What a Year!

It has been an incredible year on all fronts...  In 2013 we have had record fires, floods, and typhoons. A host of heroes have passed away, sports records have been broken, and there have been more multiple killings than I really want to contemplate.
   The big news in Boulder was what folks are now calling "The 1,000 Year Flood" in September.  Luckily, both my apartment and my sister's home (where I was staying) weathered the rain and flooding without damage -and, in both cases, it was plain old luck that helped me escape.   I am here, safe and sound, via the love and blessings of friends, family, and my two cats, Leofgifu Glyndwr (Lovey) and Zephraim Cenedi (Nedi).  Without their love and forbearance, I wouldn't be around.
   Over this past week end, the big racing news was from Australia - again, about troubled BC3 Thoroughbreds.  Jimmy, the registered, but un-named, half brother of Champion Mare Black Caviar, was put down due to chronic pain from laminitis.  The colt was purchased as a yearling by BC3 Thoroughbreds for a record $5 million from Inglis Bloodstock.  Inglis has never received payment for the colt.  Quite a few people have stepped forward with papers, claiming a share of Jimmy, and/or his insurance.  However, it seems that Bill Vlahos never filed the ownership papers, and, seemingly, just pocketed the money that the "co-owners" had given him.  ** I am very happy that Jimmy is no longer suffering the intense pain of laminitis, and have no problem with him being put down to stop his suffering. ** But I do feel sorry for the people who have been taken in by BC3 Thoroughbreds and all it's shell company connections.  It's a very sad comment on the state of our society, and on the nature of Bill Vlahos.  Vlahos did not appear at a court hearing last week, stating that he was destitute, bankrupt, and could not afford to travel from his home to Melbourne for the law proceedings.
   At least the Mayo Clinic was able to say that brother-in-law Kent has a type of small cell carcinoma that generally reacts well to radiation therapy.  Kent is home from the hospital in Rapid City, and will have his third radiation treatment this week, on an out-patient basis.  "There's no man like a Snow man!"
   And, today, the last day of 2013, brings beautiful blue skies to Boulder, with an anticipated high of 55 degrees.  At 8 a.m. today, it was 30 degrees in Boulder, and 0 degrees in Gunnison.  And our forecasters say that we will probably get "a shot" of snow on New Year's Day morning, between 5 and 7 a.m.  We'll see.  I plan on staying in and reading tonight.  Tomorrow I want to watch the Rose Bowl Parade on HGTV without commercial interruption, and then I plan on seeing the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Wisconsin Badgers on ABC.  (Sigh, no Gator bowl game this year...)  But - Tim Tebow has been hired as a NCAA football analyst by ESPN, for this years BCS Championship game, and then to follow up with the new SEC Network in August!  Yippee!!  (But I'd much rather see Tim play!)

BC3 Thoroughbreds

Let's see...  Boulder's high temperature yesterday was 40 degrees - and then the wind began.  We had gusts that ranged between 50 and 75 mph; highway 36 between Boulder and Estes Park was closed, as was Interstate 25, from Longmont to the Wyoming border.  Tractor trailers were being blown over, and anyone with a high-profile vehicle was warned not to leave their drive way.  It was the first day in eight straight that the temperature was above freezing.
   On the laminitis front:  St Nicholas Abbey is progressing well.  If his left fore continues to stay stable, then he will be able to follow plans to exercise and build up the strength in his broken right pastern, as well as being able to remove some of the strain from his left fore.  Jimmy, the half-brother of Black Caviar and purchased for $5 million as a yearling, is also showing guarded improvement.  He was bitten by a poisonous spider, and developed laminitis in both of his forefeet during a reaction to antibiotics administered for the toxin.  He is still be evaluated on a twice daily basis.
  The big news in Australian racing is that the BC3 Thoroughbreds syndicate, the group that purchased Jimmy and multiple other race horses, has not paid Inglis (the bloodstock agency that handled the sale) for the colt. Inglis Bloodstock holds a mortgage on eleven of the BC3 horses, including Jimmy.  Bill Vlahos, the spokesman for BC3 Thoroughbreds, has also been accused of mishandling  more than $190 million that belongs to an exclusive betting club.  There is supposed to be a bank account for the group, named The Edge, that should have a little over $194 million in it - the bettor's funds and winnings.  The bank says that the account does not exist.  Mr Vlahos told a court hearing on Friday that he had only learned that morning that the account did not exist - he stated that his Dubai-based business partner had been in charge of the betting monies.  Multiple entities are considering the possibility of suing Mr Vlahos.  In the meantime, Mr Vlahos was beaten at his home on Sunday night, and a car was torched in his driveway.  Vlahos was treated and released at the scene, while it took 4 fire engines to put out the blaze.
    Here in the Americas and in Europe and Asia, thoroughbred race horse owners, trainers, fans, and bettors are trying to make the game more open, transparent, and quite visibly honest.  Now we have a spoiler like Mr Vlahos and his multi-million dollar scams to disgrace the Sport of Kings, again....

