“The Homestead Act of 1862 gave a person a chance to claim their own land. All one had to do was mark the boundaries, dig a well, build a home on the land and plow and plant the fields. If one did this and lived there for five years, the land was theirs. Nowadays, with the Homesteading Act no longer in effect, the term homesteading has taken on an entirely new meaning. It is the term coined to describe those people who have left the busy, 9-to-5 world behind and are living a frugal, self-sustaining life.”

This is something our family has wanted for years. We want to buy a piece of undeveloped land in Aiken County South Carolina where we can build earth friendly housing. We are interested in the EarthShip type of house which is build with recycled items such as tires, bottles, cans and cardboard. We are interested in Straw Bale huts, yurts and tipis, recycled campers, busses etc.

Due to disabilities we would have to have electricity and a well but would be working hard to reduce our dependence on electricity. We want to do raised gardens, gray water recycling, and use composting toilets. We have also been active in the rescue and care of disabled animals and would like to continue that with a better sanctuary.

On Sunday my mom brought my youngest son to spend Mothers Day with me. The first thing he did was start working on our lawnmower :::Laughing:::


He managed after lots of swearing and skinned fingers to fix the mower. Our yard had grown a bit too much and the mower couldn’t handle the nearly 4 foot tall weeds. I was going to pay my neighbor $35 to come with his ride on and get it to a manageable level but my son talked to a few folks and managed to buy a gas weed eater for $40. He managed to get most of the yard to a manageable level.


Today (Tues. May 13) We finally managed to put a huge fishing net over the top of most of the kennel. We had been battling with this net since March! It takes 3 people (best if there is 4) to stretch it properly and hold the tension so it could be fastened. I underestimated the size when I bought this net..we are about 10 feet short of covering the whole kennel. That will wait till next month. For now at least we have 3/4 of the kennel fully topped so cats can’t escape.


Amy has a few days off this week so we plan to go out and have a trailer hitch installed on our car in preparation to get a trailer to haul my mobility equipment when I go out.

I uploaded documents to our land request on Microgiving showing the history our shelter and electric costs. After looking that them I found that if could have built our own house in my mom’s back yard (eliminating house costs) and reduced our power consumption by building an energy efficient round house structure we could have had our land already. The monthly land mortgage for my mom’s land is $160 so even if we had to pay the monthly land mortgage we still could have been able to purchase our own land and never have to pay for a house rental or mortgage again.


Housing costs really eat into an income!


Our house costs and electric costs alone total up the money that could have bought a small parcel of land therefore eliminating housing costs. With money saved thanks to no housing costs we could have purchased surrounding land to increase our space in which to have family gardens, small livestock and huts to live in.


If we owned our own land and recycled cargo vehicles (vans, buses, box trucks, old campers) while building structures we would be saving over $6000 a year which could be used to grow better quality food, provide educational and recreational advantages for our disabled adult son, provide us with decent and reliable transportation and much more.


That is just house and electric costs that we would save on. With a composting toilet system and water harvesting we would save on our water costs. Our family only eats poultry products and poultry is inexpensive to raise. All of our meat costs would be reduced. Most vegetables we eat can be grown. Once you eliminate most meats and fresh veggies from the grocery budget the food costs go way down and you will be eating much healthier with home grown food.


Now lets eliminate house repairs from future budgets, this includes structure repair, water/sewer piping, even windows as we would use plexiglass. Eliminate all adaptive additions as the structure would be built to accommodate mobility requirements by integrating it as part of the design rather than adding it on. Pull bars and balance bars can all be done with inexpensive piping and driven into the ground which will also make it more stable. wide door ways, lowered counters, ramps to sanitation facilities etc can all be done during the build reducing the costs of tearing out doorways in a “normal” house cutting into walls and rebuilding door ways. It would eliminate the need to remove stairs and steps to build ramps.


Before anyone considered this kind of life unsuitable for someone with disabilities. Think of this…this style of living enables someone with disabilities to become a productive member of a household. A mentally challenged person can weed a garden, harvest crops, feed livestock, move and stack firewood as well as lug water which assists in caring for his family giving him the feeling of worthiness rather than burden. Someone with lower extremity limits can do all of the above as well as can, dry, and package harvest foods and can also take part in the building of the structures at the height level that can be reached by chair. We have 3 walking people in our family that can work from that height on upward. In the end every member of a family regardless of physical or mental limits can take part in feeding, sheltering and caring for every other family member. This eliminates the whole “helpless” “hopeless” “burden” “different” feeling that often comes with being a challenged person living in a world of “normal” people

We had bought a giant net at income tax time to stretch over our kennel. The intent was to keep our cats from escaping the pen. We bought a 50 foot by 30 foot fishing net. Let me tell you…what sounded like an easy job turned into a 2 month project! Nets just don’t stretch normally.

