Fun For a Winter's Day..

Among the many and sundry email alerts and newsletters I receive, is the Tech Talk from PC Pitstop. And among the topics in the newsletter I received today, is one titled, "Steve Bass's Top 15 Time Wasters of 2010"... How could I resist?

I haven't checked out all of the time wasters yet, but there were two I really need to share.. Ball Droppings.. has all the elements of a classic time waster, as you work harder and harder to come up with more and more complex sounds and visuals.

The other is just stunning.. as you tour the known Universe in six and a half minutes..

I've reduced the size to fit here, but make sure you go to YouTube and watch the full size version. This reminds me of a film that first blew my mind at the Ontario Science Centre way, way back in 70s...

...but which takes the concept many steps further by not stopping when it returns to Earth.

Lots of other fun time wasters at the link. Have fun!

A New Plaything Tool.

I had my eye on this little buggy ever since it first showed up on D & D Auto's lot back in October.  If you live here, you need at least one 4 X 4 runabout.  Not for snow or ice, but for the mud that covers the roads out in the valley, and for the rocky roads you have to negotiate up in the hills, especially if you're going to a start point for a hike and climb, or geocaching. (It's parked on a "road" in the above photo).  There's no shortage here of Jeeps, Sidekicks, Trackers, Broncos and Bronco II.  It may not get driven as much as the Escape or even the van, but when it goes out, it will be because it's needed.

Or just for fun.

Facts: 1987 Mitsubishi Montero Sport 4 x 4.  105,000 miles (!)  It will be getting more serious tires early next week.  It's red! :-)

A New Slide Show.

Previously on these pages I presented my new, cool idea of fast digital captures, shot one-handed from a speeding vehicle. Having just completed another round trip from Deming to a New Mexico location further north (in this case, Mountainair) on I25, and other federal and state highways, I now have sufficient samples of this fun, new art form to load a new slide show to the blog.

Very little tweaking of the images have been done. Mostly the simple, subtle enhancements available from Google's Picasa program- straightening, adjusting contrast, cropping, etc.

Since there was snow on the Floridas yesterday, I think it's time to remove the "Spring/Summer" show from the sidebar. This new show will replace it shortly, and will be added to as we travel further afield. Hope you enjoy.

Photographic Art At 75 MPH.

I may have created a new photographic niche. Any good photographer can go off into the country, and painstakingly set up the perfect shot. But if you're traveling down an Interstate, in a hurry to get home, and don't want to stop to to capture the stunning images you're passing.. it's simple: roll down the window and, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, point the camera at the scene with your other. Fire away. Instant art at 75 miles per hour.

The Long Wait is Over!

Counting on my fingers I see it's been 6 months... 6! A half a year since Sandia's been able to chase a jackrabbit. He was ready.

A Wedding? Cool!

Somebody got married today! Wonder who? The dogs were in attendance. I'm sure even Randir was here. Details to follow when things slow down around here. And a slide show. And a video on YouTube! The marriage 45 years in the making.

"Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"

We always wondered why every property in our "neighborhood", without exception, was either fenced or walled, and gated. Mystery solved. All of the "Deming Ranchettes" are open rangeland.

Nobody Got Hurt. (OK, one turned ankle)

Many readers will get it, but for some people, this is considered "fun". I'll try and have Margaret stitch together a panoramic shot of the aftermath. I'll go up on the roof and shoot the "aerial" version, now that everyone but us is gone.

This, friends, was the 2009 ASFA International Invitational Swimming and Diving Meet.

A Little Quiz.

So... I took this picture on my mountain hike yesterday.

From Up and Down the North Floridas

It was on the side of the road up the mountain.  I know what it is.  Do you?

(click on image for larger view)

Mission Accomplished!

Don't think I mentioned it, but I'm going through one of those "bachelor periods" that happen a couple times a year.  Margaret flew off to New York late last week to visit with her kids, then made the hop to Michigan last night to visit her mother.

