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!
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!)
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Shrinking Bedroom.
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!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunbeam.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Missing the Money Shot
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Clothing With a Message
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
There's Political News...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Recipe for Disaster.
They found their feet so quickly, that all three dogs got back on the jack, and a good course ensued. I know it was good, because Sandia won it!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Great New Products!
I almost forgot to post this.
Happy New Year to all!First of all, we apologize if you have received duplicates of this message or if you prefer not to receive our occasional communications. To remove your name from our list simply reply and put 'Remove' in the subject line.Dan & I are in Deming, New Mexico until the end of February for a little R&R with our dogs. In the past several months many of you asked if we could personalize our I'd Rather Be Coursing bumper sticker with your own dogs. Our answer then was that it is cost prohibitive to do so on a one at a time basis. But we thought it was a great idea... if we could do a large batch at one time.So the Personalized Bumper Sticker is our Winter Special. We'll take orders through Friday, February 6th. That gives you just over 2 weeks to pick your favorite photo. The attachment shows the choices for background color and text. The personalized stickers are 12" X 4" (larger than our generic stickers!). Here's the scoop on cost and choices:$19 for the 1st bumper sticker$3.50 for duplicates$3.00 for postageWe will invoice you through PayPal which can be paid online or by mailing us a check.Info we need from you:
Photo choice (check the photo # on our website) Please give me the event and date. A stretched or streamlined tuck will work best for the space available. Background color choice (yellow, blue, green, red, pink). Text choice (I'd Rather be Coursing/Love at First Sighthound/The Happiness of Pursuit). Dog's name (if you want it printed on the sticker). Rabbit preference (stretched, tucked or moving away).You can also order our generic stickers for $5 - we have most breeds available.Let us know if you have questions. We look forward to hearing from you.Dan Gauss & Margaret FairmanShot On Site Photography
Friday, January 30, 2009
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.
Monday, January 19, 2009
17 Miles of Bad Road.
To get to the hunt area, it was required to navigate the above pictured county "road"; dust, washboard ripples, and soft powder ruled the day. We had to do this twice a day.
By virtue of winning the "Sprint Stake" on Saturday, defeating several of his litter mates, and his mother, along with a shag-coat longdog and a whippet, Sandia got to join the Cup hunters on Sunday.
When the dust cleared, and the scores were tabulated, Sandia wound up in 3rd Place... along with three other hounds.
He's pictured here with Margaret, and judge, Paul Sagar from Great Britain. I thought he might end up 2nd or 3rd... I just didn't expect all the company.
And we'd like to congratulate the winner, Frank Cassano's nice Saluki, Haba.
It was a beautiful weekend of spectacular coursing, with lots of sunshine, cool temps, (mostly) good sportsmanship,
and most importantly of all....
...nobody blew up!
*The Coursing Conservancy. Sorry, no link- website not available to the public.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Air Show.
There were birds of prey aplenty, and they made the most of their photo ops, by flying directly overhead several times a day.
Of course, there will always be Red Tailed Hawks...
...and this was one of a pair that were doing quite the aerial ballet most of the weekend. I think they may be up to something.
As I was shooting the second runs of the day, I heard a commotion in the thicket next to where I was sitting. I glanced over in time to see all the small birds diving into the brush. I knew immediately what I was going to see overhead...
...this Sharp-shinned Hawk, on the prowl for lunch.Finally, there was this large fellow; a Red Shouldered Hawk. My Peterson Guide says the red on the shoulders is not always visible from below, but it shows up just fine here. But just in case it didn't, there is the "window" at the base of the primary feathers to confirm the identification, which shows up plainly here as well.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
On the Road Again.
That's us. And just in time, too. With all the rain of the past couple of days we were turning mildewy. We've been parked too long in high humidity and precipitation, and are longing for the land of single-digit dew points.
So today, we bid farewell to 2008 and hit the road for the first time in '09, and are heading for Texas, and then (oh yeah) New Mexico.
But first! We needed to stop off in Acworth, GA and get the new rear window graphic installed. It was past time to get the old one off..
