I Adore Alexander,my cat

I am trying to get a photo of my cat on my blog. this was taken when I first received my computer so this is the only photo I have of him to date that I can use here. The others are all on my cell phone...complications until I learn how to bring all this together.

Hawthorne's Jim Edgar Futurity Race

I mentioned the fact that many races are fixed so that a horse can win or cannot win. In a book about Man O War many old times methods of trying to fix a race are discussed and frankly are quite shocking. There is little doubt that many winning horses were in danger of losing their lives back in the 30's and 40's since there were unscrupulous characters who would try anything to prevent them from winning. Phar Lap appears to be a horse that fell victim to someone's efforts to keep him from becoming an American phenomena as he had been in Australia where even there many objected to his long winning streak.

So today there are two examples of horses that one must question whether it was fixed for them to win or to lose when one learns the results. One owner had three horses entered, and the least likely won while the heavily favored did not win. In this case, the owner did not get hurt at all, only the simple minded trusting bettor who truly believed that a "best" horse could win again against a minor leaguer...sorry but it turned out not to be true.

Everyone will come away from that race believing what they want about it, that money talked and won! It looks that way when one can only shake one's head in wonder.

That's all on this subject for now.

The favorite, a horse by the name of Twelve Hundred did not win but was trained and owned by the same owner as the horse that did win...so neither trainer or owner lost a thing...just the dumb stiff who bet on Twelve Hundred instead of Real Power.

Christmas Blues

There is a song called Blue Christmas. I believe Elvis sang it along with many others. It will be a blue Christmas without you.

Each year the celebration of Christmas becomes harder and harder to enjoy. As one ages, one realizes how life changes affect one's emotional and mental processes. Fundamentally, Christmas is supposed to be a recognition of the annual event which celebrates the birth of a young god, a child born to become the saviour of the Jewish community, and who expanded it to become the saviour of the gentiles and infidels as well so long as they would recognize his status as the person upon whom one could trust to lead one into a kingdom of love and fulfilment in the state of soul. The physical body is revealed to expose the status of the soul through its health records, meaning that the souls who need to be cured appear to have soul problems...Jesus was able to see into them, help to cure them through the forgiveness of the sin that prevented them from having good health.

Most Christians today do not fully recognize this as the stories of Jesus are dependent upon the interpretation that some priest, preacher, or divine soul can give to them. Most appear to be misinterpreted thus creating all kinds of problems for the many faithful who continue to believe in the truth of the good news of the great lord and master Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost is who is supposed to follow Jesus so that the true faithful will always continue to understand the mysteries of the faith.

So now we celebrate the birth of Christ with songs, prayers, and attendance in mass at a public acknowledgement and recognition of that faith. No matter that many do not attend church services regularly but that they do at Christmas. That is good. The fact that they want to celebrate the birth is good news as God sees the true intent and that is what counts.

Sending Christmas cards keeps friendships intact, families apprised of news within the family, and the post office at work. The internet now for many can do the same without all the added expense of postage stamps, and expensive Hallmark or American Greeting cards.

Happy Holidays, or Merry Christmas! It is all the same. Holy Day. Christ's Mass. It is an occasion of happiness, joy, and remembrance to honor the Christ child whose light has led the world into an understanding of healing and peace amongst men of God's will.

Merry Christmas to all!

Songs about Christmas

I just listened to two new standard Christmas songs which are not regularly played or known and wondered at why it is that artists and storytellers continue to feel the need to write a song, a poem, or a story about the time in which Jesus was brought into the world.

Years ago when I was writing for a correspondent course in Children's Literature the Detroit Newspapers had a contest for stories about Christmas. I wrote two stories but did not submit either. I did at one time share the birth of Christ story with a member of a discussion group. Then I wrote another about a child who had suffered the death of his mother and who was trying to adjust to a difficult time due to that untimely death.

Many people suffer more violently at holiday times than any other time since so much stress is placed on family, gift giving, and the need to be a part of a commercial affair rather than a spiritual remembrance.

Should Christmas mean a lot of Christmas presents under a tree? Who can get the most or the biggest or the best? That is how Christmas is basically taught but there is also a time spent going to a church where the preacher teaches about the star that led the Wise Men and the Shepherds to find the small babe who lay in a manger in the back of a busy hotel or inn that had not had a reservation made for this child who came into the world expectantly believe it or not. His birth was a known fact long before it happened.

So Jesus had to sleep on a straw bed and his mother, a young child herself, had to suffer the discomfort of a birth delivery in the rear of an inn while her husband attended to her. Miraculously the child was born and it followed that Mary and Joseph were not alone for long because soon they were visited by the wiseemen and the shepherds who came to see this strange spectacle of a child whose radiance was such that not only was there a star overhead but also a great light that shone round about him.

Playing the horses

I will share a few of my secrets here about horses and racing at the local tracks. One is that many people believe that races are fixed. It would be very difficult to prove that they are, as nobody will ever admit to it, but the word always gets out that some how or other a race is fixed. I think that owners would object to that idea since they are the ones bearing the costs and expenses most in this game, but one never knows if it is possible for jockeys and or trainers to really fix a race so that a horse will or won't win. It works that horses can be drugged to slow down as well as speed up in the world of those who believe that medicines are used for those purposes.

