Monday, September 10, 2012

CT United Ride Remembers 9/11

On Sunday we happened to be in Westport where we had the chance
to see some of the riders that take part in the annual CT United Ride to
commemorate 9/11....Some 2,400 motorcycles with police escorts from various towns travel 60 miles from Norwalk to Seaside Park in Bridgeport, passing through several towns along the way...

Firefighters from the towns erect the flag arches with ladder trucks....

It is pretty impressive to see and hear lots of bikes riding together along the route....It has turned into a charitable event as they charge to
be part of the 'parade' & the money collected is contributed to police & fire fighters funds in CT....These pics are not mine but from the local paper...Didn't have a camera when we came across the event on Sunday...

59 comments:

Carol said...

Thanks Coreen for sharing those pictures with us. I knew you would put up something. You do every year. I even looked last night to see if there was something in the works.

Carol said...

Those memories are still pretty vivid to me. I told you that 911 started my next two years of hell. Two years that I didn't think I would survive either mentally or physically. I think that I'll forever pair all of that together. I'm sure that also might contribute to my fall funk. It probably has gotten worse over the last 11 years.

Carol said...

Last night TW called and told me that 4 women were going to be on Piers Morgan but not Piers Morgan. We both can't stand him. Do you guys like him?

Donnie Deutsch was the guest host. Can take him or leave him. I only know of him from when I used to watch Morning Joe. He had on Serena William's, Gayle King, Susie Orman and Lara Spencer. They were worth watching and would have be more worth it if Donnie wouldn't have had so many topics that they had no time to answer any of his questions. As soon as they were trying to say something interesting, he cut them off.

Why do those idiots do that? It was a waste of good women, their time and mine. I guess they accomplished what they wanted. The women's names brought in viewers even if we left unsatisfied. They were all pretty interesting topics just way too many of them. They could have filled an entire season of shows with those topics.

Carol said...

The show started out talking about equal pay for women. Susie gave credit to Obama for signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It didn't result in any change in pay but it does give women more time to fight for it. Figures, we usually don't fight. That topic could have taken up several shows by itself. Every time each of the women started to say something of substance, Donnie cut them off.

He did say that he would rather have a female employee than a male. He said his female employees collaborate better.

I do agree. If I'm hiring a nurse, in most cases, I'd rather have a female than a male. In all my years of experience working with both...females worked harder. Men often found ways to manipulate some women to do their work but take credit for it. I sometimes wondered if it was their way of coping with being in a female dominated profession. Not sure.

They were talking about the salary difference between the sexes. They all did have a moment to say that women don't fight for more money. There is something in us that is too willing to make sacrifices to be martyrs. That's in our DNA. I'm the queen there. We much more often work way too hard for way too little. That defines my entire career. I wonder if that will ever change.

One big thing that I do give credit to men for in nursing...is that having more males in the profession did finally get nurse's salaries up. At first, they just migrated to the better paid management positions. When those ran out and men had to take regular staff positions, the salary started going up. They couldn't support a family on what nurses were being paid to hell with all the women who had been doing it for years as a single parent.

I never once in my career asked for a raise. I think in this last job I was getting less than others at the hospital who weren't working half as hard. There was a guy who took my place when I finally forced getting my first real vacation in 7 years. I thought he might take the position when I left. He even had some corrections experience. Hell no he didn't. He was way to smart to do it.

They hired this unsuspecting younger female NP and she is trying to do both jobs. No man in their right mind would do it. I'm just waiting for them to realize it ain't going to work without something seriously going wrong. The job at the joint should have had at minimum a person and a half and they threw in another half a job. I do not wish bad things but something will get neglected and that wasn't going to happen on my watch where they could blame it on me.

It was a bunch of men who made that decision, both at the joint and at the hospital... with no input from anyone who had a clue what was involved. Not only did they not have a clue, they didn't give a damn. And believe me when the poop hits the fan, they will find someone else to blame.

Carol said...

When I had this run of bad luck..a tornado hitting both my places and then getting robbed, I wondered why me. I try to find meaning in everything that happens. I have found something positive in it.

First, all that I had to do, helped me to make the decision not to feel forced to take them up on two jobs for the price of less than one. It's keeps me sooo busy that I don't have time to feel guilty for quitting.

The damage to my camp forced me to get the new roof that that half of my camp needed. That I had to pay for but I was planning on doing it sooner or later anyway.