...The dark parts were turning white, and the whole thing was dried out and brittle. Besides, few people knew what the hell they were looking at. When they finally figured out the jackrabbit, they missed the dog completely, which gave Buffy an inferiority complex.
With Margaret's new design, the ambiguity is right out the window, (no pun intended). It's right in your face..
Almost like a Greyound Bus, huh?
Thanks to a quick install by Les and his employees, we were on the road (again) in no time, beat the Atlanta rush hour, and got 2/3 of the way across Alabama before stopping for the evening.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Waterboarding Is F-U-N!
The G.A.N.G. folks, being an entertaining bunch, made sure that for most of the five days of lure coursing trials scheduled for the end of the year, the pond would be in play... at least for the more enterprising of the hounds.
So many hounds spent so much time in the water that one of the exhibitors donated a prize for the most entertaining of the swimmer/diver/skier/
I decided to include a few favorites of my own, which include not just the comic antics of a few goofy dogs, but also this graceful, and picturesque Saluki...
...and for pure comic relief, this sequence featuring an Ibizan Hound who was sure... absolutely sure that...
"I can clear this thing!...Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Making A Little History
This image was supplied by photographer, Lee Gearhart of Uma Rapiti Photography, who plies his talents in the Southeast US. You may find more Sandia images at his website.
I'll have more on the pond in the picture in a future post. It played a big part in keeping everyone entertained this weekend.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Portraits: Dogs at Play.
That's weather to take the dogs out in, and out we went. On Tuesday, I took Randir and Buffy to the other side of the Floridas. We jumped one jack that Buffy chased for a while, till it went through a fence. Randir didn't see it, so I didn't get the annual picture of the old dog and the rabbit. There'll be more opportunities next month when we return. Today, Sandia and Fanny got to chase 3 hares with Dutch's and Beth Ann's dogs. One was neatly dispatched after a 2 minute course.
So.. without further adieu...
Randir. AKA "freak of nature". To paraphrase David Allan Coe*, if he looks 12 and a third, I'll kiss your ass.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still the prettiest dog on the planet. Don't you even try to disagree with me.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Br'er Rabbit. Lepus Californicus.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
No Cigar.
As reported yesterday, Sandia finished second to his sister, Maya. The Holiday Cup, (which, in fact, is not a cup at all, but a massive wooden chest with a bronze casting of what looks suspiciously like an Italian Greyhound), is awarded to the hound with the highest combined score for the two days. So we returned today minus most of the competitors. In fact, today's hunt consisted of yesterday's 1st place hound, Maya, the 5th placer, Camille, and one of the 2nd place hounds, Sandia. For the mathematically challenged, that's an entry of three. All Galgos.
But somebody had to win the cup, and there was no lack of suspense because there was only 3 points separating the hounds, so off we went to the field.
Very high winds were predicted, along with the possibility of snow or rain, so we were hoping to get this finished quick. The wind was already blowing pretty briskly as we started walking, and questioned our sanity as we had to stop every couple yards to remove "Jumping Cholla" spines from the dogs' pads.
Mercifully, we jumped the jackrabbit after only about a half hour of tramping through the mesquite, yucca, and cholla. Sandia saw it first, off to our right, and I called the "Tally Ho". The course was unexciting, as courses go, and the dogs were soon out of our sight. The judge, standing on the tailgate of her truck, saw a little more than we did, but not enough to satisfy her. She wanted a re-run, but Steve and I had had enough. We said just score it, and agreed to end the hunt on this prelim run.
Sandia won the course over Maya by one point, but he went into the day trailing by two. The "cup" went to Maya.... L-R Chris Mason (breeder), Holiday "Cup", Maya, Steve Garth.
Congratulations Maya and Steve! The torch has been passed to the next generation of Galgos!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Sandia's "Maiden"
So? Sounds like there's a "but"...
But... his sister, Maya, won the hunt.
Ah, tomorrow is another (wetter, windier) day!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
What a Life.
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.