The Hobbit

What is happening? Another woman was shot and killed early this morning in Aurora (part of the Denver metro area). And a few miles to the northwest, in Lyons, a woman's pet miniature donkey was killed by two shots from a high-powered rifle. The sheriff's office has looked at sight-lines and said the shots that killed Kaitlyn came from one of two possible points, from a hillside above the donkeys' nine acre pasture. Tucker, Kaitlyn's brother was not harmed in the attack; but as he has always had his sister for company since birth, he too, is bereft. I simply cannot understand the need to kill someone or something with a gun - to save yourself, yes. To put food on the table, yes. But wantonly shooting human beings and defenseless pets is the absolute lowest depth that a person can sink to. It's just plain old sick; and that person needs to be imprisoned for life and/or put down themselves. Sick. Just sick.

   It's a beautiful day out - the sky is a fantastic shade of blue, with just a few high clouds, the sun is shining, and it's already 50 degrees. The kits let me sleep in today, and I didn't crawl out of bed until 8:30 this morning... Since then, I've showered, fed and medicated myself, fed the kits, let them out, cleaned their litter boxes, fed the birds and the squirrels, read the news, and checked my e-mail. Once again, I'm playing the '60s Revolution music channel as background, but it is almost drowned out by the raucous cries of the ravens in the back yard. Either they believe they deserve more to eat, or Nedi and they are playing. I might take my reading chair out onto the patio and relax for a while in the sun, myself.

   Today and for the weekend, the Native American Expo is taking place in Denver, and the Stock Show still has 10 days left to run. When I saw The Hobbit yesterday, I found that walking two and a half blocks is just about my top capacity at the moment. I was exhausted after walking there, and then was very happy to sit in the dark, put my feet up, and watch the movie. It was pretty good. It didn't follow the book precisely, but it was OK and didn't change too many things too radically. I've been in love with Fili and Kili and Thorin Oakenshield for the past 41 years, and yesterday, I had to add Bofur to the list. Of course, I loved Bombur just because he was so nice to Bilbo from the outset... and his portrayal in the movie is genius. The movie certainly fleshed out Radagast the Brown, and I really enjoyed him, as well. The trolls were nicely creepy and gross; and, of course, Gollum was ... well, Gollum. Now I have to wait a year to see Beorn and Bard... hmmmmmmmm....