Cold, Snow, a Young Hawk, and the Classic

The past week, I have watched the snow levels creep down the mountain tops in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.  This morning, fog and clouds are obliterating the scene, so that even the Flatirons are invisible from my building.  The temperature is also falling - about 1 degree Fahrenheit per hour.  I awoke to such heavy rain that I thought it was hailing this morning - I put on my glasses, and looked out the window, and saw that it was just large drops of rain; but it sounded like they were absolutely pelting the ground.  Just as I pulled my covers back up, there was a huge clap of thunder, and Nedi dived under the bed, while Lovey climbed under the covers with me.  The news said there was thunder snow up in Genessee, and I believe it.  We had lightning and thunder for about an hour, and then it calmed down again.  Right now, we're having periods of drizzle, while the forecast calls for a rain/snow mix most of the afternoon and evening.
  Yesterday morning, a juvenile red tail hawk came arrowing down into the back yard and missed one of the squirrels by inches.  The squirrel ran up a tree, and the bird seemed stunned. It sat in the grass for a few minutes, then flew up to the fence and sat for about 30 minutes.  One of our male squirrels ran up the fence and sat within 6 inches of the hawk, and the hawk just looked at him.  I had to laugh out loud - the squirrel looked belligerent and the hawk looked abashed.
   I made a nice sum betting on the Breeders Cup races, but the taxes in two states and the IRS ate more than half of my winnings.  People are still talking, declaiming, discoursing, and arguing over the race inquiry in the Breeders Cup Classic.  Bob Baffert, who trained the winner, and finally won the BC Classic, is upset because of the furor.  He feels it diminishes the fact that his colt, Bayern, actually won the race - even though Bayern did not break straight from the gate, and was the cause of the stewards' and jockeys' inquiry.  Bayern broke to the left, and didn't straighten out until he was 3 or 4 strides from the gate; in doing so, he brushed up against the horse on his left, causing a domino effect almost to the rail.  But, the California rules of racing allow for horses that don't break straight from the gate - if they straighten up within 4 to 5 strides of leaving the gate, the horse is normally viewed not to have interfered with the other runners.  Bayern did straighten up; Moreno had rotten racing luck through the whole race; Shared Belief's jockey, Mike Smith, believed he could have won the race, if Bayern hadn't run into his right shoulder, shoving him left.   The Track Stewards followed the written California Rules of Racing, and declared no interference.  -  But people will talk about this Classic for a long time.  For Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, and the owners, I wish that Bayern had jumped straight out of the gate - but he didn't, and that's that.