Here is Amy trying to figure this thing out.



Finally after all this time My sons got together and worked hard to put the net up. We came a little over 8 feet short of covering the whole kennel! We now have to purchase a 30 X 15 foot net to finish this off. The good news is once the kennel is covered the cats will not be escaping…the bad news is that until then they will be escaping more than ever. Now that they know there is a net up there they are all seeking their freedom. Cats who never tried to get out are now running for the trees…Literally. They don’t go far, they just hang out in the grass and climb the trees. The Kennel only has one tree in it and we netted just below the branches they usually climb to.

Our netting arrangement also took away my balance rope. I had a rope extended from house to shed with a sliding noose type arrangement for me to hold onto to make it across the yard. I have no ramps, the scooter can’t be left outside, and the chair simply will not travel over the terrain of the back yard. My exit door is through that shed in the background. That is our back door exit. I can’t handle the front stairs at all so I can’t enter/exit the front of my house anymore.

Anyhow…now I need to drive some conduit pipe into the ground every few feet and make a set of balance rails so I can get across this yard to enter/exit my house….that silly little sliding noose thing I had was working out pretty good but now that the net is over the top of the rope my sliding noose won’t slide anymore….so onto plan B

We are trying to figure out how to have air conditioning this summer.
When my mobility got bad and I began relying on my rolling walker full time as well as wheel chair and scooter use we worked out an accessibility plan.  We fixed up a room to use as my living room, cooking area, and computer room.  I have access to my kennel to care for my animals.  From the room I use I have access to a bathroom and to my son’s room.  It’s a great arrangement.  But I don’t have AC back here. My son has AC and I will have AC in my bedroom but need to figure out how to have AC in the one room where I spend 2/3 of my time.


We removed the only window this room had to build a proper door for safe exit from this room.  In this house all entry/exit doors are at one end of the house and there is a narrow hallway.  The nearby door allows for emergency exit, ventilation, better and safer access to the back yard.  Windows are excellent fire escapes, but doors are better when you can’t climb of a windows.  This was the perfect solution and it worked great during the winter months.  My space heater kept us warm and toasty we had ventilation as there is a large pet door right in the door that allowed fresh air even during the winter.


Well…we can’t put an Air Conditioning unit in an entry/exit door so we are trying to figure out what we will do.  During the winter a bad storm caused serious damage to the roof of our converted/finished shed.  We used to use this area as our living space as there is lots of room (12X24 FT)  Is equipped with power and has it’s own fuse box.  Has an AC in the window and heats well in the winter.  Well…when it rains outside, it leaks too much.


I live in an area where I can’t get away with pitching a tipi or making a strawbale hut.  It would be called an eyesore therefore violating the county nuisance law.  Can’t use a nice big van or bus without building a privacy fence around it.  Just so many obstacles in the way.  We have many solutions that we could use for the summer….just can’t use any of those ideas because there is too much government intrusion in our lives.


It’s just too depressing living in modern housing, in a community that does not embrace doing what you can and are able to do.  If it’s not neat and pretty and is just like what everyone else does, there is bound to be some law or ordinance that will bring fines down on a low income family.

Ok…well it’s not actually dead.  Just sick.


I went out to Hopeland Gardens Thursday (05/29/08) for what I had hoped would be the beginning of a great day.  We had a good time there, then came back and as Amy was pulling out we saw a large puddle of antifreeze.   Well we know first hand the horrible death antifreeze will cause so we scooped up a bunch of dirt and pine straw to cover this mess.


We headed straight for the auto parts store for some stop leak.  While there someone looked at our engine which by now was blowing out a large amount of fluid.  Our radiator fans are not working!  This caused heat and pressure build up which blew out the water pump gasket/seal.  This was rather visible once it was pointed out.  Well we dumped in the stop leak with the hope that it would at least plug up the seal some.


Next stop a gas station to use the rest rooms.  We were leaking an awful pus colored liquid everywhere.  It was pretty clear the stop leak had failed and was just bleeding out of the engine.  Reported the leak so some speedy dry could be put down and headed off to the nearest grocery store to get food for the next couple of days, water for the engine for the trip home and a giant bag of kitty litter for the leaks.


The trip home was interesting as we had to stop every few miles to quench the thirst of the car and lay down kitty litter to protect our beloved wild life and domestic animals.


Finally did make it home safe and sound and Amy immediately left for work.