Wondering

I'm going to try to complete my "things I'm wondering about" blog that was interrupted Monday afternoon. I'm still wondering about Jimmy, Black Caviar's brother, in Australia.  The vets' still say he's in "stable condition" and that he appears to be making progress.  His pain medications are being slowly decreased, and he ate well over the weekend.  Considering the amount of care he has been given, I hope that the colt will make it to the breeding shed, even if he doesn't make it to the track.
   Here it is Wednesday, and I'm still wondering about the newspaper headlines Monday morning that described Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning as "hobbled."  Peyton had extra bracing, padding, and tons of tape around his high right ankle strain.  It looked thick and ungainly.  But, during the entire game, Cris Collingsworth was watching Manning's movements, and he only made one comment about the quarterback seeming to be hampered by the sprain and the extra support.  And, really, "hobbled?"  I have hobbled horses many times in my life, and Peyton Manning was not moving as if he had a pair of hobbles around his ankles. Hobbles can vary widely in materials they are made of, in width around the "ankle," and in the length of the strap/chain/rope that determines the size of step a horse can take.  Peyton Manning was not hobbled in any way, shape, or form.
  I'm still wondering about the five children in the care of the couple in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina.  Their Foster Care license expired in 2010 - three years ago.  They lived in Union County, but the children were supposedly under the supervision of a neighboring county's Social Services.  It turns out that the children were home schooled, and this is why no teachers, counselors, or administrators were aware of their plight.  No social worker had visited the family in more than three years.  What still astounds me is that the female of the couple was the Director of Social Services in Union County, where they resided.  It still blows my mind.
   I'm wondering about the laws of our country - the man who attacked the woman next door on Monday afternoon was released from jail Tuesday afternoon.  The only reason I know this is because two men, who didn't live in the building, came walking down the hall this morning, looking for names on door plates.  (I think there are six apartments out of 80 that actually have a name posted.)  I asked if I could help them find someone, and they said they were Boulder PD detectives, and wanted to see Britta and Ted, the folks next door.  I told them that Britta had walked her bicycle out the front door less than 3 minutes earlier, and that ted was in jail. That's when they told me that Ted had been released Tuesday night, and wanted to know if I had seen him....  They left their card on her door, with a request that she call them.
   The other reason I'm wondering about the laws is because of George Zimmerman. He was found "not guilty" of second degree murder in the killing of an unarmed youth in Florida.  Since he was exonerated by the jury, he has been stopped for speeding in Texas and given a warning; he received a $256 ticket for speeding in Florida a month later; in September, police in Florida arrested both Zimmerman and his wife for a domestic dispute, but released both without any charges, because both stories seemed plausible, but both were also contradictory, and they had no evidence; George Z was arrested again in Florida this past Monday for a felony charge of aggravated assault and misdemeanor domestic violence battery and criminal mischief.  He was released today on a $9,000 bond - after claiming he was indigent, had no fixed address, and was currently in debt to the amount of $2.5 million.   ....  More tomorrow.

