Presidents Day

Another fire last night in Accomack County - I'm still waiting for word as to whether this one is arson or not. .... Rachel Alexandra is still getting better, bit by bit; her vets are encouraged by her improvements. .... My kits enjoyed being allowed outside for most of yesterday; it's much colder today, and the wind is razor sharp, but it is still sunny. Supposedly nice weather until Wednesday evening - the forecasts change each hour, so we're told we'll be getting 6 inches of snow and then we're told no snow will fall.... I'll just wait and see.
   After all the wild atmospheric events on Friday, the sighting of a fireball on the eastern coast of Florida was nothing big. It was declared another meteor burning up in the atmosphere, and was seen from Jacksonville down to Homestead. I know that, after the Chelyabinsk explosion, people will be keeping an eye to the sky for a while.
  When I was small, today was not a holiday. We celebrated George Washington's Birthday on February 22, as he was "the Father of our Country." We also tipped our hats to Abraham Lincoln's birthday on the 12th of February. In 1968, President Nixon designated the third Monday in February as Presidents Day - to honor the combined birthdays of Washington and Lincoln in between both birthdays. It now is a celebration of all of the Presidents of the United States, and is a Federal Holiday. There usually are not huge celebrations of Presidents Day - small communities might have parades - but, by and large, the day is just a day off for most federal and state employees. I, personally, remember songs and plays about the Presidents, that we, as school children, performed... but no more.
  I hope you have a pleasant holiday and a good week.

Look! Up in the Sky, It's....

Black Caviar raced in Australia today, and won her 23rd straight race, in a race named after her - the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes. The sprinter started slowly in her first race since Royal Ascot, but she won by 2 1/2 lengths, setting a new course record for 5 furlongs. The mare tore muscles and ligaments in her back during her single race in England, and it was not known if she'd be able to race again. Well... Black Caviar is back in impressive style! ..... Former Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra is still in serious condition at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. She is still listed as being in "serious" condition, but her attending vets said that she had "brightened" yesterday, and actually wanted a mint as a treat, which she hadn't before. Best wishes to Rachel A. and her filly, now on a nurse mare at Stonestreet Farm.
  Look, up in the sky! Wow. Three "close encounters" yesterday between our mother Earth and errant space debris - that was quite a surprise for the day after Valentine's Day! We all knew about the asteroid that passed between the Earth and our GPS, etc. satellites at 2:24 EST - I watched it live on NASA, myself. The surprise encounters occurred in the Ural Mountains in Russia Friday morning, and in northern California Friday evening/night. The most frightening event happened above the city of Chelyabinsk: The meteor was a once-in-a-century event, NASA officials said, describing it as a "tiny asteroid." The space agency revised its estimate of the meteor's size upward late Friday from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass from 7,000 tons to 10,000 tons. The space agency also increased the estimated amount of energy released in the meteor's explosion from about 300 to nearly 500 kilotons. By comparison, the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy. The whole event, from the meteor's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia, took 32.5 seconds, NASA said. Reports from Russia have said that up to 1,200 people have been treated for cuts and abrasions caused by flying glass and the pure concussive force of the blast. More than 4,000 buildings received damage, and the roof of a zinc manufacturing plant collapsed from the force of the blast.
  What freaked me out, was a headline that appeared a few hours after the blast, stating that US fighter jets had scrambled when two Russian bombers had appeared over Guam's air space. The last paragraph of the story explained that this had happened during President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, and not after the blast over Chelyabinsk. I guess I still haven't out-grown our Kindergarten and first grade training during the Cuban Missile Crisis - just goes to show how old, remembered drills and training can jump into life again.
  The third encounter was seen and recorded in northern California last night - The fireball was seen around 7:45 p.m., by witnesses as far north as Fairfield and as far south as Gilroy. It was also reportedly seen in Sacramento and Walnut Creek. Folks in Monterey said it was visible along California's Central Coast, too. NBCBayArea.com said Candice Guruwaiya gave this account on Facebook of seeing it in San Jose: "I was leaving Safeway on Branham and Snell when I saw it. ... It was a bright green when it first appeared, then it went to a bright yellow. It was awesome!" An astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland told NBCBayArea.com that Friday night's event wasn't related to the asteroid's passing: Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at Chabot, said he did not see it, but based on accounts he thinks it was a "sporadic meteor," which can happen several times a day but most of the time happens over the ocean, away from human eyes. Sporadic meteors bring as much as 15,000 tons of space debris to Earth each year, according to McKeegan. He explained that meteors, which are hunks of rock and metal from space that fall to Earth, burn up as they go through Earth's atmosphere, which is what apparently caused last night's bright flash of light.

