Sarah Helmick State Park
This morning, we drove down to Sarah Helmick State Park, south of Monmouth, to test out using my new walker on a bird walk. Debilitating pain in my lower back has made it necessary to use a walker to get around. I got my walker on December 7th as shown below. I have used it up and down the halls and trips to the dining rooms here at Dallas Retirement Village, and also out on the sidewalks for some short jaunts to check for birds. But this was our first full-blown test. Load up the walker in the back of the car, drive to the park, unload the walker, strap on the camera, strap on the binoculars, turn on the Merlin bird app to identify birds by sound, and then start pushing the walker. Mainly it was successful. One of the surprising, best benefits was the ability to sit down and rest my back when the pain started to interfere. On this test we did a half mile loop through the park, and I took advantage of sitting several times. You can see our bird list here.
We are feeling quite encouraged that we will be able to continue our love for birding using this new helper. I have been having fun getting it adjusted to fit just right. I've added an accessory to hold my coffee cup and cell phone, which comes in handy when we go first thing every morning down the hall to work out in the exercise room known as The Mill, and then downstairs to The Lobby to read the newspaper by the fireplace, and top off our coffee with a complimentary refill. Perhaps you get the picture, it's a pretty good life.
That kind of walker is wonderfully multipurposed.
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