Crisp Wednesday and NCIS

It's all of 32 degrees this morning, but the weather folks say we'll get up to 57.  It's partly cloudy and gorgeous outside - Lovey is out (I think she's taunting the cream colored cat in building B), while Nedi is sitting on the top of the cat tree, watching the ravens and crows in the back yard.  I'll be leaving in a bit to go walk Rosie, and to sort through some of my belongings at the Snow house.  I have several bags  there, mostly full of items that I will be donating to ARC and a large amount of books for either donation to the library, to ARC, or to return home and be replaced on my book shelves (currently being constructed).
  I thoroughly enjoyed last night's episode of NCIS - between Mark Harmon, Ralph Waite, David McCallum, and Tom Fitzpatrick, I became teary-eyed at least four times.  Having cared for my Mother, who had Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and a stroke, this story really hit home.  I highly recommend it to every one who can see it - and the NCIS case that Tony, McGee, and Abbie work on is also a nice little surprise. It was good.   -  I have to admit I faded away watching Person of Interest, and will need to re-watch the entire episode.

Snow - and Black Caviar

We received nearly 14 inches of snow yesterday, and awoke to a temperature of 5 degrees this morning. I read and played on the computer and quilted throughout our snow day. I'm back home visiting my kits, having fed Maggie and myself at her house. When I arrived here this morning, I loved and fed the kits, opened the patio door for them to check out the cold and the snow, fed the outside critters, and cleaned the kits potty boxes.

  I'm looking forward to the re-run of Sunday nights' episode of Vikings tonight on the History Channel. Last night I totally enjoyed the new NCIS episode on CBS.

  Not much going on around here due to the snow... In horse racing news, jockey Ryan Mania was released from the hospital yesterday, after his fall Sunday at Hexham; he has a small fracture in one of his vertebrae and has torn and damaged ligaments in his neck. ..... In Australia, the half-brother of Black Caviar, a yearling, sold at auction for $5 million (Australian). It's the highest price ever paid at auction for an unraced colt (in Australia). .... And Black Caviar is scheduled to run Saturday at Royal Randwick in Sydney in the $1 million Darley T. J. Smith Stakes. Ten competitors are set to challenge her 24-race winning streak. Black Caviar likes a dry race course, and there has been rain early this week. If the course is deemed "too soft" by her trainer, she will be scratched. If she runs, it's her 25th try to stay undefeated. A true record.

Television Programs and Snow

Wednesday evening's snow is still just sitting there on the ground - it's all of 15 degrees at the moment (in the single digits overnight), but the sun is shining, and we're supposed break the freezing mark this afternoon. Expecting more snow Sunday and then again Tuesday. The kits are pretty bummed with the snow, but they did have a couple of wild chases this morning, running up and down the lengths of every ones patios. Nedi is asleep in the cat tree, soaking up sunshine, while Lovey is curled up on my pillow in bed. Tomorrow evening I start "working" again - I'll be house-sitting for Aiko and Yoshi, the Shih Tzus, through Wednesday night. I'll start walking them Sunday, and, thankfully, with their short little legs, I won't have to exert myself too much to keep up with them. I will, hopefully, start working with Rosie and Remy again on Monday. I've recently lost two clients due to the "illness" of old age: Brandi, the Zen Australian Shepherd, who was blind, passed away last month; and Peach, a wonderful and very lovable yellow Labrador, left us two days ago. It doesn't seem possible that they are no longer here, in the fur. I'm sure, however, that they crossed the Rainbow Bridge in loving company and they are running happily through heavenly fields.
  While waiting for Person of Interest last night, I ended up on the BBC America channel, watching Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan. I was amazed and entranced by the young man, and was immediately reminded of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Young Mister Monaghan was very interesting and knowledgeable about the things he talked about, and he had the verve, excitement, and intensity that Steve Irwin had. Last night, the episode was about seeing the white Goliath beetle in it's natural habitat in Cameroon. The show introduced us to the insect collection trade, the country of Cameroon, the customs of the local people, and introduced the local wildlife that was seen during the search for the beetle. I haven't been so riveted to the TV since Steve Irwin passed away. Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan has always had a spot in my heart since he portrayed Merry (Meriadoc) Brandybuck in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He certainly has my attention now, as a master craftsman of a very informative wildlife show.
  Speaking of television, I thoroughly enjoyed Person of Interest last night, and both NCIS and Vegas on Tuesday night. But then I realized that I kept seeing ads for a new show called Golden Boy that will be showing in the Vegas time slot beginning next week. - I admit that my TV is on quite a bit, without me truly watching whatever is on. I use it as background noise, since I live in a downtown area with frequent heavy truck traffic, fire trucks and ambulances, plus the fact that I can hear my neighbors in the building without any problem, if there is no background noise. I don't like being an eavesdropper, and it can be very embarrassing at times, if one does not have some background noise covering the sounds that come through walls and ceilings. (You must remember I'm living in an apartment building that is older than I am.) - I was upset to see that Vegas will more than likely, not be on the air next year, due to low viewership. Now I don't sit camped in front of the TV: I watch local news and weather; I watch Jeopardy!; I faithfully watch NCIS, Vegas, and Person of Interest. If I have nothing that has seduced my attention, I usually watch CSI:NY and Blue Bloods. All of those shows, with the exception of the game show, are on CBS. I watch local NBC news, and Jeopardy! is on ABC. So, in trying to find out why the new show was coming on in the Vegas time slot, I was amazed to find out that both CSI:NY and Vegas are under the proverbial hatchet... If they go, I'll just have more time to read and do research... I truly like both shows, but I love Vegas. Too bad that people don't enjoy a good, twisted story line involving family, the law, crime families in Vegas, gambling, and classic cars and clothing. I have a blast each time I watch the show. Apparently very few others enjoy the same thing, however. That's just too bad.

