What I Did On My Summer Vacation

As one might expect, most of my summer was spent in command of the TDS MINI Cooper Mobile Tactical Unit, with the occasional reassignment to Jeep-based covert duties.  One such covert operation, back in June, took me to Springfield wherein I stopped for gas at..... ummm..... Well, I'm not certain as to where exactly I re-fueled that warm summer evening:

Strapped across the face of the monument was a Clark banner.

Plastered to the face of the pump was the above placard advertising the acceptance of Marathon-affiliated credit/debit cards.

Yet the pump itself was clad in the familiar green-and-gold corporate colors of BP.

Luckily, the Jeep helm is equipped with a sophisticated satellite communications system which provided me with important media data throughout the summer:

I ate well this season, too.  The summer dining began with lunch at an undisclosed Bridgewater Falls-area establishment with my oldest niece, Alex Russo:

My conversation about the Adams-Onis Treaty proved too boring.  Soon, Alex turned her attention to watching Disney programs on her pocket-sized Philco.  I ate my caramel sundae in dejected silence.

In July, I enjoyed the second-best restaurant dessert money can buy:

Zeppoli at The Olive Garden.  The photo above was taken mid-way through my devouring assault.  Yes, I ate the whole thing.  Why would you ask?

Also in July, my youngest niece Jessie Prescott demonstrated for me her fearsome archery skillz:

Your eyes do not deceive you; that is a pink compound bow.  With it, she can drop a 6th century French soldier with an outrageous accent from fifty paces!

One cool July morning I awoke to the sight of a dragonfly slumbering on my bedroom window screen:

Similarly, one cool July evening when sitting in the backyard and enjoying the peaceful serenity of The Ranch's West 40 Forest I was visited by a bumble bee:

Talk about your missed opportunities, moments before I was able to fish my Android out of my pocket, a hummingbird joined the bumble bee.  It would have made for the ultimate birds & bees photographic opportunity.  Alas, the hummingbird flitted rapidly away as they so often do.

My travels this August took me past the home of Smokey Alston:

Each year the scenic campus of Miami is visited by a Red Bull MINI Cooper.  Below, I captured it before historic Bachelor Hall and under a shockingly azure sky:

Unfailingly, the Red Bull MINI Cooper is helmed by a buxom intern and an attractive sidekick because, well, you know why, outfitted in Red Bull attire and - somehow - year after year, they never acknowledge the presence of the TDS MINI Cooper Mobile Tactical Unit (or its ruggedly dashing occupant) right next to them!  Hello?!  I'm right here!

Next week; Reader submissions and how some Heavy Artillery sufficionados spent their own summer vacations.

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Below, two horse racing stories.  One for those with a sentimental interest in horses beyond the racetrack.  The other story foretelling the mad scientist future of horse racing and breeding.

John Henry

The Sport of Kings and clones