Future Headlines

Posts coming up by the end of the weekend...

This happened yesterday.

This happened today.

This will happen tomorrow...

Sad Sack..

"Sandia" (TSH WatermelonMan @ Shotonsite)

Having fathered what may turn out to be one of the happiest accidental breedings we never plan on repeating, we decided it was time to have Sandia neutered.  That "happy" event took place a week ago Tuesday.  He's taking it well, all things considered.

In addition to the surgery, we also requested that blood for a full Thyroid panel be drawn and sent to Michigan State. (They're good for something!)

Since last Summer, he's seemed depressed, and had gained more than ten pounds.  From above he looked like a sausage.  All the ripped muscles he had during the coursing season a year ago were gone.  We tried cutting back on his meals, and took him out to the field to run jackrabbits.  That was sad, as he had none of the explosive speed coupled with deep bottom endurance from last year.  It hurt to see him laboring behind all the other dogs when he had always pushed himself to be in front to fight for the hare.

I was pretty sure he was hypothyroid, a fact born out by the lab results from MSU.  We can now begin treatment with a relatively inexpensive supplement.  It's too late for this coursing season, but I'm optimistic we'll have our awesome Galgo back to his old self in time for next year's batch of jackrabbits.

Introducing "H1LDA"

A Secret!

Beatles - Do You Want To Know A Secret
Jumping straight back into the blogosphere without so much as a by your leave, sir.. Beginning with the most recent news.. (and there is a lot!).  
Back in September, just before we went on the aforementioned train trip to New York, Ashley and Sandia had a not-so-secret assignation, which I was not quick enough to break up.  That resulted in the not-so-little bundle of joy you see here.
Born on November 17, she shares her birthday with my late mother.  I decided that called for naming her after my mother- Hilda. (This was also the name of Dutch's very first sighthound, so that made it even more apropos!)  Since she was born a singleton, some modification of the spelling was called for.  I stole the idea from a large, midwestern athletic conference logo.  I named her H1LDA.  Make sure you get it right.

Simple Mathmatics

I can do the simple cipherin'. For instance, if I know that we have a healthy sized swarm of honeybees that hang around the leaky faucet in the yard (1), and I walk into the living room and find Buffy has changed her name to Puffy (1), then I can posit that the silly girl has put her face where it doesn't belong, and is likely       not to ever go again.That equals "2".   (1 + 1 = 2. Get it?)

Fencing.

One of the most important abilities a hound should have when hunting jackrabbits on rangeland, aside from the obvious talent for running at high speed, turning at said speed, and catching the damn thing, is the ability to fence. No, I'm not talking about grabbing the rapier and challenging the hare to a duel. I mean the ability to clear the barbed wire without tearing up their back, and to do it at speed so as to not lose ground to the hare.

Willow demonstrates:


Make gif

She learned the hard way. On her first crossing last winter, she tried to go through the middle strands. The technique can be trained with the simple use of bait and a leash or long rope and, of course, a fence. One without barbs would be ideal, but not necessary. Two people make it easier, too, but again it's not necessary.

With the dog on one side of the fence, and you, with your bait (food, cookies, etc) on the other side, run the lead under the bottom strand of the fence and call the dog. Stop him if he tries to go come through any part of the fence except the bottom strand of wire. When he does it right, give him the treat and praise him. Do it a couple of times a day, without being excessive, then start doing it without the leash or rope. Soon you'll have a hound who can dive under the wire after the hare without even appearing to slow down. The best dogs at this are a wonder to observe.

Have fun, keep your dogs safe, and every day will feel like today was for us

Fanny.

We've been pretty lucky with our hounds, with Randir living to be as old as Methuselah before we lost him last year, and Buffy's cruciate, and all of Rally's attempts to drive us into poverty, but they weren't life-threatening.

Above is one of a series of X-Rays done by Dr Jim Koschmann at Crossroads Animal Hospital in El Paso. Yesterday we received the results from the bone biopsy done at the same time, and it is as we expected. Osteosarcoma. Bone cancer.

We have limited options, one of which is amputation, as the cancer hasn't metastasized, and her lungs appear clear. But amputation would include removing part of the pelvis along with the limb, and there isn't a lot of references for it being done. Dr. Koschmann has never done it, and even the revered Jim Radcliffe hasn't done it, and could only find one reference for it.

Fanny's going on 11 years old. She's been one of our most consistent jackrabbit chasers and catchers. She's being kept comfortable and pain free with Prednisone and Tramadol. We'll stay with that routine, until we have to do something else.

Optimism Is

Yesterday was the rabies vaccination expedition to the Deming Animal Clinic for dogs and the cat. Everybody was due except Sandia, who's a year off the schedule.

This included the nearly 13 year old Randir the Scottish Deerhound (which the clinic hilariously recorded as a Scottish Terrier...).

It's a 3 year vaccination.

That's optimism.

Shrinking Bedroom.

Don't ask me.

The king-size bed that came with the house was fine with me.  But Margaret's been pretty much living at the 2nd hand store downtown, and there was this bed.  We saw the headboard a month ago.  I really liked it.  I wanted it, because the bed in the house was just that- a bed.  The headboard would really make it look nice.  It's identical to the bed used in the TV series, Medium.

Problem.  The headboard, and matching footboard were part of a California king bed.  Same width, but 6 freakin' inches longer, and they wouldn't sell just the headboard.  Oh well, I thought, ...and thought about it no more.

That didn't stop Margaret from pursuing it, however, while also picking up more chairs, tables, lamps and such.  As it turned out, they took our basically brand new bed in trade, and today they delivered it and set it up.  All of a sudden, the bedroom looks a whole lot smaller!  Amazing what 6" of mattress and some lumber can do to shrink a room.

