And here's the horse-racing, as promised.

A couple of weeks ago, we saw a poster advertising Chariot Races. It was supposed to be in a field a couple of miles outside of Torrington; cost $5.00; from noon until 4. So, thought I, this sounds interesting, we should go!
I successfully remembered all the way to Lusk, Casper and back that I wanted to do this; and the following Saturday, we set out - only to find out that instead of the field promised, it was happening in a different field. One that happened to be about 1/2 mile from where we were staying. Handy, that.
The bad side - it was cold and windy and cloudy and really really cold. Brr. I spent the time in between races in the car trying not to freeze.
The good side - it wasn't raining or snowing. And there were all these horses! Skinny looking creatures, too; from being in training for racing, and not lazing about in a pasture eating themselves fat. The chariots (contrary to imagination) are not romanesque looking things, but teensy little aluminum platforms to stand on, with a curved front to lean against and wheels underneath. Woe betide the driver who goes over a bump; there's nothing to keep him on his perch! It was a lot of fun to watch - the horses in teams of two walking up the long muddy field, then racing back at top speed, spattering mud. One man drove with his whip in his teeth, like a pirate holding a knife. I think he was shouting around it too - something like "AAAIIIII AIIIII AAARRRRR AAAIIIIII" Teeth clenched the entire time. He won, too.

Then they had ponies - Shetlands, they must have been, they were so small - pulling small chuckwagons. It didn't seem quite fair to me that the smallest animals had to pull the heaviest, bulkiest wagons! But they were cute and fun to watch. They probably would have done better if there had been less mud. As it was, they got a bit bogged down and weren't very fast.

It SAID it started at 12, but it lied. That is - the whole thing started more or less at 12... which means, they started auctioning off something I never quite got. I think that was how they bet on the results? Bid on who you think will win? Maybe. It was away down the field from us, and even with the loudspeaker, we couldn't hear much to the point. The first race didn't actually start for another 45-60 minutes. Which meant, sniffsniff, we only got to watch the first 3 and one pony race, since we had an appt in town. Oh well. It was well worth my five dollars. :)

Did you know that 'lent' can be used as a verb? I didn't until last night. Silly me, I thought it was a noun. You know, capitalized and everything. Lent. 40 days before etc etc.

Overheard at the restaurant last night:
"Unless you're lenting chocolate..."
"No, I didn't lent at all this year."

The things you learn while (inadvertently) eavesdropping.

2010 vs 1935

As the health care bill approaches the vote, the NYTimes reported some of the warning voices against the bill.

Quote: Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, denounced the bill as “a fiscal Frankenstein.” Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, called it “a decisive step in the weakening of the United States.” And Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, said it was “one of the most offensive pieces of social engineering legislation in the history of the United States.”

Quote: Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, said, “Freedom dies a little bit today.”

---
From 'The Coming of the New Deal', the second book in the three-book overview of the New Deal by Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr. regarding the Social Security Act (signed into being in 1935 by President Roosevelt):

Quote: "Unemployment insurance cannot be placed on a sound financial basis," said the National Industrial Conference Board: it will facilitate "ultimate socialistic control of life and industry," said the National Association of Manufacturers. "Industry," observed Alfred Sloan of General Motors, "has every reason to be alarmed at the social, economic and financial implications…The dangers are manifest." It will undermine our national life "by destroying initiative, discouraging thrift, and stifling individual responsibility" (James L. Donnelly of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association): it begins a pattern which Wsoner or later will bring about the inevitable abandonment of private capitalism" (Charles Denby, Jr. of the American Bar Association).

It was said that with unemployment insurance no one would work: with old age and survivors insurance no one would save: the result would be moral decay, financial bankruptcy and the collapse of the republic.

Quote: "Never in the history of the world," said Congressman John Taber of New York, "has any measure brought in here so insidiously designed as to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers, and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people." "The lash of the dictator will be felt," cried Congressman Daniel Reed.

I'm still not to the horse races yet.

8 (9?!?) years ago when I moved to Wyoming, I remember feeling like I was really and truly in the Wild West when I was late to work after my lunch break because of slow traffic caused by a cattle drive.

Today, I got closer yet. I got to be /in/ a cattle drive. Can't you picture me, racing about after cows, chasing them hither and yon, whirling a lariat over my head, etc etc? If you did, you were wrong (but what a cool picture!) - what I did was walk and sometimes trot my horse after a placid bunch of black cattle. No racing or chasing, no ropes. I'm quite sure I was entirely unneeded. But I feel quite proud of myself because twice I encouraged a small bunch of lonely cows to go on and join the main bunch, and several other times, I chivvied lazy ones into moving again. Go me!

We are out at the Williams on the 4-3 Ranch. It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. Warm, probably in the 50s, cloudless blue sky, a bit breezy but not cold... And talk about beautiful country! This was the longest I've ridden for quite a while - about 4 hours, I think - and I admit to starting to get sore about the knees and ankles by the time we were done. Ok, ok, I admit to being sore a bit before we were done. ;) But I could almost have just kept on riding and riding and riding, just to look at the land. It's not mountainous here, but neither is it flat. There are lots of gullies heading down to the creek, and lots of low rises and hills. If you ride up to the top of one of these, and look off in front of you, you see fold after fold of land, golden in the afternoon sun, hazing into purple in the far distance, up against that incredibly blue sky. I saw (after the cows were safely in their new pasture, and not scaring everything off and raising a dust) a rabbit - practically under my horse's hooves; a meadowlark - heard him too; and some green grass, just starting.

As you can see, I'm finding it just a little hard to settle down and study for meeting tomorrow!

When I was four or five or thereabouts, I remember being at home with Dad - Mom was off somewhere - when a fire was called. We got in the car and went to the firestation and got into the firetruck and went off to the house that was on fire. And Dad LOCKED US IN THE TRUCK!! I remember very clearly the injustice of this. I wanted to get out and go around to the other side of the house and see what the fire looked like from there. I knew that it was important to stay far away and not get in the way of the firefighters, and I would have! I was big! I could be very good! Hmph.

So tonight, I got half of my ancient desire granted. We were just done having pizza when Dawn got up and put the paper plates on the fire. A few minutes later, she glanced up and saw fire flickering up where the pipe went into the chimney. And as she said this, we heard it start to roar. So we shut all the dampers, called the fire dept, and went outside to gawk. It was a chimney fire, no question. Flames coming about 2 feet out the top, and black black smoke. So we stayed out and watched the firemen come, and climb up to the roof and dump stuff down. And squat and watch it for a while, and dump more stuff down. And wander around inside looking for hotspots. And watch it a while longer, and dump some more stuff down... Most excitement we've had since we went to the horse races! (that's another post - I should have made it before this one.) But all ended well. It was a ceramic-lined chimney, and they managed to keep it from getting too hot. All the Dumping Down of Stuff was to keep from using water so as not to crack it and make it unusable.