Disgusted By Events in Charlottesville, Virginia

I was thoroughly amazed to see robed and hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend.  I guess I've been living like a mushroom....  In the past few years, I have read of small gatherings of Klansmen in what I considered to be small, rural, "backwards" towns and communities.  I really was stunned to see so many KKK members appear in Charlottesville.  The large groups of people carrying flags emblazoned with swastikas amazed me.  The young men, and the few women I saw, astounded me.  I felt as if I had been caught in a time warp and taken back to the 1920s and the 1930s in the Deep South.  The hatred that was being radiated by those two groups, the armed militias, and the hangers-on was palpable.  It was frightening.  And it ended up being deadly.
   I was brought up being proud of my Virginian heritage - the island of Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, always has been a part of the Commonwealth of Virginia; except during the Civil War.  Chincoteague did a thriving seafood business with the cities sited on the Atlantic Ocean from Ocean City, Maryland up to Boston, Massachusetts.  When the state of Virginia seceded from the Union, the men of Chincoteague voted to stay in the Union, with Maryland.  (I have to admit that half of the young men on the island fought on the Confederate side, and half on the Union side.  My family was heavily involved in the seafood trade, and the young men were in the United States Army and Navy.)  The men on my father's immediate side of the family fought for the Union, too - volunteering in Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio regiments.
    I know my Virginia history very well - the colonial leaders, the leaders of Bacon's Rebellion (one of my many-times great-grandfathers was hung at Jamestown in 1676), the members of the Continental Congress, the five Presidents from the Commonwealth. I know about the campaigns in Virginia during the Revolutionary War, and during the Civil War.  I have pored over history books, private letters, and reports from soldiers and officers during those wars.
   I was astonished when no policing action was taken against the protesters who marched across the campus of the University of Virginia carrying "Tiki torches" as they made their way, and chanting racial slurs.  I was especially upset when photos and videos showed the protesters attacking quietly standing counter-protesters with mace, pepper spray, and other chemicals.
   On Saturday, when I saw the armed militias marching along with people carrying the swastika flags, and beside them, the white robed members of the Ku Klux Klan, I was disgusted, dismayed, appalled, and angry.  These people had clubs in their hands.  They were carrying wooden shields.  Some of the protesters were wearing better body armor than the police; most were carrying better weapons than the police; and they also had police-grade riot shields.  -  And that's the main reason why our law enforcement officers could not confront these people - there would have been a terrible carnage just due to the fire power of the guns belonging to the protesters.
   Yes, the protesters had a permit to gather and protest in Emancipation Park, where the statue of Robert E Lee stands.  But they had a permit for a peaceful gathering.  Their actions Friday night showed they were not a peaceful group.  A judge signed an injunction to stop the gathering at 9 a.m. and the gathering was supposed to begin at 12 noon; but protesters had begun gathering before 8:30 that morning.  At 10:30, police reported that the protesters had clashed with the counter-protesters and that two people were injured.  At 11:35, law enforcement officers announced publicly that the event was now "an unlawful assembly" because of the previous violence and the judge's injunction. The protesters, and the counter-protesters, were told to disband and go home.
   People began fighting instead.  Luckily, no one was shot.  With the outbreak of violence pouring into multiple streets around the Park, Virginia Governor McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. The crowds of protesters and counter-protesters are separated.  The Unite the Right group is still pretty much contained in Emancipation Park; the counter-protesters (for unity and not division) are marching down a street more than 700 feet away.  At 1:40 p.m., a car suddenly accelerates into the crowd, then reverses, striking more people, and quickly disappears.
   A 32-year-old paralegal, Heather Heyer, who was attending her first march, was killed outright.  At least 19 others suffered injuries, five of whom were in critical condition in the hospital later that evening.  It has been announced, at this time, that all will recover - except Heather Heyer, who was buried today.
   The nasty man living in the White House has yet to say Heather Heyer's name.  He has yet to apologize for the blood on his hands.  He thanked Heather's mother for being very nice to him, when he made his first Twitter announcement.  Verbally, he said that the problems were caused "by many sides; many sides" on Saturday.  On Monday, 45 read a speech directly from a teleprompter, and anyone could tell that he hated reading those words out loud - he did not want to place the blame on the white supremacists he has curried, nor the neo-Nazis he has groomed, nor the anti-Semites he has egged on.  Yesterday, he went off script again and said the counter-protesters were as much to blame as the Unite the Right supporters....   The man needs to be certified and placed in a rubber room in a straight jacket.
    Thank goodness the FBI is investigating the whole thing.

