With a nice new pick up truck!

We had wanted a truck for a few years.  When we bought the chevy lumina we had been in the market for a truck or a van but none could be found within our budget and the Lumina fell in our laps at a great price so we bought it.  It served us well for a year, but by the next year is started to show it’s age and with my movement from ambulatory aids to wheeled mobility we realized we really needed a new truck or a van.  Not another car.

At income tax time we had 3 major goals.  Eyeglasses for me since mine have been broken for over a year, a freezer since our fridge blew in september and we have been getting by with a cooler as best we could since then and finally a truck as our car is dying and we desperately need the cargo space a truck can give us.

On a day we were going out to find a freezer and rent a uhaul to move it, we found something much better.

For $1300 we bought a 1995 Ford Ranger Pick up truck.  The price was dropped due to high mileage and a dent from a deer running into the truck.  We don’t know anything about low mileage vehicles anyhow…we have always bought used cars and just about every car we ever bought was high mileage.  That was no worry and the dent, well we were expecting a door crushed in a bit, maybe a good size dent in the fender.  The dent we found was something my son can pound out with a rubber mallet.  Not a big deal at all.

So we are now going from the 1991 Chevy Lumina which will be passed down to my youngest son to the truck Amy and I have wanted for quite a while.

We brought our new truck home and the next day Amy took it to work to show her friends and co-workers and as she came out of work she found the truck had a flat tire.  The truck was sold without a jack, we knew that…just didn’t expect the flat to happen so soon!  Luckily she had someone come and pull the tire off put a plug in it and put it back on.

After finding such a great deal on a truck, I also managed to find a great deal on a pair of eyeglasses and will have these glasses in a few days.

All that is left for our list of goals is a freezer.  We lost out on a freezer we were suppose to look at because of the flat tire on the truck.  We figure it must be were were not meant to get that one and it’s probably because something even better is looking for us.  We have the truck to haul it with when we find it.  The truck did go over our budget but a friend had offered me funds to rent a uhaul to move a freezer when it was looking like we were not going to find a truck.  Instead of renting the uhaul we put that towards the truck which will be here longer than a uhaul would.

No more waiting till we have money to rent a uhual so we can buy building supplies to do repairs.  Now we can go salvaging for supplies and can haul them ourselves.  I won’t have to break down my scooter for the trunk of the car and I will be able to bring all my mobility equipment to have my choice of what to use for my days out of the house.

Yep, Truck, Glasses and Freezer will certainly help us out for the upcoming year.

To those who helped us through some really rough spots in the last few months…thank you!  I have high hopes that this year will go better for us and you helped bring us to this point.  I do appreciate it, will not forget it and the chain will be unbroken….I will as always pay it forward so someone else can wake up one morning and feel that things will be ok.

This is an emotionally/behavior disorder dog.  She is an original Handipets Rescue that now needs more help.  Please read the following with an open mind.  Annie is not a brute.  She just needs to be in a home with no other animals, and in an an area where she can run in a back yard with no other animals nearby.  She would NOT be a good city pet.  Annie really needs to be in a rural setting and that is something nobody in our family can provide for her.

Annie has quite a story to tell.  Her life began as an abandoned pup.  Eyes just barely open.  Found in a clay pit, cold, hungry and unpottied.  We took her in and hand nursed and raised her into a healthy dog.  We were unable to keep little Annie though.  Our county has a restriction on dogs and we could only have 4 dogs.  Annie needed a home.  My sister kindly took Annie in and things were wonderful for quite some time. 

Later, my sister adopted another dog who had been mistreated and was in need of a good home.  Molly a beautiful young boxer came to live with my sister and all was well for a few months….

But Annie Changed.

Annie became highly aggressive toward Molly.  My sister worked with the dogs but fights became death matches.  Unwilling to give up on either of these beautiful creatures my sister saved up money and called in a professional to work with Annie.  This did not work out.  My sisters yard is much too small for Annie to run freely, she is hostile to the neighbors dogs through the fence, unsafe to walk with other dogs around so Annie cannot be properly exercised outside, and she is dangerous to other animals inside.

After over a year of trying to work through this situation a horrible fight broke out between Annie and Molly last night causing injury to both dogs and to my mother and sister who tried to break them up.  Aside from Molly the boxer there are two senior dachshunds in the home who are also at risk.

Sadly my sister now knows that Annie cannot live with other animals, cannot use her back yard and cannot be walked.  This is no life for Annie and the other animals in the home should not be abused by Annie.

Annie needs a home as as SINGLE PET.  She has never harmed a human.  When I had Annie she never harmed a cat but because she has grown aggressive with other dogs I would not recommend her as a pet in a cat family and would be concerned about her around small children. She has no history of harming children but her fierce fights against other dogs would make me concerned.

Annie needs a good place to run.   We have never chained our dogs, they have always had space to run, but when neighbors complain that your dog barks viciously over a fence at their dogs….that is a problem.  If you have a privacy fence, or no nearby neighbors Annie would do great in your back yard. She loves to run and play.

My sister worked and was gone about 12 hours a day.  Annie had been left home while she was at work and there was never a problem.  When I had her we could leave her home as well.  Annie would work out well for working families.

This is an <b><i>URGENT</i></b> plea for a home for Annie.  If one is not found within a week this sweet dog will need to be put to sleep.  All other things have been tried.  She has been spayed, has been on benedryl to help calm her, herbals have been tried, she has been examined by a vet and is healthy.  A professional trainer has come to the home to help, the house has been divided and more humans moved in to help  keep things safe.  Sadly all attempts have failed.  Annie is a danger to other dogs and simply needs a rural home where she is the only pet.