I even got a new, more powerful lawnmower, that does my yard in half the time, and it was discounted some because of the insurance money I got. It cost the same as my last lawnmower but I only paid the thousand dollar deductible.

Carol said...

I was just looking back at some of our archives and every picture posted by Chloe was removed and in it's place is a triangle with an exclamation mark. I guess she found a way to go and remove all the pics she posted. Maybe she was trying to erase herself from the blog and that was all she could manage to do.

Coreen said...

You knew I wouldn't forget...Isn't that what friends are for?!...

Interesting how just about everyone I know, still remembers
what they were doing 11 years ago...it's like it was only a blink of an eye ago, yet in that time, we all have gone through so many changes...life just continues on, regardless...

Don't watch piers morgan, but do know who donnie deutsch is...he never shuts up...talks fast...& has a really high opinion of himself...

Did watch a good portion of the us
open..now that was some really great tennis...think just about everyone was pulling for andy murray...reminds me of the days of jimmy connors & john macenroe....

Coreen said...

As far as deleting pics...pretty sure you can delete posts...when I start one, sometimes I go back and forth & it shows a draft & the one I am working on, & it lets you delete the draft...

Really no surprise that she deleted
all evidence of her time here...not sure what the point of that would be however...whatever!!

Coreen said...

And did you catch the pic of Sean Connery...he was at the us open, cheering for andy murray...another movie icon...who for me will always be the perfect 007...I did enjoy him playing indiana jones' father too...

Carol said...

I didn't see the tennis. Isn't that interesting to me. I'm not really a big sport's fan. I have done more sports watching because my friends are interested.

I do not plan to watch any of the 911. It still hurts too bad and I'm finally at a place in my life where I realize that I don't have to suffer all the time. Every time there was a disaster, I watched it all and suffered. I can't do that anymore because I have plenty of my own suffering and that's enough. When I'm in a good place, I will enjoy it. Right now, I'm in a good place.

I still do remember, I appreciate the sacrifices and I pray for the families who made them.

Coreen, if you're not the administrator of a blog, I'm not sure you can remove the entire post after it's up. You would be removing all the comments also and those don't belong to anyone in particular. They belong to all of us. Heck, I use them to remember what I was doing on a particular day. If those get removed, I've lost some of my history.

Carol said...

Coreen, I depend on you to cover 9-11. Also any snow pics, nice fall color, religious holidays, etc. Those are also pics that bring in people from all over to see.

Carol said...

Our archives of past 9-11 pics brought in more people today. Easter hit the jackpot with thousands of viewers of Easter archives. Chloe's fat butts used to bring in a crowd but that's probably gone also. Asses, disasters and Easter..that's was our hits.

Carol said...

Just heard that the Today Shiw broke away from the 911 moment is silence to talk with one of the Kardasians about a boob job. Now who is the boob there?

Carol said...

Sorry, on iPhone and the print is very tiny. Cant spell check. I should be able to read it next week.

Carol said...

Going to meet a friend from work for supper tonight. Doing Mexican. I've taken today off from hard labor.. Muscles need a break.

Carol said...

I'm sitting on the higher deck at my camp enjoying a very pleasant breeze and watching the birds. Lots of hummers fighting for my feeders.

My Allstate agent who also writes my other high dollar, high risk policy on my camp wanted to know if I ever went more than 90 days without coming to the camp. I told her I don't go one day. I told her that I just had one place with a long breeze way. Two bad I have to have two insurance policies with different companies. My camp hasn't been robbed. My neighbor has some good, big watch dogs out here.

Carol said...

My insurance agent also said I get a 90 buck discount on homeowners for being retired. Also I moved my truck back over and that's another discount. Life is good.

I've also noticed that time has slowed down considerably since I retired. No longer feels like the end of a video tape on fast forward. Feels like it's been months since I left work and it was only one month today. Happy Anniversary to me!

Coreen said...

I can almost see you sitting with your feet up on the porch just watching the world or the river go bym, maggie nearby with one eye open to make sure you are still near her....enjoy it, you deserve it...

Coreen said...

About the nbc cutaway this a.m.

yes the nbc CT station did not show the moment of silence (they were interviewing kris jenner, the kardasian mother) BUT the NBC & CBS, ABC, FOX the NY feeds
we get all showed the ceremonies at the memorial (they also continued showing the reading of the names after, likely til it was over, did not see that as I went to work)...the CT feeds of CBS & ABC did not show it either..