Today (Friday) the car was driven down to our local garage for repair.  Hopefully we can have this fixed soon and it won’t be too costly.  We have a funeral to attend on Monday.


Ahhh….if not one thing, it’s another.  At least we did get home safely though and we covered all leaks so we know that little furries are not suffering for our leaking car.

James ‘Jim’ Cohrs

BELVEDERE —Mr. James “Jim” Cohrs, 56, of Belvedere, beloved companion of Rhonda Lynn McAllister and son of the late Stanley and Agnes Bondhus Cohrs, died Thursday morning, May 22, 2008.


Born in Hennepin County, Minn., he had been an area resident since 1993. Jim loved riding Harley Davidsons and everything about them. He was always the first in line to help a fellow rider in need, even if it required some sacrifice on his part. His love and commitment to motorcycles was what made his life complete. He lived every day like it was his last and died doing what he loved.


Jim was an officer of the Dixie Thunder Chapter of ABATE in Aiken County. His determination to fight for the rights of motorcyclists could not be stopped, no matter what.


Jim served in the Vietnam War from April 27, 1971, until his discharge on May 1, 1972. For his service in Vietnam, he was awarded the National Defense Service medal and the Vietnam Service medal.
He was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and had a strong feeling in his heart for the POW MIA movement.


Family members include children, Matt Cohrs of Eden Prairie, Minn., and Hope Cohrs of Luverne, Minn.; sister, Carol Palmberg (Mark) of Minnetonka, Minn.; and a great-grandchild, Kaitlyn Cohrs.


A Celebration of Life Service will be held Monday, June 2, 2008, at 7 p.m. at Hatcher Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Langley, with Bishop Hugh A. Tarci, Order of the Cross, Motorcycle Ministries.


The family will receive friends Monday from 6 p.m. until the time of service at Hatcher Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Langley.

Exactly one week later….Amy picked up our car today. It took 7 days to replace a 5 minute gasket and a 10 minute fan wire and it cost us $100 even. I’m thrilled to have my car back but also angry at myself. There was a day when I could have changed my own pump gasket and replaced a fan wire. Both of my Ex-Husbands were mechanics and I learned how to do many car repairs from the age of 17. The whole job would have cost me less than $30 if I could still stand up and use a few tools on my own…arrghh…well at least it didn’t cost me $200 and at least I have my car now so it’s all good. I can go buy another fan tonight!!

Amber, an online friend stayed up with me by instant messenger last night.  I was having a rough night and really needed a friend.  She knows I have been looking for an old camper that I can put in my back yard to use during heating/cooling months.  I could cool a camper efficiently and would be able to get around easier as everything would be only a few steps away.

She had the idea of looking in junk yards.  Such a simple statement but one I had not even thought of.  That gave me some hope and now that I have my car back Amy and I will go looking at junk yards to see about a camper.

Amber has a sweet little girl who has a rare blood disorder called ITP.  She cannot go outside and play like other children.  Something like playing tag, swinging on a swingset, riding a bike could cause an everyday bruise that could be life threatening for her.

Her doctors suggested a pool for her but the pool must be sturdy and high enough so she can’t fall out of it.  This costs a bit.  Her mom has a request for her on Microgiving and has provided documentation that is a need for this child, not a luxury item.

Please check out her request and if you can spare a dollar or two that would be nice.  If you can’t please pass the word along.  You can find her Microgiving page here:

My 4 yr old daughter has a blood disorder,ITP,a pool is the safest thing for to play

To find our more about little Kinley please check out here MySpace page here:

Kinleys myspace – Tells all about Kinley and ITP

To find out more about ITP please check this page out:

Platelet Disorder Support Associati – ITP support and news.

Ahhh….I bought a new fan last night. We shut off all the fans at Walmart and I sat in my chair on the far side of the isle. We turned each one on till we found a fan that would blow air where I sat. This was the one we found.

It was only $24.85 but the distance of the air flow is about a good 12 feet. The more expensive fans didn’t reach the far side of the isle.

So I can now cool my self down some during the day and at night when it’s cool I can put this fan in front of my door to bring the the night air.

I am feeling much more comfortable today.

A friend put a wish on a wishing site for me. The wish: Let the Hawk soar with some air

She wished for funds to help me get a portable windowless air conditioning unit. A small unit costs about $300 before tax and shipping. It was a beautiful gesture of kindness and caring.