Snorting Scrambled Eggs

NCIS was superb last night - especially the last scene, where Gibbs tried to get his ex-wife to drop the torch. There were so many funny moments, that I forgot it was a drama and that we needed to catch the villain at the end of the show. So Gibbs has realized that he didn't really love her; Fornelle is still in love with her and is jealous; her current husband is thinking of leaving her; and poor McGee got caught on the couch with her..... My, oh my..... And then Vegas: I find it strange that I really like the two opposing main characters. I've liked Michael Chiklas since I first saw him in Soldier with Kurt Russell - and I love him as Vinnie here. And I've always been fond of the tall, lean, rugged, quiet man as the sheriff, cop, or PI.... so Dennis Quaid is a shoo-in. Last night's episode was a doozy - Ralph showed that he cared, and Dixon couldn't hide his fear of spiders...

  It was pretty warm last night - we didn't fall below freezing, and it's in the low 40s already. The snow from yesterday has melted from the grass in the back yard, and I've put out nuts for the squirrels and bread for the ravens and crows. I purchased a loaf of artisan bread yesterday, not realizing that it was sour-dough, so the birds are getting hunks of it.... for some reason, I don't like sour-dough and peanut butter together.

  I was reading e-mail while eating scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and hash browns this morning. Got a quick response from my friend Michele, and snorted scrambled eggs out my nose. The eggs themselves weren't too bad.... it was the pepper I'd poured on them that just about killed my nasal passages. So I'm off to walk Rosie and Remy, Lucy, and then Victor and Xena today... Then I'll be at home doing genealogy research; and I hope to call my friend Mary in Florida this evening. I have a pretty lazy time of working until Christmas Eve, when I start taking care of three houses full of pets... But I have to complete a Christmas gift and send it off, too.... *Sigh* It looks like I'll be sending e-cards for Christmas, again...

Happy Birthday, David McCallum!

