Thoughts From the Front Porch

Standard Rear Wheel Power Chair

A close friend and relative asked me recently was I surprised that I had made it to the age of 50. She told me that after I was seriously injured in 1977 she and her mamma thought I would die early in life. I must admit that I am rather shocked to have made it this far. When I was injured, I was told that an 18 year old quadriplegic could automatically add at least 20 years to their age. People talk about aging quickly but nothing is like going from 18 to 38 in one day.

I recently looked at the current statistics they have for paraplegics and quadriplegics and discovered that the number is 15 years instead of 20 due to better medications mostly. I guess at that moment I suddenly gained 5 years. According to the latest statistics, I am now 65 instead of 70 in quadriplegia years. Does that make sense?

Now that I have reached 50 in actual years it amazes me how much has changed over the last 30 years for those of us with disabilities. Some of the change has been good and has also been very beneficial to me. Without doubt, the home computer has been a major instrument in my life for years. After my injury I learned to type with a mouthstick since I could not use my arms or hands. Nothing would try my patience like getting to the last paragraph and making a critical error using the old electric typewriter. That meant that I had to start completely over. I never remember typing anything without having to start over numerous times. Now the computer allows me to use the often used and lifesaving backspace key. Some days I truly would like to see my computer smashed with a sledgehammer but in reality, life would not be the same without it.

The advancement that has had the greatest impact on my life is without doubt the power chair. In 1977 people used electric chairs and they were practically useless to me. They had no power at all and if you tried using them on anything other than a smooth flat surface they would bog down and stop. A manual wheelchair with a big puff of wind behind it had more power. The power shortage changed in the early nineties when companies such as Invacare came out with the power chair.

My first power chair was an Invacare Action Arrow Storm. The power and technology of the chair was unbelievable. It powered up from two 12-volt batteries, had a top speed of 9 mph and could climb steeper grades than many of my friends could walk. Everything was controlled by a small computer that was tucked under the seat. The computer could be set to command the chair how quickly it should brake, accelerate, turn, reverse plus many other features. The chair even had an independent suspension that made going over rough terrain a breeze. The most remarkable device was that it could be driven by hand or in my case sip & puff.

The sip & puff technology amazes many people and some people are around me for years and cannot figure out how it works. They eventually relent and ask me how I make the chair do what I want it to do. I am always more than happy to tell them.

I am using my third power chair now. It still uses the same basic technology as the first. I now use what is called a “center drive” chair. It has three sets of two wheels with the center two delivering the power. The main advantage of this type of chair is that it will turn on a zero radius. The drawback is that it will jar your teeth out if you travel across rough ground. That problem has now been rectified. The new center drive chairs have independent suspensions that make rough ground much smoother.

One of the most useful advancements since my injury is the air mattress. Bed sores is a major factor in the health of anyone with a severe disability. There are many different types of air mattresses today but they all work using the same technology. They alternate pressure points to different areas of the body by increasing and decreasing air.

My mattress has ten round cylinders that lay crossways on the bed. The mattress is connected to a small air pump that alternates the air in the cylinders. The mattress at any given moment has each even numbered cylinder blown to full capacity while the odd numbered cylinders are holding approximately 80 percent. After two minutes, the pump releases air from the even rows and increases the pressure in the odd rows. This continuing cycle takes place 24 hours a day without me hardly noticing it. In 31 years I have never had a bed sore. That is quite remarkable feat that would be impossible without the air mattress.

Center Drive Chair with Tilt Seating

In the last 15 years we have seen huge strides in voice activation software for home computers. Dragon Naturally Speaking has been the leader in this market for years. It is amazingly accurate if your computer has a good sound card and you order a top flight microphone. If you dictate a lot of letters and emails Dragon Naturally speaking is worth the money if you are a poor typist or you suffer a disability that limits arm and hand movement.

Without doubt the biggest change has been with society itself. Until the mid-nineties anyone with a severe disability had to accept the stares and whispers of the general public. Very few people with disabilities ventured out into public areas. Today, my disabled brothers and sisters are common visitors to local department stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and the job market. The American Disabilities Association has pushed hard to make public buildings accessible and they have been very successful.

In the future we will continue to see technology make huge strides that will make life better for those with disabilities and the elderly. We have had the technology for years to make a voice activated device that could control heating, cooling, lighting and communication inside the home. The expense of the device and installation has been the biggest drawback. This technology will one day be standard equipment in every home.

Power chairs will continue to make huge strides. Those suffering disabilities at early ages today will use chairs that can climb stairs and curbs plus have the ability to increase and decrease height. The chair will rise up so that the occupant can talk with another person at eye level or lower to fit under a table better.

