As we go about our busy lives, let us remember all of the innocent people who were slaughtered by terrorists in NYC, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, five years ago today:

Portraits of Grief (The New York Times)
Black Day 911
Remember September 11, 2001
CNN's September 11: A Memorial

posted by brown-eyed at 9:38 AM

I was sitting on the steps of our condo's deck, alone, and heard a growling noise. It wasn't a dog, but it definitely was an ANIMAL. The noise kept moving around--to the left, behind me, on the right, to the left again. GRRRRRRRRR. GRRRRRRR. GRRRRRRR. Really gutteral and deep. LOUD. Mean. My husband rode up on his bike and I warned him of "dangerous" animals, so he came right inside the enclosed porch where I was. Then we saw, first, one, and then two racoons: a big fat mama with a medium-sized baby. They went under the deck at the exact edge of step where I had been sitting. Then a big DADDY appeared. Now there are three! They sniffed around, no doubt looking for me to bite, for ages. They crawled all around the deck. They sat under the table where I put my feet. They lounged on the deck steps, which probably still were warm from my sitting there. I hit the windows to make noise and they perked up and looked toward me. They stared. I tried to take their pictures, but the flashes bounced off the windows back to the lens. I briefly considered opening the door and sticking the camera out--nah. They kept staring. They sniffed hubby's bike. Finally they went back under the deck. YIKES. I'm never going out there again. I hate bugs and animals! I know where they live now.

(The more I tell this story, the better it will get.)

posted by brown-eyed at 10:19 PM

The biggest tree in our yard was uprooted last night in the 90mph wind storm that roared through St. Louis. Our tree, a red oak, was about 3-4 feet in diameter. Fortunately the tree landed in the street and not on our house, and our city cleared the street and put the logs in our yard before 7 a.m. today. The street behind our house is also blocked from trees that have fallen. Our neighborhood is full of big, beautiful, old trees. This storm moved from north to south (unusual, to say the least) and had a "wall of wind" moving ahead of it.

We're on vacation in the upper Midwest, and are getting reports from our daughter and son-in-law. Our house has electricity, unlike about 470,000 people in St. Louis. Residents north of I-70 have a boil water order. Part of the airport terminal building roof blew off. 30 people were injured at the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, as windows blew out of the press box and the tarp on the field blew loose.

The temperature in St. Louis today was 103--heat index was 115. The mayor has called in the National Guard to help get people get to cooling stations, and volunteers are going door to door to check on people. It will be several days before power is restored. One friend has neither power nor water.

Why did I say the tree fairy hates us? 25 years ago another big oak tree in the front yard was felled by 90mph winds in another storm. That tree sliced our side porch right off our house.

We're lucky and are saying a prayer for all of the folks who are waiting for electricity and water.

posted by brown-eyed at 10:08 PM

Our daughter, as she waits for her wedding to start:

We had a wonderful day! I'll post photos of the happy couple when we have them.

posted by brown-eyed at 5:40 PM

Congatulations to Roger L. Simon and Charles Johnson, founders of Pajamas Media™, a portal to the BEST of the blogosphere which rolled out today. Their editorial board is a diverse group, politically, and they have a huge blog roll. Their concept is a NEW way of generating news, so visit the new site and put it on your aggregator.

posted by brown-eyed at 2:18 PM

An article in the current New England Journal of Medicine reports dramatic improvement in treatment outcomes for some women with an aggressive form of breast cancer. For women whose tumors have high levels of the protein HER2, the drug Herpectin appears to offer significant advantages in terms of survival and recurrance of cancer.

The journal calls the study's results "simply stunning."

posted by brown-eyed at 7:24 PM

This article describes how to ruin your fingers:

"Chris Claypool was addicted to his BlackBerry wireless handheld. Like many users, he never thought twice about pecking away at lightning speed, replying to a wave of e-mails from clients around the globe.

"Last year, the 37-year-old agricultural sales director from Post Falls, Idaho, noticed a throbbing sensation in this thumbs whenever he typed. He switched to tapping with his index finger, then his middle digit and finally his pinky. But his thumbs pained him to the point where he can't even press the buttons on his TV remote control."

This guy is way too available to his clients. I would go nuts if I constantly had to use my cell phone or do text messages. Why not set aside a block of time in the morning and afternoon to return calls and messages? We're becoming slaves to our technology.

posted by brown-eyed at 12:54 PM