The
concrete foundation walls were poured and pumped on November 5, 2005.
On November
6 at Boardman's farm, helping Bill's dad, Dean tripped on boot cleaner and shattered
his knee.
The knee was so badly damaged, Dean had to wait almost a month to have
the knee rebroken by a specialist.
He would then go under sedation and under the
knife for seven hours while they rebuilt it.
As can be seen, they added a few
rooms and a garage as well.
While waiting for surgery, with the use of copious
amounts of painkillers, Dean single-handedly removed all the foundation forms from
the pour.
Dean was now a disabled adult. It would require five more years of appeals
before he was allowed insurance and any help.
"Oh, you can work as a greeter
at Walmart", was the official rejoinder. You can imagine Dean's official response.
Everything
after this point was a bit more difficult.
Dean's grandfather, Russell White,
had lost his right leg in a train accident in 1919.
He worked his entire life
in the oilfields of Kansas as a driller with a wooden leg. Sufficient precedence
for Dean.
Russell could pull himself all the way to the top of a wooden derrick
just using his arms.
Dean manages scaffolding and ladders in a similar fashion.
In
November 2005, Bruce from