Thursday, March 13, 2014

OBS, Vikings, Weather

I have a neat little application on my computer that I turn on, and check, 3 to 5 times a day - it's from the National Weather Service, and it allows me to see the current conditions, as well as the forecast, for multiple cities at the same time.  I turned it on at 7 this morning, and saw that it was 28 degrees here in Boulder, 30 on Chincoteague Island in Virginia, 60 at Vero Beach in Florida, and 42 degrees and foggy in Gainesville, Florida.  I also have it programmed for Wichita, Kansas and for London, England.  I'm not sure why I feel the need to see the weather in all these places, other than I know what kind of weather my friends are having.  I think it has something to do with being quiet and not talking during the weather segments on the television news when I was growing up...  and, of course, one set of grandparents were farmers and the other set were watermen and fishing folk.  I understand very well that when Dad was the assistant superintendent of county roads, that he needed to know the forecast for the work crews - but we always had to be silent during the weather forecast, even when Dad worked inside at the University of Florida...  Oh, well...  This nice application pleases me frequently each day.
   The Ocala Breeders Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training was a gang-buster this week.  Three colts sold for over $1 million each, ensuring that this was the best OBS event yet.  A colt by Malibu Moon sold for $1.3 million, and both a Tapit colt and a Giant's Causeway colt saw the hammer come down at $1.6 million.  I always went down to the OBS campus to see both the Mixed Sale and the Two-Year-Olds Sales, and I remember those visits fondly.  Our farm veterinarian, Bobby Anderson, was an extremely respected vet at the OBS, and he introduced me to two men I will never forget - Eugene Klein, owner of Winning Colors, and George Steinbrenner.  Bobby invited me to lunch with each of those gentlemen in different years - and it still seems very surreal to remember eating hotdogs beside the walking rings with them, discussing the points of certain horses.  Good, old memories.
  Tonight is another new episode of Vikings on the History Channel, and I'm looking forward to seeing if there is an actual meeting between Ragnar and King Ecbert of Wessex.  I also had a heart-stopping moment last night, when I was doing research on the PC and heard a voice coming from the television - I had NBC on, and Law And Order: SVU was on... or so I thought.  Because I suddenly realized I was hearing the voice of King Horik from Vikings, but he was speaking with a lilting Irish accent - I had to look up, and saw Donal Logue.  That comforted me.  At least I knew the voice and who it belongs to.  He was playing an undercover police officer, and did it very well.  He's raiding in England tonight, with Ragnar Lodbrok, so I will be thrilled to see him tonight.

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