Mine That Bird - A Spectacular Win!

A $9,500 gelding, a 50 to 1 longshot, ridden by Cajun jockey, Calvin H. Borel, wins the Kentucky Derby. Watch the video.

Sire: Birdstone, Dam: Mining My Own. Read all about Mine That Bird.

And the jockey Calvin Borel:

Borel lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his fiancee, Lisa Funk. Calvin Borel hails from south Louisiana, the heart of Cajun Country famous for its production of many top jockeys during the last twenty years. Like Randy Romero, Kent Desormeaux, and Shane Sellers, Borel began racing horses in the bush tracks near his hometown of Catahoula. One such track was Evangeline Downs in Carencro, Louisiana, where Borel began riding in match races at the age of eight.[citation needed] Calvin is known for his Cajun accent and bubbly personality, both of which were on full display during his post-victory interview after 2009's Kentucky Derby.

Well, of course! All us Cajuns have bubbly personalities. Just think. Borel's hometown is Catahoula, home of what some call the ugliest dog in the world, the Catahoula Hound, but I'd never call them that. Wiki says that the breed is not a hound, but a cur.

Today's win was Borel's second in the Derby. Yay Cajun!



The winnahs!

UPDATE: As soon as Mine That Bird crossed the finish line six and a quarter lengths ahead of 18 others, Borel’s tears flowed with the warmth and power of Niagara Falls. He patted, hugged, hollered and dripped tears on the gelding he met for the first time Monday. Finally, Borel kissed a rose and lofted it toward the heavens in honor of his late mother and father.

From the New York Times.

All The Way With Silly Saturday

THE TALKING CENTIPEDE

A single guy decided life would be more fun if he had a pet.

So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet.

After some discussion, he finally bought a talking centipede, (100-legged bug), which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box back home, found a good spot for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to church with him.

So he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to church with me today? We will have a good time."

But there was no answer from his new pet.

This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked again, "How about going to church with me and receive blessings?"

But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation.

The guy decided to invite the centipede one last time.

This time he put his face up against the centipede's house and shouted, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to church with me and learn about God?"

... YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS ...

This time, a little voice came out of the box,

"I heard you the first time!
I'm putting on my shoes!"

Thanks to Ann.

May Day Fun - "Royal Romp"

From the Washington Post:

A couple were arrested Sunday for stripping off their clothes and having sex on the lawn of Windsor Castle, one of the country's most popular tourist attractions, said Anamika Madar, a spokeswoman for the Thames Valley Police.

The arrest became top news in Britain on Friday when details of it were leaked to the press. Madar said "more than one person" had called to alert police to the naked spectacle, which took place in full view of busy hotels and shops and sightseers who gathered to videotape this particular sight.

The couple were jailed overnight for "outraging public decency," Madar said.

And the Queen was right there in the castle while this indecency was happening! I know that I am thoroughly outraged by reading about such a public spectacle of nudity and lewdity on the lawn of Windsor Castle. Surely, had I been there, I would have called in after I watched for just a minute or two.

According the the Sun newspaper, "the woman was an American Internet expert and her partner was a British manager of a recruiting firm". One American and one Brit. One wonders if the internet expert has a specialty and for what specific jobs the manager recruits. Ah, but other news reports say that they were "respectable people with with respectable jobs".

British news accounts suggested the couple had been drinking a lot of champagne and appeared not to realize how many people were watching, or exactly where they were.

Dennis!!!!

Champagne. Lovely spring weather. Nice lawn. Surely an irresistible combination.

But how could they miss the "Keep Off the Grass" sign?

FREE GRILL

As every Southerner knows, with spring here it is now time to get ready for that all-important cooking technique of the south...outdoor grilling!

I have just found out there are several stores (not just in the South) where you can get a FREE Bar-B-Q grill! You can get a free BBQ grill from any of the following stores (just make sure to get a metal one....the plastic ones don't do so well):

A&P
Albertsons
BJ'S
Bi-Lo
Ingles
Big Lots
Bloom
Brookshire's
Costco
Food Lion
Fry's
Home Depot
Lowe's
Pathmark
Price Chopper
Publix
Rouse's
Sam's Club
Safeway
Target
Vons
Trader Joe's
Wal-Mart
Winn-Dixie



Ya'll enjoy now!

