A Brief Break From Pony Penning...

Boulder has had a week of cool, humid weather, which has been a great help to our fire fighters.  Yesterday was the first anniversary of the Aurora theater shooting, and local news media have been covering the dead and survivors intensely; the police, firemen, EMTs, etc. are still under a "gag order"  from the judge in the shooter's court case.  The man is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.  If he was insane during all of the planning and actual doing of these deeds, then I am my own great-grandmother....
   I cried listening to President Obama's address to the Press Corps about Trayvon Martin.  Having grown up in the segregated South, I knew what he was talking about and felt sadness.  The next day I was amazed when I read a comment that the President was half  black, so he should have identified more with George Zimmerman, who is half Hispanic.  Then the writer went on to state that the President "had chosen to be viewed as a black man, and not a white man," and, thus, any ensuing difficulties the President had faced was due to his choice of being black.  My jaw dropped.  With President Obama's genetic make-up, which dictated the color of his skin and the texture of his hair, Obama would have been ridiculed had he even tried to pass himself off as a Caucasian.  I am still shaking my head over the announcement that the President "chose to be black" -  it's just plain stupid.
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 The southern herds on Assateague Island were rounded up yesterday afternoon.  Surfer Dude and his band of mares and foals, the bachelor boys, and a group of yearlings are now corralled near Tom's Cove in the main holding pens.  The northern herds are being rounded up today.  Each and every pony will be individually checked by Dr. Cameron (and/or his associates) in the holding pens.  Mares that are close to foaling, and mares with extremely young foals will be separated and trailered to the Carnival Grounds, to ensure their safety.  A few of the trouble makers - fighters, biters, and a few natural jumpers - might be left behind on Assateague when the rest of the ponies come to Chincoteague.
  All foals will have their blood drawn and tested for communicable diseases, so that buyers can confidently take their new ponies home across state lines.  The ponies will swim the Assateague Channel during slack tide (when the tidal current will not carry them out to sea) on Wednesday; the current projected time is slack High tide, between 10  and noon.  On Thursday, the foals will be auctioned, with all proceeds going to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company for fire fighting equipment and training, and for EMT training and ambulances. (Remember, the closest hospitals to Chincoteague are 60 miles away in either direction.)  On Friday, the reduced herd will swim back to Assateague. -  This is the 88th Annual Pony Swim and Auction.