Annie has never been abused from the day she was rescued.  We are unsure of what drives this emotional disorder, could it be because she was hand nursed?  Most do not agree, but that seems to be the only thing different about her life.  She had no young pups to play with and the older dogs did try to put her in the rear of the pack…could that be it?  If we had the answers I’m sure we could solve this problem, but sadly we know only this.  Annie is not safe around other dogs, but she is a wonderful and loyal companion to humans.  She deserves to live her natural days on earth in a home where she is the only canine companion to her human.

If you have room in your heart and home for a dog who is known to be dangerous around other dogs…but is the sweetest loving creature to humans, is house broken, spayed, healthy and does not destroy your home…please contact me here or at handipets@comcast.net

You can also reach my mother and sister by phone.  If you are interested contact me for their number.

I woke up to the sound of a motorcycle coming into my driveway.  My bedroom is on the very corner where the mobile home meets the kennel fence.  Amy looked over the kennel to see a nice looking bike with an equally nice looking rider letting us know there was a truck coming up the drive to drop off some more scrap lumber for the wheelchair ramp.

I got some batteries to take pics at my mom’s birthday visit so I had bats to finally get some pics of these ramp parts.

This is the layout of my side yard as seen from the street side. I cannot access the mobile home from the front as I cannot manage the stairs.  Since the house is built on top of an embankment, there is no sense in even building a wheelchair ramp because we do not have a driveway and with a ramp installed in the front yard, there would be no place to park the car…making the ramp rather useless.  It is further useless because I can only access two rooms in the front part of the house.  Without modifications my access to  the rear of the house is restricted so I do not use the front of the house right now.

I use the rear rooms of the house and there is a door on the mobile home side of the kennel that allows me to exit into the Kennel, through the office, then exit through the office door which is on the side where the tree is. We don’t have stairs there either, I have a step stool at the moment and need help getting up and down when I want to come into the driveway.  When the ramp is built the stairs that were bought with donations from Wish Upon A Hero will be moved to the side entry for everyone else to use.  I will have a gate built into the side of the kennel that will be wheelchair accessible so I will be entering the driveway from the kennel side and no longer from the office door.

This brings me out to the driveway. We park our car where the blue walker is standing at the moment. Because of the ditch crossing the driveway just above the “mobile home” text, I cannot get my wheelchair down this part of the drive without help. The walker is left standing because I cannot bear weight upon it and travel over the ditch, so someone brought my chair outside for me to take photos.

Here is the collection of lumber materials.  Someone donated a whole deck and the guys went and cut the deck into pieces to bring here to create a deck and ramp.

The largest part on the top of this pile will be used as the top landing/deck. The smaller pieced under along with others that in shown in another photo will make up the higher/steeper part of the ramp. The scrap lumber under the deck and more in another photo will be used to make the lower landing.

These smaller sections will be used at the higher/steeper part of the ramp. As the ramp nears the lower level we will use the salvaged lumber to build the landing

These are the salvaged rails from the donated deck. They will be used to build a railing system on the wheelchair ramp. The ramp must be built at a 3 foot rise and 30 feet in length. The rise of the ramp will make it dangerous if there are no side rails. These will come in very handy!

These pieces will be used to secure the frame for the kennel gate

They scrapped all the lumber when they tore out this donated deck. We have some full 4 X 4’s and some that are cut up. Not sure where they will be used yet but there they are

So, that is where we are in the progress right now.  We are still waiting for the 3.0 door and more materials to make the kennel gate.  The gate must go in first, then the 3.0 door, then they will begin turning this lumber pile into a platform deck and 30 foot ramp.  The ramp is expected to end at the section of kennel to the right of the blue walker in the first picture.  There is a tree in the kennel we have to clear.  The gate should open up right where the pile of decking in front of the walker.  That will bring me right to the place where we park our car.  We might have to lay a cement walk way from the end of the ramp to beyond the kennel door for safe passage, but that will not be a costly project as the space from ramp to outside of the kennel should be only about 15 feet.

That is the update…thanks for reading

It’s not often that Amy gets two days off from work in a row, even rarer is two days off on a weekend.  It happened that Amy was to have Saturday and Sunday off in a row and very close to my mom’s birthday which is on Feb 11.  Once we knew it was set in stone, we called my mom to let her know that Amy would actually be able to be there to see her for her birthday.  Oh she was thrilled.  Amy doesn’t get to spend much family time with my mom and sis so it’s always a big thing when she can.

So, we traveled up to Columbia South Carolina on Sunday Feb 8.  My sister had to go into work for a bit, but once we got there she left work and we all got to enjoy a home cooked meal of stuffed shells.  We hung out on the porch to enjoy the beautiful weather.  A little later we enjoyed some birthday cake and coffee.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Our car handled very well for this trip.  We are still waiting for the tax return and hoping it will be enough to get a used pick up truck or a van.  Our current Lumina will go to my youngest son in hopes that he can fix it up to run for himself.  He is perfectly able to get a drivers license except that we don’t have a copy of his social security card and since he is 18 years old he must apply for his own using a photo ID.  He is in a catch 22.  He needs the ID to apply for the social security card….but he needs the social security card to apply for the photo ID at the Department of Motor Vehicles.  These silly little catches are holding a young man back  When policies and procedures are developed I think these agencies should be working together to make sure that if one does not have a needed document, there are ways to get that needed document.  Documentation to GET a photo ID should not require a photo ID to obtain.