Remember I get both the NY feed & the CT feed of the 3 major networks

Coreen said...

The other 2 CT feeds of cbs & abc
just showed the moment of silence but then went to regular scheduling while the NY feeds on all of the networks continued the 9/11 coverage...

jan said...

Wow! you girls have been busy. I am way behind.

Congratulations Carol on your one month anniversary of retirement.

Coreen, the pictures are great.

jan said...

Have not watched any of 9/11 ceremonies today. Worked all day.

I watch Piers sometimes. Do not much care for his show.

Today at work, some friends and I thought about 11 years ago and where we were and what we were doing.

Carol said...

Well, I did watch one 911 program tonight. It was on Discovery and titled 911 surfer..I think. I recorded it and I had TW watch it first to make sure it was a program that wasn't too depressing. It didn't sound like it would be. She said it wasn't so I watched it. It was about a guy who was coming down the stairs of one of the towers when the building collapsed. He free fell from floor 22 to floor 7 and survived. I'm sure you heard that story before Coreen.

I can watch those kind of shows about miracles all day. I love miracle stories. They said some people didn't believe him. I do. There was even some scientist who explained what could have happened. The fall of the building created a strong hurricane force wind blowing up and he rode that wind down. He had lots of bruises but only broke his ankle. He has suffered a lot of survivors guilt ever since but is slowly getting better.

With all the horrible things that happened and all the people who died that day, there were many many more who survived. They were all miracles. When I was watching that disaster happen, like even the New York mayor Rudy, I thought there would be so many more people who must have died. I was so relieved to find out that not as many did.

Carol said...

And Jan, I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I also remember thinking...we will never again be able to take our safety and security for granted in this country.

Donnie asked the 4 women last night how they felt about airport security, did they think it was overdone. Two said they wished it would relax, two said they were willing to do whatever it took. Susie and Gayle wished for more relaxed. Lara and Serena said..whatever it took to keep people safe. I vote for the later.

Unknown said...

"I was just looking back at some of our archives and every picture posted by Chloe was removed and in it's place is a triangle with an exclamation mark. I guess she found a way to go and remove all the pics she posted. Maybe she was trying to erase herself from the blog and that was all she could manage to do."

Carol, I can't believe you think I'd do something so mean!

I need to see if this posts, so I can see if my google account is working again.

Unknown said...

I cancelled my Google account after that, so that's all I can think of that would have remove my pics.

I've always loved this site, but felt very unwelcome when I checked in to see how you were doing. Plus, I felt you had gotten my email and never responded to it, so were not interested in talking to me (and believe me, I've felt very much out of place at TM too -- I've only visited there because I've regain a need to communicate again)

I went through a period (of introspection?? or whatever) when I had to stop chatting anywhere for a long time.

I'm not nearly as good on a computer as you give me credit for. I wouldn't know how to remove picture or anything, even if I wanted to (which would never have entered my mind).

Please don't get the idea that I don't have a great respect for what you've done here. If I'm welcome, I love to come and keep up with what you guys are up to.

Unknown said...

... I'm sorry for the typo's. Lots of missing letters and endings. Some of it is because I've been eating over my laptop too much again, and the keys are getting sticky -- and other mistakes are because I get in a hurry and don't proof read.

That edit button Craig got is really a life saver sometimes.

Even while I've been missing in action, I've never stopped thinking about you guys. I've missed my online buddies, and have very few left. I don't mean to be so unpredictable, and I do know I can get surly sometimes, but that's almost always because I'm mad at myself about something.

Please forgive me if I've caused you any disfavor. Just know that I have only good feelings about you, and felt you'd prefer not to hear from me.

Unknown said...

"Chloe's fat butts used to bring in a crowd but that's probably gone also."

LOL... that one still makes me laugh when I think about it.

I know your blog is doing well, without me though. You've always given me more credit than I deserve.

Unknown said...

... nite.

ps It's nice to be able to come here and say whatever I want. I say what I want at TM, but I sure get ganged up on at times for doing just that. I usually feel like a misfit, where ever I am.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

Unknown said...

Well, at least Google is working for me. Maybe the pictures will come back?? (my impulsiveness causes me so many problems)

Carol said...

Sorry Chloe if I misinterpreted what happened with the pics. I did ponder it for a while before I said anything. You certainly can do whatever you want with your material.

