Good Morning from Germany......

There was no coverage of the Preakness here so I phoned my sister in NYC and listened to the race.
How happy I was for BB and relieved that all were safe! On to the Belmont!

PS....I was so touched to see that some jockeys honored Eight Belles with the little logo.

Morning skritches to the BBH, Sir JH, Gorgeous George, Belle, and the rest of the glorious gang in Equine Heaven.

On their behalf, for their earthly counterparts:

MORNING POST ShelleyA, Debra, WI/AAHS:

STRATEGY FOR MONDAY MAY 19

Both the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), have the power to bring the bill up for consideration in their respective chambers, therefore it is vital that as many people as possible, both at the grassroots level and internally within Congress, insist that the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader do everything in their power to afford the bills legislative due process and bring them immediately to the floor for a vote.

Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
DC Phone: 202-225-4965 Fax:202-225-4188
Email: http://www.speaker.gov/contact

Senate Majority Leader - Harry Reid (D-NV)
DC Phone: 202-224-3542 Fax:202-224-7327

It is our understanding that more co sponsors would certainly facilitate our efforts with Speaker of the House Pelosi and draw the much needed attention to this legislation. For this reason, we will be posting the names of Representatives that we will be targeting.

Bart Stupak - MI
Phone: 202-225-4735
Fax: 202-225-4744

Vernon J. Ehlers - MI
Phone: 202-225-3831
Fax: 202-225-5144

Fred Upton - MI
Phone: 202-225-3761
Fax: 202-225-4986

Michael J. Rogers - MI
Phone: 202-225-4872
Fax: 202-225-5820

Russ Carnahan - MO
Phone: 202-225-2671
Fax: 202-225-7452

Ike Skelton - MO
Phone: 202-225-2876
Fax: 202-225-2695

Please continue to gather information from your calls and pass that information on to us via email through the DB.

Finally, please mention Americans Against Horse Slaughter when making your calls and remind them that we are a non funded, grassroots group of people from across the country brought together for the sole purpose of passing this legislation. It is important that they know we have NO OTHER agenda.

We are BARBARO'S VOICE!! Let it be heard!!

Shelley and Deb

Posted by: ShelleyA at May 19, 2008 1:01 AM

Cheers,
Friar Tuck

Harry Reid's e-mail...see post above:

Senate Majority Leader - Harry Reid (D-NV)
DC Phone: 202-224-3542 Fax:202-224-7327
Email: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Hiya, FsOB! Well, here's to Monday. I got a letter from Sen. Lieberman's office over the weekend, in follow up to the one that I sent to him re. Sen. Craig's hold on S 311. His staffer didn't really answer my question as to whether CT's junior Senator might speak to Sen. Craig about this hold, but instead gave a legislative history of the bills and reiterated Sen. Lieberman's support of it. At least they acknowledged getting my fax'd letter.

It was nice to see the Eight Belles logo tribute which the jockeys wore in the Preakness, wasn't it? May all horses stay safe today. Peace, RMH

#### Keeping Erin Brennan and her family in our thoughts here on the banks of the Thames. ####

Question for you betting people..I'm unsure of the terminology meaning.. what is meant by a cold exacta????

Happy Monday FOBs,

I just printed out our marching orders for the day.

I didn't watch the Preakness but am relieved that all horses and jockeys were safe.

Have a great day everyone!!

Janice
A forever FOB

Painted Star Equine Rescue is trying to raise funds to rescue starving horses in Jacksonville FL. Check out the post on the ABR Urgent: Starving Horses, Jacksonville FL. Here's the link:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages/?msg=23957.1
Any amount will do - every dollar counts. Please help save these babies if you can. Please cross post - you never know who can help. Thanks for all you do and God bless.

Thanks for the articles Alex.

New pics of Nicanor on www.JimCoarse.com.

####
ERIN
Has anyone heard from Anne Brennan today/last night?

####
Ernie:
where are you in Germany? i used to work for a company in Roedental--near Coburg.

CALL

Good Monday Morning Everyone,
BB won! I was happy for him and that his hooves held up. Our farrier said he had never seen anything like it before and never would have run him. I did not watch the race I called mom to make sure all the horses got home safe. She said BB was out there all by himself having a great time.

We had a wonderful day at the rescue, the weather was great hugs, kisses and peppermints were served all day.Hans was in a mood he had a problem with the two other horses being next to him so he kept charging the fence. I took him to the barn for a while and groomed him to a brilliant shine. It was just a wonderful day.

Good Morning Barbaro,
I love you big bay.

Erin Sweetheart,
I made a donation in your name to our rescue Saturday. Sending you love,hugs and white light.

Jonna
Annejust posted on the caring brigde site--sorry I can't blue link--be prepared with tissues

Good Morning All,

Barbaro you live in my Heart.

Sending love and prayers to Erin and her family.

Good morning wonderful creatures at MHR.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!

For Barbaro, for Fitch, for Apache, for Ho'pats, for Windchill and all horses.

Ro & Brady

I can't blue link either, but here is the addy:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/erinbrennan

We need to send a lot of prayer to this family. It seems to be progressing. Way too fast.

Thank you to everyone who cooked up the Pony-Thon. And the bunnies: stroke of genius, Stacy.
God love them all.

Erin update

Praying!

JOE FOR MONDAY, BATTLING THE WINDS APPARENTLY...
**************************************************
The Monday journal will be up soon. The dial up keeps shutting down...

Just to let you know the HBO special has sparked reaction. I live in Cleveland Ohio and tonight on WKYC TV channel 3 at the 11:00 news they are running a special on Horse Slaughter. We live not to far from Sugarcreek and that is where the special is coming from. The previews were pretty good. I hope the special will bring more awareness.

Debbie,
I am in Broadview Heights and I think the special should be good. I was at Sugarcreek when they filmed it.

THANK YOU, ALEX!!!!!

The reason for my inquiry was a statemnt made by Big Brown's jockey Kent D when asked about Big Brown and Casino Drive..
this is an excerpt from the article

It will take some horse to beat him at Belmont, and lying in ambush is just that kind of horse, Casino Drive, a Japanese horse, who won one race in Japan, then came to New York and romped in the Peter Pan Stakes, has been sent to America specifically to win the mile-and-a-half Belmont.

This promises to be the climactic event in the Triple Crown. Ironically, Desormeaux rode Casino Drive in the Peter Pan, jumped off him and pronounced him a great horse.

"[Casino Drive] is a phenomenal talent, we got our hands full," Desormeaux said of Team Big Brown. "He's got that stride, that's what I call it, the stride."

Asked what he thought of Casino Drive meeting Big Brown in the Belmont, Desormeaux replied, "They're a cold exacta." Asked if it was a cold exacta or a box exacta, the jockey laughed and demurred.

HS history info on the Reps on today's (Monday 5/19) ABR/AAHS target list

All voted YES on HR 249. Of these Reps, only Ehlers cosponsored HR 503 in the 109th Congress. Only Skelton voted NO on HR 503; the rest all voted YES.

IMO THANK them all for having voted YES on HR 249; remind them that 249 only applies to WILD equines, so we still need 503 for the rest of them and to end export.

