Almost instantly, after the disastrous quake hit Haiti, donation scams sprang up on the internet and mailboxes began to fill with spam. And then, of course, Pat Robertson opened his assmouth…but that’s another story.
Here’s a list of legitimate sources that you can choose from if you feel moved to do something to help.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/haiti-earthquake-help-victims/story?id=9547030&page=1
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I have been lamenting about the temperatures outside climbing into the upper 30s and 40s. It’s January and winter and it should be cold and it should stay cold. I want it below freezing for the next week or two so that I can store bags of ice outside. Brni’s “iceman” is a cruel master and demands to be fed round the clock.
I have been thankful for below freezing temps, reveling in the feel of the icey deck under my bare feet at 4 in the morning. I’ve even taken to walking around outside in nothing more than a thin sweatshirt and sweatpants in hopes of encouraging the arctic cold to stay around and caress my body and my bags of ice. I asked the crows and chickadees to carry my message of gratitude and love to the north wind and invite it to blow down on us with chilly abandon.
But the wind is retreating and the stupid sun is warming everything up and threatening to thaw my bags of ice. Brni mentioned to me that layers may be the solution and it looks like this just might work. Here’s what I’ve done…
I moved the cooler off the deck and down below onto the cold bricks in the shady part of the grotto outside the cellar door. I wrapped the cooler in two layers of old quilts and wrapped the old quilts in large plastic trash bags. And now I wait to see if the ice can stay cold and hard through this reckless and unseasonable week of warmth.
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that i can find no one with the courage of their convictions. they are nothing but unfortunate fictions and fantasies.
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I’m so tired. It’s surprising what a toll it takes on a person to care for another who is infirm or disabled or just indisposed. What is strange is that everything I’m doing, I do normally throughout the course of the day. I make coffee, get breakfast, lunch, dinner. I straighten, clean, make the bed, feed the animals, etc. The only additional tasks are emptying and filling the “iceman,” hooking Brni up to the machine, extra errands for things like bandages, thermometers, ice, ginger ale, etc. And watching over (hovering?) Brni to make sure he’s O-K-A-Y.
[That’s the real thing of it. The making sure he’s okay. Making sure he’s taking his meds, comfortable, clean, fed and watered. To all my nurse-friends out there, I bow my head to you.]
In the everyday, no-surgery world, Brni does an amazing amount of work around here. I honestly had not realized how much until the past few days doing both my stuff as well as his stuff. And I’ve begun to realize that his stuff is way more than I thought. I’m coming away from this with a new respect for the usual, every day chores that Brni does just as a matter of course. I guess it takes something like this to open our eyes to the little things that take up time and really do matter.
So, yeah, I’m tired and stressed with the added responsibility, but I’m also happy to do it. It’s a good kind of tired and the stress is worth it if it means Brni can get through his day without constant pain. Tomorrow is his first physical therapy session–the next step on the path of healing.
Wish us luck.
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pictures of life post brni’s shoulder surgery. here’s the “iceman” which is essentially a small beer cooler with a fish tank pump in it. this is the thing that has enslaved me. i fill it to the brim with ice, fill again with water enough to cover the bottom of the pump, hook up the massive blue hoses to brni’s shoulder pad and then plug it in. it whines frigid water up into the shoulder pad, keeping brni’s shoulder from swelling and reeking havoc. he needs to be hooked up to this 24/7 for 2 weeks. i love fishing ice out of the cooler out on the deck at 4:30 in the morning. it’s what i live for.
this is what happens to a brni when linked to the iceman.
today we removed the dressing for the first time. it looks like the surgeon was unable to save the top of brni’s sun tattoo, but to compensate, added some lovely purple marks of his own.
wow. this is a tiny tiny incision! amazing what they can do laproscopically, isn’t it?
but, no matter how bad things get, you can’t keep a good brni down…well, maybe down, but never offline.
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brni just informed me that this miserable malady is my comeuppance for declaring (every time he gets sick) that i never get sick. that i always manage to stop a cold or flu dead in its tracks before it takes hold.
he’s right. i should have kept my mouth shut. please forgive me, universe.
Croneswood Art 