Since 2009, the retirement home of Shot On Site Photography... the source of the finest sighthound performance images in the world. As of August 1, 2022, the blog will become much more photo-centric. Not only will I post images from the homestead in the foothills of the Little Florida Mountains, and surrounding environs, but also tips about shooting, editing, archiving, software, hardware and more. The political rants will become few and far between (but not eliminated! It is 2022 after all!)
Monday, March 31, 2008
New Slide Show!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Another Easy Quiz.
What dish is being prepared here? Certain people can't play... you know who you are. ;-)
Greetings!...
Right away you're probably noticing that the hardware's gone, replaced by a removeable cast. In retrospect, the external fixator device was probably not a practical solution for a dog that lives in a motor home with narrow passageways, 4 other dogs (not to mention a cat), and plenty of other obstacles... like catching the device on the door of the crate. Sandia also got his paw caught inside one of the rods as well. What fun. The upshot is that it got loose, and she developed a staph infection in the bone that was resistant to all but 4 antibiotics, (fortunately one of them was Tetracycline... for which we got a 4 week supply at WalMart for $6!). So, for living up to her new name yet again, the good folks at Louisiana Veterinary Referral Clinic put her in the cast, and Rally is much, much happier. We've had the cast off twice now, to change the padding, and the drainage has been reduced to light spotting, and the swelling around the tibia has gone down noticeably. She thinks she can even run. She may, but probably never competitively again. We'll see what Jim Radcliffe thinks when we remove the cast for good in 6 and a half more weeks.
**********************************************************
If anyone is still interested, the answer to the last geoquiz, was Dyess AFB in Tye, TX... which is next to Abilene. One of only two places in the US where you could see the B1B bomber.. (the other being Elmendorf AFB in South Dakota... but you'd likely see snow on the ground if that had been the location). And when I say they come in low, I mean it. Just check this out:
...and when the wind is blowing the other way, and they're taking off over the campground and the Flying J, instead of landing, consider this: It's four times as loud, with long flames shooting out of the afterburners. Just way too cool.
**********************************************************
We'll be staying at Windyglen for another few days, so don't look for much here until we head up to Wichita. Unless something happens that I just have to write about.
Oh, Margaret and Sally drove up to Tulsa yesterday and visited the Oklahoma Aquarium. Margaret got some terrific pictures with the little Fuji camera. We'll be changing the slide show soon!
Friday, March 21, 2008
New Stuff at Cafe Press
Right now we've only got the IG in the bumper sticker, but we've got the deerhound in stickers and apparel items. Check 'em out!!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Not With a Bang, but a Whimper
Jambalaya and the Crawfish Pie and the Filé Gumbo...
Saturday broke warm, windy, and humid. A tad uncomfortable, but a far cry from the snows of a week before in Edgewood.
We were visited by Matt Mullenix and family. Matt is a contributor at the Querencia blog, is an avid falconer, and owns a whippet, Rina, from our hosts this weekend, the Bahms. You can see Matt's take on the blogger "meet-up" here. And here they are:
Unfortunately, Matt and family had plans for the evening, so missed the crawfish boil, and the live band- which had its act cut short by a visit from the local authorities who said they could hear them "five miles away". All in all, a fun evening. A fun weekend. And here's a wildlife pic from the weekend:
Forward.. Into the Past.
The next night, we stayed here:
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Quickie.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Leave it to the Finns & Russians...
HT Steve Bodio, and/or whoever sent it to him, with info on the band at the link.
OK. Not Funny Any More.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
All In the Family
I would be an irresponsible owner if I didn't post at least one picture of the group chasing a jack, with Sandia prominently in the lead...
... and a solo shot of Sandia's backside, showing some pretty decent muscling..
..and after Sandia had run two, I leashed him up so Maya and Zuni could get some decent photo time ;-) Sandia's run way more than his littermates at this point which, depending on my or Chris's point of view is either a good thing or a bad. Time will tell. Today was his last rabbit until next Fall at the earliest.. so I guess I could have let him chase a third one. It was a great day out with good people and promising dogs.
We headed back to Edgewood for breakfast at the East Mountain Grill... something I was looking forward to all week. The best huevos rancheros I've ever tasted.. with green chiles, of course, and good black beans. We had to wait for Steve a bit, because he was hung up in the parking lot on the phone with Jermaine Dupri. Oh, these movers and shakers I hang out with.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Heads Up
Tomorrow, 3 or 4 of the Galgo littermates are going out hunting. I predict a post about that later in the day.
New slide show on the sidebar. Magdalena. People, dogs, landscapes, horses,..... and pigeons. Click on the show for the captioned version.
Last: I just chopped a buck off the price of the bumper stickers at the store. We realized there may be some price resistance to a five dollar bumper sticker... even a spectacular, vibrant, attention-getting, custom design that our Margaret sweated over for days! There's lamer stickers there for $6 and more. Be like the folks in the Netherlands: buy a bunch! (And Anke: we'll do something nice for you... kind of like price protection).
A Long Dog, But Not a Longdog.
Any and all dogs were welcome to run. Below is proof that 4 legs aren't required to get around the track, as long as there's plenty of heart.