Remind all (except Skelton) that they supported (voted for) HR 503 before, and we are counting on them to do so again; and press for them to cosponsor - remind them we already have 201 corponsors, need more.

Remind Ehlers he cosponsored HR 503 in the 109th Congress - why not now?

An article on Casino Drive.(.love the unflappable Japanese attitude)

HORSE RACING

Japan's Casino Drive 'loves it' at Belmont

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD-LEADER

Casino Drive had an easy morning on Belmont Park's main track Sunday, "cantering about five furlongs," according to Nobutaka Tada, spokesperson for owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trainer Kazuo Fujisawa.

"Big Brown was amazing yesterday, most impressive," Tada said. "But the Belmont Stakes is the reason we are here, and Casino Drive loves it here."

Casino Drive is hoping to join Algerine (1876) and Prince Eugene (1913) as horses that won the Belmont in only their third career start. Both Algerine and Prince Eugene broke their maidens in the Belmont Stakes.

Tada said that he will know more in a few days as to who will ride Casino Drive in the Belmont. Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux had the mount for the Peter Pan, but he will be on Big Brown.

Likely to ride is Yutaka Take. Take was aboard Casino Drive when he broke his maiden at Kyoto on Feb. 23.

The 39-year-old Take was the first Japanese jockey to win a graded stakes overseas, that being the Grade III Seneca aboard El Senor in 1991 at Saratoga.

"We will wait a few days to see how Big Brown is doing and how we are doing," Tada said.

Who else will be there?

New York Racing Association Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes expects Anak Nakal, Denis of Cork, Tale of Ekati and Tomcito to join Big Brown and Casino Drive in the Belmont. Preakness runner-up Macho Again and third-place finisher Icabad Crane are now listed as questionable.

"Nothing is etched in stone," Byrnes said. "A lot can change in three weeks."

Curlin to work

Trainer Steve Asmussen said reigning Horse of the Year Curlin is scheduled to work at Churchill Downs on Monday in preparation for a possible start in the Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap on June 14.

Wicked Style ready

Wicked Style, winner of the Grade I Lane's End Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, will make his 3-year-old debut Wednesday in a one-mile allowance race on the turf at Churchill Downs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JOE: MONDAY
***********************************************
Monday, May 19th... We are in the mist of a huge horse rescue. Under The Radar. Never cared for that term. Under The Radar. A family owned farm says come get their horses, or they will soon be dinner in France. $350.00 for each horse, plus $50.00 shipping. In 3 days we have removed 8 of their horses. 23 more to go.

The majority are thoroughbreds. Some quarter horses. All are broke to ride, and the oldest is 17.

We have done this several times before. Family owned farms threaten a mass reduction by selling to horse killers. In 2003 we removed 18 horses from a ranch in French Camp, and 2 still live with us. The remaining 16 all have good homes. In 2004 we were able to save 12 horses from a ranch in Lodi. The owner made good on her promise. Her remaining 26 horses were all sent through a livestock auction, and then sold to slaughter.

So there is precedent. If a ranch threatens to have their horses turned into supper, we have to take them seriously. Always believe the worst, and if the worst fails to occur then 3 cheers for the horses.

In 1999 a thoroughbred breeding operation in Vacaville sold their 9 mares and foals to a horse killer named Kevin. I was still lighting fires in my cave. Before I knew anything about the internet. On the telephone from our house I begged others for money. A well known race horse owner who has since moved away said sure, and he sent me nine thousand dollars. All 9 mares and all 8 foals were rescued. One of those foals is now a liver chestnut mare. She is gorgeous. And during the summer she is often ridden past our ranch. The owner waves, and the mare gives a yell to our horses.

Much different than an auction. Much different than a visit to feed lots. At auctions and feed lots you know at the beginning many horses will be left behind.

But with a ranch reduction feelings are multiplied. This was their home. This was the place where they were suppose to be safe. Loading the lucky horses is done quickly. We have a rule. No disrespecting ranch owners. In N Out, like the fast food joint. It has to be about the horses, and not where they came from.

Times are difficult, and each week brings more bad news for horses. Ranch reductions. Ranch foreclosures. Horses abandoned on city streets. Unemployment at an all time high. You begin to wonder when will we hit bottom? Or is this the bottom?

The thing about horses is how they grab on and refuse to let go. Horses need people. Now more than ever before. We can deal with heat and flies and poop, and taking out a loan for a tank of gas. Home is where the horses are. And when they lose their home it becomes personal to all of us who love them.

Joe

On Saturday 4 geldings came to us from race tracks.

Top Left: This is Fit To March and he is a baby, just 3 years old. I suppose we will call him FM. He was injured during a morning workout.

Top Right: Zero Quadro, and he is 4. A quiet personality, and at the track he injured his knee.

Bottom Left: Say hello to Sands Of Time. A warrior. 9 years old, and Sands is retired to our ranch.

Bottom Right: This is Buddys Mandate, and he is 4. Buddy is sweet, and never moves during his bath.

###

Debbie and Gang,

Very Sad Erin Update.... devastating.

Daphne

Saving Horses, One Thoroughbred at a Time

COOKSTOWN, N.J. — A thoroughbred named Tchaikovsky, a grandson of Secretariat, was having a tooth pulled in one stall. A horse in another was given a sponge bath. Out the stable door, about a dozen horses shared a sun-lit field.

Life After Racing Somewhere, far out of sight if not entirely out of mind, countless other former racehorses were on their way to being slaughtered.

“I struggle with it,” Diana Koebel said. She is the owner and trainer here at LumberJack Farm, one of hundreds of horse farms around the country helping rescue and rehabilitate thoroughbreds considered too slow or damaged to be worth anything more than horse meat. The rescuers cannot keep up.

“Are we really helping?” Koebel asked as she stood in a stable stall. “I know we are, and every one counts, but it’s overwhelming at points. Can we really fix this industry?”

LumberJack Farm works with a nonprofit organization called ReRun, which prepares discarded racehorses for a second career — as jumping show horses, maybe, or just as pets — and then makes them available for adoption. ReRun annually places about 40 thoroughbreds once destined for the slaughterhouse.

Similar organizations, some larger and some smaller, have the same goal: to save as many horses as possible. Combined, the groups resurrect a fraction of the roughly 100,000 horses that are expected to be shipped across the border to Mexico and Canada this year and ultimately fed to other animals or to humans who consider horse meat a delicacy.

About 15 percent of the American horses slaughtered, horse advocates said, are thoroughbreds. Many are only a few years old but considered too broken to race and, therefore, to live.

“But there is a lot of life left,” the ReRun president, Laurie Condurso-Lane, said. Horses can live to 30 years or longer. “They are young. So why not find them new jobs?”

The spotlight that shines on horse racing during the Triple Crown events each spring rarely illuminates the shadows. The sport is usually painted with bright, pastoral backdrops. Winners of the biggest races become royalty, revered by people and seemingly destined for a pampered life doing little but producing more runners like them.

But most racehorses run a far different route — downward, slipping from rung to rung in the sport’s hierarchy. Some are traded a dozen or more times as their earnings fade, until someone decides that the horse is no longer worth the time and money to keep it.