I'm Back With - Miscellany - Tonight

Well, Pony Penning is over for 2017 - the major part, anyway.  Fall round-up will be October 13 and 14th, when folks who purchased younger foals will return to pick them up, and the veterinarian will give everyone another quick check-up.  I don't how how much money the raffle tickets for King Neptune brought in, but the 62 foals sold (including the ten designated Buy Backs)  brought in $209,900.  It was also reported that other items auctioned - art, photographs, arts and crafts, T-shirts, etc. - brought in another $3,300.  Pony Penning was successful this year.
    I have up-dated the previous post with the auctioned foals information twice; today it was to add the 24 names that the youngsters have been given by their new owners. Still waiting to hear what the CLG decides to name their colt and filly, as well as a few other Buy Backs.  The names of purchased and removed foals are slowly percolating through Chincoteague Pony lovers.   I'll post them as I learn of them.
    One of the dogs that I care for crossed over the Rainbow Bridge Monday evening.  I'm pretty sure her owner had her put down.  She was a delightful 12-year-old mutt, named Tess.  She bounded like a gazelle, and pounced like a fox on prey.  She began having seizures around Christmas.  The owner believes in holistic medicine and would not put the dog on "normal" seizure medication until 8 weeks ago.  The medication made the dog unsteady on her feet, gave her a tremendous appetite, and caused her to drool excessively when sleeping.  The dog had good days and bad days, and was slowly getting adjusted to the medication.  The owner's daughter and I have been the dog's most active care-givers, as the owner has been "home" only six weeks since Christmas.  I was notified by a Facebook posting that the dog had "left us."  I will miss that happy, romping, black girl for a long, long time.  Goodbye, Tessa.
    I laughed out loud today when I read the news that officials on the University of Colorado campus here in Boulder sent Tweet and e-mail alerts to all students that a "rare" and "extremely dangerous" badger had been seen on campus.  A number was given to call in sightings, and students were told to avoid the badger at all costs....   What a laugh!   If a badger is protecting its' young, or if it's cornered, will fight to protect itself (or its' young).  It does not rampage about, causing mayhem wherever it goes.  When the Department of Wildlife was contacted about the message, they laughed.   Badgers are usually seen a little farther north and west, on the edges of Estes Park, and in the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  They are somewhat unusual around Boulder, but CU sure made a fuss over nothing.
 
    OK - I'm going back to politics for the moment.   Since I started this blog, I have had comments made in many foreign languages.  If it's a language I recognize, I translate it.  But when I last worked in Washington, DC, for the EPA, I was still getting weekly visits from FBI agents to view my folder of "odd/unusual" comments.  Once I began this blog, I hate to say it, but I routinely delete any comments written to me in Cyrillic or a Middle Eastern language. Since spring and summer of 2016, I have had an upswing in the number of comments in those languages.  So I was interested in learning about Russian bots and how they grab certain words and send "disinformation" to the writer. - I wrote a blog on this s few months ago.
    Today a friend, and several of his colleagues, who have worked for the US government in the past in the area of cyber security, have opened a new website called Hamilton 68.  It does not show the response on the internet - but it shows how the bots, implemented by Russia and their comrades, react to words on Twitter.   If you ever use Twitter, look at this site!   Once you get there, there is a button for first-time users that explains pretty much anything you want to know - the site can be viewed at: http://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org   I highly recommend at least one visit - the information is mind-boggling.

