April Mish-Mash

After the craziness of Sunday night, I hoped for a quiet Monday - but I didn't get it.  I returned Lynn's car to her garage at 6:50 in the morning, and hung her keys up on the rack in the wash room, all without waking a soul. Before that, I had visited Jasmine, fed, watered, loved and groomed her, and cleaned her litter box.  I took the bus home from Lynn's, then left an hour later to walk Rosie and Lucy.  I returned to the apartment at 11:45, and noticed a smokey smell in the hallway, but since none of the apartment smoke alarms were, sounding, I ignored it.  I came in, removed my shoes, and collapsed in the bed.  Twenty minutes later, our maintenance man came through, banging on each door, yelling, "You have to evacuate! Now!" As soon as he yelled, the hallway fire alarms went off - but still, no apartment alarms were sounding. I put my glasses on, grabbed the cat carrier, stuffed both kits inside, grabbed my ID and credit cards,my cash, and my keys and went out into the parking lot.  There were three fire engines, including a hook-and-ladder, three police cars and one Fire-Rescue EMT unit in the lot.  I carried the kits as far away from the hubbub as possible, and we stayed in the shade of an SUV - it was 75 degrees outside, with the sun brightly shining.  We had to wait for 90 minutes before the building was cleared and OK'd for us to return.  What happened?  The couple who live above me had left an empty pot on their stove, with the burner turned on.  The pot was melting, and created an acrid smoke.  The halls still smell like it today....  I ran my exhaust fans over the stove and in the bathroom for 24 hours, and I had my windows and patio door wide open, with two fans turned on until dark on Monday...
  In horse racing, Far From Over, a three-year-old son of Blame, and winner of the Withers Stakes, has been found to have a condylar fracture  in one of his hind legs.  He started walking short after a nice workout in preparation for the Wood Memorial, and was X-rayed.  He is now off the Kentucky Derby trail.   -   Cozmic One, the eldest son of Zenyatta was exercised by jockey Mike Smith over the weekend. Coz looked happy and relaxed, as did Mike - this has me looking forward to Coz's first race, whenever it will be. Coz is still growing and maturing; his dam, Zenyatta, did not have her first race until November of  her third year.
   Ground-penetrating radar has found an underground pyramid at the ancient pre-Incan complex at Tiahuanaco, Bolivia.  Several other anomalies were reported, indicating possible burial pits, tombs, or unknown underground sites at this UNESCO World Heritage site.  It has been guestimated that the history of building in the Tiahuanaco area is more than 14,000 years.
   Singer Joni Mitchell was found unconscious in her bathroom yesterday, at her home in California.  She is alert and in good spirits today, in an Intensive Care Unit in a hospital near her home, where she is undergoing further testing.
   I found it extremely interesting that someone in England decided to try out a 1,000 year-old recipe for an eye ointment - but for another reason.  The recipe calls for allium plants (from the garlic family) and bile from a cow's stomach, to be boiled in a copper or brass pot and reduced.  This was applied to people with eye infection symptoms in the past, was was claimed to be highly effective.  Some of this unguent has been applied to  samples of methicillin resistant Staphycoccus aureas (MRSA), and it has killed the samples out-right.  This could be a major break-through in treating MRSA, which has become a huge killer in hospitals around the world.  I had an MRSA infection for 5 years - and, let me tell you, it was an awful experience.
   The US Coast Guard was contacted by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Bremen, Germany yesterday.  They reported a German sailboat in distress 90 miles east of Chincoteague Island, Virginia.  The Coast Guard was able to contact the captain via an iridium telephone, and found that the sailboat had lost it's mast and was low on fuel.  The USCG cutter Shearwater sailed out to the boat, but due to the damage on the boat, and the weather, could not get a line safely attached.  The two German men on the boat had to get into their inflatable dinghy and approach the Shearwater for rescue.  The men were being taken to Norfolk, Virginia for a flight back to Germany.
  Speaking of Chincoteague, if you're going to be in the area of the Eastern Shore, and like the ponies on Assateague, make plans to attend the Spring Round-Up on April 9 and 10.  The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company will hold their annual Spring gathering on that Friday and Saturday, to check on all the ponies' health, make note of foals already on the ground, vaccinate  and take blood samples.  Doc Cameron, the on-call vet will look at each pony, and, if hoof-trimming, or other measures are needed, they will be taken care of.  - Yippee!!  Ponies! That means that I'll soon be there for Pony Penning in July - and it's the 90th Anniversary of the CVFC's annual round-up and swim.  Oh, boy!!!!