August Updates

8/5
Summer time is here. Just in time for it to leave. But you know, I do love August. Canadian highs come down with cooler drier air. The sky is such an intense blue, the sun still burns, and you can see the greens changing to a tired green, ready to give way to autumn splendor. But not just yet!
My veggie garden is a virtual bust. Annoying, but at least we don't have to survive off it. I'll still be able to make a whole lot of pickles, and maybe get some tomatoes out of it to freeze.
I've ordered some T-shirts! Woo! These will be for trading with others who have T-shirts, and gifts to friends, etc. The rest will be handled by a good friend who has a Cafe Press shop. Her profits go to the Bay St Louis Employee Relief Fund to keep as many of the employees working as possible. The other reason I am going through her is that people will have far more choices one what to have the graphics put on than just a T-shirt. Plus, sizes other than the L and XL I'm sticking with, and a couple more colors than Ash. So, it just makes more sense to do it this way.
Once she has the T-shirts up on the site, I'll give you the link!

The T-shirts are a story. Jeanne Brooks gave me the name of a guy she bought some through and so I called him up. His in-laws live in BSL, lost everything and is doing what he can to support them and his own family with his screen printing business. Well, after talking to him for a few minutes, he asks where I'm from, I tell him the Binghamton area of upstate NY and he comes out with the fact that he grew up near Ithaca, NY! He has family that still lives up here and even evacuated up to here for The Storm. WOW How small a world can it get?
Kenny Swayze
Cris-tees
985-882-3132
JCristees@aol.com
I know it sounds odd, but I'm really excited for the folks I am working with. I'm doing this shirt for YOU guys. It's amazing to have so many groups all in one place, being able to talk to each other if you want and me being able to facilitate that when asked. I just think it's way too cool. So, I want to honor every one by making this shirt. Plus, what a great marketing tool! Just about everyone's website is an easy-to-remember address, so if someone sees the shirt and finds a site or two intriguing, they can remember it easily enough to go home and look! Very cool
Am hearing from a bunch of groups that went in the fall and are interested in going again this fall. So, am trying to help direct them to the least expensive room and board as well as give them an idea of the needed skills. If you have a team (group of people) that is interested in going down, please contact your local remodeling store (Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, local remodelers association) and ask them to hold a few classes for some specific skills:
Mudding and Taping drywall
Laying linoleum or pergo style flooring
Light fixture installation
Outlet installation
TOILET installation (this is a skill everyone should have anyway)
Cutting moulding - another life-skill (mitre saw skills)
Basic plumbing - copper and PVC
If your group even focuses on getting good at just one of these skills, you'll still be of huge value!I'm also adding to my list of things to do by helping a couple of folks with their sites. Just because. I know I was so incredibly appreciative when Andy offered to help with mine, that what little I learned from him, I am more than willing to pass it on to others.
Tomorrow I go meet Sharon and Ron from The Giving Circle. I am so excited about this! For so long I have been "just me" in this whole thing. I sit here and do all that I can with a phone and a computer, but really have no other connection. Meeting them will really help give me a connection I haven't had yet because I've literally had no one else to talk to about this. So, it's going to be really cool!
I'll end with that.
I know there's more, but it can wait.
I hope all are well and will truly enjoy hearing from you!

8/13

Hey gang.

This summer has been something of a crisis zone. It's just been one crisis after another for me personally, within my community and within our country.

For that reason, I'm taking a week off. LOL It's actually going to be more of a behind the scenes week than a real week off.

DataBase
I have been sadly neglecting putting information in the CAT data base for the organizations I have on the blogs - which number in the dozens. SO, I will be calling people to get updated needs, and then adding them to the data base. The data base :
http://katrinanetworking.blogspot.com/2006/06/citizen-action-team.html, is grown by leaps and bounds. Maybe too quickly to sustain itself, but for now, it's an incredible tool. Data entry is never something people jump at the chance to learn, so I will be doing the entry for now, and hopefully working with Dayle to come up with a reasonable set of instructions for folks to then be able to manage their organizations information on their own. Here's hoping!

Plus, I have much I need to do around the house. With my brain having only a limited amount of time in which to do any type of activity, there are certain things I need to get done around here before winter sets in. Gag. Just that thought makes me cringe. Anyone want to come paint for me? LOL

The T-shirts are on Kate's site! woo! The variety of items you can choose from is just astounding! http://www.cafepress.com/k8coHancock
What I love is that all of the organizations I am working with directly - or have worked with in the very recent past - are listed. It's amazing!
AND, all of the profits from these sales will be going to the city of Bay St Louis in hopes of keeping a few more of their employees on their jobs. This is Kate's mission and I'm thrilled I can be of assistance!
What I want to offer to people is that they buy a T-shirt - and then do whatever they wish to highlight THEIR orgs website. Sharpie pens, fabric markers, iron-on their logo to the front. I don't care. But this way this T-shirt can be used for all rather than having to make one and go to the time and expense. Plus, it shows you're in good company!

So, with that, I'll say "enough". Email as you wish. Would love to hear from you all.

L

Today was the first time we have ever had a Bald Eagle fly directly over the house. They are about 30 Mi North of us, but that's the closest. Mom has NEVER seen one in her entire life! So this was incredibly exciting!

8/19
Ahh yes. Another week, another crisis.

Oh well. Life goes on.

Meet Cicero. He's a kitten I am attempting to tame so that he can either go to another home or be able to have a warm place to sleep this winter with us. Either way. When he first came to our yard, he was skin and bones. He's still underweight, but gaining rapidly. He should! He eats as much as my other two combined!

He's learned how to climb trees to chase squirrels, but hasn't mastered the art of gracefully falling out of trees. And he's also wild enough that there is NO way he'd let a human pick him up to get him off the roof of the garage.

So - we propped a tall step ladder against a shed behind the garage, put some BBQ chicken on the roof of the shed, and he figured out within minutes how to manage his escape. 2 minutes later, he was trotting across the lawn to get the rest of the chicken.

Vertigo Attack

Anyway, many little things added up to one major vertigo attack. I've been out of service just about all week. It's still super easily triggered, but am feeling better.

Data Entry

So, I've discovered my brain won't tolerate data entry. Is there anyone willing to take my place for entering the organizations within the blogs onto the database? Trust me, it's SO easy! I just can't take the scrolling of information. If you think you'd like, please contact me or Dayle @ grassrootshelping at yahoo dot com

No phoning was done either. Phones just make the vertigo worse. So, I avoid them like the plague. So, hopefully, this coming week will prove a bit more productive.

Such is the life of the disabled.