At first I thought that maybe it was some pics that were copywrited and the blog master did it but it was also your personal pics. Then I thought that maybe it was my fault for removing the names of those who no longer contribute but Ivy's pics are still there. It certainly doesn't make sense to me.

Carol said...

But if there is one thing I have learned about life... some things just don't make sense no matter how hard I ponder to try to make them.

Unknown said...

Carol, I am sorry.
I had 'no' idea that closing my google account would have any affect on anything in the past. Who would know the roots went that deep.

I've tried to undo my cancellation, but it doesn't seem to be retroactive. I've searched and found no solution.

jan said...

Hey Chloe, I miss you and have thought about you so often. I hope you stick around.

jan said...

I have looked in at TM on occasion but the discussions are just not that interesting to me and I don't know anyone there. The Swamp is like family to me. Sometimes I will go a night or two without saying anything but I keep up with the comments every day. I don't agree with everything people say on here, but I respect everyone's right to say what they want. I don't usually contribute anything to the political or sports topics but I do read them.

Carol said...

Chloe, I've missed you a lot also. I threw out a lot of fishing lines for ya since you left but could never reel you back in. I figured I did something to run you off but wasn't sure what it was.

I kinda use this place to ponder..go figure huh. I write about stuff that I'm sure no one but me is interested in and that's OK. My thoughts can be all over the place. Sometimes I need feedback from you guys and often when I do, I get some good ideas from you guys.

Y'all have helped me through some tough times and for that I am very grateful. Like Jan said, we don't always see eye to eye but it's interesting for me to look at things from other's point of view. We are all unique here but I guess that everyone is.

Carol said...

I put off renewing my NP certification until the very last minute. I was wondering if I was trying to sabotage my ever going back to work again. I certainly don't have any desire to at this time but I would hate to throw away all that I worked for in the past.

I finally made myself finish the last 45 minutes of CEUs I needed and tried to renew tonight and it wouldn't let me for some reason. Keeps saying that I timed out. I will try to call the place tomorrow to see what I am doing wrong. Maybe a higher power is now involved in keeping me from thinking about ever going back to work.

Carol said...

Well, they called me about my cat removal scheduled for Friday. I told them I better not see anyone/anything coming toward my eyeball. I am really nervous about it Jan. I know you said you didn't remember anything but that Versed they give you does cause that. What I'm worried about is before I have time to forget.

I might be a good provider of medical care but I'm a horrible consumer of it.

jan said...

Carol, You do need it. that is all there is to it. I wii say my strongest prayer for you and will have John do it too. So don't think about it. Just stay real busy and get up and go do it. The anxiety and anticipation is worse than the reality. I promise!

Unknown said...

Carol and Jan,
I've missed you so much.

I'm dead tired right now, and will have to catch up in the coming days to even know what's going on with you.

I'm going to change over to 'open ID' tomorrow. I no longer trust Google (and want nothing to do with them anymore). There tentacles go way too deep into our past (we're talking year here). I've heard stories about them keeping records on us all, and I'm going to take this as a piece of truth that they are way too powerful.

If they could go back and change my past that much, who knows what else they can do.

I must sound a little paranoid, and I am after what happened to my old posts.

Carol, again.. I'm sorry. I had no idea I could affect your site by cancelling a google membership.

I can hardly even type right now because I need the sleep.

Will set up on Open ID tomorrow, then spend a few day catching up with what's going on in your lives.

Carol said...

The Internet is fun, it's educational, entertaining but very invasive. It knows everything about us and it is saved somewhere. When the government was trying to make sure that everyone had access, even in far off rural areas, I don't think that was just being nice. They wanted to have a handle on ALL of us.

I can just think of something I'm interested in and up pops an advertisement for it. They know exactly what I've been shopping for or what I have searched. Have you noticed that?

What floors me is that intelligent people can do things online that are illegal. Don't they realize it is only a matter of time before they are found? It's not if, it's when. I've often used one of our favorite lines Jan...what were you thinking..when talking to some of my pervs at the joint..the ones who looked and sounded relatively intelligent. Unfortunately some people's evil desires outweighs their intelligence.

Everything we put on our computers and cellphones etc...is there forever..in some database. Parents need to warn their younguns that what they do with this media can affect the rest of their lives. And it's not like we haven't been warned by the new's media.

And wherever you go, whatever you do, if someone is interested, can be photographed. Everyone has a cellphone with a camera and can snap your pic and paste it for the world to see. There are cameras on streets and businesses that video everything in those areas. We can no longer diagnose someone with paranoia when they say that someone is watching them. Someone is!