Will we ever be able to repair broken spines? Probably, but we are still years away from that day. Until then, the answer is in technology. Life can be good now and future generations will enjoy advancements beyond my wildest dreams 30 years ago.

Rollin’ Along is a Series by Mark Martin

Rollin' Along

In the south when things are going well or you have just eaten a fine meal we refer to it as, “eating high on the hog.” With the economy like it is and with utilities and food prices going up it has become necessary for many of us to eat a little lower on the hog in order to make ends meet. Today I will pass along a few simple tips this old bachelor has discovered that may be of benefit to you during the winter months.

Tip #1 - Open Those Shades

In the winter months heating costs is one of our most expensive necessities. Of course we all know to lower our thermostats but in realty that is only touching the tip of the iceberg. One of the best energy savers is sitting right outside on clear days…the sun.

The sun is a great source of free heat. Each morning make sure you open your curtains, blinds or shades on the east and south sides of your house. You will be shocked at how much heat will flood into your home and keep your heating unit from running as often.

Tip #2 - Think Infrared or Blue Flame

If you are like me you tend to spend most of your inside hours in one room. Why heat every room in your house to 72 degrees if you seldom if ever go in them? Go to your local hardware or Lowe’s and purchase an infrared or blue flame heater and put it in the room where you spend most of your time. It will pay for itself within the first two months.

I keep my forced air unit’s thermostat on 68 degrees almost every day. In the room where I spend most of my time, I purchased an infrared heater with a thermostat and I keep this area a cozy 72-73 degrees all day. Not only are you saving money by only fully heating one or two rooms but the infrared and blue flame heaters are much more efficient than forced air.

Usually the question is whether to purchase infrared or blue flame. The answer is really very simple. Purchase an infrared heater if you stay in a room with a lot of furniture and you plan on spending your time close to the heater. An infrared works much like the sun, it heats objects and clothing. The blue flame heater heats only the air and works better in large open rooms. Both have the same high efficiency rating so you really can’t go wrong with either one.

Tip #3 - Use Your Ceiling Fan the Right Way

A ceiling fan will help lower heating costs if you use it the right way. Many people with infrared or blue flame heaters, wood stoves or fireplaces use a ceiling fan to circulate the heat throughout their home. Unfortunately, most people put their fan in reverse thus defeating the purpose. Remember, heat rises automatically and needs no help from a fan. Leave your fan running very slowly in forward and it will dissipate the rising heat back down on the floor and throughout your house. If you use only forced air do not use a fan at all unless you have extremely high ceilings. Forced air is automatically circulated by design.

Tip #4 - Turn that Stove Off

Every electric appliance in your kitchen is an energy hog. One of the biggest energy gluttons is your stove. Obviously the less you use it the more energy you save. I have found that cooking large amounts at once will add a few dollars to your wallet each month. Consider cooking an oven full of food such as meat or cornbread all at once. When the everything is finished cooking, divide it into individual portions and pull them out as needed. Do the same thing on your stove top with foods such as chili and soups. You will save energy, wash fewer dishes and save a lot of time. This works great if you live alone or it is just you and a spouse.

Tip #5 - Forget Fast Food

We seem to be fast food crazy these days. We all like quick and simple but the problem with that is that it’s usually expensive to live that way. It is time many people return to their roots and get back to eating beans and potatoes. I am not sure you have noticed it or not but you can eat a lot of butterbeans and cornbread for less than the price of one Big Mac. Many people will tell you that McDonald’s dollar menu is a great buy. It does sound great until you realize that you have just purchased five items just for yourself. I’ll stick to my beans and taters thank you.

Obviously there are many more ways to save money. I’ll post some more occasionally as we roll along over many different topics. For now though, feel free to pass along a few of your favorite tips in the comments section. We all may be eating lower on the hog before this economy rebounds.

Rollin' Along

I cannot recall the exact year that StClairCountyAl.com was born but according to the Wayback Machine it was first published November 26, 1999. I was contacted by Rep. Dave Thomas to build a website that would promote St. Clair County. He wanted visitors to be able to access the site and learn about our towns and to promote our schools. I had recently decided to start learning website design and had built my first website for Epperson Realty Company in Moody for $100.00. I was eager to try my hand at building another one.

I soon found out that building StClairCountyAl.com was more than I had bargained for. I visited towns and cities gathering information and taking photographs. I was rejected by some towns completely. The mayor at Riverside told me that he did not want his town mentioned on the internet. I politely obliged his request. I met with St. Clair County Superintendent Marie Manning and she supplied me with information about our school system. I then begin the building process.

