Category: Milestones

I just looked and realized that Dackel Princess is now 7 years old! How did this happen? The last 7 years have flown by. Shubi is gone now.

She was the original Dackel Princess. Greta the new senior Dackel Princess, is 8 years old.

She has two children that still live with us, Arnie & Anneliese, and life has shifted from looking forward to new puppies to the simple enjoyment of all of our dogs.

I love writing about the dogs, Hubby, Mandy & Matt and soon their little baby. I mean, how blessed am I to have all of this love around me?

I did a 24 hour turn a round trip to Connecticut to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of my sister, Melodie and her husband, Ron.

They met at summer camp when they were thirteen years old. We lived on Cape Cod and Ron lived in Arlington, Massachusetts. Back then, there was no Internet, no cell phones, no easy way to stay in touch, except for hand writing letters, and occasionally talking on the phone. Very rarely, actually because phone rates were very high.

So these two wild, and crazy kids wrote letters. I remember Ron sent Mel yellow roses and they were really beautiful! I was only eight years old and already a hopeless romantic!

Ron would come to Cape Cod to visit us, and Melodie and I would go to Arlington, where he lived. I’d visit with our grandparents while she visited at Ron’s.

Over the years, Ron became a brother to me. Oh yes, at times I drove him nuts, being the pesky little sister, and at times he made me nuts too. But isn’t that what siblings are for?

After High School they got married and started their family. They have two grown sons now and a beautiful daughter. Their sons are married to really special women. Their daughter has a really sweet and warm boyfriend. And I am really crazy about Mel and Ron’s Grandchildren, two boys and a girl! In fact, they all got together and posed for a picture for their gift.

So, when many people like Kim Kardashian have 72 day marriages, doesn’t it warm your heart to hear of two people who really fell in love, and have been together all these years. Through thick and thin, the two of them. I call them Frick and Frack. I simply cannot think of either one of them without the other!

Happy Anniversary, guys! Love you!!!

PS: Love to my cousin Janet, who drove me most of the way down and back! Thanks!

I think we all can tell you where we were, and what we were doing on that fateful day, ten years ago.

September 11, 2001

It was a beautiful day here in New Hampshire. Sunny, bright, clear with blue skies. I was taking a shower getting ready for a dental appointment, while Hubby was working on shingling the house. It was a day like any other here.
Hubby had the TV in our bedroom pointed out the window so he could listen to the morning news.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm and Hubby told me I had to get out of the shower now, something was happening. I was a little dazed and confused. I shut the water in the shower off and grabbed my towel.

Hubby and I sat in our family room watching Fox News, ABC, and CNN. A plane had hit one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in downtown New York City.

While we watched, suddenly another plane came in and hit the other Tower!
We were both in shock. We listened to reports. No one was saying terrorism, not at first. But both Hubby and I knew.

We watched the Tower’s come down one and then the other. We knew people had died. We just didn’t know how many.

At 12:30 I drove to my dental appointment. There was not another car on the road. Not one. I got to my dental appointment and found that I was the only patient that hadn’t cancelled that day.
When I got home we watched the TV all day. I called my family and my close friends. Just to hear their voices.

It doesn’t matter your political affiliations, or how you feel about the war.
What matters is on September 11, 2001 innocent people died in New York City, In Washington, DC and in Shanksville, PA.

People like you and like me. Just because they were Americans.
That was the day I learned that we are no longer safe here at home.

I also learned that when our country is attacked in such a manner, we pull together and unify.

God Bless all who lost their lives that day, and all who serve this country each and every day to protect and defend us.

September 11, 2001: Basic Facts

Chronology
8:46 AM Plane crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
9:03 AM Plane crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
9:17 AM The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shuts down all New York City area airports.
9:21 AM The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halts all flights at U.S. airports. It is the first
time in history that air traffic has been halted nationwide.
9:38 AM Plane crashes into the Pentagon. Evacuation begins immediately.
9:45 AM The White House evacuates.
10:05 AM The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 AM A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 AM Plane crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
10:22 AM The State and Justice Departments, as well as the World Bank are evacuated.
10:28 AM The World Trade Center’s north tower collapses.
10:45 AM All federal office buildings in Washington, D.C. are evacuated.
1:44 PM Five warships and two aircraft carriers are ordered to leave the U.S. Naval Station
in Norfolk, Virginia to protect the East Coast.
4:10 PM Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapses.

The Flights
American Airlines Flight 11
From: Boston, Massachusetts (Logan Airport)
To: Los Angeles, California
Lives: 92 people on board
Crashed into North Tower of World Trade Center at 8:46 AM

United Airlines Flight 175
From: Boston, Massachusetts (Logan Airport)
To: Los Angeles, California
Lives: 65 people on board
Crashed into South Tower of World Trade Center at 9:03 AM

American Airlines Flight 77
From: Washington, D.C. (Dulles Airport)
To: Los Angeles, CA
Lives: 64 people on board
Crashed into the Pentagon at 9:38 AM

United Airlines Flight 93
From: Newark, New Jersey
To: San Francisco, California
Lives: 44 people on board
Crashed into rural Pennsylvania (southeast of Pittsburgh)

Victims
Victims came from more than 90 countries around the world.
The following are the number of people who died at each site:

World Trade Center 2,823 (includes airline passengers)
Pentagon 125 (not including plane victims)
Flight 11 – 92 people on board
Flight 175 – 64 people on board
Flight 77 – 64 people on board
Flight 93 – 44 people on board

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

Fact Sheet
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
August 15, 2002

Friday morning found me waking at 3:58 AM! I was so excited about the Royal Wedding, and had set the TV up to tape the events the night before, but I just HAD TO get up and watch it in person! I’ve always loved those boys since they were born. I suppose it was because they were very much wanted, and their parents both doted on them. And of course Princess Diana died before she ever got to see her boys grow into fine young men.

I’m also enough of a romantic that I love to see and hear all about the love stories and feel like I am a part of things as well.

So, here I was, up early, with Fritz and Anneliese, making myself a cup of tea and watching the BBC Broadcast of the wedding. I had a box of Kleenex close by, and as I watched I cried like the mother of the bride or groom. Oh silly me!

The Bride was beautiful, in a classic Grace Kelly kind of way,

and Prince William looked at his Bride with such love, why I really think these two are a love match. I simply refuse to believe that this is anything but a love match!

I had baked blueberry scones, and made “faux” clotted cream and had homemade strawberry jelly. I cooked up a couple of eggs to go along, once Hubby got up. There was also plenty of tea! Hubby actually slept in and missed the wedding the “first” time. You see all day long they kept replaying it and so he saw it a time or two then.

By 2 PM I started to feel sleepy, as if it were the middle of the night and I should be in bed! I did not lie down though because I knew if I did I wouldn’t sleep tonight. I’ll simply get to bed at a decent time tonight.

Did you watch the wedding? What was your favorite part? Did you shed a little tear? (Or am I going through menopause and hormonally unbalanced?)