More Horse Racing News and Misc. Whining

We had a great result on Saturday, when one of our horses, Storm Cover, won the first race of the day at River Downs.  I was totally blown away.  It was so cool!   Storm Cover prefers polytrack to dirt, but he needed a tune up and this race was available.  He seemed to break slowly and fell behind the pack quickly.  From the back stretch to the final turn, he was about 15 lengths off the pace.  I thought, well, shoot.  Then he seemed to down shift and overtook the field quickly.  One other horse challenged him for a couple strides late in the stretch, but he won going away.  I can’t wait to see what he does on his home track, Turfway, when he runs on the poly in September. 

On the home front, Mrs. Old Musher is in Kansas this week visiting with her sister.  Sure is quiet around here.  And I don’t mean that in a good way.

I’m still trying to figure out which irons to pull out of the fire.  I’m not doing a good job at anything right now.  I’m stretched too thin.  Well, my schedule is, anyway.  I’m anything but thin.  I have some very tough decisions to make over the next few months.  I need to make good ones.

Ok, I’ve got chored to do and work to get done and it’s not going to happen if I keep blethering on here.  Nighty night.

First Horse Race Excitement

Yesterday one of our race horses, Makeover Me, ran her first race since we’ve been in the ownership group.  She ran in the second race at Indiana Downs.  I was able to watch the race on the internet.  It was so exciting.  The track was amazingly sloppy.  There was standing water and mud flying everywhere.  Great for football fans, not so great for horse racing.  Makeover Me was sitting in third place from the start, around the turn and into the top of the stretch.  At that point she seemed to tire a bit and finished just out of the money.  I was on the edge of my seat.  Sure, we didn’t win, but it was so much fun.  Being a Kentucky boy, I just love thoroughbred racing and it’s a hoot to be a part of the action.  Even the very tiny piece of ownership we have.  Our other horse, Storm Cover is scheduled to run Friday night.  I’m psyched.

Stress

Yep, Stress is my middle name.  Mostly work related.  But it bleeds over into every part of my life.  I have twitches in most of my extremities now.  I have them in my eyelids (typical), my index fingers, my ring finger on my left hand, my biceps, my stomach and even my quadraceps (both legs).  Fortunately, most parts don’t twitch at the same time, or I’d look like I’d been hooked up to electrodes.  But most of the time, if I’m in repose, something is twitching.  Right now it’s my left bicep.  Oh, sometimes, my whole left arm spasms.  My doctor says this is not good.  I could have figured that out without the $40 co-pay.  She says I need more sleep and less stress.  Again….med school not required.  But she has seen my flailing about in action and is quite concerned. 

But the part that bothers me most is my temper.  My nerves are shot and I have zero patience.  I don’t know how poor Mrs. Old Musher copes.  I’m an absolute grump.  And the dogs must think I’ve lost my mind entirely. 

On the positive front, I’m continuing to lose weight and that takes a load off my heart, which has its own problems.  How the heck did I get so old? 

Ah well….. time to take the dogs out to potty before bed.  And shoot, there goes my left leg. 

Here’s a tip….. don’t get old!

Meet Guinness

I talk a great deal about Guinness, my Belgian Sheepdog.  I say, ‘my’, but he is definitely more attached to Mrs. Old Musher.  Anyone who ever read the classic, “Lad, A Dog” series by Albert Payson Terhune will recognize the phenomenon.  G is 4 years old now.  He is tall, thin and fast as greased lightning.  I am looking to add a real working sleddog to the family to help me teach guinness to bikejor.  He likes to run.  I just need a dog to teach him to run out front.  He is an extremely affectionate dog with a bunch of energy just going to waste.  We plan to change that.

Guinness

Sleddog Book Progress Slow

After my first book, “IOU NO MORE” came out, I started outlining a follow up to it called, “Recession Proof Living”.  The ideas are timely and practical.  But the simple truth is, I don’t really want to write another money management book right now.  I still like helping people become debt free, doing seminars and the like, but even after two years, I’m kind of burned our writing about it.

Some time back, a few members of a mushing discussion board I was on (one of many such boards) said they liked some of my stories and that I should write a book about them.  That inspired the creation of “Life Lessons From a Lead Dog”, a compilation of anectodes and incidents from my years with sleddogs.  The twist is that I will use each story as a coaching lesson on topics like, leadership, team work, perseverance etc.  I’ve very excited about it. 

The trick will be getting a publisher.  Everybody who has a dog and a laptop thinks he has the next “Marley and Me”.  I don’t want to get lost in that ocean.  So my proposal needs to be pretty creative.  Ah, there’s the rub.  I am in a creative funk.  I get out the laptop, sit down to write and……nothing.  nada. The ideas swirl around in my head, but I’m just exhausted from other things.  So “Life Lessons” is way behind schedule.

I truly believe in this book.  I believe it will be humorous, heart warming, entertaining and even inspirational.  If it ever gets written, that is.

Good Weight Loss This Week

The Old Musher lost 4 pounds this week.  That’s huge this far along.  It was very enouraging, because I didn’t lose anything last week.  The total weight loss is not 49.5.   Sadly, I still hate 11 more pounds to be at the halfway point.  On the positive front, I only have 11 more pounds to be at the halfway point.  Also, on the positive side, I might not block the sun at my niece’s wedding in August.  It’s the simple things that make old men happy.

