Bits and Pieces

Having spent 21 nights away from home, I came back and found that my neighbor Nancy had not yet moved out.  Being a soft sucker, I joined her at 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning to assist her "in finishing" her move.  She stated that she had taken one load to the storage area, when I arrived and quirked an eyebrow, because I found an apartment filled to bursting.  She thought we could get moved out and the place clean by noon. She finished sometime after 9 p.m. Thursday night, and that was with 24 hours of my assistance.  Just as a sample, the first thing I was delegated to doing was "cleaning out" the three top left drawers of her dresser.  I put various oddments - earphone, earbuds, loose wires to assorted things and boxes of incense in a box; I put herbal teas into a bag; and I filled two 20 gallon trash bags with grocery receipts, used nose tissue paper, and dried up make-up, plus food and candy so old that I wasn't sure what it was....  You get the idea, I'm sure....
  This morning, as I headed out for my morning bagel, I was locking my door as I heard banging on Britta's apartment door - which has been empty for 10 days.  I looked, and there was a nerdy-looking young man, and he had Boulder, Britta's "service dog," on a rope leash.  I told him that no one lived there - the place was empty.  He wanted to know where Britta was, and I told him I didn't know.  Then he wanted to know who owned Boulder, and I told him that I thought that Britta did.  He told me he'd wait in the hall for Britta to show up, and I told him that Britta had been evicted and he was amazed...  He wasn't here when I returned with  my breakfast.
   Intense Holiday, the good-looking seal brown son of Harlan's Holiday, was put down yesterday.  He raced in the Kentucky Derby, but did not participate in the other Triple Crown races.  He suffered a condylar fracture during a workout, and had surgery done by Dr Larry Bramlage.  Unfortunately, the colt came down with laminitis this week, and after his pedal bone had twisted in his hoof, it was decided to put him to sleep.
   Commissioner, the son of A.P. Indy, who ran second in the Belmont Stakes came out of the race with a chipped fetlock bone.  He underwent corrective surgery yesterday.
   Steve Coburn, the co-owner of California Chrome, apologized to all and sundry on Monday, 9 June, regarding his tirade about Chrome's loss in the Belmont Stakes.  He stated that he was completely ashamed of himself, and that it was poor sportsmanship to have made those remarks.  He did so in the heat of the moment, and he asked for forgiveness for denigrating the Triple Crown championship.  He was pretty convincing.

   If you're on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, or around Norfolk, this weekend, please visit the Tall Ships at Cape Charles on Saturday and Sunday - the festival is well worth the journey, and you can sail on the ships.  See:   http://www.tallshipscapecharles.com/