   Two other political items, and I'll be quiet for the night.  My jaw dropped tonight when I heard that the current President wants to have the Commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, fired by his Pentagon Generals.  He stated, "We aren't winning."  And went on to ask why we haven't demanded a share of the $1 trillion in mineral wealth that Afghanistan owns for "US aid and assistance."  After the President left the meeting, a shouting match was overheard between Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist, and H. R. McMaster, the White House National Security Adviser.  - But then I remembered that the President had said something along those lines during his campaign....   I had no idea that America expected Afghanistan to pay us for a war against ISIL and the Taliban waged in their own country.
    The other thing is the new immigration laws and limits that the 45th Administration wants to impose.  Not only does this group want to ban all immigrants of Muslim faith, they now want to decrease the number of legal immigrants each year.  The new immigration laws they are calling for will limit legal immigration by 50% over a period of 10 years by reducing the number of relatives allowed to join families later.  They will cut refugee numbers to 50,000 people per year.  They will end the diversity visa lottery that currently allows 50,000 from under-represented countries to receive a green card.  And they will most highly favor those immigrants who speak English, have skills to raise the economy, and who can financially support themselves and their families upon arrival in the United States.
    In a televised news conference today, White House adviser Stephen Miller was presenting the above outlines to an array of reporters, when Jim Acosta, a CNN representative, quoted the first few lines from the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in New York City's harbor: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..."
* The Statue of Liberty, actually named Liberty Enlightening the World, was a gift from the country of France to help us remember their assistance during the Revolutionary War.  Edouard de Laboulaye, a French political thinker and an abolitionist, proposed the idea of the statue - and made certain that a broken shackle and chain were placed at her right foot to show that America had broken the shackles of oppression and tyranny.  American people raised the money for the shipping of the gigantic statue for more than 6 years, and she was unveiled and dedicated on Thursday, 28 October 1886. *
    After Acosta spoke those lines, Miller stated, "The poem you were referring to was added later. It's not actually part of the original Statue of Liberty."  Miller went on to say that the statue is a "symbol of American liberty lighting the world" and suggested that it had little to do with immigrants of any kind.  This has caused a huge amount of protests today.
  *While waiting for the statue to be assembled in New York harbor, writers and authors asked Emma Lazarus, a poet and descendant of Jewish immigrants, to write a sonnet that would be sold at auction to raise money for the gigantic pedestal that was needed for the statue to rest upon.  Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" on 2 November 1883 inspired by the plight of immigrants and refugees, and her own experiences in New York City.  The poem appeared in The New York Times and in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.  Lazarus died in 1887 and her poem was forgotten.
    In 1901, Georgina Schuler, a friend of Emma's, found a book containing the poem, and began an effort to resurrect the work, have it inscribed on a plaque, and placed on the statue's pedestal.  The sonnet reads:

  "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

I hope all of you have a wonderful August!