It even happened to Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, who reportedly was slaughtered in Japan for pet food a few years ago.

There are a couple of obvious options for the owners of such horses, besides the one increasingly urged: donating them to charity. They can spend money to euthanize the animal. Or they can sell the animal for a few hundred dollars, to someone who will gladly take the horse off their hands. They can tell themselves that the horse may live to see better days, but they know it is probably headed straight to a truck pointed toward the border.

Beverly Strauss, co-founder and executive director of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue in Chesapeake City, Md., often goes to the Monday horse auctions in New Holland, Pa. She will first look into the eyes of the horses, for a spark. Then she will look at their knees and ankles, for a warning.

MidAtlantic, which places about 75 horses a year for adoption, can care for about 15 at a time. If Strauss has room back at the farm for a horse or two, she will try to outbid the “kill buyers,” the people buying horses for up to $500 to take to slaughterhouses. Or she will approach them after the auction and offer a few dollars more than they paid. She has no disdain for these people, she said. They are just part of the system.

Sometimes she will lie awake, thinking of horses that she did not save. Sometimes she will call the buyer the next day and make an offer. Sometimes, as she did three weeks ago, she will call too late.

“He shipped on Monday night,” Strauss said. “Mr. Lucky Numbers. He still haunts me. We should have just found room for him.”

At LumberJack Farm, most of the horses were donated, a tax write-off for their owners. ReRun pays eight farms (two in New Jersey, two in New York and four in Kentucky) about $250 a month, per horse, to care for the animals. ReRun has 42 horses now. LumberJack has 12 of them.

Life After Racing Some are horses that barely raced, if ever, because of early injuries. Some ran for years, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and a bit of fleeting fame. All are granted several weeks of “down time” upon arrival, Koebel said, “to let them be horses again.”

Many thoroughbreds arrive with steroids and other drugs in their systems, Koebel said. Some have more than usual because owners and trainers of deteriorating, bottom-rung horses make desperate attempts to squeeze another payday out of them.

It can turn Koebel’s seven-stall stable into a detox clinic. After a few days, old injuries flare. Some horses lose hair or drastically drop weight.

Koebel regulates their diet, assesses their behavioral idiosyncrasies, and slowly assimilates them into a herd, something that most thoroughbreds have not been part of since before they began racing. On occasion, Condurso-Lane said, a pair of horses standing in the field together will appear to nudge one another, then dart off together in a straight line, as if reliving their past.

Veterinarians donate their time and services. On Wednesday, Mike Mullin, a former rider and trainer who now works as a traveling dentist for horses, was doing pro bono work at LumberJack, examining and filing teeth and pulling baby teeth that were causing discomfort.

Some former racehorses prove to be strong jumpers or show horses. Others can handle light riding. A few cannot bear much weight and become companions.

The police department in Asbury Park, N.J., is interested in one of the horses. Officers came recently to see the horse and test it. They pulled the squad car near and turned on the sirens, blared the horn, even ran the wipers. The horse did not flinch.

Satisfaction comes in stages. First, when a horse is saved. Then when it is brought back to health and granted a new role. Mainly, when it is adopted.

“It’s definitely when I get the cards and letters from the adopters, saying how great the horse is doing,” Condurso-Lane said. “And I get the Christmas card, that they were the focus of — the picture Christmas card with the Santa Claus hat on their head. Those are the good days.”

And the bad?

“The bad days are when you get a call, and there’s a horse you just can’t help,” she said. Her eyes got glassy. “And then you wonder. You wonder a lot.”

Saving Horses, One Thoroughbred at a Time

COOKSTOWN, N.J. — A thoroughbred named Tchaikovsky, a grandson of Secretariat, was having a tooth pulled in one stall. A horse in another was given a sponge bath. Out the stable door, about a dozen horses shared a sun-lit field.

Life After Racing Somewhere, far out of sight if not entirely out of mind, countless other former racehorses were on their way to being slaughtered.

“I struggle with it,” Diana Koebel said. She is the owner and trainer here at LumberJack Farm, one of hundreds of horse farms around the country helping rescue and rehabilitate thoroughbreds considered too slow or damaged to be worth anything more than horse meat. The rescuers cannot keep up.

“Are we really helping?” Koebel asked as she stood in a stable stall. “I know we are, and every one counts, but it’s overwhelming at points. Can we really fix this industry?”

LumberJack Farm works with a nonprofit organization called ReRun, which prepares discarded racehorses for a second career — as jumping show horses, maybe, or just as pets — and then makes them available for adoption. ReRun annually places about 40 thoroughbreds once destined for the slaughterhouse.

Similar organizations, some larger and some smaller, have the same goal: to save as many horses as possible. Combined, the groups resurrect a fraction of the roughly 100,000 horses that are expected to be shipped across the border to Mexico and Canada this year and ultimately fed to other animals or to humans who consider horse meat a delicacy.

About 15 percent of the American horses slaughtered, horse advocates said, are thoroughbreds. Many are only a few years old but considered too broken to race and, therefore, to live.

“But there is a lot of life left,” the ReRun president, Laurie Condurso-Lane, said. Horses can live to 30 years or longer. “They are young. So why not find them new jobs?”

The spotlight that shines on horse racing during the Triple Crown events each spring rarely illuminates the shadows. The sport is usually painted with bright, pastoral backdrops. Winners of the biggest races become royalty, revered by people and seemingly destined for a pampered life doing little but producing more runners like them.

But most racehorses run a far different route — downward, slipping from rung to rung in the sport’s hierarchy. Some are traded a dozen or more times as their earnings fade, until someone decides that the horse is no longer worth the time and money to keep it.

It even happened to Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, who reportedly was slaughtered in Japan for pet food a few years ago.

There are a couple of obvious options for the owners of such horses, besides the one increasingly urged: donating them to charity. They can spend money to euthanize the animal. Or they can sell the animal for a few hundred dollars, to someone who will gladly take the horse off their hands. They can tell themselves that the horse may live to see better days, but they know it is probably headed straight to a truck pointed toward the border.

Beverly Strauss, co-founder and executive director of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue in Chesapeake City, Md., often goes to the Monday horse auctions in New Holland, Pa. She will first look into the eyes of the horses, for a spark. Then she will look at their knees and ankles, for a warning.

MidAtlantic, which places about 75 horses a year for adoption, can care for about 15 at a time. If Strauss has room back at the farm for a horse or two, she will try to outbid the “kill buyers,” the people buying horses for up to $500 to take to slaughterhouses. Or she will approach them after the auction and offer a few dollars more than they paid. She has no disdain for these people, she said. They are just part of the system.

Sometimes she will lie awake, thinking of horses that she did not save. Sometimes she will call the buyer the next day and make an offer. Sometimes, as she did three weeks ago, she will call too late.

“He shipped on Monday night,” Strauss said. “Mr. Lucky Numbers. He still haunts me. We should have just found room for him.”

At LumberJack Farm, most of the horses were donated, a tax write-off for their owners. ReRun pays eight farms (two in New Jersey, two in New York and four in Kentucky) about $250 a month, per horse, to care for the animals. ReRun has 42 horses now. LumberJack has 12 of them.

