Today is Sunday, September 11 and there are only 105 days until Christmas so start wrapping presents, writing out cards and composing those Christmas letters.  Today we remember the birthdays of O Henry, Charles Evers and Brian DePalma.  On this day in 1789 Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, in 1875 the first newspaper cartoon strip was published and in 1950 the Dick Tracy TV show sparked an uproar concerning violence.  In Ethiopia it is the New Year, in Pakistan it is Jinnah Day and in the US it is National Grandparents Day, National Hot Cross Bun Day and Patriot Day, observed as the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The National Day of Service and Remembrance occurs each year on September 11 in memory of the 2,977 people killed in the 2001 September 11 attacks.  A bill to make September 11 a national day of mourning was introduced in the US House on October 25, 2001.  The bill designated the day as Patriot Day.  Joint Resolution71 passed the House by unanimous vote.  The bill passed the Senate unanimously on November 30.  President Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001.  The flag of the United States is flown at half-staff on all government buildings and establishments throughout the world.  Additionally, a moment of silence is observed to correspond with the attacks, beginning at 8:46 AM eastern, the time the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

This was the day when four jet planes were hijacked and two crashed in the New York World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon.  The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was directed at Washington, DC, but it's passengers bravely attempted to take back control and it crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  In the wake of the World Trade Center collisions, many brave men and women from the emergency services risked their lives to try to rescue victims of the attacks, and of them 411 lost their own lives attempting to fight fires and rescue people.

At that time, my house had a great view of the New York skyline, including the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.  My son was at my house that day with my first grandson who had just been born in June.  Standing on our front porch my son saw one of the buildings collapse.  It was disturbing to go out for the next couple days and watch the columns of smoke rise into the air.  We could also hear and see the airplanes on their approach into Newark Airport everyday.  Suddenly, there were no planes flying and the silence was far more disturbing than the noise from the planes.  It was a terrible time for everyone and a time we should never forget.  Please do not let this day fade into obscurity as the years pass.  If you have a flag, put it at half-staff.  If possible, observe a moment of silence at 8:46 AM, eastern.

As an aside, it should be obvious why nothing ever gets done in this country.  It took 44 days for a resolution declaring 9/11 a National Day of Mourning to be introduced in the US House.  It took another 36 days for the Senate to pass it and then another 18 days for the president to sign it.  Why?  I can understand that it took some time to recover from the shock of the attack and to write the bill, but 44 days?  The Senate passed it unanimously 36 days later.  What took so long?  The vote was unanimous so there probably wasn’t much argument.  While this was all going on, someone had to have told the president about it.  He should have been ready to sign it the same day it was passed.  Instead, it took him another 18 days to get around to it.  Now you can see why things take so long to happen.

I do not have much else to discuss this week.  I did not get out too much as I have been dealing with estate paperwork and stuff.  I also spent a couple days at my son’s house doing some work around there.  The benefit to working there is that I can come and go when I feel like it.  They are pleased to have me do stuff for them and I am happy to still be able to do the gardening and stuff for them.  I know, it was hot and I shouldn’t be doing hard, outdoor work, but it was not that bad.

I have worked on a grounds crew at a golf course and done landscaping in a cemetery.  I was also a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force, including a year in Vietnam, so I know how to sweat and work outdoors.  The benefit of working at my son’s is there is no deadline, they have a shaded deck and plenty of cold water in the fridge.  I get there when I feel like it and leave when I am tired.  A good deal if you ask me.

I will try and get out this week so I have new things to discuss.

This week our fact tells us that a person eats around 60,000 pounds worth of food during a lifetime which is the equivalent of six elephants.  Most holidays I feel like I have consumed my lifetime limit in one day.

Please take a moment to observe Patriot Day, a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
God bless America!