Free Food for Homeless Animals

My cousin Sarah introduced me to a nice website - if you care for unfortunate animals, that is - the URL is simply: www.freekibble.com . There is a section for dogs and one for cats; there is a trivia question regarding each species with multiple choice answers offered. Whether you answer the questions correctly or not, you donate 10 pieces of dry dog food and/or 10 pieces of dry cat food (I do both) on a daily basis to animal shelters throughout the United States. I think that 60 seconds of my time is worth giving to help feed homeless animals. How about you? (And, thank you, Sarah, for sending me info on this site!) ... When I arrived at my apartment yesterday, I found a note on the door from UPS stating I needed to sign for a package (I'm expecting 3) and they would be at my place to try to redeliver said package between 2 and 5 in the afternoon. That threw all my plans off-kilter, but allowed me more time with my kits. The kits and I cuddled, and loved, and they ran outside and played in the sunlight. At 5:30, without a package delivery, I went back to Cloudy and Shady in North Boulder. Cloudy was inside, perched on her cat tree, but there was no sign of Shady. I turned on the light in the office, opened the door, and, as if it were magic, the black cat appeared from the black backyard, climbed the steps into the house, stropped himself around my legs, and then informed me that he was hungry. I acceded to his wishes, and Cloudy joined us in the kitchen for an evening repast. ... Rosie and Remy were so happy to me me yesterday that it was ridiculous. They danced and pranced and bounced around as if they hadn't gone for a walk in weeks. I took them west yesterday, and we visited Wonderland Lake, then scooted back for 10 minutes of play with Suki and Boo, and then on home. (It was after that that I went home to my kits.) ... The day started out with lots of sunshine this morning, but has become lightly overcast. There's a cool front passing through, and instead of temperatures in the upper 50s, we'll be lucky to hit the mid-40s. On my way home this morning, I was standing at the bus stop when a young man rode by on his bicycle; it was 26 degrees outside and I had on two pairs of socks, my heaviest jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, my woolen hat, gloves, and my snow and rain coat that has Polartec lining in both the body and the hood. This young man (maybe between 10 and 14 years old?) was pedaling his bike up-hill, wearing sneakers, shorts, what looked like a T, and a hooded sweatshirt with the cuffs pushed up to his elbows. He was steering his bike with his right hand and had a cup with a Starbuck's label on it in his left hand - no gloves. He made me feel extremely cold! ... I'm now booked for house-sitting through the end of April, and have already had to turn down one request for the month of March. I'll be with Cloudy and Shady once again, but Aiko and Yoshi need someone to spend the night with them and walk them twice a day, as well as play and interact with them when they are awake. ... One last comment for the day: it is once again time (almost past time) for the Leonid meteor shower. I remembered it the night before last, and, since I had awakened about midnight, and the sky wasn't cloudy, I pulled on my sweats, and a coat and stuffed my feet into my snow boots, and wandered out into the street to see what, if anything I could see. The meteorologists had said we might be able to see 20 to 30 "shooting stars" per hour, and that the best viewing was in Asia. I saw something that lit up the entire sky. It traveled east to west, started out as a green light, then turned orange and then it was almost as if I was under a klieg light - bright white - that almost immediately disappeared. I was astounded. The University of Utah caught this sight on video, so there is a distinct record of it - this meteor was seen from Kansas City, Missouri all the way to coastal California. The big-wigs are saying that it was probably a meteor the size of a range/oven when it entered our atmosphere, and that it burned up - disintegrated - whatever - by the time it reached the Pacific Ocean. All I know was that it was definitely awe-inspiring!

Stuff ... and Meteors

Walt and Sophie are extremely "laid back" dogs. Yesterday and this morning they both flushed birds and rabbits galore, but were always within visual contact with me; and we had very good, relaxing walks. When Sophie starts slowing down due to her arthritis, I know it's time to start heading for home. Yesterday we encountered only one vehicle while walking, and we saw none this morning - so I felt safe in letting Walt run free. Today is trash day out here, so I took out the recyclables and garbage - and the recycling truck is just now picking up its' load. I made blueberry waffles with fresh berries for breakfast this morning, and both dogs enjoyed a small waffle apiece. The kits and I were happy to see each other yesterday - I fed them and let them run outside, and then they both came to me for love and cuddling. Before leaving I made sure they had plenty of fresh water, cleaned their litter boxes, and gave them a treat. They would love this house and it's setting, but I'm afraid that they would be-devil the dogs unmercifully...

A yearling colt, sired by Storm Bird, and out of a Mr. Prospector mare, brought in $2.8 million at the Select Sale at Saratoga yesterday. The highest bid in the regular sale was $1.2 million for a filly. ... On the Isle of Man in Great Britain, archaeologists have found the remains of a 9,000 year-old house. The house has a hearth and stone tools were found in abundance - as well as large piles of burnt hazelnut shells outside. The filberts were native, and apparently grew well, as there is the remains the remains of a second house 942 feet from the first, which is also surrounded by piles of burnt filbert shells. According to the scientists, this house was built 4,000 years before Stonehenge was built on the Salisbury Plain. ... Black bears are plentiful around Vail this year - in 4 days (from Thursday through Sunday) the police responded to more than 26 calls regarding bears in that town. In one instance, a young bear wandered into a luggage and furrier shop, ambling through the aisles and up into the window displays for about 20 minutes before it walked out the front door and down a side street. ... The Department of Wildlife killed a bear here on the eastern slope this weekend - it was feeding on the remains of a 74-year-old woman. The woman had been warned many times not to feed the bears - but was well known in the area for feeding them through a wire fence that was wrapped around her porch. Apparently a bear caught and killed her on her way between her house and open garage. DoW does not know if the bear they shot was actually the one who killed the woman. ... I will be out again at 2 this morning, looking to the northeast to see the Perseid meteor shower. This morning, the meteors were "shooting" everywhere. (If it weren't for the mosquitoes, I'd have stayed out until dawn!) Tonight/tomorrow morning, it is estimated that 2 shooting stars per minute will be visible. (Does that mean all my wishes will be granted?)