Judgement-free Zone

 …is what Planet Fitness advertises itself as; but I don’t seem to be able to escape earthly judgment in my own head. I stayed home this weekend, trying to provide emotional support to my husband, but he seemed to have little need of me. Of course he spent a significant amount of time on the phone to aunts, uncles, cousins, and yesterday morning to his sister-in-law. I noticed his voice dropped to a very soft, low, & gentle register. None of us will know much for a while - Ken’s body is with the coroner, they will perform a postmortem with toxicology testing, Kate will have him cremated, and at some point there will be a funeral. If I have enough advance notice I should be able to break free for a few days. I had a quick glance at airfares which look to be $8-900. I looked at sympathy cards yesterday as I bought a few token gifts for my girls for Vet Tech Week, nothing seemed remotely appropriate: “A Life Well Lived” - yes, Ken had a good life but it seems cruel to rub that foreshortened time in his widow’s face? He was probably 8-10 yrs from retirement.

I went riding with Sam Saturday morning on Eclipse Day. Silas did OK, but hard for me to tell if his stumbling was just the uneven ground or something more sinister underlying? (there were still quite a few cracks in the earth; we need more rain) Next weekend is our National Championship Ride - quite the big deal to be hosting it in Texas, but I’m in no shape to ride any significant distance myself. I doubt Christina will be able to ride the 50 as my avatar since it’s on Thursday. Another young lady’s horse is out for the 100 mile championship which is Saturday, but I think it would be unfair to ask Baraq to do that right out of the pasture. I’m always lecturing about the horse being God’s greatest natural-born athlete, but I wouldn’t want to risk Baraq’s well-being.

Then my son gave me another “moment” when he called me Saturday night - turns out he & Victoria were back at the State Fair (in general vicinity) when this incident occurred! He joked about their lax security but Mom didn’t think it was very damn funny.

A 22-year-old man faces aggravated assault charges in a shooting that injured three people at the State Fair of Texas. The victims were in stable condition on Friday, police said. The big picture: The shooting, on a busy night at the country's largest fair, raises questions about the fair's safety protocols. What happened: About 7:45pm, a man shot at another man inside the fair's Tower Building, per police. Three people were shot and were later determined to have non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect ran from the scene, but police found and arrested him. The fairgrounds were also evacuated. What's new: Dallas police identified the suspect as 22-year-old Cameron Turner. The fair delayed its opening on Sunday from 10am to 2pm. The DMN identified one of the victims as Liliana Andrea Araujo, a 41-year-old cleaning crew worker who was shot in the back. "I immediately thought of my daughters and my husband. I've been hit. I'm going to die here," Araujo recalled, after being treated and released from the hospital. State of guns: Texas law allows open carry of weapons without a license, but private entities and some government sites can restrict them. The State Fair's website says that while the fair is a "strong supporter of the rights of responsible gun owning Texans," open carry is prohibited on the fairgrounds. Concealed carry with a valid handgun license is allowed — provided the attendee follows all applicable state laws — as a "reasonable compromise that best ensures the safety and comfort of all fair attendees," per the fair. Weapons aren't allowed inside Cotton Bowl Stadium or the fair's livestock facilities. Context: Almost 160,000 people went to the fair on its third Saturday in 2022. There's usually a heavy police presence as well. What they're saying: The fair said in a statement that it's "committed to upholding the level of security required to ensure the State Fair of Texas event is a safe and family-friendly environment for all fairgoers, vendors, and employees."