Eight Belles, I loved her name. A Belle of a horse was she. She was looking to be the first filly (for those of you non-horse racing followers that means female) to win the Debry since 1980. She gave it a gallant try, but trying wasn’t good enough for this day in which Big Brown was crowned Kentucky Derby Glory. The filly finished second, and after the finish she had a debilitating injury which forced the only kind thing, euthanasia. It was so painful to watch. I was rooting for the girl. What can I say, I was sexist today. I rooted for the girl. I know she’s galloping along in all her glory now in animal heaven.
Watching it today reminded me of Alex DeFord, she died of Cystic Fibrosis at the age of eight. She was rooting for another Filly named Ruffian in another big horse race The Belmont Stakes (in the 1970’s), and she suffered a similar fate. (Read Story Here). I can only hope that some other little girl didn’t have to face the same disappointment.
More on Horse Racing:
Photo Credit: AP
Whenever it gets towards the end of the month I get to thinking about Devon. We’re coming up on three months since he died. While I realize that he isn’t here, there are just times when I get to thinking and it’s just absolutely unbelievable. When I look at his pictures from last summer, when he looked so healthy it’s just unreal to think that he’s been gone almost three months. I really miss that kid, and I so wish I could pick up the phone and just say hi.
I wish I could send him orange tic tacs. I’ll never be able to look at a pack of them again and not think of him. He was just so kind, precious, and sweet. I know that he’s gone on to do much more important and greater things than we’re doing on earth, but it still doesn’t deaden the pain. It’s makes it not hurt so bad, but nothing will ever take it away completely.
I also wanted to include a video that was on the slide show of all his pictures at his funeral. It’s One More Day, sung by Diamond Rio.
Dad, Jessica, and Shadow (the horse that he had to give to someone else after he had an injury) - Not the greatest photo, but the only one I had available on my new computer.
For the longest time my Dad has said that if he ever won the lottery he’d invest the money into an animal sanctuary. I believe him, he practically has one living at his house already. He has Big Boy (who’s had countless health problems), Sandy (who he adopted at the same time we adopted our two dogs), Mama Dog (who shares her time between his and my Aunt Ruby’s house next door), Henry (one of our two dogs that has taken up residence there because of the magnet [my Dad]), Scruffy (being our other dog), and then there’s Sophie. Sophie is something else. She lives a few doors down at another person’s house, but she really loves my Dad. So she scampers on over all the time. She also likes me, and ends up sleeping in my lap every time I go to visit. Along with the dogs, Tigre the cat resides there. And if that were not enough animals he boards two horses (which escaped the property last week that he ended up chasing down to get them to safety) at his farm across the street from the house he lives.
I preface this story talking about my Dad because this story out of CNN this morning about Mrs. Bonnie, reminds of what my Dad would like to have if he had the financial resources to do it. I won’t tell you the story of Mrs. Bonnie, I’ll just tell you that once you read it if you’re an animal lover you might be misty.
Mrs. Bonnie
Photo Credit: CNN
Here’s the story:
Tornado takes ‘Mrs. Bonnie,’ animal lover
For more info on Mrs. Bonnie Visit Flint Hill Kennel
What a sad story :~~(
This is my “down in the dumps” song. Whenever I get sad or depressed or generally not feeling well emotionally I play the song over and over again and I feel better. It’s not one of James Blunt’s popular songs, but I heard it on his Back to Bedlam CD and I’ve liked it ever since. Here’s the “Live” version, but not bad for a live version.