I have been serenaded by crows since sunrise today - and I don't know why.  It started at Alexy's, then moved over to Sasquatch and Tugger's, then on to Kathy and Jim's, and now, at home.  Do I smell like carrion?  Or is Jeffrey following up on his threat to haunt me as a crow or raven?  I do have an appointment to see a dermatologist this afternoon, but I don't see the reason for a murder of crows to sing to me...
   The kits are running in and out - they've both gotten a good bit of love from me, plus being fed.  I stopped at the "other" grocery store this morning, and found they are selling the kit's favorite food for much less than Safeway.  I just might have to start walking a couple more blocks for the meat shreds in gravy the kids like...
   Last night I watched the season finale (from May) for NCIS, and even though I know that David McCallum is returning in his role as Dr. Donald Mallard (aka: Duckie), I was again anguished to see him topple over, onto his knees, and then his side in the incoming Florida tide.  Now I will be eagerly awaiting the renewal of my favorite CBS series next week - NCIS on Tuesday, and Person of Interest on Thursday.  - Oh, and, happy birthday, today, David McCallum!
   I feel badly for the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton Windsor.  It does seem as if the paparazzi are trying to do the same thing to her as they did with Princess Diana.  Why is there such an interest any one?  In this day and age, I like my privacy; and if I had to be in the public eye 24/7, I think I'd be a goner.  I am a normal person (kind of) - I have my likes and dislikes, my allergies, my illnesses; I cough and sneeze and belch and fart.  So does every human being on the earth...  Kate is a very nice-looking lady; she has a nice sense of style; she is married to Prince William, and one day may be the consort of the King of England.  But every single person needs, and deserves, "down time" - when one isn't on display.  Please, paparazzi of the world, let Kate (and the entire Royal family) be normal people some of the time.  Vacations are vacations - breaks from the real world.  Let Kate have a true vacation, please.

Usual Mish-Mash

It started out nice and bright this morning - now clouds are coming in from the west, and some look like thunder storm doozies...  We are expecting thunderstorms this afternoon.  I'm definitely in favor of any precipitation we can get (just, please, not hail).  I've already exercised Rosie and Remy and have returned home; the kits were on the patio until a minute or so ago, when the maintenance man went by on the riding mower - now they're inside, peeking out through the curtains.  The weather folks say we'll hit 90 by the end of the week, and I'm ready for it:  I have my two fans unpacked and ready to go, once the warmth gets to be a little too much.
  I didn't have anything on my hallway door for the past month - yesterday I saw an iridescent metal gecko, and had to have it.  It's now on the front door, with it's tail curled around  the apartment number and name holder. ... The wildfire in Poudre Canyon has grown to be 1000 acres now.  People are still on alert to evacuate at any minute - and these afternoon thunderstorms are supposed to kick up the winds to 40+ mph, which will not be of any help to anyone.  ....  Denver is having a security drill today, with Nighthawk choppers making landings and hovering above public buildings.  And we had three choppers hovering over the CU campus for an hour this morning, doing a very detailed aerial survey.  It's been a little noisy.
   Pretty soon the post positions will be drawn for Saturday's Preakness, and I'll be able to look at names, pedigrees, and posts.  I know that Bodemeister and I'll Have Another, the one-two finishers in the Derby, will both be running.  That means I've got to dig deep for my analysis.   ...  I totally freaked out at the ending of the season finale for NCIS last night.  I like the group as an ensemble cast, but I really watch it just to look at two people - Mark Harmon and David McCallum.  When Duckie collapsed on the beach, with an incoming tide, I was completely horrified.  I even had trouble sleeping last night - and found myself saying,  "Not Duckie!  Anyone but Duckie!",  every time I turned over in bed.  -  Now I'll have to see what's in store for the season finale of Person of Interest on Thursday!

Night Sightings

I had hoped the past two days of news were just a nightmare - but when I turned on the local news this morning, the first ad I saw was Peyton Manning sitting in front of a split Denver Broncos - KUSA Channel 9 News screen, saying, "Hi, I'm Peyton Manning.  You're watching 9 News, home of the Denver Broncos."  It seems I did not dream the past few days.  It seems pretty much accepted that Tim Tebow will be traded before the end of this week.  May I scream?
  I left Kathy and Jim's house just before 9 p.m. Saturday night, to walk to the bus stop.  I had a small flash light in my hand, but preferred to let my eyes adjust to the darkness (there are no street lights in the neighborhood).  I had just past the east end of their yard when I heard the scrabble of claws on the pavement behind me; I quickly flicked the flash on, and saw a red fox crossing the road behind me.  Turning the light back off, I continued walking in the middle of the residential road toward 26th Street.  Soon I discerned a dark shape coming toward me, almost on a collision course.  It appeared to be someone bent over the handlebars of a bicycle, their head nodding with each leg stroke, as if the person was exhausted.  I said, "Hey.  You really need a light on your bike."  This got no response, so I said, louder, "It's really dangerous to ride..." and then I stopped.  I realized my mistake.  It wasn't a person on a bike, it was a mule deer walking towards me in the dark. - Boy, did I feel stupid! - I made it the rest of the way to the bus stop without incident - except scaring a raccoon, who ran up a cottonwood tree and then hissed at me, when I turned the light on it.  I enjoy walking through the neighborhood, especially in the dark, when most critters don't perceive me as a threat.
  Getting ready to go walk the red kids, and this evening it'll be feeding the Thore girls.  I have to admit I saw the Jamie Lee Curtis interview on Jay Leno Monday night, so I kept myself braced for the NCIS episode last night.  It was nice to get to see Gibbs kiss someone, and it was nice that they didn't immediately crawl into bed.... but I didn't see anything I'd get upset about.  (JLC had said that some women were going to hate her after the episode aired.  Hate? No. Envy? ..Maybe.....)

