Bicycle Racing, Football, a Fight, and a Wedding

I was able to watch the last few miles of the US Pro Cycling Challenge on the NBC Sports channel yesterday, as it wound through Boulder and then up Flagstaff Mountain.  It was nice that a locally-based rider won yesterday's stage - but I was appalled to see the way that the cyclist had to, sometimes, fend off well-wishers on the way to the finish line.  And I was also amazed at the clothing, or the lack of it, among some of the spectators, too.   -  I mean, really, running up the side of the road on Flagstaff wearing nothing but a Speedo bathing suit and flip-flops - it was a horrendous sight! 
  I was also able to watch both the Redskins and the Saints win their pre-season games yesterday, and hope to do the same today watching the Broncos, and then the Jets.  I've already taken care of Ooch and the Thore girls - and was bemused by the "Wedding ---->" signs in the neighborhood, until I realized that it was Alexy Pendle's son's nuptials.  Alexy had frightened me the other day, by climbing 10 feet up a ladder and hanging lights in a tree.  The trouble was, she stepped on one side of the ladder, and it tipped, leaving her hanging by her arms from a tree limb, and directly over a concrete walk.  (Believe me, concrete does not respect your bones when you are over 50 years old!)  I heard an odd sound from the back of her house, jogged back there, and was able to retrieve the ladder so she could safely descend.  We both needed a cuppa to calm our nerves...
  And I don't know if I should be classified as a good or a bad neighbor, after I called 911 to report a "domestic disturbance" in the apartment two door down, and one story up, from me.  She was yelling and cursing to beat the band, hallway and patio doors were slamming, there were several "thunks" and "thuds" against the walls, and since I couldn't hear my TV (which I had turned up to the max to drown out the live rock band playing next door) due to her screaming and yelling, I called the police.  Apparently others in the building had called, too, so I don't really feel too badly about it...
  Hope your last Sunday in August (this year) is a great day!

Cycling, Lance Armstrong, and Drugs

It's a beautiful day outside: sunny with a light breeze, and the temperature is currently 65 degrees.  I have had breakfast, done my grocery shopping, taken care of my kits, and visited and cared for Ooch and the Thore girls.  Lovey is sleeping in the cat tree and Nedi is lying on the tiles, just inside the patio door.  I ran into one of my cabby buddies who drove me up to North Boulder and back, and we discussed the "rolling closures" that will be taking place in the streets around Boulder due to the US Pro Cycling Challenge being here today.  -  The city is expecting more than $8 million in income from today's race - it runs through Boulder twice, and there's a day-long cycling Expo at the Pearl Street Mall.  And it seems a shame that all of the garbage about Lance Armstrong has hit the news while (a) he is cycling in Aspen, and (b) the US Pro Cycling Challenge is being held in Colorado.  Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test; he never tested positive for any banned or illegal substance.  But now, several years after his last Tour de France win, other racers say he was "doping" - and he has been stripped of his titles and winning records only by hear-say evidence from other athletes who were beaten by him.  It seems a little fishy to me....
  Three silly teen aged girls are in critical condition after "experimenting" with prescription drugs and large doses of Tylenol in Virginia.  They all took varying doses of prescription Xanax, Zoloft, codeine, and an unidentified drug used to battle Parkinson's disease, as well as 20 to 50 tablets of Tylenol apiece.  After two of her friends passed out, the third was barely able to call 911 and tell the dispatcher that they had taken "lots of drugs..."  It just amazes me that anyone would do such a thing - with so many side-effects warnings being shown on the TV when drug companies try to garner new patients for their prescription drugs.  As a kid on Chincoteague, I wasn't aware of a drug problem, but since the mid-1970's, it seems to have exploded exponentially.
   Today I have a Redskins game to watch, and tomorrow is a double-header, with the Broncos first and the Jets following.  At least it's nearing the beginning of football season, again!