Colorado Wildfires; Opening Night of Chincoteague Carnival

Oh, my....    Aaron Hernandez is charged with murder, and is being looked at as a suspect in a drive-by shooting where two men were killed.  Such a sad report to read about an ex-Gator!  He has disappointed me entirely.   -   And I am feeling great sympathy for the divorce and feuding parents of Dylan Redwine.  The young teen disappeared from his father's home at Thanksgiving last year. A few of his bones have been identified via DNA testing this week - they were found scattered in a forest about 10 miles from the father's house.
  Our wildfires here in Colorado continue to grow.  Several are completely contained, and the Rocky Mountain National Park was surprised, but pleased, to announce the Fern Lake wildfire is completely burnt out.  We've had several local fires that have been less than 10 acres and have been quickly put out.  The Wild-Hacking Complex fire is still burning, as is the Strontia Springs-Waterton Canyon fire.  The Brush Creek fire is 97% contained.  The East Fork fire (on the western side of the Divide) i sat 447 acres, while the East Peak  fire is 75% contained, having burned over 13,500 acres, 12 homes and 4 out buildings.  The Trickle Mountain fire is 85% contained and had burned 277 acres.  The Ox Cart fire has burned 150 acres, and the Jefferson County Lillis Lane fire is 75% contained and has destroyed one house.  That leaves the West Fork Complex fire, which is still zero percent contained, and has burned over 83,000 acres so far.
   The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms for the next four evenings.  I would love to see it rain, rain hard. Not enough to flood those places that have just been burned, but enough to ensure that the current fires are extinguished - but I doubt that will happen.
    And tonight my heart is on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, specifically at the Chincoteague Island Carnival Grounds, because tonight is the Opening Night of the 88th Annual Chincoteague Fireman's Carnival!  How I wish I was there!

"Strange" News

I realize that with the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and iPhones, dissemination of information is almost instantaneous these days.  Some of the stories that come out of this fast, world-wide mish-mash are intriguing...  There are several that have recently caught my attention.  The first and foremost has happened here in Boulder, Colorado.  Who murdered Edward Elk on Mapleton Hill? Edward was a large bull elk - a superb trophy specimen - that has been living for the past couple of months between 9th and 11th Streets on Mapleton Avenue.  The area is also known as historic Mapleton Hill. Last week, Edward was reported to have kept a US Postal Service person trapped on the front porch of a house for several minutes; he was unafraid of the PO worker, who shouted and shook his mail bag at the elk. Over the weekend, Edward held his ground and refused to run from a police car with flashing lights and a siren - he was blocking an intersection at Mapleton Avenue and 10th Street.  A local resident let his dog out into the back yard for a late night "pit-stop" and had to go outside to retrieve his dog because Edward was in the back yard, and the dog wanted to bark at him. The home owner said that Edward was not afraid of him at all and would not leave; he finally convinced his dog to re-enter the house without harm.  Tuesday night, residents in the area reported the presence of multiple police cars with their lights flashing.  The resident whose dog barked at Edward says that a uniformed officer said they were going to try to "convince the elk to leave the area" and not to worry if he heard gunshots.  The home owner heard one gunshot. The following morning, Edward was found dead at the edge of his yard.  The really strange thing about this is that neither the Boulder Police, the Boulder Sheriff's Office, nor the Colorado Department of Wildlife have any record of any activities that night regarding the elk.  So the big question is who done it, and why?  The Department of Wildlife is conducting an investigation into Edward's suspicious death.
  The other things that caught my eye concerned naked men.  In Miami, Florida a man was arrested in a home-owners back yard because the man was totally naked and choking the home owner's Rottweiler with his bare hands. The home owner heard a disturbance in his back yard , looked out and observed the naked man choking his dog.  When the owner yelled at the man, the attacker started growling and lunged at the owner, trying to bite him.  When the police arrived, the naked suspect attacked them and tried to bite them also.  He was shot twice in the leg before police could subdue him.  I had to laugh at the final sentence of the report: It is thought the suspect was under the effect of an unknown drug.
  Then in San Jose, California, a naked man with a Samurai sword was threatening folks at a light rail station - this after he was seen clothed and with an AK-15 assault rifle in from a a residence nearby.  Police responded to the assault-rifle report, and then quickly determined that the same, but now naked, man was at the light rail station waving a Samurai sword.  There was a large group of media present when, after more than 2 hours of stand off, the man attempted to climb a fence and run.  The police were easily able to catch the man and place him under arrest.
   Yesterday at a Catholic church in Connecticut, a naked man suddenly appeared before parishioners and a third-grade parochial school class.  He, also, was arrested, but very quickly.  A witness told police that the man appeared very quickly, and that it was frightening even for an adult.
    What the heck is going on here?  Why are naked men doing stupid things?  Again, I realize that the way our world has changed in spreading news is one of the main reasons so many stupid news stories make it around the world. Used to be, things about naked men or women appearing in public were never spoken about; now it seems it's almost a daily happening....

