Family News and Racing

I arose today and had heat in the house where I'm house-sitting.  It was a Greg-send, as he appeared about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and worked at restoring heat until 9 last night.  There is still no hot water to wash with, or do the dishes with, but the house has heat.  I looked to the west, as I was preparing the critters' food, and saw that there was snow on the tops of the nearest foothills - they are at about 6,000 feet.  The weather folks had said it would snow above 10,000 - and they also forecast 3.5 inches of snow for Boulder (and 5 to 10 inches in the foothills) tonight.   We'll see....
   There was some tornadic activity in Wichita, near my cousin Sarah's home; but luckily, they haven't had any damage themselves.  Pam, Sarah's sister, had a heart attack earlier this week, and two stents were placed when it was discovered that one of the arteries was 90% occluded.  The next day she began slurring her speech, and an MRI was done - it shows she has an aneurysm in one of the veins in her brain.  - And she was sent home from the hospital...   She sees her cardiologist tomorrow, and her neuro doc on Tuesday.
    To top that off, my sister Kathy took a fall while walking the dogs yesterday, with her husband.  She broke her left shoulder, and has to have a consultation with her orthopedic doctor before she can return to work.  The folks at the Urgent Care Center said the MD might want to put a pin in to stabilize  the break.   Brother-in-law Jim leaves for Bhutan on Wednesday morning, so I will be adding walking Boo and Mona to my other scheduled duties, at least until Jim returns ( I think that's 4 or 6 weeks away)....  Nephew Mike will be gone next weekend, so I'll definitely be walking the girls on the 21st and 22nd.  - At least Kathy is right-handed, so she's not totally incapacitated.
     The Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree was run yesterday, and a grey long-shot won the race; Neptune Collonges (at 33 to 1) won by a nose over Sunnyhillboy in a photo-finish.  This year's course was changed after the death of two horses during the race last year; this race also produced two deaths: the pre-race betting favorite, Synchronised, and According to Pete.  Both horses fell at Becher's Brook, the most notorious jump on the 4.5 miles course over 30 obstacles.    All fences at Aintree are jumped twice during the race; Synchronised fell with a shattered leg the first time around, and According to Pete went down on the second pass, suffering multiple fractures.  Both horses were put down on the course.   .....  And my favorite mare now racing, Daisy Devine, led all the way to the finish line in yesterday's Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland.