Saturday Mish-Mash

It's a beautiful Saturday morning - slightly overcast, and more humid than usual, but very pretty.  I've arrived at Lynn's, walked the dog, put her dirty dishes in the dish washer, fed the fish, and taken a new type of food over to the Snow house for Boo to try.  I've also opened the majority of windows on the ground floor of the house, and have the French doors open and the screen doors closed…  I much prefer fresh air!  I can hear the water fall emptying into the koi pond, and multiple birds singing.  I can also watch the drift of the cottonwood seeds in the air and across the yard.
  Lovey and Nedi were not happy when I left them this morning - I managed to put my alarm clock in the overnight bag without Lovey seeing me do it, but she knew something was up.  After walking Tess again, I'll go pick up Beatrice, and we'll have brunch - possibly at Turley's, possibly at the Cheesecake Factory.  Leslie Kinder's memorial service yesterday afternoon was extremely moving - I cried several times.  She was only 53 years old, and it just seems incredible that she's already left us.  I cared for Peaches, her yellow Lab, for about a year, before the dog succumbed to cancer.  And I'll never forget how delighted Leslie when she read my copy of The History of the Fork.  We both found it interesting and unusual.
  I'll try to finish up my State Parks postings this weekend - but I'm much more confident on my PC than on Lynn's, so we'll see what develops - two different operating systems occasionally confuses my mind.  I am saddened over the loss of four of Lynn's carp - she says she had a catastrophic pump failure  and came home to find the pond water bubbling as if in a caldron, and her four largest fish floating dead on the surface…  The pond still doesn't look right - the workers put in a new load of gravel on the bottom, and have shelved it so high on one side that the fish can't even swim in the area….
  And I'm hoping that the Denver metro area will calm down over the weekend.  I was invited to a dinner with Senator Mark Udall this evening, but I can't afford $1,000 for a dinner plate of food I probably couldn't eat…  I did contribute to his campaign earlier in the week, when Cory Gardner said something that made me angry with him.  I'm always angry and upset with Gardner, but this was a more stupid than usual statement about women.
   Have a wonderful weekend!

Belmont Picks & "Big Brother" in US Government

Tomorrow is the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of America's Triple Crown.  Elmont Park, where Belmont is situated, is right in the projected path of Tropical Storm Andrea, and is expecting 2 to 8 inches of rain.  The track manager began sealing the track yesterday evening, after the last race, to try and keep the track as dry as possible for Saturday's big race.  If Orb wins tomorrow, he will be the 12th horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes (the last was Thunder Gulch in 1995).  If Oxbow wins the Belmont, he'll be the 19th horse to win it and the Preakness (the great Man o'War did it, but was not entered in the Kentucky Derby, as his owner thought 1 1/4 miles on the first Saturday in May was asking too much of a three-year-old).
  So, who do I like in tomorrow's field of fourteen?  I like all of them, due to one thing or another, in actuality.  Palace Malice and Vyjack are related to my horses - both dams trace back to *Forli, with Vyjack having Affirmed in his sire's pedigree, and Palace Malice being a son of Curlin.  Both Orb and Incognito have A. P. Indy in the sire line, with Unbridled in the dam's line.  Revolutionary goes back to Man o'War on top and bottom; while Midnight Taboo is by Langfuhr.  Oxbow is by Awesome Again, while the filly Unlimited Budget is by Street Sense.  Golden Soul has Sadler's Wells on the top and Mr. Prospector on the bottom; Overanalyze is from the Dixieland Band family.  Belmont is the home track for Giant Finish, and, for some strange reason, I like the fact that his great-grand dam was named "Miss Betty."   I have picked both Frac Daddy and Will Take Charge in previous races due to their pedigrees and looks.  And Freedom Child, the chestnut ridgling, could be a surprise contender.
   It's a mile and a half race.  Three of the colts have run in the other two legs - Orb, Oxbow, and Will Take Charge.  I would like for any of the veteran jockeys to win the race - John Velasquez, Edgar Prado, Gary Stevens, Jon Court, Mike Smith, or Julien Leparoux.   I can't get my wager pool any smaller - so I'm picking five horses that I think can win the race:  Oxbow, Midnight Taboo, Palace Malice, Unlimited Budget (of course I have to bet on the girl!), and Golden Soul.   Depending on the weather, the track, and the looks of the horses, I might change my mind before post time...  But those are my picks for now.
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Kudos for Mark Udall!

From his perch on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Udall has sounded alarms, written letters to cabinet members, sponsored bills, threatened to hold up confirmations and even personally engaged President Barack Obama about his increasing sense of alarm that the federal government was trampling Americans' constitutional rights.

  The first-term Democrat said Thursday that he was well aware the federal government was broadly monitoring Americans' phone and e-mail communications and he did "everything short of leaking classified information" to try and bring attention to the issue.

   Information he's gleaned from the highly secretive intelligence committee has, he said, provided him an education into the programs that he finds "shocking."

  "I've learned a great deal more about our surveillance laws and how they've been implemented," he said in a Senate floor speech in December. "Terrorism has forced us to have a conversation about our civil liberties and our threats.

  "We must, as the federal government and the protectors of our Constitution, protect the constitutional liberties of the American people and live up to the transparency that our democracy demands. ... We need to balance the civil liberties in our constitution with our ongoing fight against terrorists."

  I have read Senator Udall's comments, critiques, and requests since he was voted into office.  He needs support.  He has been warning his constituents for months about the way the government is looking at private citizen's phone and internet records.  Now folks are screaming because they are finally listening to the facts.  I feel like everyone else just woke up inside 1984 - and I'm happy that I've been listening to my Senator!