While I was looking around for less costly portable AC’s I had commented to another friend that if only I could use the existing building in our back yard. It already has AC. We vacated the building when a storm in December 2007 damaged our roof and a door. It rains inside when it rains outside. We tried many patch pastes and sealers which cost quite a bit, but never worked. There are just too many holes. The whole roof needs to be redone. It’s a simple aluminum roof, we can easily take the panels down and put up new ones…just never had the money.

The more I looked at the wish my friend did for me to the more I started thinking that with $300 I could fix the roof, have 2 12X12 rooms that are fully handicap accessible, instead of the one 12X12 room I use now. The other building is close to the ground which would eliminate several trips down broken stairs that have no railing.

After commenting to another friend she said…why  not let someone know you need help with this.  Well my first response was because I have had help already.  The thing is, the help I have had was to help me become able to care for myself and not need help.  Nobody wants to help me have a scooter…and keep falling down stairs that only make me worse.  Nobody wants to help me get AC into my room..if they knew that it would only be an item that could only help seasonally whereas for around the same cost I could have a safer, cooler, warmer, accessible room year round.

This is all pretty new learning to do things in a new way.  I grew frustrated when I had to take my car to a mechanic, have it sit there for 7 days, and cost me $100 for a job that at one time, not long ago I could have done myself for 1/2 that cost and in 1/2 the time.

I have grown frustrated that we set up a room that was easy for me to get around, was closer to the animal kennel so I could still care for my special needs animals, it was close to a bathroom, close to my son’s room and during the winter it was easy to heat….then warm weather hit.  We were unprepared for the fact that we would have to cool this room.  Can’t do that with no window.

We tossed around an idea offered by a friend to visit local junk yards and try to get a camper we can restore…it sounded really good

But why…

We have a perfectly good building that just needs a new roof.

So…we are going to stop looking for help to get land and build our homestead.  We need help now.  Amy can’t go off to school while things are so up in the air.

She NEEDS to go to school.  Her tuition will be paid by the GI bill and her getting her CDL and being able to get a job that pays more than 13 thousand a year will get us several steps closer to buying a piece of land.  Her getting educated in a field that is always hiring is important and is our only hope.

If I can take care of myself, my son and my animals with no help that is one major concern down.  We have been working towards putting our basic bills into an advance so that I won’t be paying so much once she is at school.  My youngest son will have his license soon and could help me with transportation.  We really only sit on the issue if my needing to be in an accessible room so I can take care of myself without being overheated, or falling down stairs.

So…we need to work on the roof repair and getting a ramp built for access into and out of the main house.  We will start buying a panel or two every pay check, or getting fasteners or tools that we will need and hopefully in a few months we will have this done.

I have a wish on Wish Upon A Hero

I Wish for a Handicap accessible room

Thanks to some help from Wish Upon A Hero We have begun the roofing repair on the apartment.  We rented a uhaul to pick up the supplies and off we went.  Things had not gone as planned at all.  We planned on buying some roofing panels, but the price of the panels, plus tax then materials needed to install the panels was coming up to beyond what was contributed.  We headed to the lumber department to talk to the lumber guys.  Well…that job was coming up too high too.  From there was a suggestion about using sheet vinyl since the building is so small.  Off we went to flooring to talk to these guys.  Ok.  The idea would work out.  We gave the measurements and got the least expensive sheet vinyl they had and it came to just below the amount of contributions.  We had enough left over to go back to lumber and at least get another set of stair stringers and plank board to replace my broken stairs.

Well.  We got home and it was too dark to work.  Decided to do it the next day.  It rained.  It rained so much my stairs completely collapsed.  He did managed to get 1/2 of the vinyl sheet up there though.  We still have to do the other half and lay down an elastic sealer type thing.  In the rain at 2 AM my son managed to put up the new steps.  These steps are exactly like the others, they are steep and with no hand rail, but it’s much better than steep broken steps and no hand rail.

We are still working on a ramp, but being in a wheel chair is pretty new to me.  It hasn’t been a year yet and there is so much to learn.  I did not know that a 30 foot ramp on a 3 foot rise with no porch, deck or platform of any kind is dangerous and not recommended.  There is also a concern of using a scooter on such a steep rise.  I didn’t know all that stuff.  I thought we just needed something smooth, and slanted to roll up.  Ok…yep…I have much to learn.

Home Depot recommends 2 turning platforms with kind of a zig-zag ramp.  That all sounds so expensive.  My son recommends a single platform idea with a ramp from ground to platform, a place to park my scooter or chair and one or two steps from platform to house.  Home Depot reminds us to take into consideration whether or not my condition will worsen. Ok, we know it will worsen, but I should (hopefully) always be able to stand and take a few steps.  I don’t know if the future will allow using stairs though.  In that case we need to make sure the ramping system is adaptable easily should I become unable to use any stairs at all.

