Susan Niven

Susan Niven

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Ahoy Susan..................

Thank you for the greetings of the season and the turning of the calender. 

Australia has been in the news over here.  The horrendous wild fires, the giant red wave and the discovery of a 12 pound gold nugget in the Ballarat area.  The combination of the Aboriginal words bala and arat means resting place.  I guess the bloke who found the nugget with his new $6,000.00 metal detector will be taking a rest with the estimated $500,000.00 price tag.

You might try a little prospecting in your back yard.  Once you've found all the rusty nails, horse shoes and pop tops, you could take a quick run to Ballarat.  Once you catch the Eyre Highway it is a mere 2,055 miles, 36 hours, Bob's your uncle and there you are.  Along with all rest of the prospectors.

Hope all is well in Warawarup.  Did Harvey Water manage to store up enough water for the growers this season? 

I sure had a shock the other day.  Seems that California and Arizona had a heck of a freeze this week.  Temperatures in the teens (Farenheit) for about 4-5 days kicked the behind out of the US's winter vegetable crop.  Broccoli was $3.40 a pound.  Nancy can probably fill in more details, providing her arm has healed up.  The area of the freeze provides 95% of the winter vegetable crops.  I guess I better start saving my grass clippings.  That's lawn clippings JH.

Called my birthday twin yesterday.  Brenda might have been hiding under the covers, trying to avoid the harsh reality of the occasion.  I tried but my dang phone kept ringing.  I figured if I had to deal with that so could Brenda (as in Riddock).

Tootle pip.........John

Susan Niven

And hello to you, too, John.  Nice to see you back.

Fire hit the Harvey area yesterday.  The swamp in Benger went up in smoke and gave me a bit of a scare as my farrier and his lovely partner live not too far from the swamp and have a number of horses on their property.  As it turns out the fire was headed north, out of range from their place.

BIG NEWS!  Tennessee Target (aka Tom or "Joe Cool") is racing at Pinjarra on Thursday the 24th of January.  He was sent to trial (a necessity since he has been spelled for 10 months) and won his heat by 2 1/4 lengths.  You can imagine how pleased that made me.  Think it made the trainer rather happy as well.  So it's 1000 metres down the straight for my boy.  Fingers crossed the penny has finally dropped and he gives it a run for my money!  Won't put much more that $5 each way on him as I am definitely not a big punter. My expectations are guarded as it is hard to win a race down the straight and the field is a strong one.  As long as he jumps from the barriers cleanly and runs through the line, I will be satisfied.

Apart from things equine, life ticks along.  We've had a hot summer and it would seem it's going to be a long one. 

As of today, having done the dam stats at work, Harvey Dam is at 49% capacity.  We did have a wet spring and rain early in the summer, and that has been a help considering the fact it has been so warm.  Irrigators have a 40% allocation of their entitlements this season, which makes it tough but paddocks still look lush and green.

Didn't hear the news from Ballarat!  Nice place Ballarat - good race track there!

Over and out, for now!

Cheers.

Oh, and belated Birthday Greetings!!

Susan Niven

And here he is - Tennessee Target! 

Susan Niven

This pretty well sums up the day at Pinjarra yesterday.  Disappointing run and Tom pulled up with an elevated heart rate which indicates that something may be amiss.  I certainly did experience the "lows" of racing yesterday but it's onward and upward for Tennessee Target, I hope!  (PS This is not a photo of Tom, by the way!)

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Susan............

Sorry to hear about Tom and his health issue at the Pinjarra race.  I see by the map it is about a 35 mile jaunt up the road from your place.  Maybe that pack a day habit he picked up from the recent fires in your area had something to do with it.

The photo of the horse shaking off the dust reminded me of myself on certain days.

John

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Nice updates on the profiles. 

Sylvia......great newspaper clippings. 

Laurie.....didn't remember you moving away from the valley.  Another day of lights on and nobody home in my case.

Jim.........welcome back to the USA.

Al..........Hob nobbing with the stars.  Ever see Shelly Hill?

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Update on the call to Brenda Riddock on her b-day.  Seems that she wasn't hiding under the covers after all.  She was hanging out with one of her sons and g-kids in dark territory.  As the crow flies she was about 5 miles from me on Hood Canal, but it is over 40 miles as the Chevy cruises.  There are many areas along the canal where cell phone service is limited and she happened to be in one.  She returned my call the next day.  We talked the who, what, when, where, how and why of our lives.  Seems that we have a friend in common.  I'm going to see that person this weekend.  I'll see if I can find any National Enquirer material, or not. 

I see from Sylvia's profile posting that Brenda and Sylvia were in a dance group during High School.  Back in the days when we were flexible and aging issues were for those old folks in their 30's.

Rattling Bones..........

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Super Bowl Alert.......

According to late breaking news alerts, there is going to be a shortage of chicken wings for buffets and parties this year.  As with the supply and demand curve that means that prices will rise.  I guess we will have to switch over to buffalo wings.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Okay John:

Your humor is still as vibrant as ever.  My broken arm is healing although there may be some limitations in wrist movement from here on out.  I keep working on it, but flexibility has never been my strong suit.  I am so glad to see that postings are happening here again.  I have just been updating classmate personal information on some who have not updated their own info.  So, if you don't want me messing with your info, please do it yourself.  A big thank you to Donna Amira who keeps feeding me new information.