Poor Rosie and Remy!

With my disfiguring and nauseating spider bites yesterday, I didn't walk the red kids.  (It looked like a had a navel orange under the skin of my neck, plus half an orange on my right cheek...)  I heard late last night from the kids' real family that Remy started bleeding from his rectum  yesterday - his anal glands were infected, and then he had an allergic reaction to the prescribed antibiotics.  As they were taking Remy back to the vet, Rosie appeared on three legs.  She wouldn't/couldn't place any weigh on her left front foot.  No bones are broken, according to the X-rays, but she apparently got her foot slammed in the doggie door on her way through it.  So I won't be walking the red kids until Tuesday.  I really feel for them!  It's not fun having a sore butt and a sore foot.

Gee, there was a 6.8 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska this morning - I think Mother Earth is still having considerable indigestion. And our local news just interrupted programming to say that a 6.4 earthquake has just rocked northern Argentina.  ....  Hurricane Irene apparently got a  6-to-8 foot dolphin confused, as it has been seen for the past 3 days swimming around in Diascund Creek, a fresh water tributary of the Chickahominy River in Virginia.  ....  During the live coverage of Irene, a Fox-TV reporter from Washington, DC, was reporting from Ocean City, Maryland.  He was being covered with wind-driven spume - foam from the frothy, wind-beaten sea water -  and he reported that it tasted like the sea.  A commentator in the studio stated that it was made up of "organic material."  A New York Fox station picked this up, and reported that the Ocean City sea foam was contaminated with sewage.  The Fox affiliates passed this story back and forth, all along the eastern seaboard.  There was no sewage in the sea water or the ocean foam there at the beach at Ocean City.  Fox News needs to apologize!  ....  The following is a photo of the worst of the storm damage that occurred on Chincoteague during Hurricane Irene's visit:

I was surprised to see a banner-type entertainment story today that yelled that an NCIS star was under arrest for felony battery.  I simply couldn't see any of the main actors or actresses on my favorite show battering someone.  So, of course, I clicked on the story and was (again) surprised to find that David Dayan Fisher, who has had a recurring role of ex-CIA/CIA agent Trent Kort, was a "star" of  NCIS.  Kort is a character that I clinch my teeth over, but I wouldn't designate him as a star of the series....

The kits have been delighted to have me at home for the past couple of days.  Lovey isn't quite as clingy, and Nedi isn't as jumpy as he has been.  Mocha laid beside me throughout the football game last night - and got lots of love and brushing and treats.  The Broncos played last night, and all the first-string players got the night off.  We were playing the Arizona Cardinals, and they started their first-string group.  Brady Quinn, who seemed to be Head Coach John Fox's choice as the number-two quarterback, played the first half.  Brady played extremely well in both the first and second pre-season games, but sat on the bench last week.  Brady threw one interception, lost a fumble, was unable to make any first downs, and completed 4 of 12 passes for 26 yards.  At halftime, the Cardinals were ahead 20 to 0, and the Broncos had a positive 48 yards of offense.  Tebow was brought in for the second half.  He made a couple of sloppy plays, but was able to move the Broncos down the field and to throw for a TD.  Tebow completed 7 of 11 throws for 116 yards - and got us on the scoreboard.  With less than 2 minutes left in the game, Adam Weber, the fourth-string QB was brought in.  He moved the ball, in three plays, from the 6 yard line to 6 inches away from the goal.  He threw one 89 yard pass, and scrambled 16 yards for the goal line with 2 seconds on the clock.  He was stopped 6 inches away from the goal. - His three plays were the best of the Broncos' offense in the entire game!  The final score was 26 to 7, in favor of the Cardinals.