Not thinking ahead is what got me in this situation in the first place.  I fought so hard to never reach this point in my life, that I never prepared for this day.  To prepare in my mind was to admit that one day I would be on wheels instead of foot soles.  I didn’t want to admit that day would come…so…I never prepared.  Now, I don’t want to screw up and say I will always be able to stand up, I will always be able to take a few steps, I will always be able to handle one or two stairs.  There is too much uncertainty now.  I always thought I would be on my own two feet till one day I got brand new knees and hips.  Ok, well..ummm…yeah…that didn’t happen.  I’m still dealing with that emotionally and now I am not sure if I’m fighting for being able to take a few stairs, or preparing for life in a chair.

All this…because I need a ramp.  So many questions, so many decisions.  I just want to be able to safely get to my room and to my shower.  Do I really have to make all those decisions?  Can’t someone else decide for me?

I’m wearing my mothers and sisters clothes that are too big for them now.  I fought so long to keep myself in a size 18.  I haven’t gained any pounds.  Another thing I never knew was sitting down the rest of your life makes your butt, hips, and thighs pretty fat and floppy.  OMGoodness!  I never had the problem before!  I worked hard to finally own 3 pairs of jeans all to myself, that I could wear out of the house (I wear PJ’s and Thermals at home) I don’t have those 3 pairs of jeans anymore.  I’m too fat now.  Not cuz I gained an ounce though.  Already had that checked out.  It’s just cuz all the fluids and fats are sliding down to the lowest points where the muscles are not strong.  Yep…now I have a fat butt and my jean’s don’t fit anymore.  That was depressing enough to have to cut my jeans in places and put my tee over them just so I could go out of the house.  But now I have to deal with all these ramping questions from Home Depot.

Can’t someone just read my mind…ah well that wouldn’t work, I can’t figure out what I want.  Wow, this is a whole new life.

Ah, now that it’s daylight I could get a few photos. We have the steps in place Here are the before and after photos.

Steps a few weeks ago

Steps the day they collapsed due to rain

New Stairs thanks to Wish Upon A Hero

Close up of new steps

Thank you Wish Upon A Hero!!  This is MUCH safer than the other stairs!

Finally had some time to post about the Roof work.  Let me announce that while I say “We” throughout all my posts, when speaking of the recent roof repairs and stair repairs I should give full credit to my youngest son Josh

He has worried about me.  He is 18 and wants to try out life as an adult.  He knows we struggle daily with money issues, home repair needs, and my mobility limits.  He and my partner are the only able bodied people in the home.  My partner works a full time job, swing shift and we are never sure when she will have a day off so we can’t plan for many repair projects to involve her.  This leaves much of the responsibility for home repair jobs to me and my youngest son.  Though my legs and one hand are limited, I still have one good hand, I’m full of spirit and I do what I can on the ground while my son tackles those things I can’t do from a sitting position.  I’ll let him take full credit here though, none of these jobs were anything I could really help with other than holding supplies, and helping to measure and cut wood.

Ok…onto the story.

We had a rough time with this but are working it out.  We got the vinyl sheeting and started the work the next day.  It rained during the day but around dusk it was pretty stable so we tried to unroll the vinyl.  Right away the vinyl started to tear.  We got the lowest price vinyl they had so we could come within the funds we were working with.  Unfortunately lowest price also meant lowest quality and the vinyl is rather thin.  Once it’s up on a solid surface and all tacked down, it won’t be so bad.  It’s just we couldn’t get it onto the roof and we had already tore up several feet of it just trying to unroll it!

We couldn’t give up though, this was all the money we had to work with, we had the stuff…now we had to make it work.  Thanks to the support online friends Lori and one who prefers to remain anonymous, I cried, vented, threw my tantrums and then they reminded me to breathe, step away, rest and come back at it with a new attitude.  We quit for the night and tried again the next day. It rained the next day too, but in between showers we manged to get the vinyl up there.

We left the vinyl rolled, and slid it up the ladder to be opened and unrolled on top of the roof.  This worked beautifully and before it rained again we got 1/2 of the roof done.  We will work on the other 1/2 then will get a couple gallons of elastasized sealer to coat the whole job and fill in the center seam and any micro cracks we can’t see with the naked eye.

This is a layout of the yard and building:

Here is the roof before the covering.

Here is the roof with 1/2 of it covered.

Again, Many thanks go to the members of Wish Upon A Hero for helping our family to have a safe, dry handicap accessible living space and a safe set of steps to get in and out of what will become my bedroom.