But it is very cool.  The mattress, it turns out, is a brand new Sealy- still in the bag- with a cushy pillow top.  It also came with the matching bedside cabinet!

At 30" high, we were worried about our resident octogenarian*, but he continues to amaze...  

Think about the effort required to kip-up those rear legs!  I've said it before, and I'll say it again about this old man who is now the lone surviving member of his litter: What a guy!

*at the human equivalent of 88 years old, he's very nearly a nonogenarian!

Damage Control

Hide the women and kids... it's blood and gore!  

I previously wrote about the jackrabbit that led our dogs astray, and into the heavy brush.  They did go into the brush, but after closer inspection of the wounds.. (shown here, Sandia's right rear leg, and left armpit and chest) it seems pretty obvious that they also flew through a barbed wire fence.
Nasty stuff.

I decided to take Sandia to the vet on Friday, just to be on the safe side.  He pronounced the injuries "superficial", and the only reason to suture the crap out of them would be to reduce scarring.  As Sandia is as likely to show up at a beauty contest as I am to sprout wings and fly, we decided to let nature take its course.  I had already started him on oral antibiotics, so all we were out was for an office call and an "examination". As of today, 3 days on, he's moving fine, and the wounds are closing nicely. He'll be ready for this week's Galgo Extravaganza! 

As an aside to our "personal groomer" in Texas, notice that we also took the opportunity to have his nails clipped while we were there, and her services will not be required next weekend as previously scheduled.

Also, the more observant of you will have noticed that, yup, there's only one.

Clothing With a Message

I don't usually promote fashions available from CafePress that don't make us a buck or two, but Patrick has designed some pretty cool gear with a message some who read this blog don't want to hear.  Doesn't mean it ain't so.  Check it out- he's selling with 0 markup, and he's letting you copy the art on the blog to make your own... whatever.  I'm going to make a shirt!

A Grand Old Man.

That's my boy, last weekend. The walk turned out to be a little longer than anticipated due to the lack of hares. About 3 miles, in fact, and he was pretty fagged when we got to the car, and the next day, he never got out of bed, except for the daily "walk". Three days later, he was as frisky as ever. What a freak of nature, to be traipsing in the desert, climbing the Express's stairs, and jumping into the bed at an age when... well, he doesn't have a lot of company.

I hope he survives until we move into the Mountain House, so he'll always be with us.

What a Life.

Last Monday, I dropped Margaret off at yet another airport- Austin, TX in this case. She'll be in Michigan for a couple of weeks, then she and her mother will be flying to Georgia for Christmas with a large chunk of the family.

I returned to our parking place of late, the driveway of our good friend Sherita, in the tiny burg of Santa Anna, Texas. (Dining tip: H&H Diner. Another case of good grub in small towns. In this case, the jalapeno cheeseburger's to die for. They also make their own pies and cookies.) Sherita has wireless internet access in the driveway, so I have no excuse for not blogging for the last couple of weeks other than the usual: lazy.

I left Santa Anna this afternoon, bound for Socorro, NM where, this Saturday, a certain Spanish Greyhound will run in his first official hunt. This trip was up in the air until I actually backed out of the driveway- it seems "Mr. I've-never-seen-anything-I-wouldn't-put-in-my-mouth" last Sunday retrieved, from a nearly impossible location, the big bottle of generic Ibuprofen, chewed off the lid, and scattered the contents around the living room of the Express! This, while I was shooting the AHCA trial, and Margaret was outside manning her laptop for the clients. I didn't think he actually ingested anything because of the amount left on the floor, but it became very apparent on Monday, that he had, indeed, swallowed a couple before deciding they weren't to his taste. Evidence including diarrhea, vomiting, frequent urination.. all the typical signs of Ibuprofen toxicity.

Unfortunately, it was 24 hours after the fact, so any first aid would have been useless, and it was time for a lot of breath holding. The vomiting only lasted for a few hours. The diarrhea is still an on and off thing, but the blood- indicating stomach ulceration- is becoming less, with a regimen of Mylanta, Immodium, and yogurt. I had blood work done by the local country doc, and all the kidney numbers were normal, and the blood was clotting normally. Most importantly, his activity level is back to obnoxiously normal!

So, I hit the road. Rather late, actually, but I made it to Brownfield, TX , just East of the New Mexico border on US380. I'm staying at Coleman Park, a nice city park with 14 free full-hookup RV sites, five of which are now filled. And, as a bonus: free WiFi!

300 miles to go. I'll have high speed wireless again at Casey's in Socorro. I plan to spend a couple of days there after the hunt, and do some wildlife and landscape shooting, and will share that when it happens. And more.

12 Years Ago This Morning...

...Randir, (Leelanau Mithrandir) was whelped in my basement in Jackson, MI. Today, like most days, he's sacked out on the bed. But he was chasing jackrabbits last Winter, and I expect he'll sprint out (briefly!) after them again next Winter. We send out birthday wishes to his two surviving sisters, Hillary and Morgan.

"...may you stay forever young." - Bob Dylan

Shots Up To Date?

Going to the II? (American Sighthound Field Association's "International Invitational").

While some are concerned that the temperatures will be intolerable for hounds and humans alike, Patrick has posted on a potentially more serious problem: Rabies. In the neighborhood.

Forewarned is forearmed.

We'll be there, of course. I've shot every II since 1996 except 1997. You could say I'm a fixture at this point. We'll be joined by my friend, Steve Surfman of Steve Surfman Photography. Steve has helped shoot a few previous II's.

We'll also be joined, briefly, on Saturday by the aforementioned working terrierman himself, Pat Burns.

A good time should be had by all. See you there, and make sure your rabies vaccinations are current!