The Blaisdell Blog

Today is National Dog Day.   Dogs are a supremely domesticated animal.   They read our moods, respond to our needs, love us even when we are not lovable and can be trained to be useful as well as companions.   I have owned two dogs in my adult life.   One was a white German Shepherd who grew up with my girls.   They could not have had a better friend.   The second was a neighborhood puppy.   His mother was a shepherd, but his father was a traveling man.   Like his predecessor, he was gentle, good natured and lived to make his family happy.   If you get the impression that I like big “doggy” looking dogs, you would be right. My dogs have been wonderful, loving and supportive animals.   Neither was particularly smart, but I know people I could describe the same way.   Since I am a scholar of Presidential history and this is a subject much in the news, I thought I would do a little research into Presidential dogs.   What strikes one almost immediately is that our Presidents seem t

In November of 1970 I discovered I was pregnant.   While I understand the mechanics of the situation I was still surprised.   I had been married less than 2 years and thought I was years away from starting a family.   As it turns out, I am the kind of woman who can’t drink out of the same glass as my husband without ending up “in a family way.”   But life happens and my husband and I started planning for life with our first child.   I dutifully informed my principal that I was pregnant, but no problem.   The last day of school was June 4 and I wasn’t due until June 9.   I was also healthy as a horse and still do not have the faintest idea what morning sickness is (thankyou, God).   What happened next was not in my plan.   Two days after informing my principal I had a note in my school mailbox to drop by the administration building at the close of the day.   I did and was sent to see the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education.   Sitting in Dr. X’s office I was informe

My father was Army through and through, but when he married Mom he married into Navy.   Evidently mixed marriages do work.   Keep in mind, I am talking about the men my Aunt’s married.   The force for double X chromosomes is strong in my family and there are lots of girls, who it turns out, marry mostly Navy men.   They then produce a crop of men and women who also joined the Navy.   FYI, my husband, like my Dad, was Army.   The feds gave him an all-expenses paid vacation to Qui Nhon, Vietnam back in the 70’s.   But I have still seen more Navy blue than Army brown in old pictures.     The one thing we have never had in my family is a submariner.   Now that is a rare breed.   A person is never assigned to a submarine.   You must volunteer.   Evidently one must go willingly to serve in a tube deep under the ocean.   But just volunteering is not enough.   The Navy does some weeding and seeding with this group.   Nuclear subs can stay submerged for up to 90 days and, while ho