I had started going to totes when I began using my walker. I couldn’t carry anything so one day I picked up a couple of Humane Society cloth totes, They were great, the handles were big enough to actually string over my head and carry around my neck. I could put one over my shoulder, and I could also string them across my walker handles. I started bringing it everywhere and found it was easier for me to pack stuff at a convenience store into the tote to carry out with my walker.

Well, that lead into picking up all those earthy cloth bags that people love to get rid of. My mom gave me a large tote that has a zipper so I carry all my stuff in there, actually you can see that one in the pic of the little girl pushing my chair. Since then I really started looking into the whole reusable bag movement and found many more reasons for collecting these totes.

I recently got two of the best totes! One was from Vital for Children. I wanted to promote their site, and help the kids, but the tote I got was one of the best quality totes. The handles are so secure I could carry large frozen turkey in it and it never strained it! I’m going to get another one of those!

Here is a good pic of that tote:

http://vitalforchildren.org

Shop for Vital Products:

Help spread the importance of VITAL caring – by purchasing our products you not only support VITAL but you also help the charity grow and gain recognition. Caring is VITAL. Spread your VITAL Heart.

Since ALL profit made on tshirts or bags go directly to the children, the purchase of one tshirt or two bags would support a child for a month

Our certified Fairtrade and 100% organic cotton products are sourced from the Chetna Organic Cotton project in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, in which more than 1,500 farming families are now involved.

Conventional cotton cultivation uses almost 60% of all toxic chemicals produced in India, causing environmental and health problems. Pesticide and fertilizer use often exhausts soils, resulting in a negative spiral of pesticide usage and debt for the farmers.

Eliminate those polluting plastic supermarket bags and replace them with a strong organic Fairtrade cotton VITAL shopping bag.

Did you know that normal plastic shopping bags take 400 years to decompose while biodegradable plastic bags cause methane in landfill sites which worsen the green house effect.

30×42 x 18cm

If you want to help out some children who REALLY have it rough and help the environment too…I STRONGLY urge you to visit Vital.

They are on MG too by the way. Vital On Microgiving

A couple days ago I went to Home Depot to get some roof repair materials and had some small stuff, so I grabbed what I thought was going to be a cheap nylon tote. It was only .99 but that baby is one of the largest ones I have and is super durable. Not only that but the snap clips are actually designed to go inside a regular shopping cart. It stretches from side to side and clips onto the side of the cart. You put all your stuff in the bag, go through the checkout, pull the cart forward so the cashier or bagger can just put the stuff right back into the bags which are open and ready to receive. It’s easier for the baggers fingers than opening a zillion plastic bags.

Check this out, I found these pics on Google, it’s the same exact bag. I’m going back for more of them too, before the cost goes up.

http://www.homedepot.com

Buying a shopping bag from Home Depot is not helping anything charitably…that’s a bummer, but it does help the environment a great deal and it helps cashiers as well as the long line of folks behind you in the store cuz it reduces the amount of time it takes to open and stuff bags and of course reduces landfill bags.

After I got the Vital bag, I was talking to someone at Vital who shares my passion for living green, she sent me a power point presentation about the damage bags do to wildlife. I got permission to make a slide show and put it on youtube. Check out the Slideshow. There is a hissing sound in it that I can’t fix, without tearing it apart and redoing it. You might want to mute your speakers :)

I’m getting addicted to this whole reusable bag thing! I can fill that Home Depot bag and even put it on me like a backpack. That and my Vital bag stay in my big green zipper bag and go with me to the stores. No more plastic shopping bags for me!

Microgiving.com is an organization trying to help Iowa flood victims. There is a team in Iowa right now but are being told basically that their help is not needed.

The team that is in Iowa knows of people living in cars and in tents who are not being helped.  There are members on the MicroGiving website willing to donate to these families.  We do not wish to deal with large charity programs that will decide who gets help or how much help they get.  We want to be able to read their stories and decide who we will help and with how much.

What we need is a way to reach those who are not getting the federal, state or local aid.

We are reaching out to Iowa news sources in hopes that someone will print, air or carry by word of mouth the website name of MicroGiving.com and let people know there are members ready and waiting to send donations and care packages.   We just need to know who they are.  If they can sign up at the website we can help.

My local news channel picked up my success story when MicroGiving.com helped me.  I’m a physically challenged woman who needed help with a mobility scooter.  I got that help quickly.  You can read about that here, I hope that helps you to understand that this is a real help site, giving real hope to people who need it.

http://news12archives.com/watch?v=3079

This site also has a special registration section for Iowa Flood Victims and has two fund raisers going right now.  Here are those links

Registration Page for Iowa Flood Victims

Fund Raiser for Cedar Rapids

Fund Raiser for Iowa City 

How can you help?

