Open Chickencoop; Olympics

I was scared spitless when I arrived at Hila's home yesterday afternoon and found the chickencoop door wide open and no fowl visible. I had a handful of green grapes and cherries for myself, but found I was calling ,"Here, chick, chick, chick!", so I tossed them on the ground in the pen. Lo and behold, everyone came out of the henhouse and started to eat. I felt so relieved that I didn't know what to do - I went inside the coop and made sure there were no fox or skunks hidden, and went back out, closing the door securely behind me. I've seen the foxes and the skunk in the area, and have so far been lucky with the skunk - Hila's owner was not so lucky and got sprayed last week.

I finally got some of my photos on a CD, and hope to start sharing them - I have downloaded them onto my computer, so hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to post them to this blog soon.
I came back to my apartment via bus this morning - caught the 6:52 - and was surprised (but I shouldn't have been) that, other than the driver, I was the only person on board (SRO) who was not a middle- or high school student. Not only have public school classes begun, but the freshmen are invading for the fall term at CU, so the town is very lively again.

The only part of the equestrian Olympics that are still being contested is for the Individual Show Jumping medals. I've checked the TV listings, and it looks like the jumping finals will be aired on regular NBC stations between 10 am and 1 pm on Thursday (tomorrow). Mclain Ward of the USA (riding Sapphire) is one of the favorites for a medal.
I was lucky enough to see the Oxygen Channel's coverage of the Grand Prix Freestyle Musical yesterday. The channel showed bits and pieces of Steffen Peters' ride, and a little of Heike Kemmer; they showed the entire rides of Isabell Werth and Anky vanGrunsven - and they were breath-takingly beautiful. Stachmo, Werth's horse, refused to piaffe and pirouette, and when she dug her spurs into him, he gave a buck. Anky had begun to grin with more than 40 seconds left in her presentation - Salinero had worked beautifully and willingly. Her gold was a cinch!