Single Seater Rocket Copter, Dragonfly is Environment Friendly but Pricey

amazing... but things work like that.. you pray, you have faith, you cry, you bleed... you accept.. you forgive.. rinse and repeat. and then things one day just change...

how is your foot?

chris

ya, you've got that right Chris!

The foot is doing great! Then wound finally closed up a month ago and I was discharged from the Wound Care Center back then. It's slowly getting less painful (not enough fatty tissue yet between the heel bone and the surface).....I won't be jumping outta any perfectly good airplanes anytime soon, that's for sure. I also have to lose some more weight. So far since Feb. when I was at the heaviest during a weight rebound I have lost65 pounds! If it wasn't for this summer-long heat wave we've been experiencing down here (hottest summer on record), i would have been much more active outdoors and may have lost much more. But hey, who wants to do any work outside when it's 98 and 100% humidity!!! YUK Back on July 2 I think it was, we set a local high here of 106 Degrees F! Thank goodness we had bought a couple of new window A/C units beforehand!!! LOL

Thanks for asking! How's things going for you? Any job prospects lately?

I spent a month up north last year, wearing new workboots.. and ended up with an open sore for a month and a half.. couldn't walk right.. so I definitely sympathize with what you went through. glad you have recovered. I did learn that peroxide doesn't cure everything.. lol... the doctor said that it is too aggressive for open applications like that... so I had to put ointment on it.. but it didn't really heal until I spend days with it open to the air. (after I got out of the camp)

no job prospects... I'm looking at going to school right now.. found a couple of very interesting things that would help give me some traction.

http://www.cd-ed.com/
http://www.rdc.ab.ca/continuing_education/performing_arts/Documents/MM%20Information%20Session%20Package%202010.pdf

cheers,

Chris

Chris,

Oocchhhhh, that foot wound sounds nasty! Glad it has healed for you finally. New boots will always do your feet in faster than anything else, especially if they're stiff and your feet and socks get wet. I learned that the hard way during the US Army's Basic Military Training way back when. Issued new combat boots and had no real chance to break them in the proper way before having to do all that "forced road matching" stuff for miles and miles and miles, and wearing them for countless hours at a stretch. Basically, if you have stiff un-broken in boots and your feet get wet you typically end up what is called "Trench foot". Only way to get rid of it is to get the boots broken in quickly, but also keeping your feet dry as much as you can. That means frequently taking off your boots, drying them out as best as you can, then drying your feet out in the air for a period of time as well as constantly changing into new dry socks.

I've found the best way to break-in new leather boots is to totally soak them in warm or hot water in the tub for hours (overnight is good), then wear them for at least 4 to 6 hours just walking around the house. Make sure you wear heavy winter wool socks while doing this. Make absolutely sure you don't develop trench foot while breaking in the boots! Of course you may have to keep repeating this break-in procedure for a few more days all the way up to an entire week. It all depends on the construction and quality of the boot itself. Never buy cheaply made or loose fitting boots either.

Yeah, hydrogen peroxide is not the best stuff to treat or disinfect a deep foot wound, as it tends to be too strong and kills the good live skin and tissue cells in and around the open wound. Instead use a topical gel called Hydro-gel applied to the clean wound with sterile cotton swabs. It is over-the-counter and comes in a tube...realitively inexpensive too. It really does work wonders! I've also found that very diluted Iodine solution can be very useful for disinfecting the wound. Even soapy warm water is better than nothing at all. Also, changing wound dressings frequently helps tremendously, along with periods of just airing out the wound. Fastest way to close a wound is to have a Doctor debrid a wound every 3 or 4 days a week......meaning the dead skin has to be surgically cut away around the perimeter of the wound as sometimes inside the wound. Make sure you take a few Advil's beforehand and always ask for them to "numb" the area surrounding the wound with LMX (Lidocaine, 6%)!!!! I've also am a firm believer in drinking or eating Acai berries because they have incredible amounts of anti-oxidants that promote healing.....try "Mona Vie" juice. It's very expensive, but I swear it works on helping close up wounds, especially if you drink a bottle of it per day.

Sorry that this got so long! I tend to get long winded and write "novels".

Good luck on the new education track! What major area of study are you thinking of taking? I could open the 2nd link that you provided.

