Pilot Whales, Secretariat, Pony Penning

Sylvain Cote is the owner and captain of the boat Espandor, which is generally fishing off the coast of Maryland, in the Atlantic.  Earlier this week, the captain was about 62 nautical miles off Ocean City, Md., when he saw a pilot whale supporting a calf on her head, holding it up in the air and trying to get the little one to breathe for a period of over 8 hours.  A group of 10 to 12 other pilot whales swam in a protective circle around the mother and dead calf.  Captain Cote and the captains of 8 other fishing vessels reported their sighting, while giving the whales a large area to swim in, so they wouldn't feel crowded.  All the boats stayed more than a quarter-mile away from the giant mammals, so they could grieve in peace.  A spokesman for the Marine Fisheries Foundation stated that she felt the calf was either still-born, or had died very shortly after birth.  Mother whales push their calf up into the air for their first breath, after giving birth.  This grieving mother did not want to accept the fact that her child was not alive.  The acceptance of death is difficult for all living creatures.

Mocha's owner came and visited her yesterday afternoon - Coffeepot  hopes to be in a new house by the middle of August.  And he was amazed at how fat Mocha has become in her 7 weeks' stay with me.  I told him that he'd have to play with her and exercise her a lot when he gets her to their new home.  My kits are great - Nedi is his quiet, loving little self; Lovey still has to swat at Mocha occasionally, but is otherwise OK with her presence.  ...  I finally saw the movie Secretariat last night - it was on a premium movie channel.  I had a super time seeing actors and actresses I recognize, and I liked the fact that the movie ended with the completion of the Belmont Stakes.  (I had forgotten that Secretariat had won the Triple Crown on my 17th birthday.)  There were a few things that I did not like about the movie - it did not show all the hard work and training that goes into making a race horse; there was an awful close-up of what were supposed to be Big Red's legs in the starting gate (and the clip was used several times), which anyone could tell was a chestnut horse with white oil-based paint on his legs; and the movie left several unresolved questions regarding the Chenery and Tweedy families, and about Secretariat himself.  I did enjoy the casting of the actors in their respective characters - and I knew that the real Penny Chenery Tweedy was in the movie, so I enjoyed looking for her - and she was very easy to spot.  More than 37 different horses portrayed Secretariat in the movie - I just wish they had found someone with a sock and stockings more like his than was used in that truly tacky shot of white paint on red legs.

If I were in Virginia, I'd be on Assateague, looking at the ponies in the Holding Pens near Tom's Cove.  Today the CVFD Saltwater Cowboys will be rounding up the herds on the southern portion of Assateague, and driving them to the Holding Pens with the northern herds.  Then the stallions will get rambunctious because they are all crowded together...  I know I'd be drinking water like an elephant, but I'd love to be there!  (Fifteen minutes ago the heat index in Ocean City, Md was 105 degrees.)