-=> Quoting Patti Jones to Robin Arnhold <=-
Hi, Patti,
 PJ> I read an article about Standing Rock and other Rez up in the
 PJ> Dakotas. They are saying that there are dead cattle that are coving
 PJ> the area, and the Pres has declared the area a disaster area.  Many of
 PJ> the NA's have moved in with friends and family that are living on the
 PJ> Rez due to lack of availability to propane, broken water pipes etc. 
 PJ> It wasn't a very pretty picture from what the article said.  I do hate
 PJ> to inform you of this considering that you haven't head from your
 PJ> friend for so long. 
Carol called Friday night, and I was glad to hear from her.  Her family
seems to be riding out the weather fairly well.  At one point the wind
had completely buried both the doors of the house with driven snow, the
real hard, packed stuff.  The only window they could get open also
happened to be the smallest, so they sent the smallest member of the
family out the window to shovel the doors clear.  Carol was saying she'd
heard of snow drifts 20 feet deep and half a mile long blocking roads on
Cheyenne River.  They were air dropping emergency supplies to people and
air lifting kidney patients to hospitals for dialysis.
There are a lot of people without heat.  The allotment for propane is
$100, which buys about 80 gallons of propane.  That lasts little more
than a day in the extreme conditions the Dakotas have had.  Carol
mentioned one man whose only source of heat was a hot plate.  They
estimate upwards of 40,000 dead cattle from the weather and an unknown
amount of wildlife.
Luckily, the weather has warmed up considerably the past week or so and
there has actually been some thawing.  I'm afraid, though, this is when
they will actually start finding the ones who froze to death.
On a brighter note, Carol and five friends have started a Native American
arts co-op.  They wrote the articles of incorporation in Lakota.  Carol
believes they are the first business to incorporate in a Native language.
 PJ> Mike's Mom got her surgery
 PJ> postponed until Fri, and as of yet, I haven't heard from her, or Mike
 PJ> about the outcome.  No days they get them up on their feet shortly
 PJ> after surgery, and release them form the hospital within days.
One of the ladies I work with had a knee replacement in November.  They
had her up and in therapy two days after surgery.  She said it was
extremely painful.  I'm not sure how long they kept her in the hospital
as she had a reaction to either the anesthetic or a painkiller, and she
was really sick from that.  At least she said it got her out of cooking
Thanksgiving dinner for the family for the first time in fifty-some
years (g).
Hope you have had some news about Mike's mom by now.
Take care,
Robin
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