Time to head outside to watch the Perseid meteor showers!

On the Haiti topic.. I just saw an Anderson Cooper AC360 topic covering the making of compressed earth blocks in Madagascar (per cwarner7_11) which was suggested to rebuild in Haiti. Also of interest is that Madagascar has french language usage.

Chris

Just been thinking to myself: could TCP be a relative of sorts to the spray-on Bayer anti-septic product "Bactine"? That stuff works great to numb the nerve endings in and around open wounds. 2 years ago when I had open diabetic wounds entirely all around both legs below the knees, using Bactine was the only way I could effectively numb the wounds for Debridment at the local Wound Care Center, even when I popped several Advil along with prescription pain killers! Thank God I found a Wound Care RN in this wound care facility that was willing to work with me by using the Bactine before she sliced and diced the wounds, otherwise I would have forgo the surgery. I fought those wounds for nearly 8 years and went through 5 different hospital wound care centers before I found this nurse. She knew more about wound care treatment then most doctors, and is in my mind a Angel of Mercy. I can't thank her enough to this day, as she saved my legs from amputation due to several very bad episodes of barely treatable deep infections. Of course she knew exactly what I was going through because she is a breast cancer survivor having lost both to surgery. During this period of time I had fired countless Doctors because of the incorrect treatments I was receiving from them (my wife, a RN of 33-years concurred with me) ....many were a little to fast to suggest that I have my legs removed! NO WAY! I'm glad to this day that I didn't listen to them and am in full recovery + lost well over 120 pounds to boot...now I'm mobile again and thinking of getting off Social Security Disability and getting back to work finally after 6 years hiatus.

sorry to digress, but my story points out that with the right medical personnel, medicines, and treatments that anything is possible. Also, mind over matter + being PROACTIVE in one's own healthcare sure helps.

I wish you all the luck in the world.

Please keep us informed how things work out for you.

Andy, many thanks for the well wishes. I'll try to keep everyone abreast of my health revival. Hopefully soon the Doc's will approve my Lap Band surgery so I can accelerate this weight loss!

I'll try to find the TCP or its equivalent here in the States. I asked my wife about it and she has never heard of TCP, and she's well versed in most nearly all of the medications available here, both over-the-counter and prescription. It may very well be that the it's use is not allowed here or not approved by the Federal government.

I hope to God that you never develop diabetic ulcers like I did! Heaven forbid anyone else going through that sort of hellish nightmare. Are you Type II diabetes? If so, simply by losing a lot of unwanted weight and belly fat may reverse the diabetes as well as sleep apnea and hypertension. So far I've greatly reduced all with my weight loss mainly by proper diet and some exercise. I know that will be hard given the typical German diet, including bier. Love German cuisine ever since I was a little guy....my Paternal Grandmother was 1/2 German and 1/2 Dutch, born in Munich Bavaria. Some day soon I'll get back to Germany, possibly for the Oktoberfest. There nothing like wolfing down Weiner Schnitzel, Knockwurst's with sauerkraut, spatzele, and washing it all down with a tall stein of Spaten straight from the tap! Last time I was in Bavaria was 1998 REFORGER while I was in the US Army Reserves. That was the 4th time to Germany and I cannot get enough of the country and it's people.....only wish my "pigeon" German was a lot better! Good thing my unit exerciosed alongside a West German Army Reservist Engineering Company, otherwise my lousey command of the German language may have started WWIII quite by accident!!!LOL

Andy, where in Germany are you from? Just curious.

Surprised how this blog started out about rocket powered helicopters and ended up talking about medicines and German cuisine!!! lmao

Look at my Avatar.....I am close to that point given!!!!

wow!

I assume that peroxide is cheap? what is the carbon footprint for making peroxide anyway? is it better than conventional fuels?

I think I showed this idea somewhere here before.. it is one i had about 25 years ago. a one person copter. basically a gimballed motorcycle engine and coax rotors, with differential drive (rubber wheel) (potential to rotate on z axis by differing the rotor individual speeds)

you raise or lower the stick, and it tilts the rotor. you swing the stick, and it rotates teh tilted rotor. very simplistic. (probably wouldn't fly) the fuel is in the base, so gravity of that, plus other weights acts against the angle of the rotor to dampen the motion.