The original design was poorly done. It was red and white and proved to be of little interest to citizens or visitors. I paid a service to track website visitors and discovered that my second website averaged a whopping 10 visitors per day during the week and less than 5 per day on weekends. Rep. Dave Thomas seemed pleased with the effort but I knew that it was not a very good website and a waste of money.

The following year very little went on with the site. Few changes were made to it and the visitor count remained the same. I knew Rep. Thomas was disappointed with the numbers so I asked him if I could take over ownership of the site. He quickly agreed and I became owner of my very own website. I had no idea it would turn into a monster and an old friend.

I felt like StClairCountyAl.com would be a good place to practice website design and I could use some of the server space to practice the tricks of my trade. I had created a dinky discussion board in 1999 that I never expected anyone to use. I learned a lot creating it and that satisfied me.

Surprisingly. in 2000 Jim Burton who lived near Low Gap Methodist Church made the first post and I replied. Before long, two or three more people started posting. I named the board “The Breakfast Club” and we had a nice and friendly little board. Except for Jim Burton’s complaints that St. Clair County High needed a new school not an ill word was posted.

The site was redesigned in 2000. The site looked better though quite gaudy. The site was navy blue, green and orange in the header and on the borders. Each color blended into the other. The members of the discussion board grew gradually but still only had a few members. The site still only offered the same basic information.

In 2001-2002 nothing was added with any significance. I had added a listing of all county churches and restaurants in the county. Very few people used these pages so they did not last long. I also sold advertising space and this helped offset the cost of hosting a website.

The year 2003 turned out to be the year StClairCountyAl.com would start to show signs of becoming a decent website. I received an email from a retired school teacher named Joe Whitten. He had taught my oldest brother in high school and he offered to send me periodic history articles. I did some research and quickly learned that Joe Whitten and his wife Gail were loved and respected throughout our county. I emailed Mr. Whitten back and accepted his kind offer.

Also in 2003 Jerry Smith, who was one of the first members of “The Breakfast Club,” offered to do a series entitled “The Grouchy Glutton.” The Grouchy Glutton and his articles soon became fairly popular. Some restaurant owners hung his reviews up in their restaurant and that added visitors to StClairCountyAl.com.

Also in 2003 I met with two realtors and they verbally agreed to hire me to build a website for their new company. I needed a robust commercial product specifically designed for realtors so I purchased the product from a company called Interactive Tools for $299.00. A month later the two realtors decided not to start the company and I was stuck with a loss of nearly $300.00. I decided not to let the product go to waste; I reworked the design and coding so that it would function as a photo gallery. The gallery proved successful immediately. Many current and past citizens began submitting very good historic and modern era photos that visitors thoroughly enjoyed viewing. It became obvious at that point that StClairCountyAl.com had ceased to be my site and became a website belonging to everyone who contributed to it.

Finally in 2003 Jerry Smith contacted me about doing a second series that would be called “Driving Dixie.” This would be a series of articles describing great one day trips St. Clair County citizens could travel to that few people knew about. They were very informative and people enjoyed reading them.

In 2003 alone StClairCountyAl.com had added three new series and a popular photo gallery. The site had finally found its legs.

In 2004 another major series was added. Jerry Smith’s third and most popular series began, “The Time Machine.” The first article was first published June 28, 2004 and it was entitled “The Neighborhood Picture Show.” The series featured life in the fifties and was immediately popular with visitors.

A book and movie series was tried but it did not do very well. I discarded the series after only a few months.

In 2005 the site was doing well. Visitors were gradually increasing in every  major section of the site. I think all of us who had contributed to the site were pleased with it.

In 2006 StClairCountyAl.com averaged over 200 visitors daily. A new series entitled, “This, That & Nothing” was started and many regular visitors to the website contributed to it. The series ranged from the humorous to the sublime. It, like all the other series proved successful. Over 100 visitors each weekday were reading each series. The history articles and photo gallery were proving to be a great resource for students, history buffs and those involved in genealogy. “Meet Your Neighbor” surpassed the 300 membership and was growing steadily.

I began to seriously believe that StClairCountyAl.com could eventually average 500 visitors a day. I knew it would take a major new section that had yet to occur to any of us but we were on a roll and 500 visitors seemed reasonable considering the rate our county was growing.

The 2007 year started much like 2006 had ended; all the series were doing well along with the growing photo gallery. The website was being visited by over 225 visitors per day. There were no major additions in 2007 since all the series continued to be successful and the discussion board was growing daily. But, for the first time problems loomed on the horizon and I knew of no way to combat the problem. Springville and Argo politics began to creep into the discussion board topics.

