one and done

Great news out of New York today. Word came back that Nautical Agent is in foal to Gold Fever! Awesome stuff by our girl. She only had the one cover, obviously fairly late in the season, but it was enough to do the deed. The Agent never ceases to amaze. We're thrilled that she's caught and hope she gets on well through the summer now. Hope to sneak up there to pay a visit, maybe on the way up to the Spa in late July.

Veiled Reference is now back at Fair Hill to start up on a hand-walking program. She's doing well - radiographs a few weeks back were good. Plan is to walk her 30 days, see where she stands and go from there. Ballpark goal is that she progresses well enough to shoot for a return to the races later this year. It's been mildly painful to watch the 3yo fillies through the spring and early summer so far; just have to keep fingers crossed that she can join the fun sooner rather than later. No reason she can't have a big 2009 if she comes back in good form. She's only an hour away these days, so I really should make plans to see her, too.

Settling in ourselves down in Baltimore. Have to get some pictures up of the new digs. We've got a nice little rowhouse about 10-15 mins. from the Inner Harbor. It's great to walk to most everyplace and not have to fire up the car each time we're out the door. I've had fun sharpening up my parallel parking skills these past few weeks. My basic strategy is to slam the car behind the intended space at a good 45 degree angle and clear up the necessary room to land the old Sentra along the curb. I'm still perfecting my craft and managed to flee quickly from the one near-brawl that I set off last out, not knowing that the owner of the targeted vehicle was watching in his window. Kate suffered a few minor scrapes fleeing from the scene. She tripped and fell making her escape, but in her defense, I had her carrying the bulk of the groceries (and that milk and OJ combo can really weigh the bags down). I always make a point to carry the bread when making the move back to the house, so I was long gone when she went down. The guy was nice enough to just tell her that she married a moron and didn't take any cheap shots, or anything. Classy crowd down here, I tell you.