dearest Florence.... I am so very sorry for the anguish you and your daughter are going through. I wish a word could wipe away all the tears and the pain. I don't know how else to get through the great heartaches of life any other way than to let the feelings out, grieve, then pick up the pieces and go on with life with each other's support. Even though you are a few hours away, she has a terrific mother & stepfather who will make her feel loved & supported at a time when she feels so low and rejected. I have been in her shoes myself 11 yrs. ago (with 3 little kids) and I had to go through all the stages of shock, grief, anger, betrayal, utter desperation, and loneliness. It all felt so hopeless back then that I remember not wanting to live, but my kids needed me so I had to stop wallowing in self-pity. It seemed as if it would never get better, but in time it did. Somehow we find the strength within ourselves to move past the hurt and one day it doesn't hurt so much anymore. It will take time, and 2 months later it is still raw and fresh to her. Even to this day I have spells where I feel anger towards my ex for walking out of his children's lives like he did....they were so young and had to be raised without a father. I never considered myself a strong person before that happened and didn't see myself ever having the strength to go on, and raise those kids alone. But I did...and my children reinforce all the time that I was an excellent mother and father to them. Please tell your dear Robyn that so many of us do understand what she is feeling, and that she too will survive this....we are all praying for her. I have had quite a difficult week myself and this Thanksgiving Day I find myself without my beloved daughter Grace. That lying, deceitful boyfriend convinced (brainwashed) Gracie to drive all the way to the southern part of Florida by herself 1,600 miles....she left yesterday and drove all day and night and into today...I just got a call from her this evening that she had made it there safely. My heart is broken. I haven't stopped crying. You will recall my long post about how I desperately tried to save her from this con-artist and how she had broken it off with him....or so it seemed. But he convinced her to quit her job and leave the family & friends who love her to move to FL...this was my greatest fear and now it has come true. So here we are, two loving mothers, worried sick about our daughters on Thanksgiving Day. If I could reach across the miles and give you a hug, I most certainly would. I pray for both our girls, and please know that my heart is with you as well. I understand what it feels like to want to make everything right for our daughters, and of the frustration at not being able to do so. Lots of love.... Celeste

Hi folks...I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. We got back last Friday, and there was a TON of work waiting for me, garden and desk work. I have been very busy. No excuse. We were spared. The firemen were great. They even used this place as a 'base' of sorts one of the nights. What great men. It was ashy here, but I cannot complain. The deer have not been touching the roses (Liquid Fence, yay!) and we all returned to the best fall flush I have ever had. Thanks to all of you who have been so wonderful through all of this. Please keep in touch with e-mails too, it's great to hear from you. Amazing when you consider this thread has gone from all across the bottom 48 to England and Denmark and Italy. God bless you all! Jerome

We feed her twice a day like the vet recommended. She's not deaf, she'll look at wear the sound is coming from, but won't respond, like she's ignoring us, or trying to. The other dog actually calmed her anxiety, she's a jealous dog, that can be sneaky though, which I forgot to inform you guys about (sorry, i was sort of panicking.) When she was a puppy we couldn't leave her a cage, that was around x5's bigger then her in the first place, because she had anxiety issues and would scratch her head against the side until it bled. So we got her a brother, and everything changed and she's really nice now. But Chester, Sophies "brother", is a soft-coated wheaten terrier, we've already took him to around 4 different trainers, I guess it's just his instincts preventing him changing into a nicer, calmer, relaxed, less dirty dog. ( We wash/groom him, but he loves going outdoors..so.ha.) And yes, we are feeding her a quality dog food that you can only buy at certain pet stores, not PetCo/PetSmart. Do they do blood work when dogs go into surgery? I know it may sound silly, but I'm sure if she's already gotten blood work done for all that. She had surgery earlier this summer for skin-tags, and cracked teeth, in multiple areas for the skin-tags. I really hope it's nothing more then old age, if there's cancer, It would really crush me. She's one of the prettiest weimaraners ever, well, not to be conceited, but she really is a pretty one. Oh, and she's kind of getting more paranoid in a sense. Getting scared really easily, I don't know why! We treat our dogs with respect like their our family, which they are, and there's no pet-abuse in the family either. (Never ever ever will that happen!)

i am thinking of them! i don't know where marilyn is but jamie is on the worst side of this, the eastern quadrant. winds are only 100mph, much less than predicted but i think jamie said she was in a trailer which concerns me. we did 100mph w/ charley for an hour straight but i am in a 40+ yr concrete block house and it was very scary! hope we hear from them soon and everything is o.k. ~ liz