Murder Mystery at Churchill Downs

The body found yesterday morning in a barn 150 yards away from Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another has been identified as Adan Fabian Perez, a 48-year-old native of Guatemala.  He was employed as a groom by trainer Cecil Borel, brother of jockey Calvin Borel.  He was identified by his 19-year-old son, who also works on the backside.  This is in contrast with yesterday morning's report that the victim was definitely not a person employed at Churchill Downs.  The police say that there is evidence that Perez was involved in "an altercation" Saturday night, and several were reported in the barn area of the race track Saturday night.  The cause of death is still unknown.  Police are seeking information from anyone who might have knowledge of Perez on Saturday night....
   It started to rain lightly yesterday afternoon, and I traveled underneath an umbrella to care for Sasquatch and Tugger last night.  My kits were, and are, disgusted by the fact that it's raining.  They'd like to be out. playing in the grass and chasing squirrels.  Instead, it's 41 degrees outside with a steady, light rain falling.  I went through the rain this morning for the kits on Redwood, and then I went over to Kathy's.  All she asked of me this morning was that I brush out and re-braid her hair, which I happily did.  Then I went out and uncovered the celery in the garden, let the dogs out for a romp in the back yard, and then dried them off when they came back inside.  Then I was able to return home for the day.
   At the moment, I'm only scheduled to walk the red kids in the morning until May 24; plus helping Kathy through May 12th, as Jim returns from Bhutan on Mother's Day.  So I'll have eleven days of relaxation with my kits before I move into Lynn Thore's house, while she and her children are rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.  Hooray!

Failed Surgery & a Murder

It is now a fact that my surgical repairs on Tuesday did not work... so I get to visit Dr. Pohlman this Tuesday, to try and decide on the "next step." There are several more options available - so I'll just have to see what he suggests and is willing to do. Ugh. I hope this next time will work; I'm tired of taking time off and having to curtail my walks and eating a lot of soft foods only. - I walked to the bakery this morning in a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers; it was a little chilly, but not bad. What seemed so strange was to look up and see the entire Indian Peaks area covered in snow, and to see patches of snow above the Flatirons and on Flagstaff. I do realize that we had snow early yesterday morning, and that our temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s, but sometimes that bright snow against the blue sky just looks impossible!
The area west of Broadway (14 blocks west of my apartment) and opposite the CU campus is known as "Uni Hill." Uni Hill has all sorts of funky little shops and bodegas that cater to the CU students, and it also has a great number of apartments and shared housing. There was a huge party on Uni Hill for Saint Patrick's Day Wednesday night and it went over into the early hours of Thursday. According to our local newspaper, the party ended in a riot - students ganging up against the police who were trying to shut the party down between 1 and 3 a.m. - I really haven't read all the copy about the riot. This is also Spring Break week at CU, and kids have friends visiting from everywhere... A football player for the University of New Hampshire was visiting a friend here in Boulder. The UNH student was walking a new female friend home from the St. Patrick's Day party. The couple was stopped by a man wearing a black bandanna; he had a gun. He demanded their money and keys. The girl pulled the covering off the robber's face, and the robber shot the gun into the air. The robber then shot and killed the UNH football player. The search is still on for the killer - he was wearing an extremely popular snow board brand of a black hoodie. The police stopped 4 men wearing the same type of hoodie that morning, within 20 minutes of the shooting. It's very sad...
Lovey has been all over me this morning, while Nedi has been chasing the squirrels. And I have to admit to a bit of bad taste: After my surgery Tuesday, I slept fitfully during the night. I was awakened by the upstairs neighbors' bed banging against the wall at 1 a.m., and the accompanying sounds were very specific. It happened again at 6 a.m. - both times made it Wednesday - "Hump Day." I put a yellow Post-It note on their door that read: "Happy Hump Day (times two!) - Please move your bed away from the wall! - Thanks!" I heard the bed being moved around noon - and have not had to listen to the banging since..... Have a good weekend!