Sad Saturday

Yesterday turned out to be a very sad and disturbing day for me, as I found destruction at my second pet-sitting site.  I had stopped at the first house and fed the dog, cat, and hens; checked that fresh water was available for everyone; turned the dog out into the back yard, and released the chickens from their coop. I gathered fresh eggs, cleaned them, and headed off to the second house.
   The second house is a "new place" to me, but the pets aren't.  I've taken care of Chocolate and Blackberry for almost five years - ever since Paulina was received them as her 6th birthday present.  The family recently moved to another neighborhood, but I was happy to continue caring for the rabbits.  Chocolate was a female and Blackberry was a neutered male, and they were Paulina's pets, as her father is allergic to both dog and cat hair and dander.  The bunnies knew their names, would come when called, and had very distinct personalities.  I walked up the drive and around the back of the house, and realized the solar cover that normally covered the front of the wire hutch was laying on the ground, several feet to the west of the hutch and fence enclosure.  Then I realized there were little patches of black and white and brown fur all over the ground inside the enclosure.  Next I saw that the wooden ramp on the side of the hutch was closed and locked, but the small rectangular wire door in the front was punched back through the opening, inside the hutch, and was covering the upset food and water bowls.  Then it hit me that the 30-inch high wire fence was folded down like an accordion on the west side, near the solar cover.  I ran over and jumped into the enclosure - fur and blood everywhere.  I sat down and cried.
   The neighbors heard me sobbing, and came into their back yard.  They had heard a dog barking early in the morning - about 2 or 3 o'clock - and the husband had heard the bunnies screaming.  Then it got very quiet, according to them.  At dawn yesterday morning, they decided to investigate, not knowing that the family was away.  They came out, stepped across the fence and saw the carnage.  Both of the rabbits were lying inside the enclosure.  Both had been bitten and torn apart, but very little was actually eaten.  They had the bodies in their freezer, in case the girls wanted to say good-bye and/or bury them.  The girls (Paulina has a younger sister) and their mother are visiting another country to see relatives.  I had to call and break the news.  I left both a voice message and an e-mail for the father and received a response this morning.
   I dug a very deep hole for the burial this afternoon.   I put the little broken bodies into the ground, as well as all of the fur that I could gather from their enclosure, I cried again as I replaced the dirt and tamped it down.  Then the neighbors and I placed several large rocks onto the grave.  Hopefully nothing will disturb the rest of two fine, loving young rabbits.
    The neighbors and I discussed what might have done the killing - there are black bears, fox, raccoons, bobcats, mountain lions, and coyotes in the area.  Since the fencing around the enclosure was mashed down, we decided it might be a bear, since all the other creatures should have been able to easily clear a 30-inch fence - and, even though a raccoon might  have climbed the fence, it wouldn't have crushed it down to the grass.  Then there was the way the solar reflective cover had been ripped off the roof of the hutch - unless the critter had stood on top of the hutch to tear the cover off - it seemed likely to be a bear.  The third item was that the wire door of the cage had been pushed inside - and I wasn't strong enough to pull it back out.  There had been a 1 to 2 inch overlap in the wiring, along with the two sliding clasp locks.  The clasp locks were still there, but the door was smashed through to the other side of the opening.  Looking at all of it, along with the tooth marks on the bunny bodies, we concluded the intruder had been a younger black bear.
  I know that's a risk that any pet owner runs when they live in an area that is known to have plenty of wildlife.  I'm just sorry that the bunnies were not kept safe enough......

Good News, Bad News

Checks and balances.  The circle of life.  Baji-naji.  However you wish to view life and the world, there are always deaths and births.  The bad news - the death - is that Zenyatta's fourth foal, a dark bay colt sired by War Front, has died.  This was her second foal by War Front, and the second death.  Their first foal was a chestnut filly, who died as a yearling, after a paddock accident.  This colt was born Sunday night, April 10, at 9:24 p.m.  He passed away at 9 a.m. on April 13.  When Zenyatta's water broke Sunday night, it was immediately noted that there was meconium in the fluid.  That means that the baby had a bowel movement while unborn.  The biggest problem with that occurrence is that the baby can breathe the fecal matter during the birth process.  This colt did aspirate the fecal matter, and had a nasty lung infection.  Despite the best efforts at the Rood & Riddle Veterinary Hospital, the foal died.   Zenyatta has been returned to Lanes End Farm, where she is sharing a paddock with another mare, who trained with her during her career.
    The good news - we now have five new foals on the southern end of Assateague, in the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's herds.  Four of the foals have arrived in the northern compartments, and one in the south.  Tunie produced the first foal of the year, a pinto.  Wildest Dream had a strapping bay.  Then Ladies' Sweet Surprise produced a buckskin, followed by Wild Island Orchid's chestnut baby.  Lyra's Vega had the first southern foal, sired by Riptide, a chestnut with a blaze.
     Three mares are due to foal on the northern end of Assateague, in Maryland this Spring.  Since the pony count in Maryland has dropped to 87,  the National Park Service has decided to allow most of the mares to breed this year, instead of  darting all of them with a year-long birth control solution.  It is my understanding that a few of the oldest, youngest, and smallest mares will receive their birth control injections, to decrease the number of possible deaths during foaling.  It will be nice to see a lot of youngsters running around next summer!
   Rosie, the old Irish Setter that I care for, has had a few bad days recently.  Neither her owners, nor I, want her to cross the Rainbow Bridge, but we don't want her to suffer either.  Her hind legs are failing her, they occasionally give way completely, but the vet says she isn't feeling any pain.  (The vet makes a house visit every two weeks, and gives her an acupuncture and deep laser treatment.)  But she is 14 years old now; she has out-lived her parents, her siblings, her mate, and all five of her puppies...  It's amazing.  And Rosie still enjoys a slow stroll every day.  (I'm headed that way now...)

