May 2021

Time to place your bets! It's KY Derby Day! No rain today, it's gorgeous outside. Should be a good day for a race.

Happy May Day!

CONGRATULATIONS TO DONNIE on his retirement. One of the first things you will become aware of is the lack of a sense of urgency to get everything done in a short time. Waiting in lines is mildly annoying, not frustrating. Making appointments gets easier not having to work around a set schedule. That has been one of the best parts of retirement for me.

I watched the racing all day yesterday, and started again this morning. There are very few things for which I prioritize TV. Today is one of them. I will happily be parked in front of my TV most of the day. I only get things done between races.
As for betting, I heard of one guy who plans to bet millions on Essential Quality. I wish him luck. I haven't seen any of them that really impress me as a sure thing.
Essential Quality will get a famous escort to the gate by Harley. He's the Appaloosa draft horse they have as a lead pony. More people will remember Harley than they will most of the race horses.

Hi. Happy May Day.

Harley is a riot........big, ugly, just goes along doing his job.....he's the best and makes him worth a million.
Go Harley!!!

As for the races, they're just races......the fastest horse wins..............BUT, they're sure beautiful to watch.

I'm addicted.........

Yay, Ellen...............Hog Creek Hustle ran 4th.............good for your friends.

We're getting closer to the Derby....................

WOOHOO.

Addendum:  Here we go.  My heart will be racing..............

They're off!!!

There were several good races today. That one dead heat was neat to see. The photo showed not a whisker difference.
The Derby shows why one should not bet big money on a horse race. All too often, an unexpected winner hits the line first.
There was one Texas guy who bet over a million on Essential Quality because he knew if he got 2nd or 3rd, he would get his money back. 4th doesn't pay anything. Horse lost. Money gone.

I just love watching them run. And, all horses and jockeys got home safe.

Hence, I don't bet.............I might lose $2.

The few times I have actually gone to a track, I have bet $2 on a few horses. It's more fun to cheer on "my" horse. I have won enough money to buy dinner each time.

Me too, ELLEN in the old days..................

I missed the race, we were busy outside. Oh, well...

I think I have only bet 2 bucks on one horse race in my life, and lost. Probably good, if I had won the first time out, I probably would have been spending a lot more doing it.

Today was interesting. Our horses were out in the barnlot pasture with their grazing muzzles on. The neighbors' two mares pushed thru a weak spot in our adjoining fence line and ended up running in our field with our horses. I suspect there was a horse riot for a few minutes, every one of our horses had grazing muzzles or flymasks hanging weirdly from their faces. The only one with some damage was Ivan's rear legs, he had a few scrapes. I think he may have tangled with the downed fence. He is okay. We called the neighbors who rounded up their mares and we temporarily repaired the fence and then put a couple of round pen panels in front of the spot that was messed up. Next weekend we will be tearing out the old fence and installing a new one. Where the horses pushed thru the fence was where a couple of years ago the power company had cut the fence to get to a pole that needed replacement and then 'repaired' the fence. It was a weak spot. Anyway, it all worked out. The good news is, both our perimeter fences along the road are good. It is just internal fencing that has issues. It turns out that Possum, the chestnut mare, is in charge of the horses in the neighborhood. She's the boss. Her owner was shocked at Possum's language . I used to hear Kazi tell other horses what to do a lot, Possum's owner is new to mare screams. We call them "Dinosaur Yells". Nothing delicate about them!

I missed the Derby entirely, but I did see the rerun. I was all for Soup and Sandwich as soon as I heard his name. Not sure what happened to him as he was running really well then I blinked and he ended up last. I googled the race and I guess he was bumped and the jockey then pulled him up. At least he wasn't hurt. But I really loved his name and color.

Indy, his soft palate dropped over his esophagus and hindered his breathing. The jockey pulled him up when he knew something was wrong. The horse was examined right after the race and later and is just fine.
That was something I'd never heard of, but apparently, it is rather common in race horses.

Here is a link to the story about Medina Spirit. It tells how a small time "backyard" breeder managed to breed a Derby winner.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsports/john-clay-meet-the-breeder-who-sold-the-kentucky-derby-winner-for-1-000-and-is-thrilled/ar-BB1gniS3?ocid=msedgdhp

So I'm sitting here waiting for the dentist office to open to answer their phone. Last night I was treating myself to a piece of Dove milk chocolate by letting it melt in my mouth and one of my crowns came off! OMG it creeped me out. I am a terrible dental patient. The dentist sure better be able to get me in today to put things back together.