By the end of 2007 “Meet Your Neighbor” became a microcosm of our society. Instead of being a place where friends met and discussed and debated local, state and national issues without bitterness, the words “free speech” and “my rights” began to show up in posts. Though there was still good camaraderie among the daily visitors one could feel the gradual erosion of the discussion board. Springville and Argo political posts increased and deleting of posts became a common occurrence. Though the membership on the board was increasing daily, there was little doubt that 2008 would not be a great year for StClairCountyAl.com.

The year 2008 will be regarded as StClairCountyAl.com’s low point. For the first time a major section of the site had to be removed entirely. Membership on the discussion board continued to increase. By late spring the number of members surpassed 600 members. The discussion board had become a major force for both good and bad thus causing headaches for me and Jerry Smith who had volunteered to help moderate the board.  In the late summer I hit the delete key for the last time and “Meet Your Neighbor” was removed from StClairCountyAl.com. It was like killing an old and dear friend.

“Meet Your Neighbor” was only a part of the overall site. The articles, photo gallery, weather information and general information about our towns and libraries were still the foundation that held everything together. The discussion board loss gave me the opportunity to add a sub-site called “Thoughts from the Front Porch.” I decided this new mini-site would allow me to introduce blogging to visitors of StClairCountyAl.com. So far “Thoughts from the Front Porch” has increased its audience each week and now welcomes over 40 readers daily to the blog. Only time will tell if these numbers will continue to increase or eventually decline.

StClairCountyAl.com was redesigned once again in October, 2008 and the site continues to draw over 225 visitors daily with a slight drop-off on weekends. The site that started out as a poor excuse for a website now contains a large amount of valuable information and entertainment that continues to increase weekly. The site still and will always belong to everyone who has contributed to it.

As we draw close to 2009 I really do not know what will eventually happen to StClairCountyAl.com.  I do know that more improvements are planned. Hopefully the site will continue to be something so many people can be proud to have been a contributor. My hope is that it will one day be taken over by another designer and the wealth of information will be passed along to another generation of contributors and visitors. For now, I think I will hold on to StClairCountyAl.com though; she has become a daily and delightful companion.

StClairCountyAl.com Facts
The most visited page - The Battle of White’s Chapel
The most viewed photo - Klu Klux Klan
The most viewed discussion board thread - The Stupid Thread

“Rollin’ Along” is a series written by Mark Martin

Rollin' Along

Most people in Alabama believe the biggest rivalry of the year in college football is the Alabama vs Auburn game. It has been voted nationally the biggest rivalry in many polls over the years surpassing such annual rivalries as Oklahoma vs Texas, Notre Dame vs USC, Miami vs Florida St., and Georgia vs Florida. For me, the biggest rivalry is the Army vs Navy game.

No game in college football can match the pageantry, class, worldwide enthusiasm and the determination to win like the players playing in the Army vs Navy game. These two teams meet annually and very seldom is there a player with NFL talent on the field; it is doubtful whether any starting player on either team could start for a top 20 college football program.  This year the two teams met for the 109th time and for the 7th straight year Navy beat Army. The final score was Navy 34 - Army 0.

There is not a more beautiful pre-game in all of college football like this game. Even if you are not a football fan, you cannot help but be moved as the entire Army Core of Cadets from West Point and the Midshipmen from Annapolis march into the stadium dressed in full formal uniform. Their presence is a reminder of our history and a hope for our nation’s future.

The game is played by scholars with academic skill. Both team’s players play as if each play was their last and the game’s outcome was being decided by their performance. Even when Navy took a three score lead and it was obvious to the casual fan which was the better team, Army continued to play as if the score was tied. The cadets and midshipman in the stands stood the entire game as is their custom and cheered for their teams until the end.

I enjoy the game because these players play the game as it was meant to be played. No player on either side taunts the opposing team or seeks individual recognition. There is no, “look at me” in these young men as there is in all other college football games played each fall Saturday.

The game is also bittersweet. I hate that one of these teams must lose. It is especially difficult for the Army seniors who never tasted victory against their biggest rival. Every year losing seniors weep like boys. For these seniors, it is more than a game, it is a test of will and a reminder that never again will they set foot on the football gridiron as a competitor.

The events closing stanza is the true testament of the quality of these players. Both teams stand side-by-side, and each school sings its alma manta. First, the two teams turn towards the losing academy’s student body and then turn toward the winning side. Players then like in most college games mingle with opposing players and exchange well wishes.

Though not mentioned, all know as these players walk off the field that for some they may not witness another game. All seniors will begin serving their five year commitment in May. This time next year some will be standing in the sand of Iraq or in the hills of Afghanistan. College football for the academies is a game, not life and death as so many seem to think. These young men more than most understand the difference.

Rollin’ Along is a series by Mark Martin.

Rollin' Along