Life After Racing Some are horses that barely raced, if ever, because of early injuries. Some ran for years, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and a bit of fleeting fame. All are granted several weeks of “down time” upon arrival, Koebel said, “to let them be horses again.”

Many thoroughbreds arrive with steroids and other drugs in their systems, Koebel said. Some have more than usual because owners and trainers of deteriorating, bottom-rung horses make desperate attempts to squeeze another payday out of them.

It can turn Koebel’s seven-stall stable into a detox clinic. After a few days, old injuries flare. Some horses lose hair or drastically drop weight.

Koebel regulates their diet, assesses their behavioral idiosyncrasies, and slowly assimilates them into a herd, something that most thoroughbreds have not been part of since before they began racing. On occasion, Condurso-Lane said, a pair of horses standing in the field together will appear to nudge one another, then dart off together in a straight line, as if reliving their past.

Veterinarians donate their time and services. On Wednesday, Mike Mullin, a former rider and trainer who now works as a traveling dentist for horses, was doing pro bono work at LumberJack, examining and filing teeth and pulling baby teeth that were causing discomfort.

Some former racehorses prove to be strong jumpers or show horses. Others can handle light riding. A few cannot bear much weight and become companions.

The police department in Asbury Park, N.J., is interested in one of the horses. Officers came recently to see the horse and test it. They pulled the squad car near and turned on the sirens, blared the horn, even ran the wipers. The horse did not flinch.

Satisfaction comes in stages. First, when a horse is saved. Then when it is brought back to health and granted a new role. Mainly, when it is adopted.

“It’s definitely when I get the cards and letters from the adopters, saying how great the horse is doing,” Condurso-Lane said. “And I get the Christmas card, that they were the focus of — the picture Christmas card with the Santa Claus hat on their head. Those are the good days.”

And the bad?

“The bad days are when you get a call, and there’s a horse you just can’t help,” she said. Her eyes got glassy. “And then you wonder. You wonder a lot.”

May 19 Cherokee Devotional [sharing email from Harriette Brillianthawk]

If there is one thing that scares us, it is the thought that any part of life has been wasted. We look back and ask why we let it happen--what was so important that it could steal our youth, our strength, our capacity to be somebody--or to just be happy. Is it too late to begin again? Never. It may be with a different set of rules, a standard of values that has changed drastically, but begin again? Yes. Many have started over and have had more happiness and contentment in a short time than in all of what is known as the wasted years. Anyone who has ever traveled a trail of tears wishes they had known then what they know now. But we did not know, and life is not lived by hindsight. We did what we knew to do--sometimes with great ignorance. But if we know the difference now and want to begin again..then why not? And why not now?

Years of trial and anxiety, of danger and struggle, have maintained the...Cherokee people as a distinct community..and such must continue.

Chief John Ross

Sorry for the double post.

The update on Erin is not what we wanted to hear.

PLEASE join us this evening to hold a Vigil for Erin.

Jonna suggested we do it every evening, and I like that idea.

I heard no objections to the following times, so I am going to go with this schedule:

VIGIL:

9 PM EDT

8 PM CDT

7 PM MDT

6 PM PDT

If you cannot join us at that time, just say a few prayers or send positive thoughts whenever you can.

Erin needs a miracle. We FOB can accomplish almost anything. I we can't pull off this miracle, then pray that Erin and the family have PEACE during this difficult time.

Thank you, FOB. You are the BEST.

FOB $1-$5 Alive Drive

Thanks to everyone for helping Captain at Never E Nuff Acres. We have raised over $1100 on the FOB $1-$5 thread in less than 4 weeks. The money has help many horses at many rescues. Please continue to remember that rescues need donations to help care for the horses.

Our next rescue is True Innocents Equine Rescue (T.I.E.R.) for the neglect Arabians. Our goal is to raise $100 for them.

For more information on these Arabians go to:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages?msg=21506.1

For Paypal donation information and more information on these neglected Arabians go here:

http://www.tierrescue.org/HorsesInNeed.htm

Please follow their insturctions.

Remember $1.50 to $6.00 if you use Paypal to take care of all the fees.

The paypal address is: whoanellie@earthlink.net

For snail mail:

True Innocents Equine Rescue (T.I.E.R)

7900 Limonite Ave., Ste. G, #278

Riverside, CA 92509

Please note that it is for the neglected Arabians.

Remember $1-$5 is all we are asking for, but all donations are welcome.

Please report donations on the FOB $1-$5 Alive Drive thread.

We need $60 to help the neglect Arabians for T.I.E.R.

Thank-you so much for helping!

Margie

The Sugarcreek Six have ALL found new homes!

http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages?msg=23986.1

Barb AZ:

I was about to make the same suggestion for times for Erin's vigil, and that we need to hold a vigil every evening.

Will you add link for Erin's candles with another announcement of vigil? I'm blue-lined challenged.

Thanks,
Flicka

####
Flicka,

I will blue link the candles a few minutes before the vigil this evening.

####
Debbie, thank you for blue linking the update on Erin. We are three hours behind out here!

zoooooming here in these foothills this a.m., no time to read the comments yet...if this has already been posted, I apologize.

Senator Edward Kennedy, a Co-Sponsor of S 311 and for me, at least, and American Icon...is feeling a little under the weather.

I called his office in DC to inquire re: a mailing address which might not take weeks (due to security measures there w/mail) to arrive...the young man said it only takes about ten days for the mail to arrive in his office:)

I have 'known' Senator Kennedy nearly all my life, Famblee...ever since I was 18 or 19 and his brother John F. was elected our PRESIDENT:) I just thought John was the 'bee's knees':) I still do! I firmly belive had he not been killed, our country would have taken a MUCH different path...

Anyway, if you might like to send a 'get well' card...by the way....as I looked at all the different cards y'day....I found none of them to be particularly 'spectacular'....THEN:) I remembered, I have the beauuuuuutiful *BARBARO* greeting cards:) So, I wrote the dear man a 'love note' inside that *BARBARO* card:)

Mailing Address:

Senator Edward Kennedy
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Of course, I did take an opportunity to thank him again, for Co-Sponsoring S 311....:)

####
HAPPY VICTORIA DAY to my Canadian brothers/sistersinbArbaro!!!

Everyone, have a good day today....make those calls...send those stinkin' faxes...we just GOTTA HELP OUR AMERICAN HORSES!!

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

####
What a nice post, Lynne!

Lynne Browne,
It is so good to see you, you were missed. So you grow up in Mass.? now live all the way in CA. WOW!!

How is Mister and his buddies have you been there to visit and pick up poop. LOL

I have a hint for you so you don't get lonely for them. Get a nice soft grooming brush one that does not have that new smell. Go see the horsies and brush them good, now you can go home and smell them on the brush.I just found that out this weekend. Hans's odor was still on his brush I was very haaaaaaaaaaaaappy.

