Caren's Words & Pictures

Went to Nashville over Labor Day weekend and attended a PBR event, meeting up with some of our friends from Kentucky.  We  got to go behind the bucking chutes  before the event started and it was interesting to see the bulls close up and personal!

Inside Hatch Show Print.

Bellow is my review of the American Idol concert I recently attended in Salt Lake City. Also, I have a bunch of photos I took at the concert uploaded to flickr



I just got back from a trip to Salt Lake City for the Idol concert where I saw Utahans welcome home their favorite son, David Archuleta. Having gone to Utah's "Stadium Of Fire" 4th Of July show in '06 to see Taylor Hicks in his first post-Idol appearance, I can vouch for the fact that Utah is a great place to see a big event as the locals are the nicest, most polite, appreciative people you can imagine. The folks in Utah are apple-pie America at it's finest.

June 21st, the longest day of the year, is one of my favorite days. I'm a daylight person, I'll take all of it I can get. Here's some photos I have taken the past couple days--

A Fat Cloud Over Aspen Mountain


Columbine, Colorado's State Flower


Full Moon Over Independence Pass

I'm not trying to beat up the subject of Big Brown, but I still can't get over the travesty of Saturday's Belmont Stakes, (see my previous postings) and now people who's opinions are way more highly regarded than mine are speaking out about Kent Desormeaux's ride aboard Big Brown.

Seattle Slew

Billy Turner

There have been a few blog comments surface over the weekend criticizing Kent's ride on Big Brown. And some have defended Kent's act of pulling the horse up in the stretch as being "noble" and "protecting the horse". What people don't realize is it's not easy to pull a horse up during a race, and the act of stopping a horse in full stride is a huge mental frustration for the horse with the additional risk of physical harm as the jockey forces the horse out of competition. Believe me, you don't pull a horse up during a race because he is not going to win, just as a baseball team doesn't decide to not come out in the 9th inning just because they are behind in the score. It's insane and it really points to Kent's mental state at the time.

Big Brown being pulled up before the race is over

IEAH Stables President Michael Ivarone

Undefeated horses such as Big Brown is the worst thing that can happen to most people. They get to thinking that the horse cannot be beaten, and the pressure mounts with each race for the horse's race record to remain perfect. Throw in trying to break a 30 year Triple Crown dry spell and the pressure gets even worse.

 Newsflash---they all get beat, even the greatest of the greats, such as Man O War and Secretariat.

Surely they won't retire Big Brown before he gets the chance to finish out the year and redeem himself. Lots of people think we have seen the last of Big Brown on the racetrack. They figure the owners don't want to risk embarrassment of another defeat. The only thing embarrassing is how poorly Kent rode Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes, and I hope it's not the last image we have of Big Brown.

Here's hoping we get another chance to see Big Brown run. And maybe a jockey change is in order.

Nerves got to jockey Kent Desormeaux in the first turn of the Belmont Stakes as he wrestled Big Brown to the outside instead of letting the horse settle early in the race. Kent knows Big Brown runs better when he's outside in the clear, but in racing, you don't always get to be where you want to be. A clear thinking jockey would have patiently waited until he could work his way to the outside position. And not only did Kent panic around the first turn, but when he finally did get Big Brown to the outside, he kept him so far outside, he gave up ground to the other horses that even Secretariat could not have overcome.

It is the biggest embarrassment of a ride by by a major league jockey in a major league that I've ever seen. I want to emphasize that there was no guarantee Big Brown would have won even if the race went perfectly (which they rarely do), or if Kent would have ridden him differently, but Kent took away his best chance of winning by his choice of moves.

I guarantee you Big Brown's trainer Dick Dutrow is beyond mad at Kent right now. Or maybe it's just a huge dose of disappointment, which we all share. In the immediate aftermath of the race, all the speculation by the TV commentators was about Big Brown's soundness, as to whether he was injured or not. No one questioned Kent Desormeaux's decision making during the race. It will be interesting to see what Dutrow says tomorrow and if the speculation turns the spotlight on Kent in the days to come.

Here's a tiny bird I hadn't seen before. He was outside my window, and I was able to photograph him easily. In the first photo, he looks innocent enough:



But according to my bird book, the ruby-crowned kinglet has a red patch "usually not visible, unless he becomes excited, at which he flashes it open and the whole crown seems to be gushing blood." He was excited, because he saw his reflection in the window and was trying to chase the "intruder" away. He's a little fella, only 4.25". I really enjoyed seeing this bird.

