Feb 12, 2017

Cleaning Up the Canoe Trail at Aiken State Park



I was thrilled to hear that my old friend Doug Busbee cleaned up the Aiken State Park Canoe Trail on the South Fork of the Edisto River again so I can kayak through again.  I went with him one time when he did this after a hurricane, I know it can be dangerous and definitely time consuming.  I am very appreciative of his efforts.

Guest Writer:  Doug Busbee, Busbee Truck Parts

It was truly a privilege and honor to have Jacob Chavious driving the boat yesterday for me as we cleared some trees out of the canoe trail on the South Edisto river at the Aiken State Park. 


Jacob is a direct descendant of the Edisto Indians that have paddled this river for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Jacobs family is the closest thing that I am aware to being true native Americans in Eastern Aiken County. 
 
At one time in the early 1700s the Edisto river and adjacent lands were deeded to the Edisto Indians by the King of England. The Edisto Indians were known for their oarsman and guiding capabilities in the black water swamps of the Edisto and brought many trading parties up the river deep into the midlands of South Carolina. 
 
Jacob and his family are still known locally to be some of the best fishermen, oarsmen and possessor's of infinite knowledge of the black water jewel that we call the Edisto!


If one should want to know more about the Edisto Basin's native people check out the Beaver Creek Indians that meet in Salley, SC once a month. Jacob, Thank you once again for sharing your time and teaching me the value of conservation of our most precious resource, Water! You did a great job!


More of Doug Busbee on Planet Pookie:

North Carolina's Original Hilbilly
Doug-Busbee-South-Carolina Nice-To-Meetcha
In Which Doug Baaaas Extraordinarialy Like a Sheep
In Which Doug Had to Taste the Glacier Runoff
In Which Doug Has a Slight Steering Malfunction
How to Cast Net Shrimp and Everyone Yelled at Me for Promoting Putting Lead in Your Mouth
Busbees Gatorade Duel 1
In Which Doug and I Compare Views of Alaska at 36,000 Feet

Feb 10, 2017

Paralysis Recovery Specialist Ken Bryant to Donate Services to Aiken County Disabled



Paralysis Recovery Specialist Ken Bryant, a well-known therapist among the spinal cord injury community, will visit Aiken, SC, March 6 – 10, 2017 to provide his healing touch, at very little expense, to those paralyzed from spinal cord injuries or strokes. 

Bryant has experienced a 100% success rate with restoring some feeling or movement among his clients.  His method involves restoring or rerouting signals from the brain to the muscles, he does not repair a damaged spinal cord.  Bryant stated that when he works on a set of muscles, it takes two to five minutes to turn the muscles back on.  “You can see the change immediately,” he said, adding, “All we’re doing is turning muscles on, then they (his clients) have to build their strength up over time.  I have a God given gift to un-paralyze people.  I’ve never once seen where it hasn’t worked.” 
Bryant’s program usually consists of a five-day program at his Pinellas Park, FL location, working only a couple of hours each day with his clients.  The clients then continue strength training on their own with a personal trainer at a gym near home.  In Aiken, he will offer one session per client, un-paralyzing one muscle or muscle group, in an effort to see as many clients as time permits.  He has previously offered this program in Oregon, Cleveland, Toledo and more.

Adrian Steele, General Manager of Workout Anytime FitnessCenter on Richland Avenue in Aiken has generously donated the use of their gym and equipment for the week Ken Bryant is here.  Bryant invites anyone with a paralysis, ages 6 months and above to come receive his touch at Workout Anytime during the week of March 6 – 10, 2017.  Limited space is available and appointments must be made by February 24.  For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call Vickie Staley at 803.571.3630. 
  
Bryant is volunteering his services and asking only that his travel expenses are paid and that his assistant receive her fees.  Donations and minimal client fees will go towards these expenses.  Fundraising has begun to cover the car rental, hotel fees, and meals.  Any additional funds raised will go towards reducing the client’s fee.  The Ken Bryant Project of Aiken County has been established for financial donations to cover the expenses.  The Law Office of Mr. Adrian L. Falgione has generously kicked-off the fundraising by donating $1,000. 

Vickie Staley, a Wagener resident and founder of the Ken Bryant Project of Aiken County, can testify to Ken Bryant’s success.  Staley’s son, Tyrell, became a C5-C6 quadriplegic after a car accident a few years ago.  In December of 2016, Tyrell spent a week with Bryant in Florida.  Staley reports about that visit, “Ken massaged the muscles to wake them up, he started in Tyrell’s back.  I thought ‘What is he doing?’  There were no machines, nothing electrical, it was a gift from his hands.  This man truly has a gift.”

Tyrell was not able to sit and balance himself before going to Florida, or hold the water bottle in his hand or drink from it.   He was not able to abduct or adduct his leg muscles.  After visiting Ken Bryant, Tyrell can do all of this and more.  He is now building his strength by working out weekly with Cole Lee at Workout Anytime, followed by an hour of Physical Therapy with Stephanie Vaughn at Sports Plus, Aiken.  Tyrell’s current goal is to stand up with a walker in 2017. 

Staley wants other people with paralysis to have the opportunity for healing without the huge cost associated with a week-long trip to Florida and Bryant’s in-house fees.  She invites you to join her.
There are many ways you can help.  You can spread the word to let people with spinal cord injuries or paralysis from strokes know that they have the opportunity to meet with Ken Bryant in Aiken.  You can donate the cost for a meal or a night’s stay at the hotel, or simply donate any sum to the Ken Bryant Project of Aiken County.  Contact Vickie Staley at 803.571.3630 for donation information or to schedule an appointment with Ken Bryant. 

Feb 9, 2017

7 Lamps Were Burning by Linda N. Merryman




South Carolina resident Linda N. Merryman has completed her first novel which has just been released in paper book or eBook format on Amazon.  7 Lamps Were Burning, the first book in the paranormal fantasy Cloudwalker Series, is a story about hope and redemption as Sasha, a young woman of Native American and Russian descent and the steward of Pandora’s Jar, has the key to saving the Cloudwalkers, an ancient fallen race.  Can Sasha bring hope back to mankind and redemption to seven earthbound spirits while dealing with her own issues of insecurity?

Linda Merryman, a native of Houston, Texas, has been a South Carolina resident for a couple of decades.  Having raised her five children here, she is now helping out with her grandchildren. 

Always a big reader, Merryman admits to being more dreamy and creative than organized.  If she isn’t writing or reading, then she’s drawing or painting and one time she went through a singing phase, but writing is what tugs at her the most.

While carpooling to work with her daughter in 2012, Merryman began writing the Cloudwalker series on napkins at the restaurant where her daughter worked.  She graduated to writing in notebooks and finally, a computer.  The first story practically wrote itself, such was the flow of the muse.  Several minor characters demanded bigger roles and the story spilled forth into two, then three books.  

Order your copy from Amazon and you won’t have to read long before you recognize the landscape.  Fellow Carolinians will recognize the Piggly Wiggly, routes along I-20, and the Harbison area of Columbia.  In book two, Merryman promises, the Little Bake Shoppe in rural Wagener, SC will introduce us to a not-so-nice character. (I love the Bake Shoppe!)

Find out more at LindaNMerryman.com.  Follow the series on Facebook/CloudwalkersOfficial.  Follow Linda Merryman on Twitter @DreamWeaving3 and search for her on Google+.  Merryman is a disciple of Christ in her personal life and the book is family friendly, a good read for your youth.