Here is the address listed on the Caring Bridge site, if you want to send cards to Erin:

Mail:
Erin Brennan,
c/o Dr. S.T. Edgar
100 W 10th St
Suite #303
Wilmington, DE 19801

you know other years when there was a chance for a triple crown winner I use to get all excited. I was for Smarty Jones. And believe me nothing against Big Brown I hope he does it its just that Barbaro should have been the next triple crown winner. I watched the Belmont last year because I wanted to see the filly win and I did see her win. It was exciting alot because I felt like Ruffian was right there saying "you go girl". It is hard for me to get into watching racing anymore. People at work that know I use to check in every day on how Barbaro was doing will always ask me "Mary did you watch the race?" and I say no I didn't. It is just to hard for me to do. So Big Brown I hope the day goes well and I hope that all the horses are safe. But I just am not into the racing anymore. My heart belonged to Barbaro and my watching horse racing died with Barbaro. Lets just say that I tend to be on the side of Peta now a days.

Barbaro I will always love you. My heart belongs to you.

I'm off to make a few calls.

Let's light up the Candles for Erin and I will blue link them again at the time of the vigil.

Thanks, FOB.

So many articles on Big Brown! I wish him the very best, and at the very least, a safe race at the Belmont.

##

Renee:) GREAT IDEA, re: brush!! No...I haven't been there in so lonnnnnnng:( My hectic schedule and theirs, are not allowing those visits I so treasure with the kidds:(

MA? Nope....I'm a CA Native....been here all my life...but I've long admired the good Senator and his WONDERFUL brother....who was elected, as I was driving away from home this morning, I remembered...when I was just 16 years old!

I sat in front of the TV that summer...watching the Democratic National Convention....:) First time in my life, I'd EVER paid attention to anything 'political'....was absolutely ELATED when he won the Presidency....and absolutely DEVESTATED when he was killed...that was a very dark time in our country's history...VERY DARK:(

My 'used to be husband' and I both voted for Bobby in 68 here in the CA Primary...went to bed and in the morning, learned that he, too, had been killed:/ 1968 was a bad year in America! Martin Luther King....Robert Kennedy...such an 'awful' time! And so 'senseless'....we lost amazing men that year!

O.K., I'm home again, home again, clippity-clop...and must water the flowers 'cause it is HOT AS 'NOT' HEVVIN here in these foothills of no/ca!!

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

####Barb...not sure where I'll be at 8 tonight but wherever I am I will pause and say a prayer for our Erin....thanks for doing the vigils for her...

####
Tamme, I'm not even sure where I will be! My daughter gets off work at six! If I have to, I will pull over, or get her a few minutes after that. Oy vey!

### I just got my Hennegan Bros DVD of First Saturday in May, in the mail...anyone who ordered it..it should be on its way..anyone who hasn't ordered..should!

Harriette,
Got mine today too.

###
Thanks guys for the heads up I can't wait to get my DVD as well!

Liz

FOB $1-$5 Alive Drive

Thanks to everyone! We have finished drive number twelve. Amazing. We have raised over $1200 in just a little over a month for rescued horses. Thank-you! Please continue to think of the horses we have helped. If you can spare a few dollars now and then for one or two of them, please do. Those few dollars help.

The next rescue is near and dear to my heart. And I am so grateful they were put on the list. It is Hooved Animal Humane Society who graciously took 10 mares and one colt that had not been handled in Central Illinois. HAHS calls them the Danville mares. Buffalo Bill, the colt, has had health problems, but has improved slowly. He was finally well enough to geld. These horses were bought and transported by the FOBs. And we raised over $1200 for their continued support. But it is estimated that it will take close to $11000 to get theses horses adoptable. HAHS has been wonderful. These are FOB saves.

But this drive is for Buffalo Bill. We want to raise $100 specifically for his continued care.

Donations can be made to HAHS by credit card here:

https://secure.epagecity.com/site/epage/49613_665.htm

Or snail mailed to:

HAHS

10804 McConnell Road

Woodstock, IL 60098

Please note that it is for Buffalo Bill.

Remember $1-$5 is all we are asking.

Please report your donation on the "FOB $1-$5 Alive Drive" thread in discussion.

Thank-you very much!

Margie

HIP HIP HOOOR AYE FOR BIG BROWN CONGRADS.!!!! YOU AND ALL OF THE OTHER HORSES IN THE PREAKNESS.. WHO TRIED SOO HARD... THEIR CHAMPS TOO.... JUST BIG BROW HAS MORE KICK... UNDER HIS REINS..... NO INJURIES... ALL JOCKEYS SAFE .. THOSE JOCKEYS ARE GREAT...... WHAT A GREAT DAY.... YOU GO BIG BROWN ON WITH THE TRIPLE CROWN..... DIANE / PA AND DONT FORGET TO PRAY FOR ALL OF OUR FALLEN ANGELS AND THOSE IN NEED BARBARO WE STILL MISSES YOU 2 YEARS AGO WHEN YOU GOT HURT....

####
Busy...here at work....but...THANK HEAVEN ALL WAS SAFE AT THE PREAKNESS.

PLEASE CALL, FAX, EMAIL...PLEASE

AND HELP OUR RESCUES...PLEASE

I received this email from Mountaineer Park, reguarding the HBO special.

Ms. Nichols,

I am sure that since you saw the HBO story you completely understand that it was very bias and did not ask Mountaineer about any of this. Mountaineer neither condones nor controls horse slaughter. HBO didn?t tell how many horses are helped by the Exceller Fund. They also didn?t talk about the retired racehorses at Brotko Stables, a local therapeutic riding center that help autistic children. We have contributed to the TRF and have donated overnight packages to be used for retired racehorses.

Rose Mary Williams

Director of Racing

304-387-8334

304-387-8303 fax

Carol,
What are your feelings on what you received. To me, if good is being done why not promote it in your news cast also. Radio and TV life of mine sneaks in.

Calling is finished for the day , hoooray !

Love all you Barbaro Nation peoples, and I am checking out of here and getting (a very late) lunch. Bye now,

Me, too. Done for now. I may have to go back and re-do a couple, but I got through all the lists!

The May Hay Ride at MHR has started. Jerri and Apple are leading the way.

Barbaro's Kentucky Derby Hay Wagon Ride

Two Drawings: First includes a Barbaro Breyer Model, a copy of Kentucky Derby #132 Review hard cover book,a hand painted pewter Barbaro-Prado pin, and four Kentucky Derby commemorative mint julep glasses.

Second Drawing is an unsigned 8x10 framed Barbara Livingston photo of Barbaro taken at Churchill Downs.

May Hay Ride

Ro & Brady

I believe Mountaineer showed ther true colors and are trying very hard to put a bandage on a hugh probles at there end.

That's how I feel to. Hopefully they will change their colors to bright.

My prayers and love sent to Erin and her family. What a strong beautiful little girl. Peace and love and healing and guidance to all her family...

My prayers and love sent to Erin and her family. What a strong beautiful little girl. Peace and love and healing and guidance to all her family...

THANK YOU GOD FOR magically nuking my LONG weenie post about Erin and Anne and why there has to be suffering in the life of a 7-year old who has FOUGHT for 20 months.

It was no worthy of her courage.

Thank you God.
Just lead to me to do the right thing. And let me lean on my FoBs. They can lean on me too. I have the feeling will all be needing each other.