Jimmy, Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse

This morning, it was downright cold.  It was nice this afternoon, in the sunshine.  We're expecting snow Thursday and Friday.  The Broncos beat the Chiefs last night.  There were terrible tornadoes in the Midwest yesterday.  And I'm still wondering about several things....
   Jimmy, the brother of Black Caviar, the $5 million  colt is now in "stable" condition at his equine hospital in Australia.  X-rays of his fore feet late last week showed a "concerning change" which indicated laminitis.  The pedal bone in a horse's hoof is kept in place by soft tissue.  Laminitis breaks down the soft tissue around the pedal bone, and the bone can move out of place or rotate.  If the displacement or rotation is extremely small, corrective shoeing, such as our Master Flash had, can make a horse rideable.  But I have the awful feeling that Jimmy will never race, even if he can survive the next few weeks without his condition worsening.
   I am still wondering about the two people who adopted the four kids and had the fifth handcuffed to the porch with a dead chicken around his neck.  According to news reports, when the investigators returned to the home in Union County, North Carolina, they found that the five children had been living and sleeping in one bedroom, sharing it with the house dogs.  The room was covered with dog feces.  The boy who had been hand-cuffed outside, was according to reports, routinely cuffed at night to a piece of rail road railing in the room with the four other kids and the dogs.  What was being done to these children, besides threats, that made them not talk to anyone about the conditions in their "home?" How could people not know what was happening to these five children?  Were they being "home-schooled" so that teachers and administrators couldn't see or tell that something was out of kilter with these five?  How can this happen in this day and age?  It's just sickening.
   Last Sunday, 8 days ago, my neighbors to the south of me had another fight.  They have fought ever since they moved in, and she often screams just to relieve her tension.  I'm not used to it yet.  On Sunday, the lady called the police herself.  As they arrived, the man left through the back door, scaring my cats as he went by our patio.  We had seven police units here, with all but two officers searching for the man.  They were searching the building and back yard with weapons drawn and ready, and we were told to "stay inside and keep all doors and windows locked" because they believed the man could be dangerous.  I hadn't heard a bit of noise from either person since then - until last night, when they were noisily banging in the shower.  (I was afraid they'd come through the plastic shower panels.)  While I was typing the first sentence of the previous paragraph, I heard the man next door yell, "God damn you!"  Then there were two heavy thuds, followed by a softer thud.  I dialed 911 and asked for the police to come again for another domestic disturbance in A-114.  He ended up being arrested, and is no longer legally allowed inside the building.  As the police had him in the hall beside my door, and I had gone out to direct the police in, I got to look at my new catalogs while sitting in the upstairs hallway, and the police were in discussion with both parties.  Then I had to write out my voluntary statement, and sign it in the presence of one of the officers.  It's nearly two hours since I first started typing this blog.  -  I'm going to prepare and eat my supper.

Bamboo

Currently there is no news about Jimmy's progress, or lack thereof, in Australia - I am signed up for the owners Tweets, and I'll let you know when I hear anything.
  I am again boiling with anger over a case of animal neglect, possibly animal cruelty, charges.  A twenty-four year old woman took a three-month-old French Bulldog into a local Boulder veterinarian's office for treatment. Bamboo, the black puppy, had two broken legs and third degree burns across half of his stomach.  The woman said that the puppy's legs were broken when she "got him" and that his tummy got burned when she place him too close to a space heater in her home.  When the vet described the treatments needed, the woman said she couldn't afford it, and left, taking the puppy with her.  The veterinarian called Boulder Police to report the incident.  The woman has been arrested, and Bamboo is at the Humane Society's veterinarian, getting the care he needs.  This seems to me to be another case of pure selfishness.  The puppy obviously has broken limbs and burns, but the owner will not get them correctly cared for.  The puppy was obviously in pain (and still looks to be so - see below - this photo was taken by the Boulder Police Department).

  If you can't afford to care for a pet, please do not get one.  By "afford" I mean the regular costs of food, drink, annual veterinarian check-ups, annual vaccinations, and any possible accidents that might occur.  If you are a regular client, the veterinarian's office will, 99 % of the time, work with you to set up a payment plan if you cannot afford to pay up front.  The people who work at, and run, vet's offices do so because they care for the animals - they do not want to see one suffer needlessly.
   If you have the time, but not the money, to take care of a pet, volunteer at your local Humane Society and donate what you can to help animals at that shelter.

Black Caviar's Brother

When I think of Australian horse racing, I remember the great Phar Lap, and, more recently the fantastic mare, Black Caviar.  Black Caviar has been retired and is getting ready to assume her duties as a broodmare - one that was never beaten in 25 races.  The racing world was intrigued when Black Caviar's half-brother was sold for $5 million Australian dollars ($4.65 million American).  Now the racing world is waiting to see if the colt will be able to survive.  The two-year-old hasn't been officially named, but is called Jimmy in the barn.  The colt was bitten by a poisonous white-tailed spider about two weeks ago; he was treated with antibiotics.  Jimmy was allergic to the antibiotics, and had to undergo a lot more therapy; now he has developed laminitis in both of his fore feet.  The veterinarians say his chances of surviving are about 50%.

Please send healing thoughts and prayers to this magnificent young horse who is fighting for his life.