The fun addition to this trip is that she'll also be looking at vehicles.. something to load up with a fair amount of stuff from our storage unit and haul back here to New Mexico.  Right now, so I've been told, the leading candidate is a Ford cargo van.  We'll see what happens.

So with a lot of free time on my hands, and a cool (but very windy) day at my disposal yesterday, I decided it was time to climb a mountain.  There're plenty of them available, but I picked one that I can see from the back porch.  There are a couple of towers up there, so it makes an inviting target.

I filled my pack with water, a box of crackers, my Kabar knife, and binoculars, put my camera on the harness and walked away from the house at 11am.  By noon, I was probably a little better than halfway up.  I should note that this isn't exactly "technical climbing".  I only had to use my hands a couple of times, but the last bit was damn steep, and the rocks were shifting around. The wind was blowing strong enough to practically blow me up the hill.

Two hours and fifteen minutes after I started, I was back at the house, soaking my shaking legs in the whirlpool bath.  Today my legs are very sore, as I knew they would be, but not too bad.

Next time I do this, I'll make sure that someone knows what I'm doing.  It's not exactly wise to go off on an excursion like this alone.  But I do want to do it again.  There's a higher point on the Little Floridas I want to try.

Meanwhile, here's a little slide show.. images I stopped regularly to capture (and catch my breath) on the way up and back down again.  Enjoy.

HOUSEWARMING!!

Y'all come!  Maybe we'll have a rattlesnake round up!

Missing the Money Shot

I've gotten to where I don't bother taking the camera out to the desert when we go hunting.  It's heavy, gets covered in a fine, fine dust that seems like it can't be doing the camera any good in the long run.  And if I'm going to tote something weighty, I'd rather it be the binoculars so I can better watch the action when it goes over the horizon.

So it was yesterday, as I packed Sandia and Fanny in the car for a rare afternoon hunt with Dutch. A brisk East wind was blowing, keeping the temperature in the mid 50's, so we weren't worried about heat.  We were at a field we hadn't visited in several weeks, and is always good for a couple of chases, if not exactly bountiful.

We'd walked south about a mile and a half, and then cut west a bit, then back north an equal distance without even a sniff of a hare.  We decided to turn to the west for a while, and that's precisely when the hare jumped right in front of Sandia.  He got the jump on everybody, and had a good run up, which eventually turned the hare... hard, to the right, almost right into the mouth of Dutch' s Phyllis (winner of the Desert Hare Classic) who was closing fast.  I saw her head go down in the high cover, but she came up empty.  Sandia avoided the collision, and stayed right behind the jack through several more turns.

Eventually the hare made a straightaway break, with Sandia still on its tail.  In fact, that was one of the more impressive parts of this chase, that despite the extremely high cover in this particular field, Sandia never let the prey get more than a couple of feet ahead of him, always keeping him in site.  When they broke into an open patch I could see Sandia lunging, ever so close to the hares rear, but not quite making contact.  Those would have been some pretty impressive photos had I, you know, had my camera with me... 

But that's not the "money shot" referred to in the title.  Ninety seconds after the race began, Sandia, with some help from Phyllis finally snapped up the jack.  A very brief "discussion" ensued as to who "owned" the jackrabbit, and for a while Sandia carried it back in tandem with Dutch's soon-to-be impressive puppy "Cinnamon", but she finally let go and Sandia proudly brought "dinner" back to me.  That was the money shot, as these events are rare.

This was probably Sandia's finest overall course of his young life, the first where he really looked like some of the best Galgos I've seen coursing in the southwest.  The best moves of the jackrabbit didn't shake him. He kept it in sight despite difficult conditions, and he refused to give up until the job was done.

But his day wasn't over.  After a fifteen minute rest, and some goats milk and water, he was back out front as we started our final sweep back towards the vehicles, and boom!  Fanny jumped this one, and for a nearly nine year old staghound, did herself proud in the run up until Sandia and Phyllis took over.  This rabbit had a different plan than it's "brother", and ran in a- fast - straight line to the southeast.  Sandia was, again, right on it as the rabbit's sinister tactic became apparent.  It was trying to get to a heavy concentration of creosote bush.. nasty stuff you don't want your dogs running into, and pretty much guaranteeing the jackrabbits survival to run another day.

