Grumpy old men

[coxy]

piney i wish you didn't live so far away i run across those battery powered chairs a lot picking up junk and doing clean up job and they get sent to the junk yard no one here does anything with them :(   thank you for doing a great job restoring them to help some else

[Kbeitz]

I see about one a week in our local junkyard...

[pineywoods]

Latest grumpy old men project all loaded up for delivery to a needy grumpy old man.. Older gent, can't walk or do much else, wife has alzheimers..Kids had left his power chair out in the rain.. Corroded contacts on the power on button, and the backrest was broken. Surprisingly, the frame of the backrest was wood, I can fix that..



 

This is the wood frame for the backrest. Pretty obvious it got wet more than once.



 

[Magicman]

Good for you......again.   

[sandhills]

It's folks like you and many others here that make me proud to be a member of the Forestry Forum.  I know I don't contribute much but I try when I can and love hearing good things like this, my hat's off to you once again.
Edit, Pineywoods I have yet to see anything you can't fix or improve.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Does a fellow good to see the best in human nature.
Keep it up Piney

[WDH]

Piney is one of my heroes.  I also had the pleasure of meeting him. 

[pineywoods]

This project touches a real soft spot that I have for veterans and especially dis-abled vets. One of our grumpy ole men is a retired vet, who is legally blind. He is currently enrolled in a month long course at the VA blind school learning to use word processing equipment so he can write a couple of books. I got a phone call saying "hey they have a craft shop here and guys are making pen and pencil sets, and they sure could use some wood." A few hours in the shop and I came up with this, walnut pen and pencil blanks


 

Filled a garbage bag with them plus more garbage bags filled with pecan, mulberry, cedar, persimon, and oak. His wife delivered on next visit and I get another phone call saying " how about some bird house/jewelry box wood. "
His wife leaves today with the back of her suv stuffed with 1X6 cedar and cypress, already cut to size and planed smooth.



 

I had some questions, and sure most of you do..A craft shop in a blind school ?
Think about it this way. For someone who has lost vision and feels useless, completing a pen or bird house or jewelry box, would be one heck of a confidence builder.

[thecfarm]

We need a bunch more pineywoods in this world.

[paul case]

 


pc

[pineywoods]

Elderly gent who lives alone. The plywood floor of his deck rotted, so we did a project to replace it. Used 4/4 X6 white oak planks off my mill, blow down tree recovered off neighbors pasture fence. Look closely, there's a 5 year old hard at work removing rotten boards. He also kept the rest of the crew supplied with water...We start them out young. ;D

[sandhills]

Pretty soon you're going to have to start a "grumpy young men" chapter  8).

[Magicman]

Being Grumpy warms the heart.  8)

[Texas Ranger]

Being Grumpy warms the heart.  8)

I thought that was heartburn.

[51cub]

I might not say it enough but good on ya piney! This part is a little late but for whatever reason I've been missing this thread. The craft shop at the blind school reminds me of a story in the paper awhile ago about a blind man building such things in his home shop. Hes even using power tools. He has jigs set up so that he can feel where his hands have to be so that they're out of the way. It's been quite a little while but I seem to remember him making some pretty amazing things

[thecfarm]

The five year old is in training to join the Grumpy old men club.

[pineywoods]

The five year old is in training to join the Grumpy old men club.

He comes from good stock. His dad, 2 uncles and grandpaw were in the crew..The entire family goes a long way toward restoring my faith in the human race ;D

[GAB]

My guess is the little one very was well supervised!
Gerald

[pineywoods]

This is a story of a guy in his 50's whose life was totally up-ended. He developed a rare disease which affected the nerves in both legs, resulting loss of muscle control. Initially, he could get around using a cane, but that rapidly turned into using a walker, and then a manual wheelchair. Job as a truck driver became impossible, so his wife takes on 2 jobs to pay the bills, leaving him home alone most of the time.
Enter the grumpy  old men. A re-furbed power chair was donated, which made life a little easier, but he still was confined to the house. There is a 6 inch step down out the back door to a paved patio. Woodmizer to the rescue. 2 18 inch wide by 6 ft long wedges cut from solid dry white oak made nice ramp. Yeah, sometimes I deliberately saw a wedge.  :



 
The hash marks are grooves cut with a router. Wet white oak is a bit slippery



 

Now he can get out of the house, but there's another obstacle, the carport is 25 feet down a grassy slope, power chair has a slippery problem climbing the slope. Another volunteer work party to pour a 4 ft by 25 ft long concrete walkway from the patio to carport.



 
Couldn't get a redi-mix truck anywhere close, we had to use  sac-crete. 16 people showed up, 3 of them with portable mixers.

Maybe the truck driving skills helped but, this guy took to the power chair like a duck to water. A few days later, he does the dishes, laundry, cleans the bath room and mops the floor from a comfortable chair. He says, best of all, I can go to the fridge and get a snack or drink without fear of falling, and go sit on the patio and enjoy the outdoors

[Magicman]

Being on your knees helping others makes one stand very tall.  I am proud to know at least one of your Grumpies. 

[thecfarm]

You guys are Good. Mighty Good.

[newoodguy78]

X2

[Texas Ranger]

Wish you young pups would stop talking about us old fellers! 8)

[KirkD]

 smiley_clapping

[Jeff]

Sure proud to know you Piney.