Pretty much: I pray for grace...for everyone to get through this in the most peaceful way for that little bunny-hugger....

Interesting: on the DG I wrote about Boxer, my outreach gh, who DRAGGED me into the little sister in the Fransican chapel in the Mall of WE where I updated my prayer request card for Erin and her family while Boxer adored the nun....it was rather mind boggling. God is so close to animals and little children...

I many times think we have lost that privilege.

xxoo I Lub my FOBS.

((((((((((((((((((jonna)))))))))))))))))))))))

Mary Langkamp, have to agree with you there- my infatuation with horse racing died in May 2006, and my lingering curiosity is tapering. Didn't watch the Preakness and may or may not watch the Belmont *shrug* it may be a TC year, but how much does that matter to me anymore? Some things about the whole situation this year just upset me... sigh.

I'm so sorry to hear about Erin's sickness worsening- I am glad that she was able to see the pony all dolled up in pink, and I pray that she is comforted. I have a strong feeling that she will be with God very soon, it sounds like she is "letting go." I hope that she is free of her pain very soon, and I wish for her family that it be by a miracle- but if it must be from letting go then I hope it is soon and I pray that her family is comforted.

Jackie and Mary,
Can I come with the two of you. I lost it in May 2006 also. When the dark door opens and the ghosts come out and reveal what is in there. It is a shock to us all. I never knew about the steroids, I thought they ran on their own esteem, what a suprise that was. The lasix and why it is used. I am having trouble digesting all of it. Hopefully it will all get cleaned up and become the sport that it was, hopefully much safer and stronger horses.

It would be wonderful if Barbaro came for Erin.

The Sacia bill to overturn the Illinois ban on horse slaughter is once again
on the docket for tomorrow. The House Committee on Drivers Education and
Safety will meet tomorrow at 2:30 pm.
Please call the following committee members and ask them to vote "NO" on HB
4489, Rep. Sacia's bill that would overturn the IL ban on horse slaughter.

House Drivers Education & Safety Committee
Chairman John D'Amico (D)
284-S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8198
(217) 782-2906 FAX

Representative Michael P. McAuliffe (R)
242-W Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8182
(217) 558-1073 FAX

Vice-Chairperson Kathleen A. Ryg (D)
231-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-0499
(217) 557-1934 FAX

Representative Rich Brauer (R)
1128-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-0053
(217) 782-0897 FAX

Representative Jack McGuire (D)
239-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8090
(217) 557-6465 FAX

Representative Bill Mitchell (R)
238-W Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
1-217-557-0571
Representative Susana A Mendoza (D)
200-1S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-7752
(217) 782-8917 FAX

Representative Harry R. Ramey, Jr. (R)
213-N Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 558-1037
(217) 782-5257 FAX

Representative Mike Boland (D)
243-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-3992
(217) 782-5201 FAX

Representative Dan Brady (R)
200-8N Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-1118
(217) 558-6271 FAX

Representative Mary E. Flowers (D)
251-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-4207
(217) 782-1130 FAX

I am going to sign off a bit early tonight. I will be in the background for a while longer. Erin is on my mind.

Have a good evening Barbaro Nation.

Erin,
May God Bless you always. I pray that he and the good Father and the angels bring you the peace you so well deserve. You are just beautiful! I love you sweetheart.

Barbaro,
I love you bunches. You know what you have to do. Thank you.

Renee, you can join :) I was okay with the tragedies until I realized that they could happen to "my favorites" (you know, the "I'm not invincible" discovery). Now I don't want to attach, I can watch but I don't want to feel anymore. I still think about the beauty of their running, though- when there aren't terrible breakdowns, when there aren't steroids, when the horses are running because they're in top shape and want to win. It's a shame. I wish more horsemen cared enough about their animals to make it a safe, drug-free game and the competitors were assured dignified retirement.

Jackie,
Eloquently said. Nice job!

Dearest Erin,
May God bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you and give you and your family peace. May the angels come to greet you, human and animal and may you wait for us happily until we can meet you in person.

jonna, yes, we FOBs are so lucky we can lean on each other. That is a blessing. I think animal people feel things and are more sensitive to things than other people. Therefore I dont think people understand us. This is why we love our fellow FOBs so much. ###Chief and I are a pair. He is not having a good day and I am not either. I have spinal stenosis and they think surgery would be unsuccessful. Of course, this happens to be a busy week. Go to bank tomorrow and get some papers noterized, wed. go downtown and renew my drivers licsnse and to the dr. thurs. dont feel like doing any of it. It will get better for Chief and me also. It is 96 today in Lubbock. Well, jonna we all just trudge on and support and love each other all because of a beautiful soul named Barbaro.

Prayers and thoughts for little Erin and her family. May God hold them in HIS hands.

alex,
do you think big brown had a good challange in the preakness with no competitors from the derby, and the high odds on his preakness competition?
were the high odds on the other horses due to high expectations of big brown?
thanks

I add my prayers for Erin and her family.

I pray the Angels come for her and comfort her and she has no fear when her time is near.
I pray for the comfort of her family. This sweet child has been through so much, I pray she goes quickly.

I'm just a blubbering idiot at the moment. Thanks for those kind words, Harriette, and everybody.

I just honestly thought Erin had a little more time. If she is suffering, then it is time for the powers to take her.

Just am not dealing with this very well.

Let's help her out with some candles and thanks.

Candles for Erin

Please remember the vigil for Erin, wherever you are:

VIGIL

9 PM EDT

8 PM CDT

7 PM MDT

6 PM PDT

If you cannot join us at that time, just say a few prayers or send positive thoughts whenever you can.

I have e-mail addys for the Committee Members we are to contact for tomorrow's vote Famblee....in regards to Renee Antaya's post today, t/s:9:59pm

Please send an e-mail to the committee members asking them to please vote 'no' on HB4489, Rep. Sacia's Bill that would OVERTURN the Illiniois BAN ON HORSE SLAUGHTER!!!

They are meeting/voting tomorrow at 2:30p!

Here's the list with the e-mail addys:

House Drivers Education & Safety Committee
Chairman John D'Amico (D)
284-S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8198
(217) 782-2906 FAX
e-mail: john_damico@sbcglobal.net

Representative Michael P. McAuliffe (R)
242-W Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8182
(217) 558-1073 FAX
e-mail: mmcauliffe20@yahoo.com

Vice-Chairperson Kathleen A. Ryg (D)
231-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-0499
(217) 557-1934 FAX
e-mail: Kathy@kathyryg.org

Representative Rich Brauer (R)
1128-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-0053
(217) 782-0897 FAX
e-mail: brauerr@housegopmail.state.il.us

Representative Jack McGuire (D)
239-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-8090
(217) 557-6465 FAX
e-mail: jmcguire86@sbcglobal.net

Representative Bill Mitchell (R)
238-W Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
1-217-557-0571
e-mail: remittal@earthlink.net

Representative Susana A Mendoza (D)
200-1S Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-7752 -
(217) 782-8917 FAX
e-mail: repmendoza@aol.com

Representative Harry R. Ramey, Jr. (R)
213-N Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 558-1037
(217) 782-5257
e-mail: staterepramey55@aol.com

Representative Mike Boland (D)
243-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-3992
(217) 782-5201 FAX
e-mail: ilrepmikeboland@aol.com

Representative Dan Brady (R)
200-8N Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-1118
(217) 558-6271 FAX
e-mail: dan@rep-danbrady.com

Representative Mary E. Flowers (D)
251-E Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-4207
(217) 782-1130 FAX
e-mail: state.repflowers@comcast.net

HURRY/HURRY, FAMBLEE WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME:( WE JUST *GOTTA* HELP OUR HORSES!!!