The dogs straggled back looking like survivors of a WWII beach assault.  Dutch's Ashley had a big hole in her foreleg, while Sandia had a long, ugly tear on his rear foot and, discovered later, a couple more holes in his armpit and chest.  Not deep, just tears, but ugly.  By the time we got home, he'd stiffened up significantly.  This morning, he's moving around much better, but we may take him to the vet, because he won't let us touch him.

The drawback to the vet idea is that they'll probably want to suture the wounds, which means he'd most definitely miss a big Galgo outing planned for next week.  Galgos are coming down from the north of the state, including his mother and siblings,  and others are coming from out East somewhere.  So for now, I've got him on antibiotics and letting him keep the wounds clean on his own.

Meanwhile, we've purchased a bigass crockpot, and there'll be jackrabbit in the dog food tomorrow!

So that was yesterday.  One jackrabbit got caught.  One got even.  Rubber match anyone? 

Home.

We're there.  Up there on the masthead.

The Year Was 1980....

Our first will be Deming's 30th!

Can't wait.

Can't Wait For Our First One!

The year was 1980......

UPDATE 3-4-09: Aha!  Cindy knew!  Good job, Cindy!  (of course Cindy has an unfair advantage)

What Does Big Ben Say?

BONG!  BONG!  BONG!.....

Weren't you just outraged and incensed about that picture of All-American Wonder Boy, Michael Phelps huffing away on a bong?

Yeah, me neither.

I'm with Seth...

What's the big surprise?   Where did Phelps do the bulk of his pre-Olympic training?

Ann Arbor.

What happens in Ann Arbor every April 1st since the 60's?   Andrew?  Anybody?

I rest my case.

Great New Products!

I almost forgot to post this.

Last year, we had a great promotion that was very popular.  Art gallery style posters featuring your dog.  It was so popular, it got us through the New Mexico break without going broke and having to push the motor home back to the March events.

This year's "special" is a creative twist on our popular "I'd Rather Be Coursing" bumper stickers.  Instead  of a generic sighthound breed, you get your very own dog on the sticker.  And!  They're bigger than our regular stickers.. 4" x 12".

Many of you are already aware of this promo, as we "spammed" about 600 emails to our friends, customers, and others in our email address books.  If not, here's some cool samples, and a copy of the email that was sent.  These aren't available through CafePress.com, (but we've got a terrific new item we're adding there soon.  Stay tuned.), and you'll have to contact Margaret directly.

This special was supposed to end to end today, but since I forgot to promote it on the blog, we're going to extend it to the end of next week, February 14!   Remember that we have to have taken a picture of your dog at a trial or race to take part in this promotion!

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 postage

 

We 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 Fairman

Shot On Site Photography

What Was It?

Even when you're underneath it, the T.A.R.S. Aerostat doesn't look twice the size of the Goodyear blimp. That's because this "weapon" in the so called "War on Drugs", is on a 25,000 foot tether.

The one in my picture is one eleven that the Air Force operates from the Carribean to Arizona. It is located, as you might guess, outside of Deming, New Mexico. It's purpose is not to catch "il-ee-gals" (sorry Todd), but "radar interdiction" of planeloads of illicit drugs coming from the south. So, while Rick correctly identified what it is, Cindy was the only one who got the hint.

There is no prize... you all should be proud of a job well done.

What Is It? (With Hint)

Just a fun diversion from all the seriousness here lately. This is a little game that Patrick play over at Terrierman blog. Just post your answers to the comments section, and all will be revealed in a couple of days.

Playing isn't a requirement, and you don't need to whine about it. You can just say "no".

Dan's Inauguration Poster.

Make your own "Obama-style" poster here.