Wednesday

                        Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A man that does not read has no advantage over a man that can’t read.”

                                       Mark Twain

Here is a little extra for you lovers of animals, dogs especially:

                     The Saga of Heidi

This is the tale of Heidi. She is small of stature but has the heart of a lion. No one knows what her real name was because she was named Heidi by a receptionist at a doctor’s office. She was found roaming the streets in near Lexington, South Carolina in 2001 by a citizen who called the officials to come and pick her up because she was crippled and barely able to move. Heidi was found and taken to a safe shelter for the time being. Little Heidi is a dachshund whose spine had been damaged and her hind quarters are inoperable. The Lexington County Animal Control called a member of Dachshund Rescue of America who lived in nearby Columbia, South Carolina. This dedicated member gathered up Heidi and took her to a veterinarian for an examination. The vet said that surgery would not cure Heidi’s affliction and she should be euthanized because of the lack of a “quality of life” in her future. It is the policy of this particular Dachshund Rescue group that before a dachshund under guardianship of a member can be euthanized, it must be voted on by the President and the board of directors. After the President had a conversation with the vet, it was decided euthanasia was not necessary. Heidi remained in this member’s house even though Heidi would move around dragging her hind quarters. As you might suspect, Heidi did not have control of her bodily functions so the member fitted her with children’s number 3 diapers and cut a hole in it which allowed her tail to stick out. This writer met Heidi and on out first encounter it was obvious that she did not know she was handicapped. She ran around playing with the other dogs and responded to any actions by the people there. In fact, there was an obvious touch of vinegar in this dog’s attitude. She was advertised for adoption on the Dachshund Rescue website which is www.DRNA.org. Later on a lady from Canada admired Heidi’s obvious spirit and will to survive and adopted her. Through a series of transfers from one member to another, Heidi made her way to Canada and the ownership of the lady of faith. This fine person fitted Heidi with a small carriage with wheels that lifted Heidi’s hind quarters off the ground and allowed her much more mobility. The lady from Canada reported that when she took Heidi to a dog park she thought she was in command by running around and trying to herd up the other dogs. Heidi became a Canadian celebrity from her sheer courage and spirit. She eventually became a mascot that is taken from facility to facility that cared for crippled people and homes for the elderly to show that life is not over when a wheelchair is required. She is loved by all who has seen her. Her “wheelchair” has a checkered race flag and the word Heidi painted on it. She is an inspiration for us all. I am glad I got to meet her. By the way, the rescuer and guardian was my daughter Mardy, in whom I am well pleased as I am all three of my girls.  Heidi is no longer with us but the memory of her remains.

     This Date in History   September 14

1982 Princess Grace of Monaco died in an automobile wreck after having a stroke and plunging down an embankment. Born Grace Kelly to a wealthy family in Philadelphia, she had the finest schooling and went to a prestigious acting school. Grace was a woman of classic beauty, blond and blue eyed with a statuesque figure. She was in several memorable movies such as; High Noon with Gary Cooper, Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart. It was when she went to the French Riviera to make To Catch a Thief that she met Prince Rainier of Monaco. Grace was not impressed at first even though the Prince was terminally smitten with this American Beauty and set forth on a campaign to capture her and he finally succeeded. They were married in 1958. The couple had three children with Princess Grace devoting much of her time to charitable events and programs. She was 52 when she died. It was a loss for us all.

1927 The flamboyant and influential dancer Isadora Duncan is killed. It seems that Isadora was having trouble with her Bugatti automobile and had a mechanic come and work on it after which they took a test drive. Isadora, in her usual dramatic fashion, had a long scarf trailing out behind her as they drove along when her scarf got caught in the spokes of the rear wheel and immediately strangled her. Bizarre, to say the least. Moral: Don’t leave things hanging out while driving.

1812 Napoleon Bonaparte and his army enter Moscow. Napoleon was sure that Czar Alexander would surrender making Napoleon the ruler of Russia. But when Napoleon arrived there was no one there. All the residents had left the city for the countryside. After a day of two of searching for Czar Alexander, Napoleon started seeing more and more fires in the city and pretty soon nearly all of Moscow was aflame. Napoleon knew he was in deep doodoo because he had planned on re-supplying his troops here for the return trip to France. It was not to be and Napoleon arrived back in France with only 100,000 of the 500,000 he had left with. This expedition was a total disaster as was the same event with Germany 125 years later when they tried the same thing but did not plan well enough for the upcoming Russian winter. The Russian winter is what defeated Napoleon and Hitler.

1964 John Steinbeck is awarded the Medal of Freedom by the United States. This award is the highest award available to an American civilian and deservedly so. John had given us such milestones of literature such as; Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row, Viva Zapata, Travels with Charlie and his Pulitzer Prize winner, Grapes of Wrath. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. John left us forever in California in 1968. He will always be remembered as a bastion of American literature.

1901 Theodore Roosevelt became president after the assassination and death of President McKinley. Teddy was a man’s man. In 1884 after the death of his wife in childbirth and the death of his Mother 12 days later, Teddy heads west and disappeared for about 3 years in the wilderness of South Dakota in an attempt to get his life back together. While there Teddy does all he is expected to do as a rancher and part time marshal. He went out on more than one occasion to bring in criminals. He loved to hunt, especially big game. It was reported that on one mountain lion hunt, the hounds had the big cat cornered against a cliff and Teddy would not shoot for fear of hitting one of the dogs, so he pulled his knife and waded through the howling melee and finished off the cat with his knife. He finally returned to Washington and resumed his political career but never forgot his experiences out west and considered himself a Westerner. A great leader, we need more like him.

Born today:

1857 US suffragist Alice Blackwell. She said “Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both.” Alice was one of the hard-ass-d women that led the fight for women’s right to vote.

1888 US Nurse and founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger. She said “Diplomats make it their business to conceal facts.” I agree, Maggie.

1917 British writer Sydney Harris. He said “The danger is not that computers will begin thinking like men, but that men will begin thinking like computers.” It is too late, Sydney.

        Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow