The Freewheel is here!

The Freewheel is here! We've actually had it for about ten days now and we are loving it--the entire family. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve; even small adjustments to a wheelchair require a period of readjustment. But on the whole we are all very enthusiastic about this contraption. Joseph used to handle standard city sidewalks with relative ease but now he positively flies down them.

He and Margaret race to Mass every morning now (she on her bike). Joseph doesn't balk and flinch coming down every curb break wondering if he's going to face plant in the street. He's started to experiment getting up and down curbs on his own and, when he's hesitant, we can easily get him up and down large curbs ourselves without stopping to adjust his anti-tip bars and then bump him up and down backwards.

Eric took the kids to the farm last week to pick up our milk and eggs. We've been going to this farm for a couple years and it's always been sort of a bummer because Joseph can't really get around and see much of anything. He's always said he wants to be a farmer and we've sometimes gently pointed out that wheelchairs can't really get around that well in fields. This trip to the farm was completely different. He bumped himself right up into the farm store and then tooled around with the other kids looking at animals. He handled the gravel, he went up and down grassy hills. It was awesome.

We take walks in the neighborhood as much as we can after dinner in the summer. Last night Joseph was able to wheel onto the grass with the other kids and try to catch fireflies. We haven't been to the beach, yet, but we may try that soon. Exciting times.

Progress

Yesterday I zipped down to our Home Depot Tool Rental store and got myself 24 hours with a random orbital floor sander. Our Home Depot is staffed with equal parts really competent people who are over eager to help me hunt down everything and load it into my car and young, lazy, jerks who openly mock women who claim to be competent with power tools and like to make a big show out of lifting 80 pounds into someone's car (I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't lift 80 pounds but this seems within the comfortable range for most 20-year-old men, right?). I was disappointed to find the latter type on duty yesterday but after suffering through thirty minutes of incompetence I was on my way back home with the sander and a huge stack of crazy expensive sandpaper.

In a classic, novice DIYer moment I totally forgot to budget for the sandpaper. Or, more, I thought, "It's paper. How expensive can it be?" Fortunately, Home Depot sends you home with gobs of it and then credits you for anything you bring back and I was able to return quite a bit of the finer grit paper.

William was hoping that he would be the one to operate the sander (I briefly toyed with the idea of renting him a mini bulldozer for the day but I couldn't fit it in the minivan):

Eric was actually the first to take the sander for a spin and, as you can see, the first pass gave some impressive results:

But he quit (at my request) after a few minutes and I started in. And I'll freely admit here as well that I vastly underestimated the amount of work involved in getting these floors back in shape. The sander isn't really hard to use. Honestly, if it weren't for the "Danger: Risk of Explosion" thing emblazoned everywhere you could probably close the door and let this go for a few hours Roomba-style. It's self-propelling and has four randomly-orbiting pads on the bottom so it sort of drives itself around on its own and the operator sort of keeps it in check and gently guides it to spots that need a little more action. But despite using 36-grit sandpaper and despite spending a full three hours in each of these tiny bedrooms (they average at under 10x10) there were still stubborn spots left over.

I don't know how long a job like this usually takes and I'm sure there's some degree of technique involved. It's possible this is just an insanely dull, slow project. But, in retrospect, I probably should have either started with 24-grit paper or opted for a "drum sander". Although that would have left me with a lot more edge clean up.

After three hours in each room I did a nice slow pass in each room with some 80-grit paper and called it a night. By this time I'd spent a full seven hours wrangling an 80-pound vibrating machine on a hot day while wearing a respirator and ear muffs. I was pretty much ready to collapse. But I paused for a minute to snap this shot:

Those are black sandals. I'm glad I had the foresight to wear washable footwear for this project.

The results? I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I have slightly mixed feelings. There are some really stubborn beat-up spots left:

I'll spend some time with my hand-held sander today and tomorrow to see what I can do to make those disappear. But the overall effect is, I think, very positive:

That picture is before sweeping, vacuuming, and finishing. I'm looking around at the wood floors in our apartment and realizing that they contain lots and lots of imperfections and discolorations but I definitely think of our floors as "nice." So I'm hoping our future tenants will have the same reaction.