Prayers INDY..........I'm no fan of dentistry either.............

ELLEN, nice story.

I've been involved in a refencing project..........I was the stupidvisor......It's complete now and nice and straight
and good............6'.

Anyhow, very tired...............

Indy, did you get it fixed?

Graymare, nice straight strong fence is always a good thing.

INDYAPP:
Oh, no! One of my nightmares. I am glad you didn't swallow it. Hopefully the dentist can put it back in without having to make another one. My sister just had 2 replaced.....pricey....


GRAYMARE:
Congrats on the new fence! We are going to be replacing about 300 feet of fencing this coming weekend. The new neighbors are supposed to rent the post hole digger and help us install it. We bought the fencing and posts. We got to choose the fencing, 5 foot no-climb horse fence. I will be stupedvising, too....

We have another 200 feet to replace behind the barn, but suspect that won't get done this weekend.

So far Donnie's retirement hasn't been very relaxing.

It won't be long until Donnie wonders how he had time to work.

for sure..............

I finally got ahold of the dentist office yesterday morning. They couldn't get me in until this morning. Fortunately all went well. The bottom part of the tooth was healthy so all they had to do was cement the old crown back on. Now it took 3 shots of novacaine to numb me up, but it's all taken care of. Fortunately my insurance will pick up most of the cost. The numbness is wearing off and I have a little soreness from the shots, but not bad. I should be able to eat something for dinner. The only thing I've had to eat since the crown came off Tuesday night was some tapioca pudding last night. I'm hungry.

I empathize with you both Graymare & Ark, I think I will be stringing some hot wire myself this weekend. Tiberius seems to like to prove that he can get in the back pasture when the gate is closed. At least my posts are already in place.

Indy, did you have a successful day of fence building today?
I'm sure your mouth feels a lot better.

Ark, how is your fence building going?

Graymare, anything interesting going on in Arizona?

It's a gorgeous day here in AZ.............sunny, breezy, 88 degrees, and all is quiet in the hood. Very peaceful.
I'm still a bit lazy so just talking with horses is enough. T is on his computer and so am I...............I was outside in the breeze
for awhile and am now sleepy. I'm drinking a Pepsi and just sitting here.

I went to Wally and the bank yesterday........That was enough chaos for me.............oh, and got a burger.

There you have it for today...............

HAPPY Mother's Day to all.

I think a lot of mothers in Indiana got to go out for lunch or dinner today. I called for a pickup order at one of my favorite places. When I got there the place was full and very busy. It was good to see.
Their broasted chicken is DELICIOUS!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all you mother-types have had a wonderful day!!  


INDYAPP:
 Glad you got your tooth fixed!  I hate teeth problems.  


Donnie and James, the new neighbor,  worked hard all weekend on the fencing.  Unfortunately only about half of the first stretch got done.  That part looks good!  I suspect there will be a lot of fencing in our foreseeable weekend future.  The part that got done is between our yard and the neighbor's.  The fencing in the pasture didn't get touched.   Luckily we have those round pen panels set up, so unless their mare can jump a 6 foot fence, it shouldn't be a problem with keeping her out of our field.


We did have an unfortunate incident on Friday.  Two of our cute little hens got killed by something right in our arena!  This happened in the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight.  The hens would hang out around the barn area scratching for whatever chickens are scratching for and were incredibly tame.  They did start life in our bathroom for several weeks.  I suspect the hens watched a fox walk right up to them and never thought it would hurt them.   Our dog walks by them all the time.  We found about half of one hen and only feathers from the other.   Poor chickies.  The remainder of the flock are now locked in the dome and their house 24 hours a day.  We've never had chickens attacked by anything but a hawk during daylight, but we found some small doggy looking tracks in the arena near the hens.  The woods are nearby and the foxes are probably raising babies. We tossed the remains of the hen over the fence and Donnie said it had disappeared the next day.  They may as well finish the meal.  

Other than that,  we are fine.    Donnie doesn't feel quite retired, this weekend he feels mostly tired!