Spring And The Derby And Such

Quoting the bard (Greg Brown not Bob Dylan):

“Spring and what's left of the hippies return from old rooming houses and
Mexico.
More letters, more journals, more poems to burn; Real heat at last.
At last my words glow.”

Hard to argue with. My wife has me busting my ass in our mud pit of a front yard. Planting new grass. Planting some flowers. The grass grows by several inches an hour but not so fast that the dogs cannot run it into the mud. Part lush, part dirt path because of the dogs I have fenced it off and re-seeded. Lawn furniture getting power washed and the covered to keep the pollen off. That same pollen blowing off the trees and turning our driveway green.
Spring seems full of possibilities even in our mired down economy.

***

The NFL draft is done. The Cardinals lost a game. The Blues are out but Hockey will roll on for another several months it seems. Now I hunker down and wait for the Tour De France about which only I, and every other person outside the U.S. cares about. So other then the Cardinals...not much. The only thing we know at this time of year is that (despite last years aberation where the Cubs hung on till late in the season) the Cgicago Cubs have been mathematically eliminated from playoff competition. Once again...everything is right with the world.

***

Physical activity seems to suggest itself but... any exertion seems to kill me. I played Ultimate with the church kids. As far as I can remember I did not even run but I ache...So I abandon physical activity and will start thinking about The Kentucky Derby. In the past two years I have been going to little bar down on Lemay Ferry and having a bottle of Busch with breakfast on Derby Day. I am going to have to break that tradition to go up to Arlington Park in Chicago with venerable handicapper Keith Dierberg to bet the races. Early odds are as follows:

ADVICE 27/1  
CHARITABLE MAN  35/1  
CHOCOLATE CANDY 12/1  
DESERT PARTY 20/1  
DUNKIRK 11/2  
FLYING PRIVATE 75/1  
FRIESAN FIRE 6/1  
GENERAL QUARTERS 30/1  
HOLD ME BACK 22/1  
I WANT REVENGE 11/4  
MINE THAT BIRD 90/1  
MR. HOT STUFF 40/1  
MUSKET MAN 22/1  
PAPA CLEM 14/1  
PIONEEROF THE NIL 7/1   
REGAL RANSOM 19/1  
SQUARE EDDIE 25/1  
SUMMER BIRD 30/1  
WEST SIDE BERNIE 30/1  
WIN WILLY 30/1 

Now...in my last act of Charity for the month of April I will tell you that I will be betting on I Want Revenge and Chocolate Candy. You heard it here first. See you at the races and heresto Spring, when anything is possible.