Personal Report

Personal Report

I am fine and want to thank the people who cared enough to write and ask!

The whole garden had to be moved to a new spot, lots of Heavy work, moving the dirt, sand, pete moss and compost combo.  Then the landscape timbers and rebar had to be put back in place to hold the raised bed together. 

I planted this weekend.  Everyone is planting late because it keeps raining and storming!  So far we have been mercifully spared the fate of Joplin or Moore, Oklahoma.  But we still have at least another day and night of storms to go.

If anyone feels like helping the people of Moore I would recomment Convoy of Hope, an interfaith Christian organization.  Though I'm not Christian, Convoy of Hope was on the ground last night providing hot food and clean water to people with no homes, even though Their facilities had sustained some damage.  They worked for people after Hurricane Sandy, after the Joplin tornado which took 162 lives, and during the ice storm which left my trailer park without power for a month after the ice storm of 2007.  The ground stayed frozen and the trailer park had to pay to have underground lines dug up as it was privately owned.

Also, 90% of donations to Convoy go toward helping people.  Most organizations which do good work have an 80% direct aid effect.  This is because Convoy brings in all existing resources within a community.  They don't have to pay for buildings, except for wearhouses for supplies.  They distribute food, clean water, and clothing or blankets through local churches, food pantries, etc.  They also have mobile feeding stations which drive to stricken areas.  They are a world wide organization which you can find online.  The last time I checked Charity Navigator they had the best rating available.

I am fighting an ear infection which is trying to start because I'm allergic to mold and with the rain, it's Everywhere!

Also, I am finding Fair Trade items made by people with disabilities.

Last, after reading a number of chapters from Andrew Solomon's book, "Far from the Tree:  Parents, Children, and Identity" I'm writing my own chapter on deaf-blindness.  I don't know if I'll do anything with it, post it here, send it to Mr. Solomon, etc.  There is no way he could cover every subset of people who must find their identities through peers, so deaf-blindness isn't covered in his excellent book.  But he does have a Great chapter on the Deaf Community. 

It is painful to read this book, but I am learning a Grate deal.  In a similar way, it's painful to write about deaf-blindness.  My hope is that by writing things down I can let go of at least Some of them, emotionally.

A busy time during which I hope to be of use to others as well as myself.