Unknown said...

"We can no longer diagnose someone with paranoia when they say that someone is watching them. Someone is!"

Carol, I agree so much with your entire post.

And add Google to the mix, because I think they are one of our worst offenders online. I am disgusted that they could go back and change my history here. I 'never' use Google for anything else (not even searches) -- I only used them to sign into this blog. Why they were able to do what they do is wrong.

I've done a lot of searches (using yahoo search as I always do), but can't find any way to amend what they've done, and can't believe I don't see more complaints.

If you get a chance, go over to TM and read Bethy's post from last night and don't have time to look it up this morning. Sorry. http://craigcrawford.com/2012/09/12/what-presidents-can-do-the-vision-thing/#comment-297758

... jeez, I don't even remember how to link here anymore.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

.... I deleted those last 2 comments, because I found out my first comment did post. I thought I had lost it.

See you all later.

Carol said...

Chloe, I bet that Facebook is just as bad. They know everything about those who frequent their site. People put up so much about themselves on that site.

Carol said...

Whoopee! My certification application and CE hours are in. Now they do have to review it but that's it for the next five years. Do you know how long I have worried and fretted over this??? For five years. I'm pretty dang sure this will be the last time. Not even sure if I needed it this time but don't want to burn a bridge too soon.

Had to even call Jan to ask her a few questions about my history since some of our history is the same. Thank you Jan.

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Carol.
I agree, it's good not to burn the bridge too soon (if for no other reason than peace of mind).

Unknown said...

I searched and searched, and I think this may be the reason my images disappeared. The old formula won't make my link turn blue, so you'll have to copy and paste (until I figure out how to do it). I guess it won't matter who I sign in with?

Who Owns Your Content When You Blog?
"Blogger/Blogspot – I used to use Blogspot for this blog when I first started. Their content policy reads more like community guidelines than ownership, but it wasn’t until after I started using the service that I got a little nervous. You see, if you read Google’s Privacy Policy you’ll notice that Google retains your data for the purpose of maintaining the account."
http://www.mlvwrites.com/2009/02/owns-content-blog-facebook-twitter.html

Unknown said...

I still haven't caught up with your latest posts - it'll take a while.

Unknown said...

"Interesting how just about everyone I know, still remembers what they were doing 11 years ago...it's like it was only a blink of an eye ago"

The older we get, the more true that is.

Unknown said...

"The Swamp is like family to me. Sometimes I will go a night or two without saying anything but I keep up with the comments every day. I don't agree with everything people say on here, but I respect everyone's right to say what they want"

I've learned to find that to be so important, Jan. The not needing to agree in order to respect other point of view. What I like most here are the 'philosophical' points of view, because to me that is what's important, and it's always open to interpretation, discussion and when we have an open mind, we sometime can change for the better (if need be).

Politics is a nasty business, and I never seem to talk about it without offending someone.

Unknown said...

I still think, and always will: that it's the little, everyday things that matter most.

Later I'll catch up more on what's been happening in your lives (from a few of the most recent threads I've missed).

I was too overwhelmed by so many things for a while to be able to take on even more things online. The vacation did me good.

But I never forgot about you guys. The only reason I started talking elsewhere first is because that someone said something or other that set me off (it had to be under the guise of politics) and as usual, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. Then I wasn't sure you guys could ever forgive me for the way I left.

jan said...

For me Chloe, there is nothing to forgive and you are always welcome.

jan said...

Happy to help out Carol.

jan said...

Carol, I am responding to your comment about going back to older posts and comments in earlier times. I just did that. It is hard to believe your blog has been going on since 2009. I joined your blog in Aug 2009. Did you have posts before that? I have never thought to look back and see what was going on then.

Carol said...

The Swamp was born on August 16, 2009. I invited Chloe and Ivy to join. You came on board the very first month Jan. If you can't remember what you were doing over the last three years, just look it up. One day, you might need an alibi.

Carol said...

Jan, did you keep up with AGT this season? I recorded the first shows but then quit watching. I'd catch one every now and then. I caught the end of the show last night with the dog act. I found out it was the final show so I gave all my votes to the dogs. LOL.

Carol said...

I am tickled pink over the winner of AGT! Finally one that I wanted to win! Not a chicken catcher this time. I won't say who won in case you will be watching it tonight Jan. It is an American dream story.