. In the past I have been to several beaches, but found out that my power chair would get stuck so they were inaccessible to me. Now this chair has proven that it can go through soft sand without any trouble, these areas are all going to be open to me! If you are like most people in wheelchairs and have a handyman in your back pocket, it really wasn't that difficult to build this thing and it only took my friend Garnet MacDonald about a week to do! Let me know if you want any better pictures or info on how this was built.

Easy Wild Game Roast Recipe

Easy Wild Game Roast Recipe

New Toy: Barnett Ghost 400

Quadriplegic Bowhunting

     Okay, now we're in the middle of winter and cabin fever is starting to settle in. It is time to start looking forward to the warmer weather that's coming. Up here in Canada winters are quite long and in my situation I need to stay warm, so barring being able to go south for the winter it is time to work on things that are indoors. Luckily a new toy arrived the other day!
    
     Deer hunting season around here only runs during November, which is one of our coldest months. Often times by the end of November I can't get outside very much (us quadriplegics are cold-blooded ) so I try to get most of my deer hunting in the beginning of November. If you are a bow-hunter you can start hunting big game in the first week of September while it's still warm outside. So my goal by this fall is to be shooting very well with the crossbow (people with disabilities can hunt with a crossbow up here ) by then, hence my new toy.

     The Barnett Ghost 400 should be able to fit the bill. It will fire a crossbow bolt at about 400 ft./s, and with the optional crank to load it, I should be able to get lots of target practise before the season starts. It only took about an hour to put it all together and mounted on my wheelchair, the next phase of it is to install the trigger pulling device that I clamp with my teeth. It appears that the crossbow will accept this adaptation very easily, so long before the winter is done I should be ready to get out and fire some bolts.

     Can't wait until spring, This is going to be fun!