Snow, freckles and Richard III

The faintest hint of white on the grass is the only sign of yesterday's dry, light snowfall. It's 22 outside, and the kits ran around for about 30 minutes in the backyard, then both came in and curled together on the bed. I've had my walk - wearing my longies for the first time this year - it's foggy and the tops of the foothills are wreathed in cloud; the Flatirons are invisible due to the clouds and fog. Grandma Anne Snow has had 6 inches of snowfall up on Sugarloaf Mountain since yesterday morning.

On Thursday, when I last walked the Irish kids, I was wearing my new Gator "National Chompions" T-shirt. A young man sat next to me on the bus, and after a few minutes, giggled. I glanced over at him, praying that I wasn't having a "wardrobe malfunction", and saw a person with dark red hair, green eyes with golden flecks in them, and a lot of freckles. I raised a brow and asked, "Yes?" and he giggled again and said he never thought he'd meet anyone with as many, or more, freckles than he had - but that I fit the bill. He had pale creamy skin and large freckles; I've got tons of little freckles. And I had to grin with him and agree - it did look like I had more freckles than he...

"We invite you to see the rise of one murderous man to the throne..." An invitation to see Shakespeare's Richard III - that is currently a frequent ad on the local TV stations. The story of Richard III was written by the Tudors, who overthrew Richard... most historians agree that Richard was not the ogre that history has made him. In reading several of his biographies, I have found that most people seem to like Richard up to a certain point... "and then it seems that he could not refuse evil any longer..." I just have to shake my head. There were so many currents, undercurrents, waves and ripples occurring in society, in the economy of England, and throughout Europe during those last 12 years of Richard's life, that, unless one actually lived and recorded things as they happened (which Richard did not - he kept his own counsel), one can only guess at the reasons that compelled Richard to take the throne....

The world and nation's economy has certainly struck at the National Western Stock Show. Last night the Youth Livestock Sale was held, and the young man who raised the champion bull took home $50,000; last year the champion (30 pounds heavier) was purchased for $103,000. A similar down-turning affected all the other stock, as well. Several regular breeders of beef cattle found that they barely broke even on sales of their stock this year, but most were planning on raising more cattle and hoping for a better market next time around. There are only two days left of this annual event - and last week, with very favorable weather, the NWSS had a few days of extremely high attendance. Hopefully this weekend will be as profitable to all those concerned.