Missing Gladys

I am bummed out, blue, depressed, dis-spirited, and teary.  I've had to say "good-bye" to a lot of beloved pets and buddies in my almost 60 years of life - but yesterday's good-bye was very hard.  Gladys was a pretty girl.  She came when called, and ate out of my hand.  She was soft and silky to the touch.  If you wanted company, she was happy to stay nearby; and if you didn't want to be bothered, she'd go her own way.  She was happy to sit in your lap, if wanted, or to go explore the garden, if not.  I've been taking care of Gladys for the past five years, and she was an adult at my first visit.  I really don't know quite how old she was.
   I guess the real reasons I'm sad are two-fold: she is the first critter that has passed away while in my care as a pet-sitter, and, since she was always happy to see me, I will miss her greetings.  This past week, she was the first to go inside each evening and the last to come outside and stretch in the morning.  She didn't have much of an appetite, and even when I brought her some of her favorite things to eat, she wasn't very interested.  She seemed to be moving a bit slower than usual.  Monday evening she had already put herself to bed when I arrived to close up for the day - I looked at her and told her I hoped she'd feel better in the morning.  When I arrived yesterday morning, the other girls came running out, but not Gladys.  I called her name - but got no response.  So I hesitantly opened Gladys' favorite nesting box, and found her body.
   She produced a heck of a lot of eggs over the years.  She was the oldest chicken in the flock.  She loved her humans - especially those of us who gave her special treats.  She was comfortable in your arms, or sitting in you lap.  She was a good companion.  I buried her deep in the garden yesterday - had to get the pick-ax out to break up the ground so I could bury her.  She will make good compost, and I'm sure the tomatoes next year will be excellent....
   But I still miss Gladys, the Rhode Island Red.
 

Colorado Wildfires; Opening Night of Chincoteague Carnival

Oh, my....    Aaron Hernandez is charged with murder, and is being looked at as a suspect in a drive-by shooting where two men were killed.  Such a sad report to read about an ex-Gator!  He has disappointed me entirely.   -   And I am feeling great sympathy for the divorce and feuding parents of Dylan Redwine.  The young teen disappeared from his father's home at Thanksgiving last year. A few of his bones have been identified via DNA testing this week - they were found scattered in a forest about 10 miles from the father's house.
  Our wildfires here in Colorado continue to grow.  Several are completely contained, and the Rocky Mountain National Park was surprised, but pleased, to announce the Fern Lake wildfire is completely burnt out.  We've had several local fires that have been less than 10 acres and have been quickly put out.  The Wild-Hacking Complex fire is still burning, as is the Strontia Springs-Waterton Canyon fire.  The Brush Creek fire is 97% contained.  The East Fork fire (on the western side of the Divide) i sat 447 acres, while the East Peak  fire is 75% contained, having burned over 13,500 acres, 12 homes and 4 out buildings.  The Trickle Mountain fire is 85% contained and had burned 277 acres.  The Ox Cart fire has burned 150 acres, and the Jefferson County Lillis Lane fire is 75% contained and has destroyed one house.  That leaves the West Fork Complex fire, which is still zero percent contained, and has burned over 83,000 acres so far.
   The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms for the next four evenings.  I would love to see it rain, rain hard. Not enough to flood those places that have just been burned, but enough to ensure that the current fires are extinguished - but I doubt that will happen.
    And tonight my heart is on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, specifically at the Chincoteague Island Carnival Grounds, because tonight is the Opening Night of the 88th Annual Chincoteague Fireman's Carnival!  How I wish I was there!

