A Tornado of fire in our own back yard

Several years ago my husband and i visited San Diego and i asked him "why can't we move here" to which he replied "mudslides, earthquakes, and fires"...
I just thought he was trying to be funny until this past weekend when we got a frantic call from his mother. We had worried about her trip to Israel the week before. Turns out she was safer there. She had just gotten back from a tour of the Holy Land that Friday night, only to get a knock on her door early Monday morning from the police telling her to grab her keys and purse and get out now! She spent two days at a shelter in Miramar not knowing if she had a home anymore, and thank God, she was spared. Unfortunately, many of her neighbors were not. Many of the survivors said the fires looked like tornados.

There's this park about 10 miles south of Sturgeon Bay called Tornado Park and i use to drive by it alot in the 80's when i dated a guy from there. I use to wonder why it was called that so one day i brought a sack lunch and pulled over. It didn't take me very long to lose my appetite. The tornado the park refers to is of fire, and back in the 80's i had trouble wrapping my mind around that ..."a tornado of fire, what the heck would that look like?" Well, thanks to the California fires, now we all know what a "tornado of fire" looks like."

And that's why i almost lost my lunch that day. I realized that i was standing on sacred ground. Some 60 people burned to death on the spot i was eating my lunch. The park is quite close to what once was a village called Williamsonville where some 77 men, women and kids called home. On that October day back in 1871, the Chicago fire was in full swing and there was a fire brewing across the bay as well. But being that this was 1871, there was no tv or radio to warn the villagers of what was coming...and it became a worst case scenerio for these families. The fire jumped the the bay of Green Bay and surrounded the villagers who took refuge on this spot near Brussels, and literally burned them alive. Seven of the villagers hid inside the well that is pictured above, and only five of them survived.

So the next time you visit Door County, pull over and pay your respects to the lost souls of Tornado Park, and say a prayer for the California families as well.

Cindy note: If you'd like more information on Tornado Park, this is the website i'd recommend. These pictures are also from this website;
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/geolwisc/weather/tornmpk.htm

The picture of the fire is from the KNX1070 news radio website. Some of the pictures on their website are absolutely shocking.

Ellen, Mutts, and missed opportunities

Please, please, please...Ellen, mutts, can't we just get along?!

This much we know for sure. Last weekend the folks at Mutts and mom's called Ellen Degeneres and asked her how the "mutt" they placed at her home was doing. Ellen said she had fed the dog to crocodile, opps, i mean a snake, uh, i mean a family with two kids under 15!

Which was horrible, simply horrible, as Ellen and her partner had signed papers stating that if they couldn't keep the dog, they had to give it back.

Cut and dried.
Maybe.

It sounds like Ellen's producer got snippy with the owners from Mutts and Moms and they got snippy back. Ellen gets emotional on the air and the Mutts and Moms declare that they are not gonna take any crap from anyone. Then the owners of Mutts and moms get death threats and they start crying. And Ellen takes two days off from her show to recover.

All for the love of a little dog named Kibbles, Triscuits or Cheeseits or something i don't remember...here's what i know:

Last year over 14 THOUSAND animals came to Milwaukee's animal control center and over 40 percent of those got put down...put to sleep...what a waste! What i mean to say is, if your looking for an excuse to cry over something, cry about that!

Personally, i thought it was a huge missed opportunity for everyone...imagine this, the owners of Mutts and Moms comes on Ellen's show...they explain why they do the rules the way they do...Ellen apologizes...then the owners make an exception and check out the new family and EVERYONE IS HAPPY!!! Think about that for a moment, if everyone had taken a chill pill last week, the only problem Mutts and Moms would be having today is what to do with all the money in donations everyone would have sent them!

Pretty cool idea don't you think?! While your mulling that one over excuse me while i work out this Iraq war situation and what to make for supper....

Ps...this mutt pictured above is named Recco...i got his picture from www.dogsindanger.com According to the website he has 6 days before he gets put to sleep...if you want to cry, cry for him. Better yet, he needs a home. Ellen?

One more thing...Milwaukee's animal control shelter is holding an Open House tomorrow and they're offering a rabies vaccination for 7 bucks and a microchip for 10...(414) 421-8881.

One year later...

I still feel the same way...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Why the Amish are better then you and me...
OK...just me then...

Your probably better then me too, because there is just NO WAY i could have been that forgiving if someone had shot ten little girls in my community (and five of them died!) No way!

I would have been madder then heck and i would have been on the tube and radio letting everyone know it!
You probably have heard how the Amish in Pennsylvania, on hearing that a local milkman-madman had shot and killed some of their neighbors, daughters and friends, promptly forgave him and lent their support to his widow and children.

Wow!

What's wilder...that their forgiveness made major headlines...shows you how rare something like that is...And i'm a little ashamed too...not at the fact that they can forgive and i, probably not as much...but the fact that i always sort of, well, while i didn't think i was better then them i certainly didn't understand how they could stubbornly cling to the 1800's while the rest of us went wizzing by them in 2006...

My son and i were driving towards Iowa one freezing January Sunday morning on Highway 18 when we passed several of the Wisconsin Amish on their way towards church...i had the heat blaring and the radio on and they were huddled together in open air wagons with blankets...my son had never seen Amish before and simply couldn't believe that they didn't have cars, and television and PS 2's..."they don't want to live in our world" i told him then...and today, who can blame them? But the fact that they can forgive and continue to love after all that has happened to them...well, i'm not even in their league.