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Nancy.........Glad to hear that your arm is healing.  It sure takes longer to return to normal than it used to, as in our new normal.

Yesss mother. I will update my profile.  Just remember "Red Green's" Possum Lodge Motto.  "I'm a man, I can change if I have to, I guess".

John

Change Photo

John MacLeod

I see that a couple of our classmates are celebrating the 24th anniversary of their 39th birthday.  Kudos and congrats to Denise and Susan.  Susan is on the far side of the international dateline, so she has already celebrated her birthday and is leaving it in the rear view mirror.

A pinch to grow an inch, a sock to grow a block and smile to grow a mile.

Susan Niven

How about this?!  This is what was presented to me at morning tea at work on my birthday!

Pretty impressive aren't they!?

Susan Niven

She's back...........the Legend Lives On!

23 in a row!  And she bettered the track record held by Special since 1988.

The Amazing Black Caviar!

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Wow, snow in Phoenix, who would have expected that?  

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Nancy...........Read about your snow earlier this morning.  Too late for a white Christmas and too early for a white St. Patrick's day.  Hope you remembered how to interact with snow.  ie. Snowball fights, snow angels, hot chocolate and sledding.  We had 8-10 inches before Christmas.  It took about 3 weeks for it to melt away.  None since.  My only interaction was to shift my mind into neutral and become one with the shovel and the snow.

John.......

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Susan.......Congratulations to Black Caviar and the continuing winning streak.  Those were some pretty fancy cupcakes for your birthday party.

Just saw a news story about an Auzzie weatherman passing out while giving the weather report.  He might rethink that live weather report from a stunt plane while pulling 8 G's.  Just a thought.

John............

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Nancy.........Is there any info on the possibility of a reunion this year?  My dance card is rapidly filling up with work, snow shoveling and helping gravity hold the couch down.

"Watchin Captain Kangeroo, don't tell me I've nothin to do"...........John

Susan Niven

Only the second horse still racing to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Well done Nelly and connections!

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

I know nothing about a reunion this year.  However, just so you know, Ron and I plan to be in the Seattle area in late July.  We will probably do some sort of open house for anyone who wants to come see us.  But, that is not a reunion event so to the best of my knowledge there isn't anything planned.

Change Photo

John MacLeod

Nancy.........Thanks for the info and the warning of your imminant arrival in July.  Would be nice to get together for a chat, exchange tales of our aches and pains and see whose hair is the grayest.

Speaking of chats, I had one the other day with one of our classmates.  I will attempt to keep this to 300 words or less.  " It was a dark and stormy night".  Oh, wait that is another tale.  I have customers in Seattle who refuse to have anyone but me do their work for them.  Thusly I am in Seattle for 3 weeks.  One down, two to go.  I had to pick up some materials at Lowe's.  The one located on the site of Sick's Stadium.  Right in the heart of Quaker Territory.  I ran into a friend there, so we adjourned to Mickey D's across the street to exchange big lies and tall tales.  I kept an eye on the entry, looking for friend and foe alike.  I spotted someone with a familiar face.  I called out Jackie and got no response.  I thought he might not have heard me so I called out Jackie Rabb, to which he said that he did indeed know Jackie but that he was not Jackie.  I fell back and regrouped and then inquired, how about Dave Dudley.  To which he responded that he goes to church with Dave but again he was not Dave.  I caved at that point and asked him, what name do you go by.  Turns out it was Phil Goodall.  We had a short round of have you seen or heard from so and so.  Seems that he ran into Dave Azose at some time recent as well as Lee Hemnes.  I.m not sure whether he was insulted or pleased to be mistaken for our fellow Quakers.  You will have to check that with Phil on that.

Susan Niven

24 wins from 24 starts!  The amazing Black Caviar!

Change Photo

Connie Messmer Hennessy

Hi Susan!

What  an absolutely stunning horse!  You don't look so bad, either!

I've lived in Central Florida (with street signs that read, "Horse capital of the world" as you enter and leave the Ocala city limits in HUGE letters!) since 2002.  A good time around here is going to the "international" airport and watching the passengers load and unload from their specially designed airplanes.

It's not John Travolta I'm talking about it's all the horses in their barets, beautifully designed capes (I think they're referred to as horse blankets) special leggings and bells.  From what I understand, there's a major event held here each year called H.I.T.S. which is held at the Ocala Breeder Sales facility across the street from the airport.  It even has  what appears to be a race track for watching the horses going through their paces before a major sale.  I find all of this to be amazing.

Many residents within my community (Oak Run Golf and Country Club) have ties to the stud farms and training areas so I get to hear about some of the "happenings" when I attend various events throughout the community.  I mentioned Black Cavier twice and both individuals' eyebrows shot up to their hairlines and big smiles would replace really tired facial expressions.

Both parties knew a lot about the horse world and expressed their genuine admiration for all of your accomplishments.

Should you ever find yourself heading in my direction please give me a call as I'd love to hear from you.

Connie Messmer Hennessy

Susan Niven

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!