Another Shooting...

Another deadly shooting in Denver this morning - three dead, two confirmed as children. That is sad and sick. All I know at the moment is that this happened in a residence in a section of Denver. Bless all of them.

Gripes

I am decrepit this morning -  I slept in the wrong position, and I can't move my head or neck (that's what comes of breaking your neck and ripping all the support muscles and tendons from one side when you're young and foolish); I awoke with a migraine; my recurrent shingles are back, and a 23-year-old cousin was killed in a work-related accident yesterday.  I am blue, bummed out, and I hurt.  It's not a great start for hump day.
  At least the kits are fine - both slept with me, until I dreamed I was working with a dog I know very well, but it wouldn't stop and sit... I awoke, sitting up in bed, and saying, "Sit!" - that's when the kits left.  And there's a man in the building, whom I haven't seen before - he claims to have lived here "a long time" and last night he pitched a tent in the back yard and slept in it.  The back doors and windows to the apartments on the ground floor are extremely easy to break into, and it worries me that someone I don't know, who reeks of alcohol, is wandering in the area of my patio at all hours.  Is it just me, being contrary?  (I can break into my apartment with anything that is half-way sharp...)
   And, as a final note, do these two guys look similar to you?  Or am I really going nuts? 

American Wildfires

Today there are 48 uncontrolled wildfires and 10 totally contained large wildfires burning in the United States.  An up-dated map of all the large wildfires may be viewed at:  http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/lg_fire2.php#   The one large wildfire in Florida, in Volusia County, is totally contained; proceeding west, the next wildfire is in Arkansas; and almost 90 new small fires have been reported in the past 24 hours. That's frightening.  And, last night, while lying in bed, I thought of the roly-poly 5-inch long earthworm that I had moved from a concrete brick and back into a grassy area.  Then I wondered how deep in the dirt a worm would need to be to escape being cooked by a wildfire on the surface?  I mean, think about it: during one of our recent wildfires, the flames were spreading (with the help of the wind) at a speed of 40 feet per second; if you can actually see the flame, just visible red flame burns at 980 degrees Farenheit, or 525 degrees Celsius - a visible deep orange flame burns at 2,000 degrees Farenheit, or 1,100 degrees Celsius. 
  The damage to flora and fauna from a wildfire is immense.  Unless the creature is buried deep in the earth, or lives underwater, it is going to succumb to a fast-moving wildfire.  Worms, grubs, insects, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, and slower moving mammals cannot escape a wildfire.  Birds that are nesting loose their eggs, either in trees, or on the ground.  Rabbits and prairie dogs are roasted.  Older, or injured, animals cannot outrun a fire - heck, if it's moving at 40 feet per second, I can't escape it.
   I realize that fire from lightning strikes is inevitable - but fires caused by humans are not.  Fire caused by lightning has a purpose of renewal; the Forestry Service's planned burns, to clear out brush and help older trees, are a good thing.  But arsonists are extremely dangerous to our livelyhoods, our economics, our health and our happiness.  I am, generally, pretty much a pacifist, but when I look at the destruction an arsonist has caused, I want to burn that arsonist to death (with an accelerant, of course, so they wouldn't suffer too long).....

