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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Duct tape -my best friend

As a quad with hand and arm paralysis, I know that duct tape solves many things. I keep rolls and rolls of duct tape around - in all colors. I particularly like red and yellow because it makes it easy to find the rolls. The silver duct tape, which is more for evening wear/use, can be hard to find/grab among piles of things.

I'm still looking for sparkle or glow in the dark duct tape for that reason.

My wheelchair is getting to that age where it's squeaking quite a bit and sometimes the parts stop moving. It's not really old - but wheelchairs, when you're active, don't last as long. This morning one of my front casters wouldn't move. That's a drag- literally.

So I decided it needed some WD-40. I can't hold the WD-40, so I bit off some duct tape, taped it onto my lower arm, aimed it in the general direction of my wheelchair and squirted with my chin. (Unless you've been trained by another quad, it's NOT safe so don't try this at home!)

Of course my aim isn't bad. I'm a wheelchair tennis player and I'm used to duct taping my racket on and managing to aim. But using your chin is harder. I missed the wheelchair and the left side that was squeaking. Instead I WD-40'd the floor. I decided I needed to concentrate better and aimed again. This time I hit the mark. I wanted to give my cat, who was watching with fascination, a high five, but being duct taped to the can of WD-40 and trying to squirt it with my chin had me rather busy. I managed to squirt more onto my chair, got the tape off, removed the can (all with my mouth) and tried out the chair.

Beautiful. I rolled around, my cat jumped up into my lap and nuzzled me and all I have to figure out now is how to get the WD 40 off the floor.

Maybe I'll leave that for now.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The silver duct tape, which is more for evening wear"

I don't know why, but that line struck me as comedy gold. Every time I think of it, I can't help smiling. Thanks for the "pick me up".

The best way to remove wd40 is with "rubbing" alcohol - just dab it with a little using a cotton cloth that you don't care about.
Cheers!

Ruth said...

LOL glad you liked that line. You do know that high schoolers make prom outfits every year out of duct tape in a contest? I particularly like the handbags. Thanks for the WD-40 tip!

Anonymous said...

LOL that was so funny! Partly because I'm also a quad and can totally understand! LOL usually it's my guide dog that is sitting there staring at me while I do things like this!

Ruth said...

LOL I get this look from my pet as if to say 'you sure doing that's a good idea?' it's very funny! thanks for your comment (always nice to meet another quad too)

n. said...

mad skillz
mad propz

(or something like that)

Ruth said...

Natalia,
thanks for coming by- just realized I don't have your blog in my links - will add that now!