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

OK, Lynne. I'll get on it. I need to do something.

FAMBLEE....I NEGLECTED TO SAYYYYYYY...

A *VERY NISSSSEEEE YOUNG MAN, 'TJ'LEWIS, FROM STATE REP. HARRY R. RAMEY'S OFFICE WAS SO KIND..AND LOOKED UP ALL THOSE E-MAIL ADDYS AND GAVE THEM TO ME!!!

I told him when we were finished, that I'm a registered Democrat...but this conversation with him and the time he SO WILLINGLY took to help me get those addresses gave me a real 'boost' towards REPUBLICANS....well 'some' of them:/ LOL! at least Rep. Ramey's Telephone Person:)

A BIG *THANK YOU* GOES OUT TO 'TJ'LEWIS!!! :)

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

Hi Alex,

I can't get onto the FORUM. Have I been banned?

### I think it is wonderful that we all join together for a vigil for Erin. That little girl and her family are ALWAYS on my mind--I've worn a little 4-leaf clover on my prayer bracelet for her the past 20 months now. It is wonderful to have this place to connect and comfort each other, as we have so many times on this journey Barbaro started for us all. Thanks to all of you for being here, and for making a difference.

Love to you all--
Prayers for strength and healing light for Erin and her wonderful family--

####
Lynne, Hoof Hoof Hurray! for T.J. Lewis. I have emailed all of them!

CORRECTION:/

Representative Bill Mitchell: repmitchell@earthlink.net

sorry:/ too much hurrrrrrrrrrrrry!!! :/

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

####
Lynne, my email to him went through. I wonder who got it??? LOL

Alex,

Sorry for bothering you, it appears that for some reason the browser I was using was not allowing me to sign in.

I thought it was strange for me to have been banned since I have not been on for some time.

Thanks,

Hiya, FsOB. I share everyone's sentiments about Erin Brennan and her family. Kudos to Martita, Nancy, Barb, Stacy, and everyone else who had a role in making her Sunday such a special one. How wonderful that a horse helped brighten her day. But we all know the power of just one horse, don't we? If not for Barbaro, I'd have never met any of you wonderful people!
The Brennans have been in my thoughts all day today and I can't check on Caring Bridge while at work. I'll participate with you in the vigil, albeit offline, later this evening.
Thanks again, Alex & Wendy for all that you do each day.

#### To Harriette: Can't wait to hear your review of the Hennegan Bros' DVD!
To Lynne B: I agree, the world could've been a much better place had Bobby Kennedy lived to be elected President in 1968. May Sen. Ted Kennedy have a full and prompt recovery.
To Sandra: I'm sorry that you & Chief have had a rough day. ####

####
Hi, Robyn."See" ya at 9 PM.

##

THANKS, BARB,AZ:) I hope everyone might see this...I've sent along to my WA/LA Teams and my team mates here in CA....maybe they will 'spread the word' I hope!!

Lynne-Barbaro's Forever Friend in CA

There are a few folks over on the DB who will be in the chat room for the VIGIL, if you'd like to join them.

LOVE & PRAYERS FOR ERIN, IT'S VERY SAD. ON A HAPPIER NOTE, GREAT ARTICLES ABOUT BIG BROWN!! HE IS JUST GORGEOUS AND HE'S SO CALM, I THINK HE'S EVEN CALMER THAN CURLIN WITH ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, JOURNALISTS ETC....

I WAS WATCHING TVG YESTERDAY AND THEY SHOWED A CLIP OF FRANK LIONS, KEN & TODD S. WATCHING THE PREAKNESS. OMG, IT WAS TOO FUNNY. THERE WERE LOTS OF BEEPS AND BLEEPS TO SAY THE LEAST. IF ANYONE WANTS A GOOD LAUGH -- LOL!! :>)

HAPPY VICTORIA DAY ALEX!! :>)

LOVE,
CHERYL

I'll be here for the vigil - 7PM.

Please pray for Erin & her family.

Been a blubbering idiot all-day, unable to talk, but I can fax some more.
Anne must be dyeing inside, gee this is too hard!
It’s so unfair and I am so mad right now! Because I can not do anything to stop this!
Sometimes I have to ask why? Why?

((((((Debbie))))))

Somebody once said that we are not supposed to understand everything. If we did, our heads would explode.

Sometimes you just have to accept........

###
Barb
Hugs!
Head is explodeing, for I do not understand!

#######
All day my mind keeps going back to the entry Anne made about Erin, maybe in March? Erin wanted another Christmas and her Daddy made it happen with Christmas tree and all....... maybe she understood on a level that maybe only children do, what was already happening to her?

Ro & Brady

### Like so many of you, I've been trying to think of something, ANYTHING we can do to help the Brennan family. I know when all of your efforts are going to help someone who is sick, it's so difficult to do the day-to-day stuff, like cooking and grocery shopping. I thought perhaps some of us could chip in for meals for the family. Does anyone know of a good restaurant, catering company, etc. that the Brennans could just call and have a nice, home-made meal delivered for those times they don't want to deal with shopping and preparing meals? I'm just trying to think of ways to make their lives a bit easier. Anne has posted about how much having "real" food brought in has meant to them at various times, so this was what gave me the idea. If anyone is familiar with restaurants in the area, let me know, and I'll check with them about setting up a "food fund" that the family can use whenever they want. Otherwise, I'm sure the gals at Kennett Florist could give some suggestions. Let me know what you all think.

I WILL TRY TO MAKE IT TO THE PRAYER VIGIL FOR ERIN, I DID LIGHT SOME CANDLES FOR HER THOUGH. I'M PET SITTING THIS WEEK AND ALSO MY DOG IS VERY ILL. HE HAS CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE AND ALSO NOW HE HAS A TUMOR, SO MY STRESS LEVEL IS GETTING PRETTY HIGH. THAT IS SO TRAGIC, MY HEART GOES OUT TO ERIN'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS. GOD BLESS BEAUTIFUL SWEET ERIN!

LOVE & LOTS OF PRAYERS,
CHERYL G

Prayers for an angel of a little girl.

Dawn-

Great idea! I'm in. Rachel may have some suggestions.

Flicka

####
Dawn, I think calling Rachel at Kennett Florist is probably the best idea. She would know what to do or what to tell you. JMHO

Would you please keep us "posted?"

I bet many here would help out!

VIGIL in about one hour. Please be here in spirit if you can't attend.

Also there is a thread on the DB and some will be in the chat room.

