Bits and Pieces

There are 26 new foals playing on Assateague - well, actually, 25, since Bat Girl and her colt are at the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague, keeping Randy company.  Randy herself looks much better, and Bay Girl is also doing well with all the grass and hay.  Bay Girl was looking pretty poor after she foaled Friday, so she and the baby were moved to an area where they can be looked after.  We've lost one foal so far this year - not quite sure why, but Lady and Prince's chestnut foal did not survive it's first 36 hours.  Since Randy aborted after her quicksand ordeal, and both Wild Island Orchid and Surf Queen died while pregnant (also from being trapped in quicksand), we'll have a few fewer foals that usual this July.  And, since we have only 26 on the ground now, it seems that the majority of the foals purchased at the Auction on 26 July will need to have the owners return in October for a fall pick-up, since the foals will be too young to wean from their moms.

   I had to laugh at three teen-aged boys.  On Sunday, the three of them (two aged 15, and one 16) stole a Jeep in Aurora and drove it up to Boulder to buy a cheap cell phone. They had contacted the owner, and the boys and the man met at the Bustop, the bar and stripper club on North Broadway.  The man passed the phone into the Jeep for the boys to look at; and the boys decided to drive away without paying for the phone.  The phone owner threw himself into the open window, and was hanging there by his waist.  The driver kept the Jeep going, and the third boy pulled a pistol out and placed the barrel on the phone owner's head.  The driver looked over at the gun, and was so distracted he ran the Jeep into a parked RTD bus.  The boys all jumped out of the car and ran away, having pushed the cell phone owner out of the window and onto the ground.  Police caught all of the boys and also found the phone and unlicensed gun.  The phone owner was treated at the hospital for cuts, scrapes and bruises, and released.

  I was so very happy to see that Don Blankenship lost his race in West Virginia.  Felons should NOT be allowed to run for office, period.

  And, of course, the idiot in the White House has decided to back out of the Iran Nuclear Treaty, just as he said he would during his campaign for President.  A lot of past Presidential advisers believe that this will be the first misstep that starts our country into a slippery slide into a full-out war in the Middle East again - just like Iraq...  That orange-painted anus is doing everything he can to completely annihilate all the good things that Obama and Clinton worked so hard for.  - I am still amazed at his dismantling of the EPA; especially since it was formed by Nixon.

  And, suddenly, all this information regarding unusually large payments made to Michael Cohen, the personal counsel (attorney) for the Chief Chimpanzee, is appearing on the scene.  Four $50,000 payments from AT&T; $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm with close to ties to Russian oligarch Victor Vekselberg (who is a close associate of Vladimir Putin); four payments of $99,980 each from Novartis Investments S.A.R. L., a part of Novartis pharmaceuticals; and a $150,000 payment from Korea Aerospace, all were paid to Essential Consultants, the shell company that Michael Cohen owns.  All in all, over $4,400,000.00 have been paid into, and out of Essential Consultants between September 2016 and April of 2018.  And, don't forget that Michael Cohen is one of the  Finance Chairmen for the Republican National Committee....  What exactly was all that money for?  Why did it get paid into a shell company?  Where did it go?  What was it spent on?  Something seems rotten in this information....

Yesterday...

I don't know if I should laugh or cry over what happened yesterday...I had a great morning and early afternoon, switching back and forth between cleaning and family research. At 6 in the evening, I made my evening visit to Jasmine, and I picked up Lynn's Lexus in order to meet her at the airport when her flight arrived.  I came back home, first, and checked the Denver arrivals flight list, and saw that Lynn's flight was reading "On Time."  Her plane was due to land at 9:15, but the estimated time of arrival stated 9:10.  I checked the Denver International Airport flight list again at 7:55, just before leaving the apartment.  At that point in time, a small notice icon appeared next to Lynn's flight, and I looked at it.  It said that they had no confirmation that the flight had left at the specified time, and that (a) it might be running slightly late, (b) might have been postponed, or (c) that their server simply hadn't received the correct information regarding the flight yet.
  Before going to Jasmine's, I had taken my cell phone from it's charger, and made a quick call, to verify that the phone was on and working.  I kept the phone in my back pocket to and from Jasmine's house. I laid the phone in the passenger seat beside me for the drive to the DIA cell phone lot, and left my place at 7:58, figuring 45 minutes to an hour for the drive to the airport.  I arrived at the cell lot at 8:45, and went in to check the Arrivals board...  and I was surprised to see that it said that Lynn's flight would arrive at 11:20 p.m.  I thought it was good that I had brought a book along to read, so I changed the parking spot to one beneath a light post, and opened my book. About every 15 minutes, or so, I'd check my phone.  I went back and checked the Arrivals board at 9:45 - and I stood staring at it for so long, that an older man asked if I needed help reading it.  I asked him to verify that I was reading the arrival time correctly for Lynn's flight - and he said, "Yes, ma'am.  It says it's on time and will arrive at 11:20 p.m."   I went back inside to check the Arrivals board at 11 p.m., and it still said 11:20 for Lynn's flight number.
   Lynn usually calls me the moment she's allowed to use her phone after landing...  and then she calls from the baggage carousel, so I can meet her with very little wait time, at the pick up point.  At 11:30, when I hadn't received any calls, I started trying to call her.  I'd press her number, press call, and my phone would immediately say "Call Ended" as soon as it began to dial.  So I turned the blasted phone off and on several times.  It wouldn't let me make any calls - but it had worked fine at 6 p.m.  I "played" with it some more, pressing random buttons - then I tried to call Lynn again. The call went through, but put me into her voice mail after 6 rings... I left her a message that I was still sitting in the cell phone lot and was really becoming concerned about her.  I ended that call, and made another to a friend I know is always up late.  We talked for a few minutes, and then I turned the phone on and off again.  Now it said that I had 20 missed calls and 12 voice messages.
   Lynn's flight had arrived at 9 p.m.  She called me several times and left messages.  She then called a neighbor to see if her car was at home (which it wasn't).  She called me again.  She was becoming more worried and more agitated.  At 10 pm, she left a voice message saying she was taking a cab home from the airport, and hoped that I was safe and sound.  I listened to all of her messages, and then tried to call her again - she picked up her phone at 12:05 a.m.  I told her I was still waiting for her call, sitting in the cell phone lot at DIA.  She laughed until she cried.  We then exchanged stories, said, "Good night," and I drove back to Boulder.  She had arrived at home, in a cab, at 11:25 p.m.  I arrived at my apartment, still driving her car, at 1:05 a.m.
   And I was up and going at 5;45 this morning, as usual....  We still don't know what happened with my cell phone...   We can't figure out why 3 other people, besides me, verified that the Arrivals board stated her flight would arrive at 11:20 (when it had arrived at 9:00)....  
   We agreed that what with sun spots, solar flares, and some kind of hinky magic, we had been visiting The Twilight Zone.