Memorial for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

In attendance were:

Terry's family

DHS Commissioner Alan Bersin (escorted by body guard, I noticed)

Senator John Kyl

Ron Barber (Senator Giffords representative)

4 House Reps

a US attorney

Former DHS commissioners Bonner and Ahern

Others had attended Terry's funeral held previously in Michigan.

The service can be seen here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12153898

The second speaker, Kirk Martin, (11:20) was a friend from MI. He spoke on behalf of the family. If you have never heard the story of the sheepdog before, it's definitely worth it. DHS Commissioner Alan Bersin's comments begin at 17:55. The three promises he makes to the family (25:00) is stirring. At 40:00 is the reading of a letter that Terry wrote. Although it wasn't much over 70, and they were slowly rotating in and out, one of the color guard (composed of many different agencies in full dress uniform) collapsed and was carried off the field by four BORTAC or BORSTR agents standing by. Shortly after the first guy collapsed they started tapping out another one every few minutes. Tim was supervising the trainees as they conducted traffic before the memorial, so he missed the beginning but did get to come into the arena and watch most of it. The arena was sectioned off, with about 6 sections of BP, one armed forces, one for other uniformed personnel, one DHS, and one "public". There was quite a bit of press there, and the total in attendance was stated to be over 1,200.

Also, the ceremonial moments at the end (1:00:00) (rifle salute, fly over in missing man formation (which you can only hear on this recording), presentation of his service streamer to his family, riderless horse, echo taps, amazing grace and last call) are total tear jerkers but a beautiful tribute.

Rifle Salute

Riderless Horse while Echo Taps is played

Riderless Horse while Amazing Grace is played

Family attaches service streamer to guide-on.

Last Call

The New Addition

After our sweet Dallas died last September I told the family I wanted to take some time off from pets, maybe a few years. Tim begged, Tessa begged, I stayed strong...for about three months. I searched petfinder.org for the perfect dog for us and found lots (too many, sadly) that looked like wonderful animals. I printed out a few and we set out to meet some of them. Petsmart was holding an adoption event and a rescue had set up open pens in one area of their store. I found the pretty brindle pups I had seen online and they were adorable, but boy, were they hyper. I watched as they wrestled and barked and ran in circles, having lots of fun being very wild. I decided maybe we should keep looking, and spent a few minutes petting and visiting with the other animals they had brought that day.

I started to get interested in a gorgeous German Shepherd but had to move on when they told me that he was prone to running away. We got spoiled with Dallas, who loved to run around with the neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac and never, ever ran away. I knew it would only take a day or two before Tessa would leave the door open and the dog would be gone forever.

Next, they praised the personality of another dog, maybe a chow mix, and really tried to convince us how wonderful she was. She was very calm and patient with the kids but didn't really interact with us and there was just no bond forming while we spent time with her. (Behind Tessa in the first picture)

The kids were getting bored, Tim was getting annoyed and claimed that he had no preference at all and I should just hurry up and decide if our dog was here or if we should move on. Walking back to the pens I saw another puppy that we hadn't spent any time with and I had to stop myself to think of why. She was alone in her pen, being a pretty calm little thing, and I remembered seeing her play in the store's training room with some customers who had come in with their own dogs for some socialization training. She had been running around chasing a ball and acting like a puppy but now, back in the pen she was calm and quiet. Hmmm. This could be a sign of a good personality. I picked her up and showed her to Tim and the kids, who all just wanted to leave, with or without a dog, at this point. She fit right into my arms, didn't act nervous or restless at all and I started to get a good feeling. I put her down on the floor and she walked under Phoebe's wheelchair and laid down. I just knew that this one would fit into our family. I think I skipped over her at first because she was a female, black with brown eyebrows, etc. I had even told Tim while we were searching that I would try to find him a male this time, so he'd have some company. I also thought it would be fun to have a white or yellow dog for a change. So much for making plans!

12 weeks old. Waiting for the rescue to fill out our paperwork.

At her new home.

Being mauled affectionately.

Tessa is quite convincing as a puppy.

Wrestling with her fellow pup.

When she's had enough rough play, she sticks close to Phoebe. She seemed to understand the girls' personalities and environments right from the start.

After about a week of debate, brainstorming, and testing, we named her Charley Lou.