Football, Sister, and Cats

Well, the Gamecocks didn't play this past weekend, the CU Buffs lost, the Gators beat the Commodores at Vanderbilt, and for most of the first half I was worried that the Oakland Raiders were going to pull an upset and beat the Broncos.  But the men in orange and blue finally got on track with about 3 minutes left in the first half.  Peyton Manning threw 5 touchdown passes, and Brock Ostweiler played quarterback the entire fourth quarter.  The Broncos won the game 41 to 17.  It was fun to watch the game with my nephew and brother-in-law - normally, it's just me and the cats at home.
   Kathy is doing well, and has not taken any pain medication (other than Tylenol) since she was discharged from the hospital...  She had a very good day yesterday, and was greatly cheered by a visit from her granddaughter and Evie's parents.  Mike and Jim spent the day making applesauce and slicing apples to place in the two dehydrators.  Bernie acted as Kathy's hands and arms yesterday morning, and I did so all afternoon.  One of the long-time neighbors brought over a thick vegetable soup that was made with items grown in their yard, along with roasted pears.  They also brought a tin of marscapone cheese to slather on top of the pears - it was heavenly!
   My kits were very happy to run outside when I arrived home, just after dark.  I knew that Lovey and Nedi had been in and out, but didn't really pay their trips that much attention.  Just before going to bed, I went to the bathroom - and there was a lone mouse, huddling in on itself, near the rear of the tub.  I turned the mouse loose in the front of the apartment building, and the opening and closing of the hall door brought both Lovey and Nedi inside.  Nedi immediately went to check on his mouse and I watched him search the entire apartment (in vain) for his new buddy.
  It's 54 degrees outside and breezy.  The weatherman just said that we'll have 1 inch of snow on the ground by 6 this evening, and that the temperature will fall 30 degrees over a period of 2 hours.  Yikes!  This is our current forecast  (temperatures are in Fahrenheit) :

Today

57° | 14°

Rain/Snow Likely

Veterans Day

20° | 3°

Slight Chc Snow

Wednesday

12° | 8°

Snow Likely

Thursday

22° | 17°

Chance Snow

Friday

37° | 19°

Slight Chc Snow

Saturday

29° | 14°

Chance Snow

Jim's Marathon

Poor Jim!  I reported Sunday that he had finished 10th in his age group (of 25) in Saturday's Pikes Peak Ascension race, a half-marathon.  I had no idea that he was horribly ill Saturday night and Sunday morning, and that an RN told him not to run in the race Sunday.  Jim was committed to running, however, and run he did.  Only ten men in his age group ran in the marathon, and, besides Jim, only one of these men had run the Ascension the day before.  Jim had to stop multiple times to throw-up during his run Sunday.  He finished ninth out of ten -  and the other man who was a Doubler finished only 9 minutes ahead of him in the marathon.  So Jim was second in his age group for the Doubler contestants.  We still don't know what made him so ill.  He was about 90% yesterday, and seems to be fine today.
  Lovey and Nedi were very happy when I returned home yesterday afternoon and had no problems coming inside for the night at 10.  When I was ready to leave this morning, to walk Rosie, and head over to Alexy's, it was another story.  I'd get one of the kits inside, and go out to catch the other.     Once I caught the second kit, I had to open the door to get us both back inside with the first kit.  Whichever kit was inside managed to escape outdoors when I brought the other kit inside.  I felt like I was in a Keystone Kops short film...  I finally managed to carry Lovey in, while keeping Nedi in at the same time.
  Met one of the new bus drivers on my route this morning.  His name is Steve, and he's a third generation Boulderite.  He's driving an RTD bus as a stop-gap measure; he was in advertising, but his company outsourced the entire office to the Philippines, so he's still on the job trail.

