Slight Detour: Spring Has Sprung Us Loose

It feels a bit like April Fool's Day.

For several days, we've heard weather forecasts promising a WET and miserable Bloomsday.

Was that a joke designed to make the runners pleasantly surprised when they showed up for the race?

Or, is the weather here substantially different in Spokane?

Here at the Lovestead, it's relatively warm, dry and a bit windy.

I'll take it. Could be the weather pattern is south of here.

Twas a surprise to walk outside and not a sign of "wet" anywhere, 'cept the water tanks.

We definitely have transitioned into all things spring. Yesterday's scenes at opening day of the Farmer's Market and down our road with the annual Cikeltur Three Quarter Minus cycling race offered a catharctic sense that the outdoors lovers can move on with life.

I did spend most of the afternoon in and out of the house, taking in the Kentucky Derby, and, of course, that event signals the ultimate of spring flings.

Annie and two of her classmates are in Los Angeles for a vacation but work-related weekend.

They attended a geocaching event known as the Spring Fling Mega.

Bill went to Bonners Ferry to take in an historical program at the Snider Guard Station along the Moyie River.

Of course, since the program was along the Moyie, he took along his fishing gear and put it to good use.

I was actually surprised when he showed up back at home for dinner. Apparently no "evening hatches" along the Moyie yesterday.

Willie and Debbie drove to the Coeur d'Alene Casino last evening for a banquet when both Willie and Dave Broughton were honored by the North Idaho Officials Assoc.

Anyway, spring moves on today with no rain, so I might put some more items in the garden.

Happy Sunday.

Enjoy the photos.

Every year, I like to take a picture of this lady, Robyn Roberts, at the Farmer's Market.

She is a flower aficionado extraordinaire. And, she has some very nice daughters.

Plus, she landscaped our Lovestead several years ago for another owner, Gretchen Piper.

Best of all, she just got a Border Collie puppy named Juniper.

---Debbie Love Photo

Dave Broughton and Will Love.

Both were honored last night at the North Idaho Officials Assoc. banquet in Worley.

Dave was named to the Hall of Fame, while Willie was honored as an administrator/coach.

Congratulations to both.

🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎

I read the following thoughts in the New York Times newsletter this morning.

They reflect a dark side of the beautiful sport of horse racing.

Knowing the disturbing numbers of fatalities in horse racing last year, I did feel a bit nervous as that pack of 21 horses left the gate.

Fortunately, there were no accidents or casualties in what was the closest photo finish since the year I was born: 1947.

Jet Pilot won that year.

If you didn't watch yesterday's race, there were three horses neck and neck at the finish line.

Tis the nose that determines the winner in horse racing, and Mystik Dan's nose led the pack.

From this morning's NYT

As is so often the case, money is the root of the problem. Trainers push horses too hard, sometimes giving them illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

That’s because owners know that a signature win will turn their million-dollar investment into a multimillion-dollar A.T.M. in the breeding shed.

Do the math: Sierra Leone can be retired tomorrow and enter a life where he mates twice a day, to 155 mares, potentially earning $31 million annually over a breeding career that can last 10 years or more.

Even at the more modest levels of the sport, trainers sometimes rely on illegal drugs. More often, though, the problem is overuse of legal corticosteroid medications that mask pain and allow at-risk thoroughbreds to run until they perish.

Among the cluster of 13 deaths at Saratoga, for example, 11 were the result of injuries to a fetlock joint, which can be weakened by injections. Three of the 11 received corticosteroid injections within 30 days of racing.

Another three had been declared unsound by veterinarians before their breakdowns, though their owners and trainers still managed to get them into competition.

In short, the humans failed the horses.

Most people involved in the sport have put their horses first, and they were integral in creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the federal body that now polices the sport.

But if that group does not do its job, horse racing could be in trouble. It is at risk of losing its core audiences, including horse lovers, who do not want to see animals die, and gamblers, who now have many other options for betting on sports.

Along with a multibillion-dollar economy, an important part of American history and its soul would be lost.