Whose Ass They Gonna Kiss Now?
Monday, March 03, 2008
Rhymes With "OH NO!!"
Not like it was any big surprise.. it was predicted days ago. Took Sandia by surprise, though. He'd never seen snow before, and the driveway was quite slippery. And why isn't that rabbit running away?
10:30 AM.... it's all gone.
Friday, February 29, 2008
"You Puttin' Me On?"
But this post is supposed to be about my trip up to Magdalena to meet the above mentioned Steve Bodio... and the reason I was blocking, was that for two days I was trying to compose a post to impress the famous (in his fairly large circle) writer. Finally, last evening, it hit me: He's not going to try and impress me with his photography! ;-) So this post will include mostly what I do best: pictures. That first image up there isn't mine, but I'll get into that later.
I arrived in Magdalena about 9 am, and after a little searching, found Steve and Libby's house. First I met the dogs... the famous Tazis, from Kazakhstan, and Plummer, the English lurcher, (and Steve, correct me if I don't have it spelled correctly), and the little wired dachshund, whose name I forget... did I mention I'm terrible with names?... but remember that she's 13, and has her own set of steps up to the overstuffed easy chair.
UPDATE: Lily! Her name is Lily. Thanks Steve.
I've seen so many images on the Querencia blog of the interior of Steve and Libby's that it was hard to appreciate that this was my first visit. What I wasn't prepared for was the amount of art on display... pretty much on every exposed wall surface - nature and wildlife and other works. And sculpture on most horizontal surfaces. Other rooms contained books... oh so many books; but that was to be anticipated, and finally, the gun room. Steve has written extensively about vintage firearms, shotguns mostly. I was allowed to examine a late 1800's British shotgun, and it was interesting to see the fine detail work up close and not through the glass of a museum case.
But I came up here to run some jackrabbits with Sandia and the Tazis, so after a breakfast at the Magdalena Cafe & Steakhouse, Steve and Libby piled their pack into their vintage Ford pickup truck, and I followed back down Highway 60, to the Lee Ranch, where they have exclusive and unlimited access to a couple thousand acres of pretty good jackrabbit habitat.
We changed direction, and headed north for a few hundred yards, then veered back toward the vehicles. Finally, I spotted a jack, but it had jumped over a hundred yards away, and was headed north. Sandia saw it, but I had him on a slip, and didn't release him. Steve's dogs didn't see it until it was almost out of sight. That's all they needed; away they went. I held Sandia. They came back fairly quickly, and we walked back to the cars, and the big stock tank which is a regular ritual for the Tazis, and especially Plummer, who's getting on in years and heats up pretty easily.
I finally let Sandia go so I could shoot some pictures. He wasn't much interested in the stock tank.
Back in the vehicles again, we returned to Magdalena to plan the rest of the day. I had to get back to Socorro and the rest of the herd who, as it turned out, Steve and Libby wanted to meet, so the plan was hatched. After Steve fed the pigeons, we'd go to the RV park, walk the dogs, (it's always good to have dog walk helpers!), and then we'd go to lunch at El Sombrero. That's when the day got interesting.
Steve offered to drive so we wouldn't need two vehicles. I got "shotgun", and Libby got the middle, and we headed for the restaurant at the north end of Socorro. I had noticed, when we were still in Magdalena, that Steve didn't bother with his seat belt, which is probably normal for the denizens of that little, out of the way village. He also wasn't using it as he drove to the restaurant. I didn't bother with mine either, so when the Socorro cop passed us, I wondered: do they enforce the seat belt law in Socorro? Maybe I should slip it over my shoulder anyway.
"WHOooop -WHOooop!!"
Guess enforcement's high on their list in Socorro. Be it safety or Revenue Enhancement, Steve's donating fifty bucks to the town coffers.
That little detour out of the way, and it was on to El Sombrero, or more correctly, Frank and Lupe's El Sombrero . We'd been told by a local friend that this place wasn't any good. Steve and Libby say it's the best place in Socorro for Mexican food. (The reviews at the link are, uh... equally mixed). Personally, my lunch was excellent, but if I'd read the menu description of the stuffed sopapilla completely, I'd have noticed the potatoes stuffed in there along with the excellent carne adovada. Add the rice and the refried beans, and we were a little heavy on the starch.
Lunch conversation, covered a range of topics from politics (we agreed to disagree), and food, and complaints about the Socorro police. It was probably the most fulfilling day of the entire 6+ weeks I've spent in New Mexico. I truly wish Margaret had been here, too.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here's Steve, Libby, and the hounds in front of their casa. (That doxie's around there somewhere, too). Like I said, I'm lousy with names, but will fill them in if Steve sends them. Looking forward to his thoughts on the day.
I'll probably put up a new slideshow next door with highlights from this trip, and maybe the whole New Mexico trip.
;-)
Blocking & Tackling.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
10,000!
So congratulations to the 7:51AM ET visitor from Quebec, Canada whose ISP is Look Communications. I think I know who you are, but post a comment and let the world know! Maybe there'll be a prize!
10,000. Next milestone: 25,000. At the current rate of growth that could happen this year!