Angry, Upset, and .... ARGH!

It's a gorgeous day out, and the weather folks say it will continue that way for the next four days. Lovey is doing well; Rosie and Remy are OK, but missing their walks; and Steve and Indi seem to be doing very well. I'm OK. But events that I have no control over have me angry and upset. Which events? (1) The continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and BP's extremely lame excuses and inability to close their well-head. (And then I had to laugh when Rand Paul stated that President Obama's criticism of BP was un-American. - Doesn't Paul understand that BP stands for British Petroleum?) I am just totally disgusted with the whole thing - and very worried about all of the fragile habitats, and all of the flora and fauna, along any bit of coastline that has to deal with the effects of billions of barrels of crude oil. I am angry and afraid for people who may lose their way of life on the water, and for all of the creatures that will suffer (and are already suffering) from this horrific accident. (2) I am angry about the state of Arizona's immigration stand. I am not saying that we should open America's borders wholesale; but I feel that the way Arizona's law was written is very much like the Jim Crow laws of the Old South (I grew up in Florida and Virginia). Any Arizonan officer of the law can legally stop someone for their appearance, and check their identity and background, just because they look Hispanic. That just goes entirely against the grain of America being "the home of the free." I do realize that the US is "currently in a war against terrorism" - but, please tell me, how many of the terrorist suspects being held by the US are of Hispanic descent? And most of the southwestern United States have 300 to 400 years of historical ties to Mexico and Spain.... so where is the cut-off line? How would one decide who looks Hispanic and who doesn't? - I just don't get it.... (3) The Sunday before Easter, a twelve-year-old girl, who lived in the town of Greeley, Colorado, decided to walk (with her parents permission) to her friend's birthday party, being held about a mile away, at the friend's home. The young lady never arrived. It was hoped that she might be a run-away, but there had been no hint of a reason for it. Her body was found two days ago, in a drainage ditch, not very far from her own home. Police have confirmed it is definitely a murder investigation. I am angry and upset about this, too. I do realize that "times have changed" since I was a child... But I am still shocked that a young person in a small town can be so mercilessly done away with, on her way to a birthday party. It is stupefying. It is terribly frightening. For me, it seems completely un-real.
If there is something that you want at Barnes & Noble, but have been putting off purchasing it, B&N has a 30%-off sale for on-line orders through Sunday, May 23rd. This is coupon for use on only one item that is at regular price. If you wish to do this, the coupon code to enter for your order is Y3V4U3X ... It has been announced that both Setsuko and Dublin will not be running in the Belmont Stakes on June 5. ... And, I wrote in my blog about the falls of Kent Desormeaux and Julian Leparoux during the running of the Black-Eyed Susans Stakes, the day prior to the Preakness. Julian L has continued to have some back pain since his fall, and finally had an MRI done. He's been riding since the accident with a compression fracture of his T-8, in the middle of his spine. He will be off horses for the next 2 to 3 weeks. And Calvin Borel will be off his scheduled mounts, due to an eye infection, until Saturday or Sunday.
I hope you have a great weekend!