In Their Honor

A friend of mine in Hendersonville, North Carolina sent me a link to a CBS news story about a local businessman who is raising money to send every WWII veteran in the country to see the WWII Memorial in Washington DC. My friend has signed up to be a volunteer/guardian on a future trip. This moving story brought to mind our own visit to the WWII Memorial when Bryan & I went to DC for the SAA meeting.

It was our first time to see the memorial; I haven't been in DC since 1990 and this was Bryan's first visit. The memorial opened in 2004. As we approached it from the Washington Memorial, I noticed it was much larger than I expected. The Memorial is oval-shaped with each long end representing the two fronts - Pacific and Atlantic. Each state has a granite column topped with a bronze wreath - they stand tall and strong. I was overwhelmed by an intense, indescribable feeling standing in this Memorial. There is an energy, a strength, a solidity residing there that I have not felt at any other memorial in Washington DC.

Entering the Memorial, I noticed the beautiful bronze artwork, bas-relief sculpture panels set into the balustrades of the north and south ceremonial entrance walls. As I walked along looking at the 12 representing the Pacific, I found tears in my eyes.

If you have had the chance to visit, I know you will support the efforts of Hendersonville, NC in sending the veterans to see it in person. If you haven't seen it, you really should.

WE ARE DETERMINED THAT BEFORE THE SUN SETS ON THIS TERRIBLE STRUGGLE OUR FLAG WILL BE RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS A SYMBOL OF FREEDOM ON THE ONE HAND AND OF OVERWHELMING FORCE ON THE OTHER.

- General George C. Marshall

Skunks

Long ago, about five years, we bought a house that backed up to a beautiful public golf course. Assured that the golf course carried deed restrictions, requiring it to be a golf course, we fell victim to the classic blunder - don't trust anything anyone says. Six months after we bought the house, the golf course was sold to another management company, who drove away all their major clients and became lazy on the overall maintenance. What a surprise that nine months later the company asked to be let out of the deed restrictions on the basis that the golf course wasn't economically viable and they wanted to develop the 72 acres of formerly pristine land into luxury single-family townhomes and houses.

Our core neighborhoods united, and with the help of the deed restriction owner, Exxon (thank you) blocked the development. However, the owner closed the course and has left it to be barely maintained (it desperately needs to be mowed as I type!) At present, neighbors ignore the no-trespassing signs and use the old golf cart paths as running, walking, biking paths.

Residents aren't the only ones ignoring the "no trespassing" signs. An increased number of "critters" have moved in. Unusual animals that I have personally seen either in our home or by the back patio door include very large raccoons, snakes, and a skunk. We have seen dead possums in the street, and a neighbor reports she has seen a coyote wandering the course at night.

A week ago Saturday night, we were awakened by scritching and clawing (and squealing) in the wall next to our bathtub. After the first sleepless night we reasoned it might be a possum, and purchased a live trap. It took a week of trial and error - where to set the trap, what bait to use, etc. before we finally captured our possum on Friday night, only to discover it wasn't a possum.

It was a skunk.

While a very pretty little skunk (who knew they were so cute!) we were more than a little apprehensive about moving the cage without getting ah... stinky. As we tried to fill the hole that night our little captive grew agitated and let us know by turning and lifting his or her tail. We left it alone and went to bed anticipating a quiet night.

About 2:45 a.m. the clawing noises were back. We thought perhaps a second skunk was still there (we had seen a second skunk slinking around), but discovered the next morning that our captive had escaped. Darn thing managed to tip over the trap, which released the door just enough to slip out. (Who knew they were smart?)

After several phone calls we learned the following:
1) It is illegal to transport wildlife in the state of Texas.
2) It is illegal to dump any live animal on public or private property, without the permission of the land owner.
3) Skunks carry rabies!
4) Houston animal control says they will pick up a trapped skunk, even on Sunday.
5) A professional company will charge you $250 to come out and set a trap, plus $60 for each additional animal they remove. They will also fill the hole and set up barriers.

It was suggested that we try to run them out of their burrow (under and inside our house) by one of several methods: flooding them out, smoking them out, or out-stinking them out. We tried the latter.

Sat. night, one week after this began, we poured an entire box of mothballs into an old sock, knotted it, and stuffed it up the hole as far as possible. Fortunately for us, it was after 10 p.m. and our little friends must have been out foraging for the night.

It's now been three nights - very restful, quiet nights. I think it might be safe to bring out the QuickCrete.

Cameron is SEVEN!

It has been brought to my attention that I have a whole post to Brenna being four, but not one for Cameron being seven. I didn't blog on Cameron's birthday because we were spending Labor Day Weekend at SBR and we just don't "do" computers at the Ranch. It's supposed to be a relaxing place.

By the way, Cameron doesn't like this picture, but I love it!

Here is a new trick I picked up from Brenna & Molly. The pictures were taken at SBR over the holiday weekend.

Five years ago....

Five years ago I was driving to my new job listening to a classical music station. Just before the top of the hour news, the DJ said they had reports from New York City that smoke was coming from one of the World Trade Center towers. Apparently there was some fire there - and they would bring us more information when it became available.

I parked, walked into the Bayou Building, where a cluster of staff, students and faculty were gathered in the Atrium under the suspended television. All stood in shocked silence. I wasn't sure what was happening; both of the World Trade Center towers were burning. It wasn't until much later that I realized they had just witnessed the second plane strike the tower live. The person next to me said a plane flew into the building. My mind raced - thinking how does a private pilot miss the tower? When I voiced this, the person next to me shook her head and said, they didn't miss. It was deliberate. It looked like a big commercial jet.

This being a new job, I reported to my office, where I worked alone without a radio or television. My husband called. My mother called. Both told me what was going on, but I did not witness the towers falling or the Pentagon burning. News websites were either too busy or crashed. My Sept99 moms online group filled me in from time to time. Shayna's husband, David, worked in the Pentagon. She hadn't heard from him.

Five years later. The classical station has been sold. I have a full-time assistant. I know now that I didn't have to stay in my office - many library staff were gathered in the conference room watching the television. I listen to more talk radio. I don't enjoy flying anymore. I'm not afraid of it, but I don't enjoy it. I find myself thinking about the people on those planes.

Shayna's husband survived the attack. He is now a freshman state legislator in Virginia representing Arlington.

On my lunch hour five years ago I went home, full of anger and did the one thing I could do. I put our flag outside as if to say you shall not weaken us. We can and will fight back. You do not know what you have awakened.

Today, we remember.