Last Warm Day of Fall

We reached a high temperature of 72 this today, after a low this morning of 36. After walking Rosie and Remy, we visited Suki and Boo, and I sat in the back yard at the Snow house reading and playing with the dogs. Everyone behaved well, and Mary brought Maisie over because she'd had a bad experience visiting someone's home over the weekend. Maisie and family visited a family with a male and female Husky; Maisie decided to play with a ball that the male regarded as "his only." So Maisie was tackled, rolled over, and he bit her several times on the ear, around the face, and on her butt. Luckily, he didn't bite hard, and she only has one small mark on her face - but her family were afraid that she'd be frightened when she met again with other dogs. It didn't happen. She was fine, even when she knocked Suki over in her exuberance, and Suki chased her. Maisie thought it was a great game to play. Other than Maisie's visit, it was a quiet day. The kits have been out three times today; Lovey is curled up in the chair next to me, and Nedi is curled up inside the clothes hamper. (Since his collar spells Nedi correctly, I decided I'd better start doing it also.)
Leftover information from the Breeders' Cup: Zenyatta is being retired, as had been previously announced. Mine That Bird is now retired to stud. Four-year-old Blame, who won this year's Classic, is now retired and will stand at stud. Life at Ten, the heavy betting favorite in the Ladies Classic, who cantered home last, has been withdrawn from auction, and the KHRC is investigating the failure to communicate between the trainer and jockey of the horse with the vets and stewards at the track. For Friday's fight, Javier Castellano has been fined $2,500, while Calvin Borel, who started the fight, was fined $5,000. Castellano was also found guilty of rough race-riding in the incident that caused the fight, and he has had his jockey's license suspended for 6 days of racing by the stewards. - And, trainer Frederic Head has announced that the owners of the super racing mare Goldikova have decided to continue her in training, and, barring injury, that she will return for next year's Breeders' Cup Turf Mile to defend her Championship title for a record fourth consecutive year.