Florida Adopt-a-thon in Two Weeks

I thought we have a lot of cats to adopt here in Boulder - and, a reminder, that all cats aged 6 months and above are available from the Humane Society of Boulder Valley at NO charge through August 31.  But our supply of cats is minuscule in comparison with the Gainesville Humane Society.  They will be having a Feline Adopt-a-thon on August 26, 27, and 28 for the over 600 cats that they currently have.  The cats are from a cat hoarding raid in High Springs - the place was licensed as a no-kill cat rescue home, but they got more cats than they could handle and things became awful pretty quickly.  If you can afford to, and live in either the Boulder or Gainesville area, please adopt one of these needy cats. (Thanks for the information, Kathryn!)

Jonathan, the lame 6-point buck with the wobbly hind legs, has made a nest under Alexy's blue spruce (in the front yard) and spends most of the hottest hours of the day there.  I go in and out the front door, and he barely raises his head to acknowledge my presence, knowing that neither I nor Alexy will disturb him.  The Rs went for a hike up at Brainard Lake with their owners this morning, so I'll be walking them this evening.  Lovey is sitting on the corner of my desk, talking to me.  Nedi is stretched out in the grass, enjoying the shade.  Mocha is curled up on the love seat, watching the Western channel.   Since I'm allowing Cloudy and Shady extra time outside, they don't seem to mind that Alexy has gone.  Shady sleeps with me each night.

As usual, my rooting for a team acted as a jinx, and the Broncos lost last night.  The Cowboys beat them by one point, making a two-point conversion after their touchdown with only 15 seconds left on the game clock.  Kyle Orton was the starting quarterback - but he only played one series, moving the ball from our 15 to their 1 yard line - we got a field goal from that.  Then Tim Tebow came out - he scored a touchdown that was called back, and he moved the team up and down the field, and we got a couple of field goals from him.  The only TD the Broncos scored was during Brady Quinn's quarterbacking during the second half....  Ah, well.....  Hopefully my cheering won't act as a deterrent for all the teams I like!

Western Scenery

Sunset in Montana



Moonrise in Nebraska

Bison grazing in Wyoming

August Miscellany

The Travers Stakes, also known as the Mid-Summer Derby, will be run on Saturday, the 27th.  Preakness winner Shackleford will be running in it, after his loss (by a head) in the Whitney Invitational to Coil.  ....  Horses are gearing up for the Breeders Cup races, which will be run on November 4 and 5 at Churchill Downs.  Next year, the Breeders Cup races will take place at Santa Anita.  ....  My kits are enjoying the fact that I'm home for 5 hours each day with them.  We'll all be glad when I start sleeping at home again, though.  ....  I really do have to visit the library - I've read all of my new books, and yesterday evening, I read half of the original printing (1855) of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.  Of course, Alexy does have quite a few old tomes available for perusal - including first editions of all of Frances Hodgson Burnett's books, and her father's travel books for each country in South America.  This morning, I ate my breakfast while paging through the Guide to Britain's Birds - I had a blast seeing what a chough looked like!  ....  The Chandlers' lost one of the older Rhode Island Red hens yesterday - I'm afraid that Nancy got squashed by Sunbeam, and that's what caused her death.  The goats and adult chickens share the same fenced enclosure, and sometimes Sunbeam runs and leaps like a rocket through the pen - and if anything is in her way, too bad - she lands where she lands, and a 35-pound goat leaping down from the top of a shed can do serious injury.  (MeyToch does play and leap, but his legs are nowhere near as long as Sunbeam's and he doesn't jump up onto things the way she can. - He's short and compact, like me.) Nancy was fine yesterday morning, but when the Chandlers returned from Texas, she was lying inside the coop, in one of the nest boxes, and was dead within the hour.  So sad.  ....  And I surprised Victor on Tuesday.  He and Xena had caught a squirrel and killed it.  I heard them squabbling, and stepped out see what was happening, and Xena had the squirrel in her mouth while Victor was giving her some pretty sharp nips, trying to steal it back.  When Xena saw me, she dropped the body and came for love and petting.  Victor immediately grabbed the squirrel, and started growling and slinging his head.  I stepped over and told him, "Drop it, Victor!"  He continued to growl, but stopped his head shakes.  I told him again to drop it, and he reluctantly did.  When I reached over to grab the squirrel by the tail, he started to jerk towards me - as if he were going to fight over who had the right to the body. I continued my reach in, while keeping eye contact with Victor.  His lips were writhing over his teeth, but he wasn't moving otherwise.  So, as I grasped the tail, and my face was at his eye-level, I growled and bared my teeth and said, "Mine!"  Victor sat back on his haunches and looked extremely surprised.  He and Xena then watched as I put the squirrel into a plastic bag and then placed him in the trash can (on the other side of the fence).  They searched the back yard for that squirrel for another 45 minutes.....   Well, Aiden's team lost their fourth game at the Southwest Regional Little League playoffs, but they made it further than any other Colorado team in the history of the Little League, and that's something to be proud of.  Ty still had paint on his face this morning, from having a full-face and chest and back painted for his brother's game on Tuesday.  Those Chandler boys are super kids.  .....  Today is the first Denver Broncos football game (pre-season), and we play at the Dallas Cowboys.  All the talk is about the quarterback position - Kyle Orton has demonstrated his knowledge of the current system, and has won the starting position.  I like Kyle.  He is a very good player, has experience, and makes good calls - but he stalls in the red zone.  He can move a team up and down the field with ease, but get him inside the 20 yard line, and he stops cold.  The current talk is that the coaches will use Tim Tebow as the "red zone guy."  I like Tim, too.  There are all sorts of pros and cons regarding the Orton-Tebow situation  -  I just want to be able to win some games!  Kick-off is at 6:30 (MDT) this evening, or 8:30 on the east coast.....  Go, Orange and Blue!

