Friday, January 14, 2005

Schedule

We're going to try and keep the schedule always near the top of the blog. So here is the latest:

January 15-16 AAWC ASFA Trials Hutto, TX
January 22-23 AHCD ASFA Trials Ferris, TX
January 29 Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt Las Cruces, NM
January 30 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt TBD NM


We're urgently seeking events in the Southwest (TX, NM, AZ, OK, etc) for February. Particularly the 12th & 13th. Anything action-oriented will do! Lure Coursing, straight or oval races, whippet or other breed, agility, horse, flower, cat, or rabbit shows, kid soccer... whatever! Thanks for anything you can help with.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Jabbering about the weather and other stuff

Is this another El Nino year? Lots of terrible weather on the coast and really nice weather everywhere else? Being in Texas for the second Winter in a row has been downright pleasant; most of the time. Take this week for instance- It's been t-shirt and shorts weather. And even when it gets cold- like it's about to tomorrow- I just need to look at a weather forecast for Wisconsin, or Michigan and I say to myself: This ain't cold. This is all right.

The AKC trials and tests at Glen Rose, TX last weekend were pretty successful, despite an uncharacteristic bonehead move on my part. On Sunday, I imagined that I had swapped CF cards with Margaret, and went ahead and reformatted the card in the camera. Oops.. senior moment... It was a card with the first 22 or so JC's, which hadn't been downloaded to the laptop yet. Gone... just like that. Fortunately, we have a program that we found last Summer when our external hard drive crashed, disappearing about 9000 archived images. It's called "Get Data Back", and it worked then, to recover the images, and it worked... finally... this week, after a couple of days of trying. Some of the images were corrupted, but most of the good ones were saved.

Many of you read about Rally, our half & half gyp in Performance Sighthound Journal. Since her early success in the open field, there have been a "series of unfortunate incidents". Starting with a dislocated toe in early December, followed by several episodes of grand mal seizures- origins unknown, but some popular, non-prescribed medications and treatments are prime suspects. The seizures are under control now, and we'll be weaning her off the phenobarb, as she's unlikely to have any more as long as I don't give her any more Ivomec or Arnica Montana. I think there's another whole Sighthound Performance Journal article brewing here.

We've been spending the week indoors. The Bounder.. er, the Hare Brained Express, has been parked inside at The Paint & Body Shop in Brownwood, TX, finally getting the tree damage repaired. The guys here have done a fabulous job so far, and the owner, Terry Blevins, (a poor, misguided "W" supporter), has let us live in the vehicle, has given us a key to the building so we can come and go in the evenings, and, the building even has a shower in the bathroom. With luck, we should roll out of here tomorrow. And the best part is the insurance company pays for all but $800 of a $5000+ repair. (Almost $6000 when the shipping's thrown in). And I thought all I did was damage the right outside mirror. Wrong-o.

More news as it happens, and after the AAWC trials in Hutto this weekend.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Schedule

Next on the agenda:

January 8-9 AHCD AKC Trials & Tests Glen Rose, TX
January 15-16 AAWC ASFA Trials Hutto, TX
January 22-23 AHCD ASFA Trials Ferris, TX
January 29 Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt Las Cruces, NM
January 30 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt TBD NM


Happy New Year 2005!!

Buffy leads the way!

Three days down, one to go. On Friday, the Borzoi Scarlett wrapped up the number 1 position. There were, as usual, a number of ASFA Top 20 hounds in attendance this weekend... 4 or 5 greyhounds, 6 or 7 whippets, and on and on. It's always a party at Cartersville at the end of the year. Speaking of which, the party at Les & Shirri's was as small and intimate as I've ever seen; but Margaret and I had a good time... especially me, as Margaret was pressed into designated driver duties.

This morning, at approximately 9:35AM, Buffy the Vampire Slayer became the first dog in America to chase a lure in 2005. She ran a totally typical Buffy course, zigzagging about the field, oblivious to the whereabouts of the lure most of the time, but doing it very fast, and looking cool. Fan Club members would be proud.

Just watched the Rose Bowl... the less said the better. A very entertaining game if you're not emotionally attached to the losing team.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Hare-Brained Express Tour - 2005

More end of the year insanity

So, here we are, parked caddy corner from Hot Java, at Old Mill Farm in Cartersville. Four days, four trials are about to commence in the morning. Besides the insane jockying that's been going on for months in Borzoi, I wonder who else is going to be here fighting for a number one spot on ASFA's list? The next two days will tell all, as the 2004 Hare Brained Express Tour winds down. I know one thing.. things better be over by 4:45 Saturday afternoon, because this boy is going to plant himself in front of the TV to watch some Rose Bowl. Any bets, Texas folk?

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Hare-Brained Express Tour - 2005

While we figure out how to get our pictures over there in the Profile column, you'll just have to see us in the two photos that were originally posted on Christmas.

Things have been, uh, interesting since Christmas, as both of us got intensely ill... I'm sure it was food poisoning from eating at the inlaws.., but Margaret suspects a "virus". I thought that's why we had Norton Utilities!

The day after Christmas was a lost Sunday. Spent the entire day in bed.. didn't even turn on the TV to watch football. Didn't even turn on the Sirius Satellite radio! Just wanted warm covers, dark and quiet.

I know I depleted my resistance the day before Christmas, by going on a death march with Buffy and Fanny at the park. Being stubborn by nature, I took off on a trail without consulting a park map to see that it was not a loop trail. So what was anticipated to be a 2-3 mile workout with the girls, ended up being about 7 miles, too close to sunset, and beset with encroaching hypothermia. What fun. It's a very pretty park though, considering it's in the middle of the northern 'burbs.

Anyway, I felt better enough today to get out and do another 2-3 miles with Fanny and Rally. (I looked at a map, and figured out how to loop... don't tell Margaret!)

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Hare-Brained Express Tour - 2005

Hare-Brained Express Tour - 2005

As the 2004 "tour" winds down, we're sitting at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, GA. We seemed doomed, for the forseeable future, to toil in the Red states.. Georgia & Texas. Upcoming are the 4 days of GANG, at Cartersville, GA... 2 year end trials for 2004, and the first trials of 2005. From there, we'll travel back to Glen Rose, TX for AKC lure coursing trials on the 8th & 9th of January. The 15th & 16th will find us in Hutto, TX at the Triple Crown Dog Academy for ASFA lure coursing, then back up to Fort Worth the 22nd & 23rd for more ASFA. Finally, on the 29th and 30th we'll get to a "purple" state.. New Mexico, where we'll pit our "pack" against some of the best open field dogs in the Southwest at Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt, followed on Sunday by a TCC mixed hunt. February schedule will be listed in an upcoming post. Meanwhile, we'll have to find time to get the Bounder into the body shop in Brownwood, TX to have the hole in its forehead repaired, and the awning replaced. We gonna be busy! But I just wanted to get this first post in to see how this blog is going to work out. Feedback is welcomed, and expected!

Dan, in the same desert, with (L-R) Fanny, Buffy, Rally, Randir. Posted by Hello

Margaret and Rally, in the southern desert of New Mexico.. waiting for the appearance of the elusive Corralitos Blacktailed Jackrabbit. Posted by Hello