2011 Thanksgiving Update

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Scott Morrow

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Nov 24, 2011, 11:59:41 AM11/24/11
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Greetings friends of Nicklesville!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall has turned into winter at Nickelsville. Here are some recent
highlights from 7116 West Marginal Way South, starting with the most
recent, ending with the oldest - and then followed by the customary
wish list.

This morning at Nickelsville the deluge showed signs of receding. The
patches of water in low lying places look more like puddles than
yesterday's ponds, and our goats Richard and Sally are ready to get
out of their hut and back into the field.

Thanksgiving brings out the wider communities generosity, and we
assume the Turkey and Ham will keep coming today as they have the past
few days. Nothing, though, could top our visit yesterday to the
Duwamish Longhouse.

Chairperson Hanson had invited the Nickelodeons to share an afternoon
at the Duwamish Longhouse. When we arrived there was already a
beautiful spread of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and
carrots, beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls, appetizers, coffee,
juice, and three kinds of pie (with whipped cream.) Duwamish,
Snohomish, and other local people sang their songs and told us
remarkable stories. We learned more about the Duwamish, and how the
descendants of Chief Seattle continue to insist on the respect and
recognition that is theirs. Nickelsville is fortunate to have such
good friends, and to be on Duwamish land. Thank You!

As any of our Seattle/Puget Sound neighbors know, Wednesday was day
three of steady, hard rain. A deluge! Consequently, many parts of
the camp are flooded. A small sump pump was found to try to deal with
the immediate problem. Next we are going to try a very basic gravity
flow system with garden hoses.

Our longer term goal in dealing with this flood is some kind of sump
system, preferably an eco-friendly human powered one. In future cases
of flash flooding coupled with high tides we can't rule out a gasoline
powered system, possibly run off our existing generator that we run
twice a day, two hours each time, to charge up our electronics like
cell phones and batteries.

Several West Seattle Donors keep on bringing down wood chips bark and
gravel. As a result most all of our paths and walkways keep staying
above the water. Thank You for bringing down more wood chips
yesterday! Also Wednesday at our Central Committee meeting we m/s/p'd
to take up an offer to learn about how to build Hay Houses next week.

The Central Committee also voted to have a Pancake Breakfast
Fundraiser at Keystone Congregational Church on December 17th. That's
a Saturday - it will be from 8 AM to 11 AM!

Two days ago - Tuesday - 5 of us went to the Sea-Char Workshop in
Ballard where we were shown how to build our own smokeless stoves out
of recycled and re-used materials. We now have six of these eco
friendly stoves in Camp, that Nickelodeons built thanks to generous
donors who paid for the costs of the class and materials.

On Monday, thanks to Mary's Place, the two last families in camp were
able to move out - at least for the time being. They have entered
Mary's Place Family Shelter Program, which gets them into a Hotel Room
while they search for something more permanent. The funding for this
came about in response to two things: King TV and the Seattle P.I's
coverage of families at Nickelsville, and the powerful voices of the
Mothers and Families from Mary's Place.

We are very glad that people stepped up to get our families back
inside. Two Nickelsville Families might be on King 5 TV today - Linda
Brill wanted to see them when they went to a House near Lake Stevens
where the family had invited them in for Thanksgiving. We also wish
Truby to have a safe childbirth, and Barbie too.

The week that ended in Veterans Day was also a busy and interesting
one. It included the City Council choosing to not help Nickelsville
get hooked up with water and sewer at this time. This is
disheartening as this would have increased the health and safety of
our residents, and lowered the cost of operations.

Thank you to Councilpersons Licata, Bagshaw and O'Brien for trying!
We aren't giving up, and hope they won't either! In the spring we
really need to get the Full Council's support for encampments on
unused industrial land.

Below is our wish list. As always, the greatest need is support for
the porta potties and dumpsters. Without them there is no camp!
Other current needs include:

Tents; 8x8, 10x10, and family sized.
Tarps.
Blankets and sleeping bags.
Batteries; AA, AAA, C, and D.
Warm winter clothing.
Canned meats.
Canned vegetables.
Hand warmers.
sump pumps, especially non gas or electricity powered
a large water tank on a trailer
solar powered or battery powered lighting for our nightly meetings

Anything is greatly appreciated.

Wish us luck in staying dry!

Nickelsville - P.O. Box 2548, Seattle WA 98111

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