Current Mouse Count

I had decided a couple of weeks ago to pull in all the mouse traps since I hadn't caught any rodents in a while. Well yesterday as I was leaving the house (I forget where I was going now) I saw a little mouse run up on the front porch. So I placed the traps back out, and less than twenty four hours later I had two more mice snapped in half. So now I guess I'll leave them out again for a little while and see what I catch. I believe my running total right now is something like 25 mice and 6 voles.

The one saving grace I can take from this is that nothing has made its way into the house yet.

New School Issues

Alison has been at her new school for about two weeks and she is still having problems adjusting. Everything seems fine when she is with her friends or at home, but as soon as it is time to go to school, she starts crying and saying she doesn't want to go. Kris and I are trying to figure out just why. Previously it had been because she was being picked on by a kid at school. But now, we just don't know. I can't believe that she would be having issues with another student already. We will just have to wait and see if we can figure it out.

Cheerleading

Sarah had cheerleading tryouts yesterday for North. This is separate from Jr. Indians cheer. She had practice Friday and Monday with her actual tryout on Tuesday. They, and when I say they I mean all the girls who were trying out, "learn" a cheer as well as a dance routine. She already knew the cheer from Jr. Indians, so she only needed to learn the dance.

During the actual tryout, she was grouped up with two other girls. They were running behind, so she had to wait around until after everyone was done to find out if she made the team, and good news, she did! Actually everyone who tried out for seventh grade cheer made it. And it is all basically the same as the Jr. Indians cheer squad. Sarah said there are two girls who tried out who are not in Jr. Indians.

So now Sarah will have cheer practice a few times a week along with tumbling classes and it looks like there will be cheerleading invitationals. We have a parent meeting coming up so we will find out more soon. Congratulations Sarah!

9/11 + 9 - Never Forget

This year's Project 2,996 was a little different so I am reviving last year's tributes. Please remember those murdered on this day nine years ago with a moment of silence and reflection. 9/11 is NOT a day of service. It is a day to remember; remember what happened, remember those that died, and remember why we should never forget, never surrender.


This is Sara Elizabeth Low.

Sara Elizabeth Low was a flight attendant and a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in Batesville, Arkansas and graduated from Batesville High School in 1991. Sara was a track athlete in high school, and her team won a state title in 1989. In honor of her memory, Batesville has annually held the Sara Low Memorial 5K Run and Walk.

Sara died at the age of 28 in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. She was one of nine flight attendants onboard. Sara and the rest of her flight crew, being on the first hijacked plane, could have no inkling of what lay in store, unlike on United Airlines Flight 93, where the crew and passengers learned of the earlier attacks and mounted a pre-emptive counterattack that stopped the hijackers from succeeding in their suicide mission. The last recorded information that we have about Sara Low is that on the highjacked American Airlines Flight 11, she gave to another flight attendant, Amy Sweeney, "her father's calling card, which allowed [Sweeney] . . . to pretend to be a passenger and use an AirFone to call Logan Airport and relay the vital information." Even a small act like that took presence of mind and some degree of courage in terrible circumstances that the vast majority of us will never face.

Despite having earned advanced degrees in banking and finance from the University of Arkansas, Sara E. Low was dedicated to her career with American Airlines. And the 28-year-old flight attendant was stationed along the eastern seaboard--a part of the nation she adored. For Sara Elizabeth Low, a career as a flight attendant was a birthright. Family vacations meant piling in the back of her father's small plane and heading from Batesville, Ark., to the Gulf Coast or Rocky Mountains. "Sara didn't think there was too much difference between being in the plane and being in a car," said her mother, Bobbie Low.

Poised, collected, yet prone to sudden streaks of silliness — a personality to calm even the most enraged traveler. And her job sated her wanderlust, her need for cosmopolitan glamor.

"She would call us from the different destinations and give us a hard time," said her older sister, Alyson, a teacher in Fayetteville, Ark. "In the summer she'd phone from San Francisco or Vancouver because she loved that she had to wear a sweater, rubbing it in about how hot and humid it is in Arkansas."

Yet one aspect of the itinerant life wore on Sara: in her first two years as a flight attendant she had about two dozen roommates. So at age 28 she had finally found a place of her own in the Beacon Hill area of Boston, the city from which she boarded Flight 11. "It had a fireplace and wooden floors," Alyson said. "Our mother went to Boston in the summer to help her clean it up, and it was going to be a real home."

"She absolutely loved the airlines and helping people," her father, Mike, said. Sara is survived by her parents, Mike and Bobbie Low of Batesville, and her sister, Alyson Low of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The second person I remember is Richard D. Allen, know to family and friends as "Richie".

Richie was 31 on Sept. 11, 2001. He was a life-long resident of Rockaway Beach. He became a victim of this tragedy as he heroically saved lives in the line of duty.

Richie loved the beach and worked Rockaway’s beaches as a lifeguard for many years and he treasured it. The beach was a peaceful place for Richie and brought him comfort; it was Richie’s Heaven on Earth. He loved the ocean, which is where he surfed, fished, swam and paddled.

Before becoming a fireman and when not lifeguarding on the beach in the summer, Richie spent his winters as a New York City Public School teacher. He quickly and easily gained the admiration and respect of his students as they could tell that he was not like their other teachers. To his students, Richie was someone they could relate to and they described him as “laid back” and “cool”.

