Horsing Around

If I remember correctly, I mentioned something about blowing winds last time. Well, they sure did blow here at our house. The powerful winds took down many branches from a dead oak tree in the woods behind the house. This tree had previously been hit by lightening, witnessed by Mark. The branches were then blown into the back yard and also onto our roof, thus taking down our satellite dish. When I got home from Lexington on Tuesday, it was quite the mess out back.

Thankfully, our satellite guy was out the next day to get us back in touch with the world. Mark and I experienced being out of the loop, so to speak, as we had no Good Morning America, The View, or the evening news to let us know the latest news. I even had to call my sister to find out who got voted off of Dancing With The Stars, thankfully, Curt Warner did not.

I'm still in the dark as to where Sam Champion is or what is going on with his family. They asked for prayers yesterday on GMA, but I don't think they were specific as to why. He's one of my favorite TV personalities, so I'm concerned.

I did, however, finally finish my latest book, The Horse That God Built, by Lawrence Scanlan. I bought it with birthday money last year, along with several others including, The Glass House, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Anne Rice's first book about Jesus's life and another about Pete Maravich, one of my sports idols. I've always had an interest in Secretariat, being from Paris, Kentucky, where he was retired to stud at Claiborne Farm. My parents home is adjacent to the farm and I thought I'd eventually get to see him while he was there. I never did.

I think I started reading the Secretariat book last year, but then got distracted, and put it down. I picked it up again when I heard of the movie coming out, so that was my motivation to start reading it again. I finished it last night, so I'm now looking forward to going to see the movie. I hope I make it before it's too late. I previously put off going to see Avatar and was bailed out when they decided to rerelease it back to the theaters. And from looking at today's paper, I see I have missed the Horse Mania event as well. I really wanted to take a tour of Lexington and see all the horses, but, alas, they are being removed and relocated as I type. That's the downside of being a procrastinator.

Because of our temporary satellite blackout, I also avoided seeing the national evening news coverage of the assault prior to the Rand/Conway debates. Not only was this a Kentucky embarrassment, but I also understand the guy being charged is from my home town. I may have known a relative of his, not sure at this point.

The only tidbit of advice I have this morning is to read, if you get the chance, the story of Secretariat by Lawrence Scanlan. It focuses on the relationship between the horse and his groom, Eddie Sweat. I hope the movie brings out the importance of this relationship, but I hardly think it does. I was enlightened by so much of what goes on in the racing industry. The writer did his research in Ocala, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Belmont Race Track, New, York; and Secretariat's birthplace in Virginia. It was really a well documented and well told story. I hope to visit Claiborne Farm sometime in the future to see where Secretariat was buried. Hopefully, sooner than later.

I've got a lot going on these next several days, so I better get going. I've had the dogs out a lot this past week, but not for any walks. Even though today is supposed to be some twenty degrees cooler than yesterday's perfect weather, I hope to get out and walk all five. I hope you get out today as well, have a great one, luv, Susan