Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2014 21:27:21 -0500
From: connectnc.net
Subject: chasing windmills
Everyone knows I try my best to help others . I try to fix things and I try to make a difference . I was disabled years ago from a combination of car wrecks and being hit by lightning on four separate occasions . I have struggled for years with my kids just to keep us afloat with no child support and disability benefits I paid in for while I worked that are at best barely enough to exist on for one person not four . I have had a number of things go woefully wrong with my health since last summer starting with a kidney stone . I developed pain in my right arm before thanksgiving . The it was jaw pain . I went to the dentist to discover that the last dentist left a part of a broken tooth in my upper jaw causing an infection . I had oral surgery to remove it and 3 other teeth that deteriorated due to that infection . While I was on meds for the recoup after surgery my arm pain eased off .. After the meds ( steroids ) ran out my arm pain returned and it seams I have a disc pinching my radial nerves for my right arm . The swelling has started to affect the nerves for my left arm . My good doc is working on helping me relieve the pressure and inflammation .
The point of the story is I am at a point where I cant physically push myself to do any types of lifting , repairs , tinkering or strenuous activities . I want to help others but right now I cant . I cant even help my kids and that really hurts me . I’m done physically . My daughter and Beth were doing their best to encourage me to look at my artistic side and focus on what I can do . The polar Vortex chilled the shop so much I couldn’t take the cold so I put a blanket on the office door where I am now and fired up a small heater so I could contemplate my next move . I have always had an artistic side to me but I never saw it as a viable way to pay bills so I turned a wrench till I could turn it no more . Now I guess I will focus on my artistic iron work and wood work . I’m slow , its easy on the back and physically and mentally therapeutic . I have had parts and pieces salvaged from cars and trucks , engines and transmissions for years that I somehow felt would make a very interesting windmill , wind chime .
I always loved windmills , the traditional ones that pumped water ,the ones that made electricity and the artistic ones made from all sorts of things that make pretty designs when the wind blows them . I figured out how to make a wind chime driven by a windmill and that’s what I’m going to do .
My son needs a good car and my daughter needs a little help too . Both worked their butts off to earn full ride scholarships and pay their own way through school . My goal is to take what little health I have left and give them that last little push out of the nest . I am so proud of them and I know they will be just fine out in the real world . I don’t want them to struggle like I did . I want to push them out of the nest and see them fly . Chelsie just found herself over $700 short on her next semester after scholarships hit . She didn’t want to burden me with it so she started her own little fund raising project and pulled $600 out of thin air . Tristan desperately needs a car and I’m trying my best to find him something dependable . To my surprise he has salted back about $1500 for a car . It made me even more proud of them but it hurts because I cant help them anymore . I’m going to rest the next few days . I don’t have firewood to heat the shop , my arm cant handle the cold but when it warms up ,, I’m building a windmill . I have my ideas ,, what’s yours ? What would you think would make a good windmill ? I want it artistic , functional , musical and something someone would like to have in their possession . I’m open to suggestions , lets build a windmill so talk to me 🙂 Goodnite Mark