Sunday Stills (9/12/10 Glass)

Hmmm, I guess most of these would qualify for "windows" too. Oh well! For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

She wants the Young American

Errrr, excuse me, All American...Futurity, that is.
I didn't want to sit home on a three day weekend so I asked my mom if she wanted to take a trip south to Ruidoso Downs to see the running of the richest Quarter Horse race in the world. Neither one of us had ever seen it before and I thought, 'how crazy, we LIVE so close!'

We took off Monday morning in my Infiniti FX45, Lola. Originally, my younger son was coming along but then he couldn't because he had to work on his friend's car. My older son had to go to work so he was out of the picture and then my daughter said she was going to come along since she had gone with us to the horse races in Phoenix, in February. She got up very early and went to crew for the hot air balloons first and was planning on meeting us at 8:00 in town, on our way through. However, there were balloon launch problems and they ended up aborting the flights. A wind blew one of the balloon envelopes sideways as it was inflating and they had to untangle it from another balloon. No one was hurt but as they backed up the van to load everything they got it stuck in mud. So, she called me and told me to go on without her because she had no idea how long it was going to take. It's too bad we didn't stick around because everything was quickly resolved and she was ready to go by 9:15. Oh well, we were already on the highway heading south. It's about a 3 1/2 hour trip and we were running late by now, because we had taken the long way through Albuquerque instead of just heading south on the back roads.

Originally, we had intended to find a letterbox or two in Capitan as it was along the way but when it got to be around 11:00 we figured we better keep on going to Ruidoso Downs. Post time was 12:00 and we didn't mind missing the first couple of races because the BIG one is later in the day, but I figured it was going to be crowded.

However, I had no idea how crowded it really was! We got to the racetrack about 12:30 and the parking lots were all full with a long line of cars still going in.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Posse was helping park cars. I showed them my handicap parking pass (for my mom) and asked if we could go through. She laughed and said the handicap, valet, and every other kind of parking was full hours ago. Only if we had a turf club pass could we could get through. Only the turf club pass is $25,000!

We ended up on the far side of the racetrack. Now, we had a dilemma. My mom uses a walker and would not be able to walk up the long hill to the shuttle busses that go to the racetrack. We decided to stay where we were and watch from the hill overlooking the track. I walked over to see what it was like. There was a security guard and he said it would be okay. The view was pretty good and he said you could hear them call the races but of course, you couldn't bet.

We had a close-up view of the starting gate and the horses as they rode by.

We had fold up chairs, drinks, and snacks. However, no bathroom! And by this time we both felt kind of needy. Uh oh!
Here's a close up view of some of the crowds.

I went back over to the car to discuss the options with my mom and a guy in a golf cart drove up asking if we wanted to be shuttled to the top of the hill to the shuttle busses. We said yes. My mom got in the front with her walker folded up in front of her and I hung on to the back. What a ride! This is at the top of the hill. My car is way down the hill and around the corner.

At the top of the hill, we got in line for the shuttles, a school bus and a small van. They loaded at the same time but we didn't get on either one. We were third and fourth in line when the bus filled up. We did catch the next shuttle however and were taken to the racetrack. As we were unloading, people were waiting to get back on to go back to their cars. It was so crowded they didn't want to stay. We thought, "uh oh!" We decided to go to the bathroom and then maybe go back to the car too.

After waiting in line (of course!) for the bathroom, we decided to stay. I parked my mom on her walker seat in front of one of the many televisions and walked around. There were lots and lots of people but, as it is with a racetrack, the people were milling around. Some were outside at the rail or in the grandstands, inside getting drinks, liquor, and food, everywhere, but fortunately, not all in one place. I placed a bet and went down to the rail to watch.

I was able to get right up on the rail in spite of all the folding chairs and people and watched the race.

One thing I didn't like at this racetrack is how far away the paddocks are. You can see them in the background but they are too far away to really look at the horses and see how they are reacting to being saddled. Some horses get so nervous they wear out before the race.



That's how it went during the day. I would watch the race, walk back over to my mom and we would discuss the last race and the horses in the next one, pick the one(s) to bet on for the next race, place the bet, and go watch at the rail. It worked out well. She was content to sit and watch the races on the screen and watch the people walk by. I was happy to be down by the rail, although I'm sure she saw the race better than I did.

Quarter horse races are short and fast. Some are only 250 yard dashes. It's hard to tell who wins sometimes. We saw several photo finishes. Thoroughbred races were also being run throughout the day. They are usually 6 - 12 furlongs (a furlong is 1/8 of a mile). We noticed a few Thoroughbreds running with the Quarter Horses. I didn't know that was allowed?? I guess those are the ones with jackrabbit starts and no staying power.

