Well Amigos, all I can say is we are thrilled for the Australian Open to draw to a close today so we can return to our regular sleep patterns at Casa de Canterbury. Sweet Lady Gaga. How happy is The Red Man for the Ansel Adams of TV photography (a/k/a the old woman Slow) to give it a rest and get a life. That click, Click, CLICK ing away and the hideous flashes that look like lightning in the darkened bedroom where Pretty is still the only one who can sleep through the noises and lights – they’re maddening, truly maddening. Makes moi muy nervoso which is Spanish for very nervous.
Stanislas Wawrinka wins the Men’s Final
Switzerland has a winner, and it’s not Federer
There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in the darkness of Casa de Canterbury in the wee hours of the morning today as Slow’s personal favorite Rafa lost to Stan Wawrinka in four sets.
Here’s how it all went down: Pretty got the old woman Slow up at 3:30 a.m and then went promptly back to snoozeland.
Slow let me and Spike and Tennis Ball Obsessed Chelsea out in the back yard for an unscheduled constitutional at that ungodly hour which unfortunately led to Spike’s jumping the fence and running away for a nocturnal adventure at which point TBO Chelsea was so wigged that she thought it was time to eat. Oh, well. She probably would’ve thought it was time to eat anyway.
After convincing TBO Chelsea no food was coming to a bowl anytime soon, Slow went back to Clicking and The Red Man joined Pretty who continued to snooze.
Disaster struck Nadal in the second set
Rafa Nadal is Slow’s favorite tennis player of all time and he was down a set and a break in the second set when he knocked something out of whack in his back and thar she blew for the match. Woe was Slow.
Spike was still gone. Pretty snoozed on.
At this point Slow decided to fire up the old Dodge Dakota pickup and drive around the neighborhood to look for Spike who had been gone for an hour. TBO Chelsea and moi watched in horror from our front door as she drove out of sight. She doesn’t see that well in the day and her night vision is a joke. We held our breaths.
Rafa struggled to finish the second set
Even Rafa’s Coach Uncle Toni knew it was over
as Rafa won the third set to force a fourth and final set
Lo and behold, not too long after she’d left, here came Slow pulling into the driveway and Spike was running alongside the Dodge Dakota pickup. He gave a final flying loop around the front yard and then dashed to the door as Slow walked up the steps to open it for the Prodigal Son who had returned home unscathed but in Big Trouble.
Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal
at the trophy presentation ceremony
The picture is worth a thousand words
Thank you very much
Nadal fought back tears in his remarks
as President of Kia and Pete Sampras listened
Champion and Runner-up
Rafa takes home a check for $1,325,000
And Stan’s trophy holds $2,650,000 check
By the time the match and ceremony were over, Spike was out of the Dog House, Pretty continued to snooze, Rafa and Stan were considerably richer and TBO Chelsea had been fed so all’s well that ends well, as The Red Man is fond of saying.
We are pleased to report that Li Na of China won the Women’s Singles Final yesterday with Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia as runner-up. Paw Snaps and Twirls to these and congratulations for winning equal prize money as the men. Thank you, Billie Jean King. We apologize for our lack of pictures for the women but alas, our coverage is not as thorough as we hoped it would be.
We are considering replacing our photographer/editor for the French Open. Applications are now being accepted. Please contact The Red Man directly in the Comments area.
Whew. The Red Man needs a nap. Paw Snaps and Twirls to all the players and the 4,500 tournament volunteers that gave us this year’s Australian Extravaganza!
Get me outta here Percy…we’re coming up for air from Down Under…
Red's Rants and Raves 
Whoooo weee!!!! Now that’s a lot of excitement for the wee hours. Not even Your Poppy, who is still under two, could handle that without stress shedding, though we would have liked seeing Spike loping along side the truck, cool as a cucumber, before he got his buns warmed. 😉 Sounds like everyone needs a long winter’s nap.
Cassie Potatoes and I are thinking about volunteering Ma for the photog position. We’re getting a little tired of posing in our sweaters for “winter atmosphere,” whatever that means. Artists!!!