People become firemen for many reasons. Richie’s family believes that he became a fireman because saving people and helping is what gave him life. During his short life, he saved many people; some he saved as a fireman, some he saved while lifeguarding and some he saved from themselves. His family believes that this is what God put him on this earth for. Once people met Richie, their lives were changed forever.

On September 11th, Richie was doing what he loved to do: he was helping others. Richie was a probationary New York City firefighter with Engine 4/Ladder 15 in Manhattan. While he was on the fire department for only a short time, he fulfilled a life-long dream. Prior to becoming a fireman, Richie held several other jobs with NYC, which he loved. He worked for the sanitation department, he was a teacher for the Board of Ed and spent his summers working as a lifeguard in Rockaway. All of Richie's jobs entailed serving the people of NYC and making a difference in other people's lives.

Richie is survived by his very proud and loving family, which includes his parents, Richie Sr. and Gail; two brothers, Luke and Mathew; three sisters, Maggie, Lynn, Judy and her husband Mark; close family relatives, Kathy, Charlie Sr., Charlie Jr. and Katie Marquardt, as well as many other dear friends and relatives.

Thanks to www.livingtribute.com, www.legacy.com, www.sep11memories.org, & gypsyscholarship.blogsot.com for the information on these victims.

Our First Day

The first day of school for Kris and I was quite different. Since I took off as I always do to see the girls off to school, I thought I would take the opportunity to have my front tires replaced on my car. They had become quite bald and there was "shake" on the steering wheel, so I assumed they had gone out of balance. As we were walking into school to drop Alison off I got a call from the auto place. It was a little more than the tires being out of balance. Aside from the tires needing to be replaced, both tie rods were loose and one needed to be replaced. Next, the brakes were all worn and I needed a whole front and rear brake job. The rear shocks were beginning to leak and the struts while not needing to be done at that exact moment, would need to be done in the near future. So what started out as what was originally planned as about a $170 job turned into a $2200 overhaul. I had been thinking it was about time to look for a new car, but now after spending this much, I am going get my money's worth.

Kris's mother also had surgery scheduled on Wednesday. She was having an carotid artery unblocked. It was apparently 99% blocked on her right side. So Kris had to be up at 3:30 to get her mom to the hospital. She came home in time to help get Alison ready for school. Once we dropped her off, we went to the hospital to wait to talk to the surgeon after the procedure was complete. Once we talked to him and found out everything went well, we ran back home to get Sarah ready for school. After that it was back to the hospital to find out what room Kris's mom was moved into. We went there to see her for a bit. Oh yeah, we also had a list of people to call and let know how the procedure went, so Kris spent closer to 30-45 minutes reporting to everyone on the outcome of the procedure.

Then we had to run back home to be there when Sarah got home and find out how her first day went. Then about a half an hour later we had to go back to Shady Lane to pick up Alison from her first day. Looks like it was a good thing I took off.

First Day Of School

Today was the first day of school in Menomonee Falls. As is tradition I took the girls' picture:


We drove Alison to school this morning afterward. Luckily for us (or not) it was raining this morning, so we got to go right into school and drop Ali off at her classroom. She was a little nervous going in but luckily there was another Riverside girl who had got there the same time.

I got to meet Ali's teacher, and she seemed very nice. She did a lot to help Ali feel comfortable. there was another girl there who was putting her things into her desk so Mrs. Woolard (Ali's teacher) asked if Ali would help her since Ali was there the day before and "did such a good job setting up her desk". I thought it was a nice ice breaker for Ali.

We found out where we needed to go to pick Alison up at the end of the day. I will say that things are much different than we were used to at Riverside. We told Ali where to meet us and then we left. Kris did a very good job. She wa worried she would be crying but did alright with everything.

At the end of the day we drove up and parked across the street waiting for Alison. Unfortunately she never came out. The neighbor who we were also driving home was there, but no Alison. So Kris and I had to go inside to find her. Her classroom was empty and the chairs were all up on the desks, so we walked down to the office. As we got there we saw a mom who used to live about a block and a half away from us that we knew from Riverside. She said hi to me and then said Alison was in front. I walked around and there she was waiting with her teacher.

I got her attention and she came running, nearly in tears. She obviously had misunderstood our directions and ended up going to the front of the school and thought that we had forgotten her. After some soothing words and some hugs, she was all better for the most part. We cleared everything up for Thursday and headed home.

We found out there were a few mistakes made during the day such sitting in the wrong place during lunch, and going the wrong way on the monkey bars. Things will get better though, we just have to be patient.

Sunday School

Sunday Kris and I spent a couple of hours attending a class by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We had to do this because I volunteered to be an aide for Alison's Sunday School class. For whatever reason, Kris was the one who ended up being roped into doing it. With Kris's work schedule having to work on weekends, she can't make all the classes, which is why I was supposed to be the one doing it.

I told Kris I would take care of it, but she agreed to split the time. So I will be doing it on the weeks where she is working. I may help out on the other weeks as well, I'll have to see how things go. But the class we had to sit through was for providing a Safe Environment. This is apparently some charter that has been dictated by The Vatican, so anyone who is in contact with children is required to sit through this training (Thank you very much you pedophile priests!). It wasn't a bad class overall. It is probably something that I would recommend. It was ways to identify behavior in adults and in children that may give warning signs of possible sexual abuse. The videos contained actual offenders describing how they would manipulate children into situations to provide them opportunities. Actually, some of the stories were rather reprehensible.

But we finished our "training" and now will never have to do it again. Sunday School starts in two weeks and I'm not quite sure what an aide will do, but stay tuned for details.