And if anyone can weigh in on the type of wood we've got here I'd be glad to know. Here's a picture of one of the more interesting sections wiped with a bit of Murphy's Oil to bring out the grain for the picture:

I assume this is oak but the grain seems so much more interesting than usual and it is really varied. Maybe I'm just not used to unfinished hardwoods. We're pretty sure these are original floors and we think the house is about 100 years old (yes, we bought a house not knowing the exact age, welcome to Newark). Someone suggested staining the floors a dark color to hide imperfections but I think, imperfections notwithstanding, it would be a crime to hide this gorgeous wood.

I'll post another update when we're all finished. Oh, and the kitchen is still happening but we jumped on the floors first so as to give the finish plenty of time to cure before the tenants arrive.

Wood floors!

Remember when I mentioned that the front of our rental apartment was really nice? This is a shot of one of the two front rooms, looking into the front room. Nice paint, nice details, and really gorgeous hardwood floors. They look like they were probably very recently refinished.

We love wood floors not only because they are easier on a wheelchair but because they are so gorgeous. They are the norm for floors in our area and--once you've got them--much less expensive to maintain than carpet. This apartment has two back bedrooms. One of them had an old blue carpet with an iron burn right in the middle. The other had ugly, old vinyl tile. We really wanted to replace both of these floors with hardwood but that would have put us over budget on this whole project so we were planning to install new carpet in both bedrooms.

The other day while we were up here dismantling the kitchen I idly asked if we'd looked under the carpet in the first bedroom. Eric pried up a corner of the carpet and found . . . hardwood floors! I'm not sure why we were surprised. I guess I figured that the old owners wouldn't have covered up wood floors if they had them. We then popped up one of the vinyl floor tiles in the back bedroom and found . . . more hardwood floors!

It took about ten minutes to pop up all the tiles and make a big, enormously heavy pile in one room.

But it took the better part of two days for Eric to get all the staples out of the floor in the first room. Whoever installed carpet in that room apparently had the philosophy, "If one staple is good, twenty must be really good!" We are constantly asking ourselves what the previous owners were thinking when they fixed up this house (though their many DIY shortcomings have so far not deterred us from taking on projects ourselves).

And now we have floors that look sort of like this:

Not pretty but I think they are salvageable.

Kitchen Renovation: Before

I wish this were a post all about MY kitchen renovation but it isn't.

You might remember that we bought a two-family house and that we have our first tenants arriving on July 1. We are confident that we have quality tenants arriving and we sincerely hope that they love renting from us and stay for a long time. As any landlord will tell you, turning over an apartment is generally something to be avoided. It costs money and you lose rent during the time it takes. For our first stab at being landlords we wanted to be careful to pick people we had confidence in and we budgeted a couple months' lost rent as part of our move-in expenses so that we could afford to wait for these folks to move in. That also gives us the time to do work in the upstairs apartment if we want. The new tenants have seen lots of pictures so they knew that the apartment they agreed to take had a kitchen like this:

This is actually a perfectly acceptable kitchen for our neighborhood. There are a few luxury condos around but, for the most part, this is a fairly middle-of-the-road kind of place and there are plenty of worse kitchens out there. This one is on par with our two other rentals in the neighborhood and only slightly less-nice than what we have now.

The front rooms of this apartment are nicely painted with gorgeous new hardwood flooring. The back of the apartment has that kitchen, a slightly vintage bathroom, and two small bedrooms with icky flooring. We really wanted to do something to make the back of the apartment more closely match the front both in an attempt to keep our first tenants as long as possible and then turn over the apartment as quickly as possible when it's time to find new tenants.

Some of the problems in this kitchen include a big gaping "open area" that is just crying out for a dishwasher:

Really ugly faux-wood laminate counters with a seam that was never joined:

A plastic "tile-look" backsplash with, um, stick on green leaves:

Green vinyl flooring, and wood-paneling:

The older range is in an unfortunate spot as well.

These old houses have covered fireplaces and the stoves are often oddly-placed as a result. But there was no way to move the stove without starting from scratch with the cabinets and we're not looking to invest that much money into a rental kitchen.

The plan: replace the countertop, including by extending it under the window up to the refrigerator. Install a dishwasher under the new stretch our countertop. Paint the wood paneling (it's old, thin, yucky paneling, not super-nice wood, don't worry!). Paint the cabinets and update the hardware. I haven't ruled out updating the floor with new vinyl tiles but that isn't in the plan at the moment. It is the easiest thing to do in a year or so either in between tenants or to show our appreciation for tenants that stay on. And we're doing all the work ourselves and calling it "practice." I hope the results are nice but I don't think the results could possibly be worse than what we're starting with.