September 10, 1980; 9/11/2001

28 years ago, I was a teacher's aide in 2 Kindergarten classes. On Thursday afternoon, the 9th, Avery, our neighbor called to say there was a bald eagle perched in her pine tree - I went out and took a photo of it. The next day, as I drove down our street, (I was living in my parents' house, paying rent) I saw two ambulances parked in front of the house. As I drove down the street, a neighbor (not Avery) ran out into the road to flag me down... "Who is it?" I asked, "Mom or Dad?" The neighbor started saying calming things - but I wanted an up-front answer, so I started to drive on and park my car in it's usual spot. The neighbor thought I wouldn't be able to park my own car - but I did. I asked again, going across the front yard to the door - "Who? Mom or Dad?" She finally said, "It's your Dad."

I guess I had led a sheltered life - I had not gone to any funerals in my life, and the first dead person I saw was my father. It was a shock. It wasn't my father. It was an empty husk that had contained my father. Since that time, I've had to deal with the deaths of my parents-in-law, my mother, and my husband died in my arms. I've seen a free flying bald eagle, or one in a tree each day before each of those deaths. I think that the bald eagle is a wonderful symbol for America, but to me it means death is near.

Tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of September 11th - a very nasty day in our history. Jeff, my husband, and I were in a courthouse in Manassas, Virginia when we first got the news that a plane had flown into the New York Trade Towers. By the time we had finished our testifying duties, rumors were flying like mad - and we could only pick up an all-news radio station from downtown Washington, DC - they didn't know what was happening either. As we drove back to our home, the radio reported on the collapse of both towers, and the plane that had flown into the Pentagon. It also reported that there were explosions on the Capitol Mall, and that the entire Mall was on fire. Because of the trial that Jeff and I had to testify at, I had not gone to work that day - I did not take the subway underneath the Pentagon as I usually did, an I did not get trapped at work, 27 miles from home with no way to get home.
Some of my co-workers told me of their experiences trying to get to their homes that day - and I am blessed not to have been one of them. One man lived in Baltimore - it took him 16 hours to get since; several co-workers lived "across town" and usually took the subway or buses, both of which shut down - it took them 5 to 8 hours to make it through the panicked crowds in the streets and arrive home.

So, for me, both September 10th and 11th are days that will always fill me with sadness and regret. As with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, both days in September will be days "that live in infamy" to me.

Stupid deaths upset me!

I wrote in the blog this past Friday about Chalkie, who was taken to the local Humane Society at the age of 17. Chalkie had some dental issues and the folks at the Humane Society felt that he would not survive anesthesia for the dental work he would need before they felt comfortable in sending him on to another family. Chalkie was euthanized on Friday, less than 24 hours after his arrival at the Humane Society.

I am not upset with the people at the Humane Society. I am very angry at Chalkie's former owner. She had decided to sell her home in Boulder and move to another state (I had understood that she was moving into a retirement home, due to her age and a physical disability) to be near her children and grandchildren. Chalkie was taken to the Humane Society on Thursday afternoon; his owner left late Friday night to drive to her new home in another state - not knowing that the Humane Society had tried to contact her Friday morning, to pick Chalkie up, if she did not want him killed. I was outraged to find out that she has returned to Boulder - she arrived back here Sunday afternoon, because she decided she couldn't live near her son after being in his home for less than an hour for a "welcoming" visit. She has decided to stay in Boulder.

Chalkie died for no reason other than her sheer stupidity and stubborness. She apparently had decided to move because "she felt her time for dying was near"; she "moved" to another state without having a place to move to; and after spending less than 60 minutes in her son's company decided that moving was a "bad idea" and she really did like Boulder. A cuddly, warm, loving lap cat was killed because a woman didn't look ahead to what might happen when she appeared on her son's doorstep, informing him that she was moving nearby to spend "her last time" with him and his family. Stupid, ignorant, unthinking.... I would add many more words, but they would not be nice. And I want this to be a "G" rated blog at all times, so I can't really express myself. At least she did not just turn him loose and hope he would survive on his own outside. At least he died (somewhat) peacefully - but without a known and loving presence there. He did not starve, was not crippled, was not eaten by a wild animal.... but he is irrevocably dead. Nothing can bring back his spirited, playful company. His death was wasteful and stupid!