New Terrorist Threats



Programming here was interrupted last night so they could discuss some new terrorist threats being made against the city of New York. The threats are specific and credible they say. All the focus this week on 911, with stories and pictures, really is taking me back to ten years ago. I feel the anxiety building up all over again. It doesn’t even seem like ten years have past. And now, because of this anniversary, we may be under attack again.

Yes our police department has taken every precaution possible to keep the city on alert. But how do you protect seven to eight million people? There are so many ways these people have to attack us, it’s anyone’s guess what they may do. I know they can’t tell us too much about what they know. Right now they just want us to be aware and alert so we can report anything suspicious we may see. The whole thing makes me so uneasy.

We can’t live our lives in fear. That’s what they said ten years ago to help our residents move on with their lives. But how can we not have fear? We are a target of terrorists, maybe the main target. Some times I feel like we are at their mercy.

Ten years ago, after the attacks, the helicopters flew around every morning, for months. They started at sun rise and circled around for at least an hour. That was the sound I woke up to every day. I felt like I was on an episode of “Mash.” At least I haven’t heard any helicopters yet.

None of us can ever forget 911. The consequences of that attack are still being felt today. We still need to rebuild, families are still coping with their loss, the trial of the co-conspirators still hasn’t happened, we have our military still fighting over it overseas and rescue people are still getting ill and dying from breathing in all that toxic material. When does it end? Or does it?

I hope everyone has a safe weekend as we all pause to reflect on that day and pray for the victims and their families.



We Survived Hurricane Irene…

Well the news has been talking about this storm for days. It’s true the areas near water were hard hit. As for me, I live inland, and my main concern was the huge tree in my backyard. Last fall I saw so many tress lying on the ground that I got very paranoid about this tree. If it were to fall it would land on the house and hit my daughter’s bedroom.

Of course the girls think I am blowing the tree out of proportion, and they can never foresee something happening until it does. I slept through the night. I didn’t hear any excessive rain or wind. I got up at six as usual. Everything was fairly calm. But I kept an eye on the tree and listened to the weather reports while the girls slept.

By 7:30 am the winds were really blowing and the branches were swirling around. I was anxious, so I woke up my daughter and made her move to my bed and finish her sleep. At least then I could stop worrying about her being in harms way. The worst was supposed to come at 12 noon. Suddenly, they are saying the eye of the storm is already on us and they expect it to move through here pretty quickly. The winds were bad for about 30 to 40 minutes. The branches blowing in every direction. I am practically holding my breath until it passes.

I get the girls up at 9:30 am. Ten minutes later the rain practically stops and there is a brightening outside with the sun actually trying to come out. They missed the worst of it, all of it really. In an hour it may look like nothing ever even happened here. They slept through it without a care in the world. I miss those days when nothing happen concerns you. It could have been a lot worse. I am so glad it wasn’t. I even had the phonebook out ready to call tree removal places.

So we survived hurricane Irene! I hope there was a minimal of damage and danger everywhere else. When you think about it, there is no place in the country that is safe from Mother Nature!