Miscellany

Colorado's primary voting concluded on Tuesday - and we're still awaiting a winner in one race, the Democratic pick for the Attorney General's office.  Late last night there were still 50,000 votes that needed to be hand checked and verified, and there was about a 9,000 vote difference between the two men.  Phil Weiser is currently in the lead, while the candidate I favor, Joe Salazar,  is not yet willing to concede.  I hope that Joe prevails, even if there must be a re-count.  In any event, I will be supporting the Democratic ticket and not the Republican one.

   We have had sixty-one foals born so far in the Virginia Chincoteague pony herd on the southern end of Assateague.  We have had two deaths of foals, the first due to unknown causes on Assateague, and the second was due to "failure to thrive."  Then there is the mystery foal - he became separated from his Mom before he was a day old, and tried to attach himself to a mare who was still pregnant.  He has been adopted by Bay Girl, who lost her foal. -  So, 59 babies so far will be available at the Pony Auction on 26 July, and there are quite a few mares that are still pregnant.

   Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far in Boulder - and, currently, the humidity is also high - for Boulder.  Currently, the temperature is 80, with a high forecast of 102, and the humidity is 40%.  At this time of year, the humidity is usually 7 to 12%, and you don't realize you're sweating because your sweat evaporates immediately...

   My sister attended her 50th High School Reunion in Gainesville, Florida this past weekend, and had a blast reconnecting with her school buddies and old friends.  She was amazed by how much the city has changed and sprawled outward in so many directions.  And she was able to visit the house we lived in from 1960 through 1982, plus the Devil's Millhopper and Payne's Prairie State Park.  She returned to Boulder quite happy with her adventure.

  I am still learning all the new tricks I can with my new camera - besides still shots, it also doubles as a digital video recorder.  I'm afraid my hands aren't quite steady enough for filming any longer, and I'll need to invest in a tripod - I loaned my good tripod to my son 25 years ago and haven't seen it since...

   The Colorado voting race for the Governor will be interesting.  The Republicans chose Walker Stapleton, while the Democrats chose US Representative Jared Polis.  We'll have to see whom other parties choose to run.  Our current Governor, John Hickenlooper, is term-limited and cannot run again this year.  Once Polis and Stapleton were declared winners of their respective primaries, verbal barbs were again in use:  "On almost every question before us in this election... Walker Stapleton comes out on the wrong side and the people of Colorado know that," Polis said in his victory speech, mentioning health care, immigration, and honesty as his rival's faults. - In his victory speech, Stapleton blasted Polis for supporting tax hikes and "a government takeover of your health care. ... The choices could not be clearer; the difference could not be more stark."
   Walker Stapleton is serving his second term as Colorado State Treasurer and is a relative of the Bush family.  (His mother is first cousin to President George H. W. Bush.) His family has been active in Colorado since the early 1900s, and his great-grandfather Benjamin F Stapleton (a very proud member of the Ku Klux Klan) was the mayor of Denver.  Walker grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and attended the private Brunswick School. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, received a graduate degree in business economics from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He is the son of US diplomat Craig Roberts Stapleton.  He is married and has three children, and is 44 years of age.  He is trying to become only the second Republican elected governor in 44 years, and has aligned himself with noted Republican firebrands.
   Jared Polis is a five-term Boulder Congressman, and if he wins the Governor's seat in November, will be the nation's first openly gay man elected to a Governorship.  His parents, whose surname is Schutz, started Blue Mountain Publishing Company, printing greeting cards and books.  In 2000, Jared legally changed his name to use his mother's surname, in part to raise public awareness for a fund-raiser, and because he simply "liked it better." Polis lived in San Diego, California during his high school years, and graduated from La Jolla Country Day School in three years with multiple honors.  He received his BA in politics from Princeton University. He has started and sold several businesses, served on the Colorado State Board of Education, is a well known philanthropist, and is one of the ten richest men serving in Congress. He has a partner of many years and two adopted children.  He refuses PAC money for his campaigns.