Oh Me, Oh My....

Poor, poor Joplin, Missouri. I feel for everyone that has been affected by this tornadic tragedy. We had thunderstorms off and on yesterday afternoon and last night. Lovey wasn't afraid of thunder until recently; she curled up with me in nasty weather, but she didn't hide. Nedi is frightened by thunder, and hides either in the closet or under the bed when it grumbles. Lovey is now doing the same. (Banichi wasn't bothered by thunder; and Lovey wasn't bothered by it when she was with Nichi-ji. I guess she is very sensitive to her kitty-mate's feelings.) Last night, she came out from hiding after a thunderclap and sat on my chest and shivered for almost an hour. I can't figure this out....
Our local paper finally published an article on the EHV-1 outbreak (which does include Boulder County) and about staying at home and off the trails; some idiot posted the comment: "Yeah, stay off the trails, they are covered with disease." This person really is an ignorant fool. EHV-1 is extremely virulent, and horses don't even have to touch noses to spread the disease - it's passed by aerosol nasal spray and just by the virus "shedding", or falling off, a horse that has passed the incubation stage and is in the infectious stage (7 to 10 days after infection). An infected horse that nuzzles a tuft of grass, or a tree branch, (or just walks along a trail, breathing normally) leaves behind deadly viral germs. I want to give this fool a dose of spinal meningitis, the human equivalent to the neurological form of EHV-1!
Last year, trainer Dale Romans ran Paddy O'Prado in the Preakness. He didn't do very well, and Romans switched the colt back to turf racing, where he continued his winning ways. Paddy got a few months vacation recently, and his first race this year was the Dixie Stakes, the turf race just before this year's Preakness. Paddy O'Prado won brilliantly, running from last place to win by a nice margin. He seemed fine after the race, in the winner's circle, and as he cooled out back in the barn area. Later that night, he became sore on a single leg, and he was treated for a bruised foot. But the lameness continued to grow; finally X-rays were taken and it turns out that Paddy broke a couple of sesamoid bones in his foreleg during the race. Paddy O'Prado will be retired to stud. (Trainer Dale Romans also trains Shackleford, who won the Preakness, after Paddy won the Dixie on Saturday.)