When the top 12 Idols were established, I wrote down my predictions of the final order of finish. As you can imagine, this is nearly impossible, but it's fun. I participate in an Idol blog on USA Today, I like it because it has mostly intelligent discussion of American Idol and not any name calling or childish rabid fans defending their favorites.

Anyway, two weeks ago it was time for the annual top twelve prediction on the USA Today Idol blog so below is what I posted before David H got eliminated. This was a prediction, not necessarily my order of favorites:

12. David H
11. Ramiele
10. Kristy Lee
9. Syesha
8. Amanda
7. Jason
6. Chikeze
5. Carly
4. David A.
3. Michael
2. David C.
1. Brooke

Hindsight is 20/20, and though I got #12 correct, Amanda is now gone (thankfully) and Ramiele remains. I still think Ramiele is rapidly running out of steam and has not distinguished herself against some really unique competitors, so I am calling for her dismissal tonight at #10.

My original favorites (before they made it into the top 24) made it to the top ten: Michael, Brooke, and Kristy. Kristy has been dragging the bottom, dangerously close to dismissal but she knocked it out of the park last night by singing "God Bless The USA" and garnering the patriotic vote as well as the country vote. I'm calling her safe this week.

I am still impressed with Brooke and Michael, they remain my favorites. Brooke is doing great, Michael needs to continue to kick it up a bit like he did last night with the Queen songs.

Now that the deck has been reshuffled, I am posting a new order of finish prediction for the top ten:

10. Ramiele
9. Carly
8. Syesha
7. Jason
6. Kristy
5.David A
4. Chikeze
3. Michael
2. Brooke
1. David C

Every year since about 1999, I have been taking photos of one of my rabbits on Easter Sunday. This is Traveler, and he has been part of the photo shoot from the beginning. He's ten years old and doing great. Usually I take him outside and photograph him next to daffodils, tulips or crocus, but since we moved to Colorado last year, there haven't been any flowers in bloom on Easter Sunday, as it is still too early here at 8000 feet in elevation. So though the weather was great today, I did the Easter Bunny Photo Shoot indoors, with an Easter basket instead of flowers.



Happy Easter everyone!

After a winter of record snowfall here in Aspen, it's officially spring. I even hand washed my car in the driveway yesterday. If I would have done that a few weeks ago, it would have created an ice floe. The snow is receding in the front yard.....

The aspen trees are thinking about budding new leaves.....




As another early sign of spring, the first migrant bird I saw was a mourning dove about ten days ago. I was really surprised but happy and got some nice photos....



Have a great spring day!

Wow. We have had tons of snow this winter here in Colorado. Thirty feet. Skiing has been great. Here's me a few weeks ago at the top of Aspen Mountain---

And here's some photos I took today at Highlands, which is also in the Aspen area. Aspen has four mountains to ski on, and Highlands is the local's favorite. It's  great skiing. Today it was sunny, we rode the lift up to the top and stopped to take photos. The photo below shows the Highland Bowl (left), where rugged skiers hike up the ridge (above and left of Clint's head) and ski down the bowl on the far left side. Not me. Pyramid Peak is in the center, and the stunning Maroon Bells is on the far right--



I'm going to use this for my long overdue new LJ userpic as soon as I get it resized.



Here's Clint inside the lodge at Highlands, which is very 1970s, and has some old, faded celebrity photos (Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Glen Campbell, and Lorne Greene) to prove it's vintage:

I love prematurely predicting who is going to win American Idol. The first year I watched Idol my husband and I nailed it--we predicted Taylor Hicks would win after seeing his initial audition, way before the top 24 were chosen. We both also liked Kellie Pickler that year, who finished sixth but has gone on the have a great start to a country singing career, touring in '07 with Brad Paisley and this year with Rascal Flatts. I'm still a big fan of both Taylor and Kellie. Kellie has more personality than all the top 12 competitors combined from last year (Jordin Sparks year.)

Last year I predicted Melinda Doolittle would win. I made that prediction before the top 24 competition started. My husband predicted Blake Lewis would win. Melinda finished third, Blake finished second. Melinda is a great, great singer, she just doesn't have the personality to be center stage. I'm still a Melinda fan.