Don't blame me. Blame Ann and Doug.

Dang!

From Lapin.

"One Of These Days...."

Mark Harris at Preludium answers a question from his comments about accountability:

I am accountable to Christ Jesus who is the Source of everything I am, and who would wonder that in any wise the institutional churches were confused for the people who are the living presence of himself, and would wonder why any accountability to those institutions would suffice even in the slightest for the accountability that is love.
....

So I am not much help for those who want to talk about accountability to this or that church, or the Anglican Communion or any visibly right way of being church that would match the Body. The Body of Christ is too visceral, too much alive, too unseemly to be held by anything as starched and petty and pious, as propitious and prudent as the several churches. The Body of Christ is, in other words, too alive to be associated in too great convergence with the death which is most institutional church.

Mark speaks from his heart with great wisdom. I urge you to read his entire post. He speaks just what I'd want to say, but with an eloquence to which I'd never aspire.

Thanks to Counterlight for sending me to read Mark's wonderful words.

Aspen Alley

Aspen Alley on Battle Mountain near Rawlins, Wyoming

Thanks to Ann. I asked Ann if the beautiful alley of trees led to her mansion, but she said no.

The Doctor's Daughter

A physician was taking her 4-year-old daughter to preschool. The little girl picked up the stethoscope, which the doctor had left on the car seat, and began playing with it.

"This is wonderful," thought the doctor." My daughter wants to follow in my footsteps!"

Then the child spoke into the instrument, "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"

We Meet Ginny S. And Cousins At Oak Alley

Oak Alley Plantation

On Tuesday of this week, I met Ginny S. and her cousins, Mary and Isabelle, at Oak Alley, pictured above, a beautiful plantation house on the Mississippi River not far from Thibodaux. The oak trees which create the alley going down to the River Road are estimated to be nearly 300 years old.

Ginny doesn't have a cell phone, and we had not discussed how we would recognize each other, but she had seen pictures of me online, so she came up to me first, and we went on from there. Ginny is No. 27 on my list of members of our blog world whom I now know face to face.

Mary, Isabelle, and Ginny grew up in Baton Rouge, and Ginny lived in New Orleans and Hammond, Louisiana, as an adult, so we had quite a bit in common. Grandpère was with me, the only man in a group of four women, but I think he likes that. He held his own.

Ginny S. does not have a blog, but many of you will recognize her handle from her comments around our little piece of the blogosphere. She mentioned at The Friends of Jake that she would be in the area, and I asked if perhaps we could meet for a meal, and - lo! - it worked out, and I got to meet the lovely Ginny and her two equally lovely cousins.

We went to lunch in the restaurant on the grounds first. The food was good. The conversation was excellent and always high-toned, which is as it should be with southern ladies. We laughed a lot, another very good thing. Although two of the four of us no longer live in the South, once a southern girl, always a southern girl, and try to keep us from letting the good times roll.



Here they be - the cousins - Isabelle, Ginny, and Mary.

After lunch, we toured the house, which is beautifully restored and furnished with pieces from the period when the house was completed in 1841. Sadly, only a couple of the original furnishings of the house remain.


Here be us - Mimi and Ginny.

After the house tour, we strolled around the grounds and spent more time talking and getting to know each other better at our leisure. I had not visited Oak Alley in years, and I was pleased to see what the owners have done since I was last there.

Grandpère took most of the pictures, so he is not included, but I managed to capture a rear view of him with Isabelle and Mary, as he waves his hands around as he talks, like a typical Cajun.



And now GP and I have three new friends. All in all, a lovely day, indeed!

UPDATE: One more picture with Isabelle to show the size of one of the oak trees.

A Fire Rainbow And The Northern Lights

THIS IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA. THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED RECENTLY ON THE IDAHO/WASHINGTON BORDER. THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR.

CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES.



THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

Since the Fire Rainbow is one of the rarest of naturally occurring atmospheric phenomena, I don't aspire ever to see it. However, for a quite some time, I have longed to see the Northern Lights. One day....

Thanks to Doug for the gorgeous pictures.