Manual Transmission

Thursday evening wrap up was three conversations - first with Grandma and Grandpa and then with the man, himself (and he is a man), and finally with Uncle John. Tim and Grandpa enjoyed lunch together today on that good ol' patio. I often reflect that another small blessing in all of this, is that Tim is able to do his rehab at a time of year when he can go outdoors and get some fresh air and a change of scenery. Doing something like this in January would require another level of committment and toughness for sure. Tim was in a manual wheelchair all day today, which was very tiring and required learning some new techniques. There's also no way to nap in one of these, so he was beat! He feels better about it, though, because it is more flexible - easier access to the elevator for instance. It's what he'll be using when we come home, and that was another reason they had him doing it. John noted that Tim was energetic and seemed pretty comfortable getting around that way by the end of the day. My dad noted that Tim's manual dexterity had improved greatly (this is the benefit of a once-a-week observation - all the little things add up to one big change) and he was able to hold and drink from his Gatorade bottle. They had a nice conversation about the new community service project Grandpa's involved in down in Orleans. Spinal Cord Injury Education class today was about driving cars. Tim said he got several new resources to learn more, and that he will need to be re-licensed.

The folks from ATEC came by with an Apple MacBook with voice recognition software and he was able to work with that for awhile. The first thing that Tim wanted to purchase with the funds raised for him is a new laptop with technologies that will enable him to be connected through the Internet. So, that's on order and soon he'll be able to read and send emails and IM's and make his own posts to this blog. We'll of course let you know when that is live. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to the Butters Fund. He ended our conversation with "I'm pretty tuckered out. Did I just say 'tuckered out?' I wonder where that came from? I really must be tired."

A little side note - The Zucchini Festival was nicely reviewed in today's Eagle, catching at least one hipster off guard! Read on about a town with "a sense of community and hospitality" and "a population of high-quality neighbors who really know how to pull together a party." http://www.berkshireeagle.com/the413/ci_6629639