Critters

Lovey following Nedi into the back yard

Sunbeam wants the fresh hay under the tarp

MeyToch in the gloaming

Too Bummed to Blog

I didn't blog yesterday because I was too blue, low, bummed out... whatever expression you choose to use.  The North Boulder Little League team lost their Semi-Final game on ESPN2 yesterday by one run.  The boys played East Texas, represented by Pearland.  Aiden played catcher for all 6 innings in the 105 degree heat.  Both of his brothers, Levi and Ty, and his parents, Blair and Pete, were frequently on screen.  There were quite a few close-ups of Aiden's eyes, showing his concentration and intensity - it was super coverage.  East Texas took the lead, then Boulder battled back.  But East Texas got the tying and go-ahead runs in the 5th inning.  Pearland had no errors, but Boulder had 6 -  The final score was Pearland, TX 5 to Boulder's 4.  All the boys played hard and tough and fair.  It was a very good game.

Victor and Xena escaped the back yard yesterday morning while I was walking Rosie and Remy.  I put them back in the yard; one of the neighbors called me at 11:15 and said she had just put the dogs back inside the fence, and that as soon as she had, Animal Control came cruising by.  I locked the dogs in the breezeway so I could watch the game.  They leaped the fence twice more last night, and twice this morning.  Thank goodness the family came home this morning!  -  I walked Rosie and Remy this morning, having walked Xena and Victor earlier.  Then I played with MeyToch and Sunbeam, and had to refill the second drinking pan for the chickens. (And Charlie pecked me again.) I ferried my overnight stuff and food across the street to Alexy's house, and then came home to my kits.  Alexy was quite impressed because while I was there, Cloudy came in and wanted to be petted - I had just withdrawn my hand, when she decided to attack, and so, didn't touch me.  Then Shady came running for love.  Alexy leaves this afternoon for England, and I'll be at her house through the 29th.  And then I have Maggie May and the rats for the Labor Day weekend.  ....  Things never really stop or change, do they?   ....   Lovey and Nedi and Mocha all got tons of love yesterday, and they have all had a lot again this morning.  Everyone has had their favorite crunchy snack, besides the fresh dry and canned foods, plus fresh water.  The potty boxes have been cleaned, too.  I'm about to sit on the sofa and finish reading Catherine Coulter's Split Second.

Wildcats on a Roll

The North Boulder Wildcats won their third straight game at the Southwest Little League Championships in Waco, Texas this evening.  The final score was 13 to 3, with today's losing team being Pittsburg County, Oklahoma.  The team is two games from going to the Little League World Series.  -   Go Wildcats!

Critters

Nedi at 16 months





Remember Lemony, the yellow chick?  This is what she looks like now...

Other new hatchings are various shades of brown