These are the dogs that worked the trade center that are still alive but retired; they are heroes too. Their eyes say everything you need to know about them. Just amazing creatures.
True heroes of 9/11 still with us today...
Moxie,
13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark
Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and
searched the site for eight days.
Tara,
16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived at the World Trade Center on
the night of the 11th. The dog and her handler Lee Prentiss were there
for eight days.
Kaiser,
12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the
World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in
the rubble.
Bretagne
and his owner Denise Corliss from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site
in New York on September 17, remaining there for ten days.
Guinness,
15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila
McKee on the morning of September 13 and was deployed at the site for 11
days.
Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days.
Red,
11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went with Heather Roche to the Pentagon
from September 16 until the 27 as part of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.
Abigail
Tuff -- Abigail,
above, was deployed on the evening of September 17, searching for 10
days while Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to
start working early the next day.
Handler
Julie Noyes and Hoke were deployed to the World Trade Center from
their home in Denver on September 24 and searched for five days.
Scout
and another unknown dog lie among the rubble at Ground Zero, just two
of nearly 100 search and rescue animals who helped to search for
survivors.
~~~~~
During the chaos of the
9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, nearly 100 loyal search
and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for
survivors. Now, ten years on, just 12 of
these heroic canines survive, and they have been commemorated in a
touching series of portraits entitled 'Retrieved'. The
dogs worked tirelessly to search for anyone trapped alive in the
rubble, along with countless emergency service workers and members of
the public.
Traveling across nine states
in the U.S. from Texas to Maryland, Dutch photographer Charlotte
Dumas, 34, captured the remaining dogs in their twilight years in their
homes where they still live with their handlers, a full decade on from
9/11. Their stories have now been
compiled in a book, called Retrieved, which is published on Friday, the
tenth anniversary of the attacks. Noted
for her touching portraits of animals, especially dogs, Charlotte
wanted 'Retrieved' to mark not only the anniversary of the September
2001 attacks, but also as recognition for some of the first responders
and their dogs.
"I felt this was a
turning point, especially for the dogs, who although are not forgotten,
are not as prominent as the human stories involved," explained
Charlotte, who splits her time between New York and Amsterdam. "They
speak to us as a different species and animals are greatly important
for our sense of empathy and to put things into perspective."
The rain around here has been relentless this week. It started mid-day on Monday and has continued to pour ever since. This morning, it's gray and very overcast, but NOT raining. However, that appears as if it will be short-lived, because www.weather.com is showing more storms here starting in about an hour and going through the night, light showers tomorrow morning, and MORE storms tomorrow afternoon.
Here is an amazing video of flooding in Ellicott City, MD. This water is running DOWN the hill from the tremendous amount of water that was dumping on the area.
So much flooding caused a retaining wall in Ellicott City to collapse, smashing several cars parked nearby.
(photo from the Ellicott City Patch)
More pictures of Ellicott City, from the Baltimore Sun:
Check out the flooding on Rt. 29, which is a major road (3 lanes in each direction) connecting Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. This flooding is right outside the entrance to Columbia, MD.
Kenzie and I decided to drive around Laurel and Savage yesterday and take photos of flooding. Here's some of what we saw:
Flood waters receding on Contee Road behind Laurel Hospital
Water into the woods (and over the bridge the night before) on Brock Bridge Road, Laurel, MD
Further down Brock Bridge Road, near Annapolis Junction, MD -- bridge at the river completely covered by flooding
Another view of the same area -- see the large tree that floated downstream and is across the road?
Water and mud left as river starts to recede.
Laurel Lake, extremely full!
Another view across Laurel Lake
Spillway/overflow creek for Laurel Lake
You can see in this photo how much higher the water was the day before!
Little Patuxent River, Savage, MD (taken from the Bollman bridge next to Savage Mill)
View of river from opposite side of bridge
And lastly, a video I took of the Little Patuxent River:
It's lightly raining right now; I guess the next round of storms is gearing up. I'd better get off the computer and keep working on my Ark!
Port Canaveral wasn't one of the locations where our ship was originally supposed to stop; however, Hurricane Irene changed those plans. At first, I wasn't too thrilled about this stop. I've been to Florida SOOO many times before; why would I want to stop there on a cruise?? But it was what it was, and we were determined to make the best of it.
We were supposed to go on a special trip at Grand Turks to visit an uninhabited island and see/touch stingrays in the wild. Since we were no longer going to Grand Turk, we decided to use our refund for a different side trip. We eventually settled on an airboat ride into the Florida swamps to look for alligators. Mackenzie was a bit ..... dubious??.... at first, but as you'll see from the pictures, she had a GREAT time!
A view of Port Canaveral from the ship
Kenzie's ready for another adventure!
Looking at one of the other airboats and the dock
Ready to GOOOOOO!!!
Look closely -- it's our first alligator sighting of the afternoon!
And here it comes.....
Captain Kenzie, ready to to go hunt down those varmints!
After the airboat ride, we were given a demonstration by a local animal rescue group that specializes in wildlife/exotic creatures. Here are the "critters" they brought for show and tell......
So guess which one Mackenzie had to hold afterwords?????
ugh.
Back at the ship, leaving Port Canaveral, and enjoying the warm breezes.
A view of Cocoa Beach from the balcony of the ship.
Another look back at the beach
And last, but not least, our towel critter for the night? Is it a bulldog? Not quite sure......