### I'll call them tomorrow and post here--can't get on the DB from work!!

Love to you all--

#### Dawn, I agree with Barb that calling Kennett Florist tomorrow and asking for Alie or Rachel may be the way to identify what could be done to order some meals for the Brennnans. I've sensed since Easter that Anne is incredibly relieved to receive meals so that she's not worrying that the boys, Terry, or any of the family are getting run down from not having some nutritious comfort food. (Can you tell that I am part Sicilian, or what?) I know what it's like to be unable to check in from work during the day. Much love to everyone here who is grappling with the "whys" that Erin's illness poses. ####

### Dawn, great idea..

You know, I can't fathom what Erin's mom and dad are going through. I know my own mother, who died three years ago and lost many loved ones, told me this..She said she lost her grandparents, her mother, her father, her aunts and uncles, her father and mother in law, her husband and then her son. She said there was no loss greater than losing her son. It is not the natural order of things to outlive one's children.

May God pour his comfort on this family. I hope Erin is rocked to sleep by Angels and awakens in the arms of Jesus.

Please surround Erin and her family with love and peace. Give them hope eternal knowing that Erin will always be with them.

May eternal light shine upon them. Angels will come when summoned. If Erin is not healed here on earth, she will surely be healed in Heaven.

Erin's candles.

From Jeanette:

Dear Jesus, Divine Physician and Healer of the sick, we turn to you in this time of illness.

O dearest Comforter of the troubled, alleviate our worry and sorrow with Your gentle love and grant us the grace and strength to accept this burden.

Dear God, we place our sick under Your care and humbly ask that You restore Your faithful servant, Erin Brennan, to health again.

Above all, grant us the grace to acknowledge Your holy will and know that whatsoever You do, You do for the love of us. Amen

I have been out at my sisters with my dad. I mentioned none of this to them...thank you god for my FoBs. You are my Famblee....

The idea about meals for the family is WONDERFUL. Anne mentioned this so often when they were at the hospital for that terrible three weeks....which seems like it was 100 years ago.

My head just bangs and bangs with this. I don't know how the family is getting through this. The priest, Father K....what a lovely connection he made with Erin yesterday. Very moving.

And someone wrote about Erin seeming to know this has all been on the way for a long time....my friend Sharon--also in GH rescue--is a Pediatric Oncologist. She says that children dealing with catastrophic illnesses--like cancers--are gifted with the knowledge of their conditions...they just are.
And they will deal with the knowledge without their parents for some time. She has had little patients take her or a nurse aside and say

PLEASE DON'T TELL MY MOM THAT I AM DYING YET. SHE ISN'T READY. Good god.

Dear God. Sharon said, children become old souls--especially towards the end of their earthly
existances. They can bear much more than adults under the same circumstances...

Anyhow. I have to not think about this for an hour or so if i can. I need to watch TV and cuddle with dogs. All I can do is send love...

Please let us all know what can be done vis a vis meals. Whatever...it's all so little in the face of what the Brennans are living through now.

And for the rest of their lives, actually.

courage: j

God bless you, Sweet Erin, and your family.

Love and peace to you.

### Joining you all for Erin's prayer vigil. I know the prayers of so many of us have given Annie and the family strength all these months. Let us hope it helps to hold them up now when they need it so much.

The light of God surrounds her.
The love of God enfolds her.
The power of God protects her.
The presence of God watches over her.
Wherever Erin is, God is.

May strength and sunshine surround you, Enya. I carry you in my heart.

Prayers and love for Erin, Anne, Terry, Paul, Shawn Michael, Susan (Momo) and all those that know and love this angel girl.

Love and gratitude to all those who gather here in love and light for the grace of this child.

Rach

Prayers and healing for Erin and her family; the love and comfort of God be with them all now and in the days to come.

Prayers, love, comfort, hugs for Princess Erin and her beloved family and much gratitude for this FsOB famblee - where support is never-ending for each other and others. Joining hands and hearts with all of you -

Sherry

God bless sweet Erin and all the Brennens.
I hold them in love and prayer as do all the FoB famblee. Lets send them all the support, prayers, and the idea about food is so good and helpful.

## Cheryl G., I'm sorry and I will pray for
your dog also.

Lord, be near us all.

Being with you all
closing my eyes and seeing
the picture of Erin grinning
the day she had her hair shaved.

Being with you all
closing my eyes and seeing
the picture of Erin with the bunny
snuggled into her young neck.

Heart beat to heart beat,
the two young creatures
locked now in my memory.

I am with you all.
I am holding the hopes and
sorrows of the family in my hands,
slipping through my fingers
like so much sand.

I too am bargaining
with the God that
made this little child.
My promises are secret.

Her mother knows.
She has memorized that little
grin to keep with her forever.
She carried her under her heart
for nine months.

And I
only an affectionate stranger,
can do nothing but
wrap my arms around them both.
And pray God to keep all of us
near to them
for the warmth
for the comfort
to keep hope alive
until it's time.

Amen.

Jonna,

How beautiful, Thanks!

Ro & Brady

###
It is a windy night in Nebraska, so I finally hung my prayer flags from the pergola over the deck. What better night for the Wind Horse to carry my prayers and healing thoughts from west to east? I picture them--hundreds of horses racing through the tattered clouds, carrying our prayers on the wind--over mountains, across the great rivers, the plains, above the lights of the cities, until they finally slow to a gentle breeze over Delaware, stirring the leaves and scented flowers and surrounding Erin and her family with strength and comfort and love.

Bless you Erin.

Jonna and Dawn, beautiful, loving words.

####

Erin, Anne, Terry, MoMo and ALL of Erin's family and friends,

May you all rest amongst the comfort of knowing Love, Care and Compassion.

You sleep now. We shall shoulder your worries... Bless you all. Good night. xxoo

And the horses race through clouds and wind,

Dark and light,
hooves kissing wisps of vapor,
breathing strongly, blowing as only horses do,
scattering stars.

They are of all colors and sizes.
Like ribbons, flung by the speed
prayer flags trail from them,
silent and silken.

The moon glances through the curtains of cloud
and sadly smiles, and nobody could tell,
to see the wistful look,
if the smile is
for the horses,
for their message,
for those who dispatched them
or for the object of their quest,
for all are brave and lovely in her silver lens.

Love and comfort to all in need, four-legged and
two-legged, and have a Barbaro night, courage and kindness.

With love - Jean

jonnagrey and dawn, thank you for sharing your beautiful thoughts, words and images. It is windy here in Maryland tonight, I believe it must be all the prayers, the Wind Horses with Angels on their backs, racing to Erin and her family.

####
jonna, Dawn, Laurie, Jean, and all who have shared the beauty of caring, and sharing, what beautiful images I have. I especially love the fact that the wind is carrying all of our prayers to Erin. Peaceful, for some reason.

####
Becky, too!

Dear God: thank you for your messenger--Barbaro--
who gathered us all together and slowly, slowly, made this beautiful, powerful, unified and wondrous Nation.

And thank you for this full, yellow moon to light to way for Dawn's Wind Horses to Erin's House.

(((((((((((((I love my FoBs)))))))))))))))

Sleep tight beneath her luminous shelter.
Courage: j