Love and kisses,
Miss Poppy and Cassie P
We hear you might be getting snow this week. Take my advice and hide under the bed.
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Dear Miss Poppy and Cassie P,
Thank you so much for considering volunteering your Ma for the French Open photog position. Clearly your Ma as an Artist would be head and shoulders above the old woman Slow who is worthless for all practical purposes.
We want to emphasize your word “volunteer” because The Red Man gives favorable consideration to all those candidates who understand the importance of community service which includes support for blogs in the public interest. Our rants and raves are most certainly in that category!
OMG, don’t worry about us in the snow. We know better than to venture about outside when we are in the rare position of ice and snow. Brrr…now we have something to worry about in addition to Spike’s wild nighttime escapades. 🙂
Stay warm,
Your Red Man
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I don’t know about “volunteer,” Red. She needs to feed us in the manner to which we are accustomed. Ma says we are very expensive and picky eaters. All I know is I don’t want a dish of that nasty, dried kibble stuff first thing in the morning! Hmm, let me think on this. We might want to keep her eyes on our food bowls instead of the TV.
Love,
Your Poppy 😀
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Dear Miss Poppy,
Yes, you might want to re-think the application for your Ma for the editor’s job. Clearly she has better things to do like making sure you have delicious goodies to eat rather than the horrible kibble which is a plague upon all of us. A pox be upon the kibble makers. Why can’t they at least put salt on it?? 🙂
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Hold out for popcorn, Red. I was reading over Ma’s shoulder, and Slow wrote something about the popcorn being tasty. It’s bound to have salt on it. Anything good always does!! 😀
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And just a little bit of butter doesn’t hurt, either! 🙂
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Wasn’t that an odd final – such a roller coaster. We were rooting for Stan but when Rafa got hurt, it was so hard to know who to support. Poor fellow but a new grand slam winner is always a treat.
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Yes, a new grand slam winner is a treat, and Stan certainly deserved it. Beating both the Number 1 and Number 2 seed was a stroke…no pun intended! 😉
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We so appreciate your coverage of this year’s Australian Open, Red Man. Somehow we just couldn’t quite figure out the television schedule (Mommy’s not a math whiz, and that whole Australian time/day difference really throws her off), but we did tune in to what we think might have been a replay of the men’s final just in time to see Rafa sit down and wipe away a tear. Mommy says $1-plus million would have dried her tears immediately.
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Yes, there is that consolation prize with the whole money thing. Rumor has it the old woman Slow finds the amount of money paid to all pro athletes these days to be wildly exorbitant. But of course we don’t discuss her opinions in public. Too crass.
The time difference has throw us totally off. Slow told Pretty this a.m. that she had Australian Open jet lag and woke up thinking today is really Tuesday. TBO Chelsea can’t remember what time she should eat so she just wants to eat every hour on the hour. 🙂
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No wonder Spike took off – must have known what was coming 😉
Having said that, I wouldn’t mind being slipped a cool 1.3 mil for coming second! 😀
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No kidding – not too shabby for second place! 🙂 We always want to travel to Australia when we watch the Open – must be spectacularly beautiful in your country!!
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Hi Red Man–My mommy just tried to send Slow a reply on Facebook, but Mommy is completely and horribly inept when it comes to The Facebook, so who knows what she actually did. We could get a visit from men in dark suites and sunglasses later in the day. Anyway, my blog’s still there–http://thek9harperlee.wordpress.com–and I’ve even been making mommy work on it lately. 😉 Looks like you could be getting winter weather later today. Bundle up. Big BR is in total lockdown for the second time in a week. Unfortunately, it’s no snow, just ice for us, and you can’t play in ice. ;-(
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Bummer, Miss Harper Lee about BR and ice. We are amused at our shutdown in Columbia today since we have not seen the first drop of wintry mix at Casa de Canterbury. Pretty had to go to work anyway and said the Mast General Store was sold out of sleds the first 45 minutes today. Some people must be optimistic!!
Yes, we will go back to your blog and try again to reset the alerts. Another friend told us she had to reset the email alerts three times before they ever came back. We want to hear from you!
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