Bikejoring and Other Forms of Urban Mushing

When Mrs. Old Musher and I were sent here to Georgia, I thought I’d have to leave dog powered sports behind me.  For a year, I dealt with withdrawl and boredom, concentrating on my vegetable gardening and that other thing.  What’s it called again?  Oh, yeah, my job!  But as has become painfully obvious, my sleddog addiction has been too strong. 

So I put my thinking cap on (meaning, I did a google search), to come up with ways I might indulge my mushing urges here in Dixie.  I have come up with a couple of options:  Bikejoring and Dog Scootering.  If you want to know more, do a search of your favorite search engine using bikejoring, dog scootering or urban mushing.  You’ll be surprised with what you come up with.

I have chosen bikejoring as my expression.  I have everything except the dog.  My Belgian sheepdog isn’t a puller.  He likes to run ahead of me just a little, but pulling is not in his DNA.  So, I’m on the lookout for a bikejoring companion.   Then maybe poor old Mrs. O.M. will get some relief from my crabbiness.  Maybe not.  But, maybe.

President Obama is Hawkish on Flies, Much to the Chagrin of PETA

I can’t believe this is newsworthy, but this morning on the Fox News website, I read that PETA is disturbed that our Commander in Chief swatted a fly.  Apparently the noble fly could have been humanely trapped and released safely back into the wild.  You can read the article HERE.

Oh my gosh!  My mind is racing with sarcasm.  But I will hold my tongue (and keyboard) in check.  If ever a story should end the PETA reign of terror, this is it.  Sure, there will always be a few extremist celebrities who are willing to posed nude (I could actually end the sentence here) to garner attention for (themselves) the cause.  But normal people might just finally see beyond the hype to PETA’s real agenda.  I don’t hate PETA.  How can you hate crazy people?  We should humanely trap them and release them safely back into the wild……

Every musher, bull rider, greyhound lover, hunter, dog show enthusiast and cat sitter should breathe a sigh of relief.  The enemy has finally lost their collective mind.  And equally disconcerting…..Fox thought it newsworthy!  Wait a minute………. I just devoted a whole blog to it.  Ah, irony on a Thursday morning.  It’s gonna be a great day.

Don’t Compromise on Pet Food

I know that.  I’ve told people for years.  I have taken courses in canine nutrition and I have decades of experience.  Yet, I fell prey to the ‘go cheap’ monster.  I can’t believe it.  A number of months ago, I started thinking we could save money on dog food by buying the store brand from one of those big membership warehouses.  The price was outstanding.  Less than half what we were paying for a premium brand.  So we switched.  I made all kinds of excuses about how much we’d save and that since we didn’t have racing dogs anymore we didn’t need to go high end…. blah, blah, blah.

We didn’t see poor results at first.  We only saw the savings.  Oh, the back yard clean up was more.  And smellier, but the dogs were doing fine.  We got away with it for more than 6 months.  Then it all caught up to us.  First, the dogs teeth are filthy.  We will have to have the vet clean them.  That won’t be cheap.  Secondly, Iris’ (our Cardigan Corgi) coat got dull and dry.  Now that she’s shedding, it’s worse.  Our Belgian Sheepdog, Guinness, has lost a lot of weight.  There are multiple reasons for that, one of which is that he’s getting more exercise, but a major factor is the food just doesn’t have enough calories.

Last week, we bought one bag of performance dog food to mix with Guinness’ regular food to add calories and omega 3.  In a matter of days, his coat looked better.  I suspect that within the next two weeks we’ll notice the weight coming back, too.

By this past weekend, I’d had enough and we went out and bought a couple bags of premium food for all the dogs.  I’ve learned my lesson.  Now we have two 50 lb bags of dog food with no home.  I guess we’ll donate them to the local animal shelter.  Some things should not be compromised.  Some Old Mushers should know better than to even try.

A Truly Non Renewable Resource

I listen with mixed emotions of interest and skepticism to the arguments about energy, fuel, cost, exploration and all things green vs technology.  I don’t want to destroy our planet, but I find it interesting that we support every country in the world that is developing clean, renewable nuclear energy, but our Govt. is steadfastly opposed to it here.  But that’s a discussion for another day.

Our most precious, non renewable resource is the one most of us squander daily.  We hardly even think about it until it’s gone.  Then we regret our inability to retrieve or renew it.  I speak, obviously, of……….. TIME.

We get every moment once.  That’s it.  No mulligans.  No time machines.  No do overs.  At 52, I have crested the wave.  I am now on life’s back nine.  Still plenty of game ahead, but much of it, perhaps most of it, is behind me.  So time is now a very precious thing to me.  Each hour, each day is something to manage as wisely as possible.  I want to squeeze every drop of juice from every sunrise.  I want to savor each sunset.  And I want to invest these final years in things that matter to God, to my family and to me. 

I want to do these things, but I am easily entangled in the traffic and the noise that is 21st century life.  It is easy for the hamster to be enticed onto the wheel.  Then the door is closed.  So on he runs.  Round and round, going nowhere.  Accomplishing what?  A chuckle or two from those who observe, and maybe a peanut.

So I have made a decision to find a way to escape the cage.  I will make every attempt to manage my time wisely and prioritize my energy into things that matter.  I will create a plan and implement it, God being my helper.  Ironically, all it takes is…………..TIME.