Gardens and Horse Racing

I'll be watering the garden in a little while - even though we've received some rain, sleet, or snow every day since Thursday.  The sun has been shining each afternoon, along with a nice breeze blowing, and that dries out the raised garden beds.  The peas have emerged and will soon need to be trained to sway slightly over to the support fence.  The carrots, parsnips, strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, celery and herbs are just beginning to break the soil with growth.  The Chinese wisteria had Lynn worried, but I found large numbers of new buds on the branches yesterday afternoon.  I'll try to get some photos taken today...  The birds and squirrels are multiplying like mad in the back yard - especially with all the feeders that Lynn has out.  I'll pick her up this afternoon from DIA, and, hopefully, we won't have another Twilight Zone experience.  I'll get to sleep with my kits tonight.  How grand!
  My kits are out and about, playing in the back yard in the bright sunshine.  And my kidz (local squirrels) are happily munching on pumpkin seeds and walnuts.  I'll be home for a couple of days before I head over to Rosie's for the weekend...  The Grand Jury will meet Thursday night, so I'm hoping I can see the last episode of the Vikings third season late that night, or early Friday.  If not, I'll watch it at Rosie's over the weekend.
  This past weekend, jockey Mike Smith was aboard Shared Belief for the running of the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia.  Shared Belief, along with an English thoroughbred, are rated as the top racing thoroughbreds in the world.  Shared Belief was the betting favorite for the Classic.  But jockey Mike Smith said the horse "didn't feel right" under him, and pulled him up after three-quarters of a mile.  Shared Belief was listed as "did not finish" in the race re-cap.  I want to congratulate Mike Smith; it turns out that Shared Belief had broken his right hip stumbling out of the starting gate.  Had he finished the race, and had the jockey used his whip to urge the horse on, irreparable damage could have been done.  Mike Smith loves to win races.  But Mike Smith cares about his mounts more than he cares about money.  Bless you, again, Mike Smith!
  The starters for the Kentucky Oaks  and for the Kentucky Derby won't be announced until next week.  At the moment, however, it looks as if the Oaks will have eight, or a few more, starters.  They include Birdatthewire, Forever Unbridled, Include Betty, Luminance, Maybellene, Oceanwave, Puca, and Shook Up.  It still looks as though there will be 20 starters, the maximum, for the Kentucky Derby.