Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Snow, a Retirement, & a New Name

Yesterday the weather folks said we'd get 2 to 5 inches of snow during the evening.  I passed this on to my usual early morning bus driver, and she pooh-poohed it.  "Boulder?  Snow? Not here and not now."  I watched the clouds thicken yesterday, and the sky lower, and watched the temperature drop, and I shook my head.  (Speaking of temperature drops, Monday afternoon the temperature fell 20 degrees in 30 minutes, and the wind picked up.  In 30 minutes we went from 63 degrees with sunny calm to 42 degrees with a wind chill of 30 degrees... It made a lot of people scurry for cover and sweats!) Anyway, it started to snow here about 5 in the afternoon - because of the warmth from the day before, at first, the snow melted on the grass,sidewalks and roads; then it froze, as the temperature dropped to 8 degrees; then the snow started to add up.  We have an accumulation of about 3 inches in my back yard, and about 4 inches in the front of the building.  I have put out nuts for the squirrels and seed for the birds, just because it's been a shock to their (and my) systems.
   I was greatly surprised today to read that Johnny Murtagh, the fabulously winning Irish jockey, is retiring from the race saddle, and will now concentrate on training thoroughbreds for racing.  Murtagh has won most of the world-famous races - the Breeders Cup Marathon, the Breeders Cup Mile, the Breeders Cup Turf, the Hong Kong Vase, the UAE Derby, the UAE Two Thousand Guineas, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, five Ascot Gold Cups, two English Two Thousand Guineas, the Epsom Oaks, three Epsom Derbies, the Irish St. Leger, three Irish  Two Thousand Guineas, four Irish Derbies, and six Irish Oaks.  Johnny Murtagh was granted his trainer's license last year, and will be training out of Fox Covert Stables in County Kildare, Ireland.
 Johnny Murtagh - below, riding Henrythenavigator at Ascot (saddle cloth 4)

  You know by now that I do family genealogy.  I also gather names that I think are interesting, whether we're related or not.  Relatives with different, distinguishing names include Hatevil Hall, Eliphalet Pease, Marmaduke de Thwing, Eight One Mobley, and Hepzibah Starbuck Hussey.  Yesterday, while seeking information on George S Hunt, the editor of the Smith County, Tennessee newspaper, I found a marriage entry that made me laugh out loud - and add a name to my collection.  This lady married a man named Hunt - so be certain to add that surname after the rest of her name, which was Artelia Azaminda Duck.
  Have a great day!!


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