randomness

I've become numb to the steady flow of traffickers through casa 26. I'm still bouncing back from the woman that went on about the crappy state of our kitchen cabinets and upstairs carpet. Even her husband was shrugging his shoulders after she had droned on for a good five minutes. It was a shrug that said "What can I say? This is my lot in life. My wife, she does not shut up. I know this. It is no use for me to interfere. Please ignore her." Anyway, that was the vibe I got from him, so I just rolled with her constant harping and figured we'd never hear from them. Not so fast, of course. Sure enough, a few days later their agent called to make an offer. Ha! Too bad it was obscenely under the asking price because, she said, "You must understand: much work will have to be done on the carpets and cabinets." Naturally, I asked what kind of cabinets she'd be putting in for that kind of spread in price. At least that got a chuckle out of the agent. She asked for a counteroffer and I countered with the original asking price. In retrospect, I probably took too much pleasure in that one. My regret is not throwing in $3.50 for polish to use on the current cabinets. Too bad everybody seems to have read this article in the Times about lowballing. At this rate we'll have buyers suggesting that we pay them to take the place off of our hands.

For now, I'm stuck with my toaster and kettle stored in the car and all my racing stuff hidden away, probably never to be found. Not fun times. One point that I forgot to make in an earlier post on War Pass is that the Florida race taught us that our boy isn't the bravest horse to look through a bridle, I'm afraid. When Velasquez tried to go between horses after the slow break, War Pass just wouldn't do it. He was scarred, plain and simple. Plenty of horses have the same problem, but when it's one of the Derby favorites, it's noteworthy. I'd be curious to know what kind of work Zito has had him do with other horses in the morning. Has he done much in and behind workmates? Interesting that the War Pass as a scaredy-cat angle hasn't gotten more ink. I guess it was more palatable for Team Zito/LaPenta to suggest a fever rather than come right out and say, "Yeah, we know he's brilliant on the front end, but I guess we learned today that he's fairly chickenshit, too, when faced with adversity." That's not the kind of quote you'd be able to write up on a stallion advertisement in a few years....(Mental note: do not breed to War Pass.)