[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Fw: Saving the bluebirds

[Shelley L. Rhodes]

Shelley L. Rhodes B.S. Ed, CTVI
and Judson, guiding golden
juddysbuddy at velocity.net
Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
Graduate Alumni Association Board
www.guidedogs.com

Dog ownership is like a rainbow.
 Puppies are the joy at one end.
 Old dogs are the treasure at the other.
Carolyn Alexander

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <blindnews at blindprogramming.com>
To: <BlindNews at BlindProgramming.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:24 PM
Subject: Saving the bluebirds


Daily Press, VA, USA
Saturday, March 31, 2007

Saving the bluebirds

By KATHY VAN MULLEKOM 247-4781

A blind man in York County builds a bounty of birdhouses

March 31, 2007 YORK COUNTY -- Jimmy Sparrer is a bluebird's best friend. 
During the past 35 years, he's built about 3,000 nesting boxes for the 
brilliant bluebirds he never sees.

Blind since a hunting accident in 1953, Sparrer, now 84, crafts bluebird 
nesting boxes in a lean-to style woodworking shop near his home in Seaford. 
He uses power equipment - table saw and drill press - and a hammer to 
assemble the boxes. His hands guide his every move.

"Ya'll look but don't talk to me," he says while visitors watch him put 
together boxes.

"I like to concentrate when I'm messing around these tools."

Sparrer, who "reads" publications such as National Geographic magazine on 
tape, says his motivation to build the nesting boxes started when he learned 
bluebirds were in trouble.

"At one time, bluebirds were almost extinct because they didn't have a place 
to nest," he says.

When Sparrer isn't in his wood shop, he listens to books and magazines and 
lunches on his favorite barbecue or chicken salad sandwich at the nearby 
Seaford Country Market.

"Since I've been blind, I don't know the thousands of books I've read by 
tape or disc," he says. "I can read Braille but I've never read enough of it 
to read fast."

Sparrer retired in 1989 from the photography lab at NASA Langley Research 
Center in Hampton, he says. Before he lost his sight, he was a model maker 
at the center. He and wife Kay have been married 54 years; their son, 
Preston, is a pathologist living in Williamsburg.

The woodworker says he would be lost without his bluebird boxes, which he 
gives away free or in return for a few dollars to buy nails to build more. 
"It gives me something to do," says Sparrer, who also occasionally makes 
picnic tables and small furniture pieces for family and friends.

His shop, which measures about 8 feet wide and 30 feet long, is cluttered 
with boards of pressure-treated lumber he uses for the bird boxes. It looks 
unorganized, but he knows where every nail is kept and each handsaw is hung.

"Where did my block go?" he says. Because he can't see increments on a 
measuring tape, he uses precut blocks of wood to measure spacings on the 
boxes.

Sparrer works at a long wooden table while Beethoven plays over a public 
radio station. He admires Beethoven more than any other composer, even 
Mozart, whom he also likes.

"The greatest achievement by man was Beethoven when he wrote Symphony No. 9 
while he was deaf," says Sparrer, smiling and looking toward the radio that 
keeps him company.

Buckets under his worktable are filled with parts for boxes. He cuts out 
dozens of A-shaped roofs, box bottoms and hangers at a time.

"As muddled as it is, I know where everything is," he says.

"See I've got a pocket full of nails. When I put this nail in my mouth, I 
know where it is."

Holding a couple of nails in his mouth, Sparrer begins to assemble a box.

His hands locate two pre-cut boards and a drill that he uses to start each 
of 23 nail holes needed to hold the boxes together. Drilling the holes makes 
it easy for him to know where to start and hammer the nail. But, first he 
runs his fingers along the edges of the boards to make sure they are aligned 
right. Satisfied, he drills the first nail hole.

"You probably never seen anyone working in the dark," he says chuckling.

Sparrer hammers confidently, needing only six to seven strikes to drive the 
first 2-inch-long nail into the adjoining boards. He then clamps the boards 
to even up the sides before drilling more holes.

"I missed it," he says, reaching inside the box to feel where the nail came 
out.

Still not satisfied the box is aligned properly, he uses a wooden wedge to 
force the sides out so they meet up perfectly.

"Feel that, it's not even," he says, guiding a visitor's hand inside the 
box.

"I don't think the bluebirds would mind if it weren't exactly close," he 
says.

"But, you mind, right?" says a visitor.

"Yep," he answers, still working to get the sides where they should be. 
"You've just got to be smarter than the wood, that's all."

Sparrer's unique pattern for making bluebird boxes means he crafts two at a 
time.

The pair is pieced together at the bottom. When everything is finished, 
except adding the hangers, he makes a table saw cut down the middle to 
separate them.

He's only cut himself once, slightly on the thumb last May. A heavy fishing 
weight hangs on the saw's flip switch to ensure it doesn't accidentally come 
on, which it did once. He uses a precut block of wood to make sure the saw's 
blade is angled the way it should be.

"I use it to do a lot of measuring when I'm by myself," he says about the 
wood block.

His arms and hands are steady as he makes the cut, going only partially 
through the wood. Then, he puts the still-joined boxes in a vise and uses a 
handsaw to finish the cut.

"Now I'm going to see how close I am to getting them even," he says. "Oh, 
it's about a sixteenth off. That should do. I don't think the bluebirds will 
notice that."

Now that spring and bird nesting season is here, Sparrer has partial and 
completed boxes stacked on his work bench.

It's his favorite time of the year - birds are hunting for homes and the 
weather is warm enough for him to hang out daily in the workshop. During 
winter, he pretty much stays put at home.

"When my hands get cold, I can't see anything," he says.



http://www.dailypress.com/features/religion/dp-90800sy0mar31,1,1689039.story?page=2&coll=dp-features-faithlife

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