Miscellany

I have to admit that I was happy to hear that the ABC/Disney television show "Roseann" was cancelled.  I was horrified by the tweet that the star of the show, Roseann Barr, had sent out, stating that an aide to previous President Obama looked like the result of a mating between a Muslim and a creature from The Planet of the Apes.  After having the show immediately cancelled, Barr tried to explain the tweet, saying she sent it at 2 a.m. on a long holiday weekend, and she was also taking Ambien.  Ambien is a prescribed medication that helps a person sleep, and it does have a few side-effects.  However, as the manufacturer of Ambien stated, none of the possible side-effects are racism or bigotry.  Those things are inside the person already.  Period.  Full stop.
   It looks as if, at the moment, there will be eleven colts racing in the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, on Saturday, 9 June.  So far, the trainers of the following colts have said they plan on running in the 1 and a half mile race:  Justify, who has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness; Bravazo, the only other colt who has run in both previous races; Bandua; Blended Citizen; Free Drop Billy; Gronkowski; Hofburg; Noble Indy; Restoring Hope; Tenfold; and Vino Rosso.  I won't comment on odds or my likes until the day of the post position draw, as the entries might change significantly between now and then.
   I also have to say that I laughed out loud when I saw that the polyester-haired cheeto in the Oval Office now claims that he never said that he fired FBI Director James Comey over "the Russia thing."  Talk about sheer idiocy!  Anyone can watch his interview with Lester Holt on NBC and watch him say that "the Russia thing" was the reason he fired Comey....  Of course, I wouldn't put it past him, or his paid lawyers, to claim that the man we see on tape wasn't the President - it was a stand-in, who went off script...
  There have now been 44 foals born this year to the herd of wild ponies on Assateague Island, that belong to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company.  We, unfortunately, have lost two, even though the second one was under the care of a veterinarian.  But there are currently 42 babies bouncing and bucking around the southern end of Assateague.  One foal has been born in Maryland so far, and it looks as if there are three or four other mares expecting babies on the north end.  There were two pony deaths confirmed on the Maryland side; Dr. Jay (N9BFT-K) and Madeline Rose (N2BM) after their annual pony census.
   When I was a kid, I thought I'd spend my retirement years in a cottage on Chincoteague Island, surrounded by friends and a huge group of children and grandchildren.  Looking at my 62nd birthday, it seems odd.  I live in an apartment, with a view of the Rocky Mountains.  I am a widow, with no children or grandchildren of my own.  I live with a friend and two cats.  I correspond, by e-mail, with friends spread across the country.  I miss the sound of the surf, the flashes of the light house at night, the distinct smell of marsh mud, the cries of the sea birds, the smell of the salt water and salt mist and salt fog, and the sound of voices from the past....