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The Rescue

Amy went to pick up a rescue with a crippled leg. We got a call about a feral kitten who was found injured on a road. He had a broken foot and has nerve damage so he will have a crippled foot, mostly he will walk, but his foot will drag. Anyhow we set up the transfer got the person to prepay for kitty’s neuter when he’s old enough and Amy went to the neighboring town to get the critter.

On the way back the front passenger tire blew out and threw shrapnel everywhere. She manages to get the car off the road safely and turned on the hazards to change the tire and thrown on a badly worn donut. Well…the position of the car made this all pretty difficult so it took time…enough time for the hazards to wear down the battery. Car wouldn’t start.

Amy stands by the road holding the kitten and sure enough…this draws attention and someone comes to jump the car and follow her to her gas station where the car promptly stalls out and refuses to start.

So now she has a hot scared crippled feral kitten, a dead car sitting on another tire threatening to blow. Our local used tire store is closed and he mechanic next door who always seems to screw us over is closed too. So Amy smuggles the hot kitten into the truck stop bathroom, borrows a cell and calls me from the potty to tell me about the events of the last few hours.

She is still sitting in the potty with the kitty, we are not sure if we can get the car home or will need a tow and if we need a tow we don’t know if they will transport the kitten…that’s not too bad cuz she can walk the few miles with the cat but wow…what a day. We are facing some car repairs and need another tire.

So…I sent out word to some friends that Amy needed some prayers, blessings and positive energy in case she had to walk home with this little kit.

Oh and is this a sign? Rescue a kitten and shortly after a chain of bad events? Amy says she’s naming the kitty Jinx. I went another route and said maybe the kitty is good luck and since he was in the car the blowout didn’t cause a wreck, and since he was there she got roadside help pretty quickly so she could make it to her store…hmmm….bad day

About an hour later she comes home.

The car was jumped and made it home. We will bring it to the shop tomorrow. Little newbie will be named Lucky. He’s a marmalade tom. Though he was reported to me a as a feral I don’t see feral in him, He has been socialized. The one who found him had him for a few weeks but she has no cat experience. All she knew was to get vet care and when the vet said he was permanently crippled and should be put to sleep she was upset about that and looked around for someone with experience in crippled feral kits…which is how I was found

He’s too young to have been adopted out, so most likely he was from a litter of a stray or outside cat. His muscle tone suggest he had been eating a combination of commercial foods and human scrap which most true ferals don’t eat regularly (but hard strays do). He doesn’t have the muscle
tone of a kit who has been eating fresh kill and doesn’t have the behavior of a kit who has been taught to hunt for food.

His foot is indeed crippled and it has obvious nerve damage. I was expecting a recently injured kit, but the injury was actually an old one, what she found was a kit dragging his leg in the middle of a road and assumed he was recently injured. He is actually fully recovered from his past injury and only suffers perm. nerve damage. I had all the details wrong since I had not met the person, only talked on the phone. Amy got better details when she went to get the little one and talk to the person who found him and got him emergency care.

There is no pain, no necessary treatments and he has adapted quite well to his disability and doesn’t seem emotionally affected by it. He has a dragging right rear leg, doesn’t appear to be able to climb or jump but can move from point A to B with little effort.

The little guy is going to do just fine, Amy is home safe so I guess the day wasn’t quite as bad as it seemed a little while ago

But then…

Amy goes out the next day to get a used tire. She called me and let me know that the tire place is closed on Saturday. I told her to go to the junk yard to see if we can at least get another donut. Ok they are open till 2:30p but take cash only. We never carry cash so I said go back to the store get cash. The guy says they will be closed by then so it’s a wasted trip.

Well…so we don’t have a new tire or a safe donut but we also don’t have enough raw meat or pet food till Monday so Amy has to go off to the next town on a badly worn donut tire to get pet food and make sure we have all we need till Monday so we can park the car till then. The tire places are all just a few country miles from our house but everything else is over 15 miles away as we are rural and there isn’t anything in our town.

On a good note…the car has not stalled out so hopefully the whole stalling and starting thing was a freak occurance and there is nothing serious with the car that caused the starting and stalling problems yesterday.

Little Lucky is too cute to be a jinx….this has to be just a stretch of bad luck.