OK, enough of the past....here we are with a new season, which is shaping up so far to be a damn good one. There are some really good singers, and possibly we might skate through this year without having the Annoyance Factor, such as Sanjaya and Antonella from last year.


I like Brooke White, she is very Carole King-like, not only in looks but the fact she writes her own songs. This may be her downfall in Idol, as possibly her voice will not rise above some of the other technically better singers. But I like her a lot and am already looking forward to her singing career.

I like Kristy Lee Cook, the cute girl from Selma, Oregon. She kicks ass, literally, being a martial arts and cage fighter. She also trains horses and sold a horse to pay her way to the auditions. I admire her spirit and the way she embraces all that life has to offer.

But the winner this year is going to be the Aussie Michael Johns. I am saying this based on the Hollywood round where he sang Bohemian Rhapsody. They didn't show his initial audition, which is disappointing, so the first time we saw him was in Hollywood. He's got the looks, stage presence, and fantastic voice. Will the voting public not vote for him because he's Australian born, not American born? I doubt it...we love our Aussie imports and readily assimilate them.

So let the top 24 singing begin!

The word here in Colorado is snow. Lots of it. Feet, not inches. Just ask the squirrel and the chickadee!

American Idol, season seven. So far the two audition shows which have aired are much better than last year. I was disgusted and annoyed at the big waste of time last year's audition shows were, and the whole season six didn't pan out all that well as most of the top ten are forgettable. I liked Melinda and Blake, but I'm not sure either is going to have a career to follow.

Anyway, we have made it around the horn again to a new season and we are off and running with new faces. I saw a number of singers who seem to have great interest and potential. Two of my favorites are the girl from Oregon who rides horses and kick boxes. I have to track down her name. She is blonde, cute, and well spoken.

The other one I like is Drew Poppelreiter. His last name doesn't exactly roll of the tongue in a pleasing fashion, but he reminds me of a young Brad Pitt. Drew is a farmer from Mississippi. He, like the girl from Oregon, is blonde, cute, and well spoken.

Day one of 2008...I took this photo of Maroon Bells this morning about 7:30 am. It's cold today, about 12 below zero as the sun came up...imagine how much colder it is at the top of Maroon Peak which is over 14,000 feet. Chilly!


 

The weather in Aspen is supposed to get above freezing in a few days, that will be a welcome change as it has been cold, cold cold for several weeks.

I got a bird feeder for Christmas, I think this one's a good one because it keeps out the bigger birds and it seems to be strong and well made. The chickadees and red polls are loving it.

Anyway I was watching the birds get seeds, and one chickadee dropped down to the snow covered ground to pick up a fallen seed. He left this little flutter mark on the snow, which I thought was really cool so I took a picture of it:




Happy New Year everyone....here's to a great '08!

Today is the 9 year anniversary of the day we brought this bunny home. In the small Montana town where we lived in 1998, there was an ad in the local paper for a dwarf bunny for sale $15.00. The people had two little kids who were too young to handle a bunny, so they decided to sell him. We went and got him. We had two other rabbits at the time and didn't really need another one, but sometimes you do things just because it needs to be done.

The "dwarf" was not a dwarf at all, but a mini Rex. My other two bunnies passed into bunny heaven several years ago, but this mini Rex, who we named Traveler, continues to be a highlight in our life. He has a great personality and we enjoy every minute of his existence.

The year end championship series for Thoroughbreds is this Saturday. Street Sense and his three year old rivals Curlin, Hard Spun, and Any Given Saturday will compete in the biggest race, the five million dollar Breeders Cup Classic. Also in the Classic field will be Lawyer Ron, George Washington, Awesome Gem,  Diamond Stripes, and Tiago. It's a top group of horses and it will be interesting to watch!

Breeders Cup coverage is on ESPN from 12-7 pm ET and the Classic will run at 5:35 ET.

Here's an article on Street Sense's trainer, Carl Nafzger, who will be inducted into the Pro Bull Riders Ring Of Honor on November 4th in Las Vegas. More on that later but read the article for details.

The warm weather has been gradually ramping down but it was still a magnificent warm autumn. Today, however, it really looks like winter, it has been snowing on and off all day. Here's a golden who collapsed and rolled in the snow in my front yard just minutes ago:

He thought the snow was the coolest thing and was reluctant to leave.

Off they went, they had no idea they are being broadcast on the www--

This doggy entry is dedicated to the memory of Robyn Henzel's (

alohashark

Caren