My secret in winning a race is to study the horses's behaviour. If a horse looks as though he is concentrating on the race by putting his head down even with his body, so that he looks straight, it usually means that he is somehow or other concentrating his energy on that race. If his tail swishes, it often means that he is a happy horse, that he is eager to race, and if he is sometimes acting up, trying to stand up, and appears to be moving about a lot, it indicates that he is full of run and energy so that he may be a contender. The horses that generally look straight ahead with head pointed forward come in first or second I have noticed. The horses themselves know what is up. I watched when horses seemed to concentrate on me, and then would win. I had no idea what it was that caused that but if I went to the stalls to watch them get dressed for the race, I would notice their way of looking at me. It made me take notice of them. I began then to study their body language and behaviour.

In truth and honesty, those are the best ways to win a race. You must see the horse for yourself and watch his behaviour and then you can find the horse who will be in the money.

I thought of writing a blog about winning horse races, and so I studied the patterns of jockeys and trainers for certain tracks. Some tracks use the same jockeys repeatedly which is the best way for the bettor to follow the pattern of a jockey. Knowing the streaks of wins and losses by a given jockey does help to make bets, especially exotic bets.

I will post this to facebook as I know there are people there who are interested in this topic. I have kept silent long enough and horses need care and attention.

Back Online

for the past few weeks I have been using my cellphone to check email and to do most computer projects, and as a result, have nearly forgotten what it is like to write on a regular netbook computer. I just did get my security updated so that I have spent some time online and will continue to do so now for awhile. It is amazing at how much we need a computer after we have started to use it and how little we need it for it is a bad habit as had been television.

In truth, it is sad to know that ordinary conversation is being replaced by noses peering into cellphones, ipads, and other mechanical devices. I am surprised that people know how to talk with one another any longer since so many appear to be always on their phones or computers.

But because I just had security put on to this netbook I will be using it more often than in the past few weeks. I nearly drained my cellphone battery by using it as a replacement I think. I did talk to them today about it.

I also talked to the vets about my plan which will expire in March so I must take my cat in to be neutered soon. I have dreaded that operation so much as I would have loved to have had a litter of kittens. So I may be still looking for that female cat to have a litter with Alexander as papa.

The holiday season is dreary for me right now. I am staying away from shopping centers as much as is possible. I sold some gold last month due to banking problems caused by my vet's screwing me up. I am thinking of selling a few rings now. Just thinking it through before I act upon it. The rings are so old and too small for me to wear now. If I get a decent price, I might sell them.

Christmas Time again

It is looking like it will be a white Christmas in many places as the weather has taken a nasty turn, dumping rain into the Valley and snow in the higher elevations as we in the West call it...

I like low elevations to be honest,and I had enough snow in my younger days in the Midwest and more recently in Colorado that thank you but no thank you I do not need snow and ice in my life even at Christmas time.

Today, I had to go to the local pawn shop where I had taken two old rings to get a loan of $25 to pay for a bank overdraft...they made $9 bucks for loaning me $25 when I needed it and recounting this week is a page out of well, never mind...this is how it went. My mpower beeper went off letting me know that I had only 3 days left on credit, so I have exactly $10 on me in cash and $11 in a winning voucher ticket from horse racing. I went to Basha's to put credit on my debit card, and left my keys on the cookie table. While on the bus, I went through my pocketbook dutifully checking that everything was there and could not find my keys...I said, oh no, to the driver, I have to get off the bus, I don't have my keys and frantically raced back to Walgreens to see if they were there, stopped at Chase to see if they were there ( in Basha's) and then down to the SRP kiosk to see if they were there and luckily for me, found them on the cookie counter as nobody had apparently gone near it.

At my age, I double and triple check everything for I am forget about all these little minor things, and chronic about not losing my keys. I was so devastated at that that I could not function well for hours.

Naturally, I had to tell my story, compulsive talker that I am, and everyone said how lucky I was...I was indeed...but on Friday I had to go back and again, I am just wondering what the heck is it with Bashas and that SRP kiosk now, as I made sure not to go in the same door, to do everything carefully, and just like that the case in which I carry allmy cards fell out of my hand onto the floor, and sprayed out all my cards on the floor. Was I ever mad at that! I picked up all the cards, doublechecked to make sure none were under the game machine that is next to kiosk and even got a man to bend down and look for me to make sure that I have everything...driving me crazy too, but that is old age and clumsiness and dropsy for you.

So today, after leaving the pawn shop where the men who were there were so nice to me, gentlemanly, and told me that I could come anytime I needed as they have me on record now, I walk out the door, and as two people are walking towards me, the ring falls out of my hand, and I am down on the ground, trying to retrieve it from under a rear end of a car...they asked me if I was all right...I could not believe this, mind you! Two days in a row.

That did it. I decided no to horses and went to Arizona Mills shopping where I found two sweatshirts at Penny's on sale and bought them, stopped at Panda Express, got some orange chicken and shrimp and then proceeded home, to find my phone's battery is dying on me as it needs recharging. It has not been used at all so why is it draining all of a sudden twice in one day!

I will leave it on the charger all night as when I woke up this morning the juice had drained out of it. It takes forever to recharge so that means a trip to the service shop on Monday and probably a new phone.

Agh! This will be one heck of a month. Did find a tower for my cat at Big Lots and want it...gotta find a way to get it home and to get the money for it...

Yeah, this saga never ends...relentlessly.