Bits And Pieces

Well, let's see....  There is a 500 acre wildfire burning near Canon City that is 10% contained.
  And a great many streets in north-central Boulder are closed to traffic until noon today.  It was on Friday that I caught sight of a large traffic sign on Folsom Street near Iris Avenue that said the road would be closed from 7 to 12 noon on Sunday.I finally found a site that announced that the "Heart and Sole 10K and Half-Marathon" would be run today.  I pulled up a map of the race, and started figuring out how to get to and from the four houses I'm caring for, plus getting home to my kits this morning.  I was amazed when I tried to enter a large shopping center (a huge grocery store and 12 satellite businesses) at 5:45 this morning, and found all entrances blocked by traffic cones and signs reading "Road Closed."  I moved some cones and went to the bakery.  The manager was having fits because I was only his second customer; I told him about the blockages, he went and looked and then called the police - the shopping center was not supposed to be closed off from traffic.  After getting my bagel, I went to three other houses (having fed and walked Tess, Lily and Lyra) and then came home.  I had to drive a huge half-circle to get back to my apartment.  Grrrr.
   There was also a 5.2 earthquake at 10 p.m. local time last night... The epicenter was about 35 miles east of Safford, Arizona, near the New Mexico state line.  The quake was felt in both El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, and more than 80 miles into Mexico.  - There was also a shooting in Denver yesterday afternoon.
   We voted in the Colorado primary this past Tuesday - somehow, sending your ballot through the mail just doesn't seem normal to me yet.  I'm used to going to a polling place and showing my identification... Mailing seems weird.  Anyway, for the Democratic ballot, there were 14 positions to vote for, but only two of the positions - Boulder County Coroner and Boulder County Surveyor - had two or more candidates.  The Republicans chose Bob Beauprez to run against John Hickenlooper for Governor.
  And, finally, Game On Dude finished fourth in yesterday's Santa Anita Gold Cup.  He got caught up in a sizzling speed duel at the very beginning of the race with Fury Kapcori, made his move at the top of the stretch, but just didn't have the strength to hold off the closing horses.  Fury Kapcori ended up in sixth place.  The race was run by Majestic Harbor, a six-year-old bay son of Rockpoint Harbor.  He won by 6 1/4 lengths over Clubhouse Ride, who was 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Imperative.  Imperative was 4 1/2 lengths in front of Game On Dude; Lideris was 3/4 of a length behind The Dude, and was 10 3/4 lengths ahead of Fury Kapcori.  Majestic Harbor paid $30.80 for a $2 win bet; Clubhouse Ride paid $5.60, and Imperative paid $4.  The $2 Exacta paid $137.60; the $2 Trifecta paid $680; and the Superfecta the first four places in correct order) paid $1,625.