not much here how about you?

You don't need to be directly involved in a disaster to be affected by it. I suspect most parents would understand my statement. If a disaster affects a child of yours then that disaster affects you.

Florence over stayed her visit to NC and SC recently. I found myself watching local news reports as it slowly unfolded.

All my family members living in those now very wet states are fine. Frustrated by the clean-up and disruption but fine.

I spent some time worrying about it. Thankfully it was not as bad as the possibilities that had crossed my mind.  

I didn't lose my head over it

While roads were being washed out, rivers over flowing and trees falling there, the weather around here was pleasant. We even spent an afternoon picking some apples.

more than enough to pick on this tree

Some years ago I posted a clip of the muppets singing my favorite Queen song. I enjoyed this one just as much. I've read it was a big hit in the UK.

it looked to be a nice Tuesday

Maybe my mind's picture of that clear blue Tuesday sky is easily recalled because I looked up at the sky much more that day than normal.

I was scanning the sky wondering what was going to happen next.

This year September 11 falls on a Tuesday again. I am hoping for a nice peaceful day. It will be a sad day.


This past spring my wife and I took a road trip to Pennsylvania. My goal was to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial. We made there, the weather that day was not anything like a sunny clear day. Sleet and low clouds swept across the hillside during our visit.

I have mentioned my connection with Flight 93 in previous posts. Here's a remembrance post from 2013.

I've worked at a handful of companies over my career. Airfone (GTE Airfone became Verizon Airfone) was one of my best engineering jobs. The Airfone service played a role in the Flight 93 event.

Certainly, more people died at the World Trade Center in NYC and at the Pentagon. But I do believe if a brave group of passengers had not fought back for control of Flight 93, many more lives would have been lost in or near Washington DC. At the high speed they were traveling, it would have been just minutes before the plane reached the DC area. These heroes figured out via communication with the ground that the terrorists had another target to destroy. The memorial displays the story of that day and how terrorists' plan to use Flight 93 was stopped that day. Flight 93 was crashed deep into an empty Pennsylvania field.

From the Sources and Detailed Information webpage on Flight 93 National Memorial site:

We know that Flight 93 was destined for Washington D.C. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, at 9:55 am, the terrorist pilot Ziad Jarrah dialed in the frequency for the navigational aid at Washington Reagan National Airport, clearly indicating that the attack was planned for the nation's capital.

display of recovered seatback equipment

this walk follows the final flight path

the victims

Remembrance, memorials, books, etc. are important for future generations to understand the terror that can be inflicted on people. Still all those things fail to prevent future similar tragedies. We can be protected but absolute protection would create a prison cell type life. Singer songwriter Donovan wrote the following in his song, "Catch the Wind".

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind





I may as well try and catch the wind

Yeah and then there is this

If my posting trend continues, it won’t be long until I’m posting once a year. A lot can happen in a year but then again not much can happen too.

DIY Sir Fartalot

Of course there is the quantity vs. quality debate. Fakebook certainly goes towards the quantity side. Twitter is probably even worse but I’m not on twitter.

I started to write, “stopping time” as a blog recording idea, but no. Time stopped could indicate you’re dead. Capturing time is a better description. Technically, I guess capturing the essence a moment or memory is what happens. In the not too distant past the capturing took the form of letters/notes/diaries. My blog provides a method of capturing time for me and hopefully future others.

Many of my posts are not memorable events but rather thoughts that churned in my brain long enough to be written down. Having watched a Ken Burns documentary or two, I know that a person’s thoughts can be the best way to convey the essence of a moment in time.

I certainly don’t consider this blog historical significant. However, I do wonder will some future bot will scan and digest large volumes of postings to get a sense of historical events, social movements or just daily life in the past.

Emergency cabinet at a great store for odd stuff

Then there is this -
Deputy Cows helped chased down a suspected car thief in Florida recently. (IMHO, I think FL has the most dumb criminals in the nation)