There is about 30 minutes between each race so there is plenty of time to explore: look at the horses in the paddock as they are saddling, watch them walk by onto the track, see them warming up in the distance, discuss the odds, place your bet, and watch as they begin loading into the starting gate. We placed a bet on most of the races and didn't do very well. On a two horse exacta box (both horses must come in first or second, we seemed to pick the first and third or second and third horses. If we bet to win, they placed second or third. On the seventh race, my mom wanted the #2 horse. When I placed my bet, she gave me a ticket for the #7 horse to win. I was going to tell her the error and then I just decided to place another bet. I won $5 on the mistake! My mom's horse came in third.

One race, I didn't place the bet she had suggested and that horse won. We would have gotten $9. Oh well!

Here's a self portrait of my  mom and I.

I like this photo of the horses breaking out of the gate.

The BIG race was the 10th race but this is getting to be such a long post that I will continue in another post...


She wants the Young American - song: Young Americans, artist: David Bowie, album: Young Americans

Friday Foto

Mr. Piloto, winner of the All American Futurity in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a longshot at 22-1, took the $1,000,000 prize money from a field of nine horses. I was there.

More to come...

It's not really work

Certainly, one of the more readily recognizable icons of labor is "Rosie the Riveter," the indefatigable World War II-era woman who rolled up her sleeves, flexed her arm muscles and said, "We Can Do It!" But, this isn't the original Rosie.

In 1942, as World War II raged in Europe and the Pacific and the song "Rosie the Riveter" filled radio waves across the home front, manufacturing giant Westinghouse commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to make a series of posters to promote the war effort. One such poster featured the image of a woman with her hair wrapped up in a red polka-dot scarf, rolling up her sleeve and flexing her bicep. At the top of the poster, the words ‘We Can Do It!' are printed in a blue caption bubble. To many people, this image is "the" Rosie the Riveter. But it was never the intention to make this image "Rosie," nor did many Americans think of her as "Rosie." The connection of Miller's image and "Rosie" is a recent phenomenon.

The "Rosie" image popular during the war was created by illustrator Norman Rockwell (who had most certainly heard the "Rosie the Riveter" song) for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943 — the Memorial Day issue. The image depicts a muscular woman wearing overalls, goggles and pins of honor on her lapel. She sports a leather wrist band and rolled-up sleeves. She sits with a riveting tool in her lap, eating a sandwich, and "Rosie" is inscribed on her lunch pail. And, she's stepping on a copy of Adolph Hitler's book "Mein Kampf."

The magazine cover exemplified the American can-do spirit and illustrated the notion of women working in previously male-dominated manufacturing jobs, an ever-growing reality, to help the United States fight the war while the men fought over seas.

The cover was an enormous success and soon stories about real life "Rosies" began appearing in newspapers across the country. The government took advantage of the popularity of Rosie the Riveter and embarked on a recruiting campaign of the same name. The campaign brought millions of women out of the home and into the workforce. To this day, Rosie the Riveter is still considered the most successful government advertising campaign in history.

After the war, numerous requests were made for the Saturday Evening Post image of Rosie the Riveter, but Curtis Publishing, the owner of the Post, refused all requests. The publishing company was possibly concerned that the composers of the song "Rosie the Riveter" would hold them liable for copyright infringement.

Since then, the J. Howard Miller "We Can Do It!" image has replaced Norman Rockwell's illustration as "Rosie the Riveter" in the minds of many people. Miller's Rosie has been imprinted on coffee mugs, mouse pads, and countless other items, making her and not the original "Rosie" the most famous of all labor icons.

This info from the Department of Labor website.

This link takes you to the department of labor where they have a nice little slideshow on the history of Labor Day.

It's not really work - song:: Modern Love, artist: David Bowie, album: Let's Dance

I'm under Japanese influence

We went to eat at the Japanese Kitchen for my daughter's birthday. I tried to post a few photos to show the experience but much of what the chef did was a blur because he moved so fast. He juggled and sliced, diced, and flipped the food with finesse. He used the 'smoking' lemon (Friday Foto) to light the flames, when needed. With eight of us there, we had quite an array of food- chicken, steak, and shrimp to watch him cook. It was quite an experience.

The onion 'volcano' was very cool.

After dinner, my daughter got a special fruit arrangement for her birthday.

I'm under Japanese influence - song: Blackout, artist: David Bowie, album: Heroes

Sunday Stills (9-5-10 shoes or boots)

These shoes and boots were from an old general store in Lincoln, New Mexico.

I would just love to wear those light brown high button boots.

These are from the Arabian Shows.

And here's a pair of my own boots. I think they have character, don't you?


For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Free Spirits at Noisy Water

The following 'larger than life' bronze statues are in a park outside the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Enjoy!