Monday, September 17, 2012

Snowing on the Continental Divide Today

I turned on the TV when I got up this morning, and the local channel immediately went to a split-view of the Eisenhower Tunnel at the Continental Divide - it was snowing on one side and raining on the other.  What a wonderful sight!  It was cool down here in Boulder - temperatures in the 60s, and a cool breeze, with partly cloudy skies.  I have been bummed about the loses of my two pro teams yesterday, and it looks like tonight might be even worse.  The Broncos turned the ball over 4 times in the first quarter; there's 4.5 minutes left in the first half, and the Falcons lead 20 to 0.  The officials in tonight's game have been awful - it took over 60 minutes to actually play the first quarter because of bugaboos with the referees.  This game totally stinks.
   The kits are inside, here at home, even though the door is open.  We're expecting a low of about 40 tonight, and I already have the window closed.  I laughed last night, as both the kits came in, and stood just inside the patio door - and both of their tails were slashing.  I peeked out, and the mother raccoon was about to lead her four kits back into the Devine diner.  I stepped out, and she stepped forward.  I stomped my feet and hissed, and she retreated off the patio, so I closed the patio door for the night.  In talking with Chris, my neighbor, he told me that every time he steps out, momma raccoon advances toward him and it totally freaks him out.  The raccoons have eaten almost every one of his tomatoes....
   I know that there will be horses entered in the Breeders Cup races at Santa Anita in November.  But I really wonder who will be entered from this years three-year-old colts.  Hansen has definitely been retired, Union Rags and I'll Have Another are retired; Paynter, who ran second in the Belmont to Union Rags, has been off track with diarrhea and a temperature, which turned into laminitis - luckily, he is expected to recover.  Potesta, a three-year-old filly who won the Hollywood Oaks last month, was taking an easy gallop on Friday morning when she suffered a condylar fracture of her left foreleg.  Surgery was scheduled for either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, in hopes of saving her life, and her becoming a broodmare.  There has been no word of her since Saturday morning.  What is wrong with our racing horses today?  Supposedly, we have better medicines, better veterinarians, better testing equipment, better feed, better trainers, better track surfaces -  why can't three-year-olds finish a second (sometimes a first) full season of races?  I still think we (Americans) are doing irreparable harm to the thoroughbred horse in breeding for speed, speed, and more speed....

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