Happy Mother's Day! Or as we say around here, "Día Feliz de Madre!" I guess Mother's Day will come a little later in the week when Chez Suki has SEVEN moms in residence.

[Yikes!]

We worked hard in the trailer park yesterday. The contractors' stuff and the old ladder are still here - I asked them a dozen times to get it all out of here, but I'm not hopefully that the Miscellaneous Metal Items Fairy will make it all disappear over the next three days.

Nonetheless, we have a path with stepping stones and gravel leading from the 4th Street door to the house. Actually, it only has one-fourth of the gravel it needs, but I was unconvincing in my argument that we should get more than four bags of the stuff. So Lowes will see us again today.

The riverbed is looking much better. It also needs more rocks - we have plenty of the large to medium sized river rocks, but it needs about three more bags of little ones. I dug out enough to put the little fishpond in ground at the end of the riverbed - did I mention little? Oh well, it's only temporary until we can get a serious pond installed.

Apparently the fish did not approve of my handiwork yesterday. They say that koi are "jumpers" but I've never had a problem with these three and they've been around for at least three years now. I guess sloshing them around and changing their water again did not go over big with the troops and "Manny" decided to make a run for it. Luckily for him, I was in the house in the kitchen and happened to look out in the yard. I saw a small bird sitting on a rock near the pond and then I saw something moving. What was that? A leaf? No, it looks more like a snake . . . or a fish tail! I dashed out, scooped him up and threw him back in the pond. He was a bit stunned and coated with dirt. I rubbed much of it off - he seems better this morning and appears to have gotten himself cleaned up again.

[Oh those crazy kids.]

Everyone is talking about the big upset in the Kentucky Derby yesterday. Giacomo, a 50 to 1 shot, triumphed in the stretch. But even for strong, well-campaigned horses, the Kentucky Derby is a chancy proposition.

In 1994, a horse named Holy Bull was the favorite. He was well trained in his lead-ups to the Derby and went off as the 2 to 1 favorite, ridden by jockey Mike Smith. Holy Bull was bumped at the start and was never really a contender, finishing twelth. Eleven years later, his son, Giacomo, and jockey Mike Smith had a chance to do what dad didn't.

[An early Father's Day present.]

Quote du jour:

"A mother never realizes that her children are no longer children."

-- Holbrook Jackson (1874 - 1948) English journalist, editor, author

Operation Uber-Moms