Bits and Pieces

I've already "rescued" two birds this morning - Nedi has caught a house finch and a sparrow his morning, frightening, but not injuring either of them.  But he brings them into the apartment and turns them loose again, so he can capture them once more.  I capture them instead, check them over, and if they are uninjured (99% are fine) I turn them loose in the front yard.  Both birds this morning were A-OK, just needed a few moments to regain their calm, and then they flew away.  Of course, Nedi keeps searching the areas where he turned the bird loose, which gets Lovey interested, but they eventually stop looking.
   After feeding and medicating Sasquatch and Tugger yesterday evening, I had supper with Boo, and took her for a short walk.  Then I went over to Rosie's to spend some time with her.  She was sound asleep in the cedar closet when I arrived, but danced and pranced around me going downstairs and into the living room. I made much of her, praising and patting and stroking, but as soon as I sat down on the sofa, she positively stomped her way back upstairs and threw herself down in the cedar closet - talk about an attitude!  After a few minutes had passed, I took her harness and leash upstairs and cajoled her into taking a walk.  We walked back to Boo's, and took her along, too.
  I was disappointed by the Patriots preseason game on Friday night, and I stopped watching the Broncos game at half-time.  The Broncos game was hurtful - seeing Derek Wolfe immobilized and removed from the field in an ambulance, and then watching the Seahawks eat the team alive.  Too many turn overs and too many poor and totally missed tackles.  I was disappointed with the Patriots game, because they chose to take several knees, instead of letting Tebow try to score a touchdown.
  I am a little sore today from my fall yesterday morning, and a have a couple of large bruises, but am otherwise OK.  I figured out that my knuckles (that were raw) had come into contact with a hacksaw blade, so I made certain to clean them thoroughly, and once the skin had dried out, I used embroidery scissors to cut off all the rough pieces of skin and meat.  -  I finished reading The Pyramids of Tucume yesterday morning, and have started on The Ra Expeditions; still waiting for my copy of Aku Aku to arrive.
  I just checked - yesterday was the half-marathon Pikes Peak Ascension race, and today's marathon  started over three hours ago.  Yesterday, in the Ascension race, there were 25 men in Jim's age category (65 to 69 years), and Jim was the oldest, at 69 and 11 months - the next youngest was 67 and 4 months.  Jim finished tenth out of those 25 men - and I believe that only four of them were going to try to run again today in the marathon.  I know that Jim was entered, and started - and I'll be mentally cheering him on today. (The people who run in both the Ascension and Marathon are known as "Doubler"s...)

Running and Touching

My sister, Kathy, decided to start running to lose weight and get into better shape about 15 years ago.  Jim, her husband, had always been a bike rider, so he switched over to running with Kathy with no problem - and still kept riding his bicycle.  Kathy has run in a few marathons, but usually competes in half-marathons, or shorter races.  Jim runs in everything he can fit into his calendar.  Saturday morning, Kathy and Jim drove up to Georgetown for the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half-marathon.  Kathy didn't compete, but Jim did.  He finished second in his age division (65 to 69), and received a medal and a pin for his effort.  We're all very proud of him.  (Me?  I have back, hip, knee, ankle and feet problems and can't run... that's why I walk dogs.)  Jim will have his 70th birthday next month.  And guess what he's going to do this coming weekend?  He's running in the Pikes Peak Double.  On Saturday, the 17th, my brother-in-law will run the Pikes Peak Ascent race, which is a half-marathon, covering 13.32 miles, but with a vertical ascent of 7,815 feet.  On Sunday, he'll run the full Pikes Peak Marathon - all 26.21 miles, up to the peak and back down.  By the way, Pikes Peak is one of Colorado's 14ers - the peak height is at 14,115 feet above sea level.  I'll be taking care of Boo, their dog, while they're gone.  For more information regarding the Pikes Peak races, please visit: http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/  and for specific course information, see: http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/course.htm

  In thoroughbred racing news, St. Nicholas Abbey is continuing to recover following surgeries for a broken pastern and colic.  ....   Itsmyluckyday, who ran in the Triple Crown races, is out of action for several months with a cracked pelvis.  ....  The Breeders Cup Races will take place on November 1 and 2 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

  As I was growing up, there were two constant rules I was expected to follow.  The first was that I should always be polite and courteous to adults and strangers; the second rule was that it was fine to look at something that wasn't mine, but never to touch whatever had my interest.  So I'm still amazed that the 55-year-old male tourist from Missouri had the nerve to touch a 600 year old statue in Italy.  I was appalled to read and see that the statue's pinky finger had broken off - and then I did a double-take in my thoughts. The space where the finger should have been sitting had a piece of rebar (or a small metal spike) where the finger should be - that meant it had been broken off before, and then repaired, in the past. Museum pieces are in a museum to be seen and not touched - unless it's an inter-active exhibit that invites you to touch items.  I am still surprised that this man had the audacity to touch the old marble statue - and, unless he really struck the statue's hand with energy and force, I'm also surprised that the finger gave way.  Sounds to me like the replacement and repair of the first break wasn't done well.  But, still...  he should have just looked, and not touched.....