Stay tuned for updates!

Back from the Midwest

Our mostly-annual Midwest road trip came early this summer. Eric's grandfather died on Palm Sunday and the memorial service was held at the end of May in Madison, WI. We left the minute Eric's semester ended (I picked him up at the curb outside his office with a loaded car) and spent ten days away arriving back home very late the night before an all-day meeting Eric had to attend. The timing definitely meant that we spent far less time in St. Paul that we would have liked but given how much we have going on this summer, a shorter trip was probably in order anyway and this forced us to do it.

Eric mostly grew up in Madison so he is always happy for a reason to spend some time there. The memorial service was lovely. Grandpa was very popular and had many old friends in Madison. He was also a veteran of World War II and the military "presentation of colors" at the end was very moving.

I think the highlight of the whole trip might have been the family reunion that evening. Eric's Great-Uncle Ted hosted the entire extended family at his house for the evening. The Iltae are a very musical bunch and Ted's two sons brought out their instruments and entertained us all with song after song after song. I was amazed at the memory these guys had. There was lots of jamming, too. Joseph and Margaret both wanted in on the action with the mandolin:

Joseph actually had pretty good technique thanks to his violin lessons.

We spent some time tooling around Madison. The kids were excited to see houses where Eric had lived and schools he had gone to. We drove back to St. Paul with Eric's brother Ben Sunday afternoon. We made our traditional pit stop at the Norskie Nook and ate way too much pie. I thought this view of Ben was really fun:

He and William, discussing alternate views on fashion:

All in all, it was a lovely, if short, trip. I hope we can make up for it a bit next summer. We have several very good friends in St. Paul and it is hard to see them only once each year.

The Best Birthday Present Ever

After a delicious breakfast this morning the whole family packed in the car and headed a bit south to the New Jersey Abilities Expo. This is a four-day annual event that we missed last year due to travel so we were excited to check it out. We weren't sure what to expect but since it was free of charge we figured there was no harm in stopping by.

The atmosphere was great. It was nice to see so many wheelchair users including lots of happy, healthy adults with similar mobility as Joseph. Every exhibitor was great (including some great wheelchair-bound professionals) and, of course, it was all very wheelchair friendly. Even when Joseph and William managed to team up and plow a power chair through a couple of exhibits there was nothing but good-natured chuckling.

We found several exhibits that we expected and were looking forward to. Many car companies had accessible vehicles on display. We saw lots of configurations for rolling into vans and heard a bit about adapting cars for hand controls. That's a few years down the line, of course, but it's nice to know what's out there. We stopped by a few bathroom renovation tables to pick up information. That project isn't imminent, either, but eventually we hope to have a roll-in shower and roll-under vanity on the main floor. We even happened across the vendor who consulted with us on Joseph's wheelchair and he made a couple of significant on-the-spot adjustments for us.

Then we happened across what I'm starting to think might be the Best Birthday Present Ever: the FreeWheel. In short, FreeWheel is a portable, removable third wheel that you clip on to the front of your chair. That might not sound so impressive so let me back up a little.

Joseph's wheelchair is a fantastic machine. It's really a state-of-the-art manual chair. Wheelchairs are designed with the two large wheels that the operator pushes and then two front casters down next to the footplate. The casters keep you balanced and they swivel and all so they're great and totally necessary . . . as long as you are on a nice, level surface. If those casters hit even a very small bump at any speed the entire chair pitches forward and the operator is either thrown out or, in Joseph's case, suspended in his chair with his face planted in the pavement. Joseph has dumped his chair many times and we are glad that the only injury he has sustained thus far is a scraped chin. But it is a terrifying experience for him (and for me). And it takes some work to get him upright again.

Joseph deals with this caster problem pretty well. We walk around our neighborhood every day and often go out for all day jaunts in New York City. Joseph has gotten pretty good at paying close attention to little bumps in the sidewalk and he just pops a little wheelie to jump the bump. Most of the time this works fine but it means that Joseph uses a lot of energy paying attention to the ground (especially in a new setting) and not as much paying attention to his surroundings. And we we are often stuck at a street crossing with crowded or non-existent curb breaks which means that Eric has to manually bump Joseph up and down. If I'm on my own with the kids this situation can be dangerous if I'm trying to keep an eye on the other three, get a stroller out of traffic and get Joseph up and down a curb. Let's just say I don't take all four kids out on my own all that much.