It’s Monday Morning, Wish us luck

Yep…we are renaming the kitten! Amy went out today to get another tire. The used tire shop that was closed on Saturday was not closed just cuz it was Saturday…They are CLOSED forever. On to the junk yard…where they have no tire to fit our car. On to a tire shop in the neighboring town that is suppose to carry used tires….nope, they stopped carrying them, but hey they can cut us a good deal on a discount tire for ummmmm $70 Right…one tire, $70 That is a bit more than we can chew. The rest of our tires are bald, if we go and put a brand new tire on one wheel we will have to get new tread on the rest. No way on this great green earth that we can swing 4 new tires. I have never even bought brand new tires before, I don’t even know if $70 is a good deal for tire, spin and mount. Nobody had donut tires. I tried to find another local used tire place and evidently I’m not searching right cuz I can’t find a used tire shop anywhere in my area.

So we are still limping around on a donut that has no tread and is about to blow.

Good news…car didn’t stall out today. My house has not yet collapsed yet. I’m too sick and swollen to go outside so I haven’t fallen yet today.

All our bad luck has followed the day we picked up this sweet little creature

Ok…So I really don’t believe he’s a Jinx and I’m not blaming the sweet innocent face, As he purrs and settles into his new home I don’t regret that phone call asking me to come and get him. If that person had not scooped the little guy out of the road, he would not be here today. Had she listened to the vet when he said the kit should be put to sleep just because of a crippled leg, he would not be here today. This little boy is alive and well today because someone cared enough to scoop him from the road, get him examined, and then reach out for someone who could give him 24 hour care.

Here he is sleeping in my lap as I type this up. Ahhh…who cares about all the bad luck of the last few days, looking down at the little face…it’s all worth it.

Natural Disaster

Raise funds for housing and general survival needs assistance to thousands of people displaced by this immense flood disaster.
Description: Here is an example of how the flood effected Cedar Rapids. This is a video of my son’s home that was hit by a 12 ft wall of water.

My progress: Working with the community everyday to help rebuild cedar Rapids.
This is a long term need assistance request for a family of 2 adults & 2 children
My message: Thank you all to who donate. Stay tuned for updates on our progress.

Message from Microgiving

Please visit Michael’s fund raising profile for victims of the Iowa Flood

http://www.microgiving.com/profile/candleworks

I keep winding up there by falling.  Maybe if I just stayed on the ground and never stood up again I do ok?

Yeah, I know, that’s pretty unrealistic…the ants would get me after a while.

I was feeding my animals tonight and was doing good…or so I thought.  I fell going UP my stairs.  Falling down is bad enough.  It’s interesting really, you never know what you are going to hurt.  Could be a sprained wrist, scraped up elbow, banged knees, twisted ankles.  You could bump your head, or your arms can collapse in the fall and you can hit your chin or your nose.  It changes depending on how high the stairs are, what is at the bottom of the stairs…It’s always different…change is good.

Falling up stairs though…it’s always the same.  You smash your knees, or your shin if the stairs are short.  Never anything interesting to share with your friends.  Your friend says are you ok?  You say yep, caught my knee or my shin.  If you are lucky you hit both and you can say hey…this was different, I smashed up my knee and my shin whatcha think about that?

I fell last week or so, I fall so much now I should keep a calendar.  Anyhow in that fall I hurt my ankle which masked a tendon injury on the outside of my foot.  Ok so my foot is useless now, keeps swelling up and that messes up all my structural design in there.  I depend a bit more on the wheelchair cuz well, when your legs aren’t going to hold you up, you always have your hands right?

Yeah well….

I put out my shoulder!

Come On!  Can’t I ever win…just once?

So I’m popping motrin like cheap candy nursing a foot tendon, screwed up rotator cuff, and tonight and go and fall UP my stairs and bang up my knee.  It cant even be on a different side…NOOOO…it’s all on my right side, by best side.  Yeah my left side is my weaker side, so lately my right side is taking a beating.

I’ve got so frustrated I decided I’m never gonna get out of here.  I’m never going to have a piece of land to live safely, peacefully, comfortably on.  That is too far away and I keep getting injured, by the time I’m done dumping money into injury prevention I’ll have no money or limbs left anyhow and it wont even be worth having my own land.

My blogs were suppose to be about my journey toward homesteading…it’s turning into my journey from walking to wheeling and all the steps you take to move into a life you never wanted to enter.

Here is something to green it up a bit.  I was on my way up the stairs from feeding my cats some raw chicken, I had successfully won the power struggle between a feral kitten and myself and I managed to keep her in the cage with her chicken leg rather than she running away with it and forcing me to go up/down the stairs an extra time.  Yep…I thought I was doing good.

I’m just sick of falling.