And then there's the problem of all the "non-smooth" surfaces. In our own neighborhood there are cobblestone driveways or patches of sidewalk that are impossible for Joseph to wheel on. Grass is nearly impossible. Gravel is impossible. Sand is impossible. Going on a trail in the woods is impossible. Ice and snow (even a little bit) is impossible. There are so many places we simply don't go because they aren't wheelchair friendly.

We've known for a long time, of course, that you can get three-wheel bikes. The problem with these is that they are high-end racing models and they are completely impractical unless you are actively working out. You wouldn't, for example, commute to a friend's house in one of these because they'd be impossible in a house. They are also outrageously expensive. What to do? Eric has been brainstorming for awhile how to jerry rig some kind of bicycle attachment to the wheelchair. But someone beat him to it. Check out this video:

Now, an important disclaimer. This wheelchair user is obviously very physically fit and in the prime of his life. Joseph won't be doing quite all those things. But let me emphasize that every single thing pictured in that video is impossible or very nearly so even for that guy without the FreeWheel. If you go to the FreeWheel website you can see other videos--including some of kids--and read more about this.

And the best thing, as you saw in this video, is that the wheel is completely portable and removable. You install a small perch on the back of the chair and the five-pound wheel hangs securely. When you want to use it, you just detach and clip it on to the footplate. The entire round trip is less than a minute. We talked for a long time with the inventor (a quadrapalegic dad who wanted to play in the yard with his kids) and we are extremely excited about this. We couldn't pick one up today because they attachment mechanism needs to be custom-built for a child's chair but we will be calling the measurements in very soon.

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that this could be life-changing for Joseph.

As for what Margaret and William got out of the Expo, they call these their "I Love Joseph" tatoos (don't worry, they're temporary):

Thanks to Robyn for the "rugged, dirty boy pictures".

Any green thumbs in the family?

Anyone who has talked with Joseph has probably heard about his farming dreams. It's not a constant thing with him but, once or twice a year, he gets on a long kick about how he wants to move to a farm--either right now or when he grows up--or farm in our back "yard". Joseph, of course, would also be the first to tell you that, "Just in general, I really can't wheel on grass." Which isn't exactly true but it's definitely not the best surface for him.

Anyway. We have long wanted to do some container gardening so that Joseph can get at what we're growing but we've moved every summer since Joseph was old enough to help plant a seed so we've never taken the plunge. With all we have going on right now, large-scale container gardening isn't a big priority but Eric really, really wanted to try out some lettuce this year. We both have mouth-watering memories from the summer Eric house sat for an older couple who told him to please harvest and eat anything that was ready in the garden while they were gone. Almost every night we went out and picked ourselves an amazing salad.

I can't claim much credit for this project. Eric did all the research and found that lettuce does pretty well in a pretty simple container. My basic contribution was to pick up the lumber during my weekly Home Depot run (during which I discovered that a 10-foot 2x6 board is the largest thing I can safely move to a lumber cart while wearing a baby). Then, during classic "let's do a project" mode at our house, Eric was working from home and pointed out that since the two little boys were asleep I could go out and set up the planter boxes. I was more than happy to do that all on my own but, of course, both boys woke up early and Eric ended up coming out and doing most of the work himself after all.

The kids were jumping out of their skin with excitement. Joseph and Margaret alphabetized the seed packets and placed the seeds carefully.

But William wasn't too pleased when he found out that we hadn't just built him a huge sand box to dig in all the time (I also can't claim any credit at all for this magnificent outfit of his):

Fortunately, there was plenty of watering to do so all three kids got to help with that.

Joseph has checked several times this afternoon and reports that we don't have any plants sprouting quite yet. We're actually a little late to the game with lettuce planting for New Jersey but we're supposed to have lots of cool, rainy weather for the next couple weeks so we're hoping that something will grow. If we have success we may look at what we can plant later in the season or expand things a bit next year.

And Joseph has now decided he wants to be a botanist when he grows up and is requesting that our next home schooling unit with the Rice boys be all about plants (click on that link for some more pics of my kiddos and a peek at what we did this week).

And please excuse our rather sorry-looking patio. We have a construction site next door and they put up a chain link fence inside our property line which we'll have to investigate at some point. And, just generally, the patio was left in a sort of chaotic state. But, living in the city, any outdoor space at all is a bonus so we're happy to have it.