Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes..

As promised, (though not as expeditiously as previously implied..) a story about the completely new direction our lives are about to take.

First let's back up to some time last Spring.. or maybe it was Summer.  At Margaret's usual monthly trip to the auction, she met a lady from Madison, WI who happened to live near us.  As they became better aquainted, Sam (Samantha, I presume) told Margaret about a conversation she'd had with the owners of the little, used bookstore in town.  She was interested in buying the store, and wondered if we would be interested in going in on it with her.  We were intrigued, did some digging around and some research and decided that yes, we would be interested.

As our interest increased, Sam's seemed to wane.  So much so, that she left town last Summer to return to Madison, but is now residing also in Florida.  That did nothing to dampen our (Margaret's) resolve.  Roping in a family member to be a "silent partner", we set the wheels in motion to become book store owners.

The first thing we needed to do was buy the building from the person who was leasing it to the book store business owners.  We didn't want to be at the mercy of a stranger who didn't even live in New Mexico.  That was accomplished a week ago, Tuesday, when we closed the deal on the building and property.

The business owners' lease expires at the end of May.  At that time, we'll purchase the inventory, and take over the business, while the current owners retire to the house they're building in the wilderness of Datil, NM. (Look it up).

While we won't change the name of the store, we'll be doing business as Dog-Eared Enterprises, LLC.  We'll also be creating some gallery space in the store for my local landscape and nature images, so Shot On Site Photography will also be folded into Dog-Eared Enterprises.

The store features extensive titles on southwest history, New Mexico, the borderlands, plus all the other topics you'd expect to find in a bookseller's.  We expect to have an increased internet presence over what they're currently doing, including a Facebook page, which I expect everybody to "Like".

The dusty backyard visible in the pictures, will have a chain link fence installed to complete the enclosure, and will become 1) a dog yard for the daily "store dogs", and 2) a space to rent out for "events" such as weddings or receptions and such.

So with that, we are truly, once and for all, completely retired from the "traveling to dog events" business.  It was fun, but we're moving on.

Facebook Favorites Calendars!

It's that time of year again!

Each year, we take the 13 (or more) most liked images from our Shot On Site Facebook Page, and put them in a calendar, which we then sell in the hopes of turning a couple dollars of profit, and in turn, brighten up your offices, kitchens, kennels, or outhouses, or the homes of those to whom you gift them.

This year, we're doing something a little different.

We have two calendars! A Dog-themed calendar, and a Not-Dog-themed version. One for the kennel and one for the kitchen, eh? Or one for a gift for that rare non-dog owning friend on your gift list.

We have a limited stock of both, that we will sell for a mere $15 each, postage included. All you have to do it email either Margaret (margaretfairman@gmail.com) or me, (dan@shotonsite.us). We'll then send you a PayPal invoice, and upon payment, will mail out your calendar.

If we run out of our stock, all is not lost. If you'll look over to the right sidebar, you'll see display links for both calendars. These links will take you to Lulu.com, where you can review the calendars before buying, and you can also buy calendars for $17 plus postage.

See? Time is of the essence if you want to save about $6! We're waiting for your emails.

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.

Beyond The Sea

The parents.. Otis/Fada.  Image ©Camilla Colleen

Earthly arrival early June.  Hare-Brained Homestead arrival anticipated late-August or early September.  Watch this space

Scientists Just Wanna Have Fun

Music awards you never heard of.. "Best Lab Song". And the winner is:



..as judged by the editors and writers of BioTechniques, The International Journal of Life Science Methods. Isn't Baylor a Baptist college? They're dancing! I won't tell.

Other finalists in the competition can be found at EarthSky. I didn't watch them, but I'll assume they're as good as the one above.

Actually, I have watched one of the other finalist videos. I even posted it here.

The Finest In Automotive Spy Photography

Several times over the past 25 years, I've been fortunate enough to be in  the right place at the right time to photograph upcoming automobile models on public roads, doing "real world testing".  Most often the vehicles are disguised, with outlandish extra body panels, or wild graphic paint schemes, designed to misdirect the viewer's eyes so as not to determine exactly what the shape of the car really is.  Other times, when they're closer to production, only the badging, and other identifying marks are stripped from the cars.


I first got lucky in Anchorage, Alaska of all places.  Engineers apparently experienced a stalling problem, and left what would later become the Subaru Impreza abandoned in a hotel parking lot, with the hood up.  I snapped away. I couldn't help it.  Those pictures ended up in AutoWeek Magazine.


Jump ahead several years, and I'm working as an independent representative for a firm which required me to visit a lot of backroads businesses.  I was in Livingston County, Michigan when a convoy of overly clad vehicles was leaving a rural gas station.  Again, I fired away, and again the images ended up in AutoWeek.  It was America's first look at the Oldsmobile Alero and Pontiac Grand Am.


Recently, I happened to capture images of the 2012 Audi A6 on nearby back roads.  These were brokered to several automotive online journals by the "Doyenne" of  automotive spy photography, whose name you would recognize instantly.


What follows, is the published account of my most recent discovery.  It was late at night, at a gas station in Abilene, Texas......

§    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §    §   §

Our intrepid, tireless, ambitious, poverty-stricken, Instamatic®- toting, weasley, automotive paparazzi have been at it again.  Caught real world testing, without so much as a single fig leaf of disguise is Ford’s upcoming retro spectacular, the 2014 Edsel Redux!  (pronounced Ree-doo).

Word has been out there among the automotive cognoscenti for several months now, that this masterpiece of backward-thinking was in the works, but this is the first time it’s been captured on film, as it were, and we here at AutoLuddite were victorious in the bout of feverish bidding that ensued to be the first to present this image to the public.


Our sources in the industry tell us this fantastic retro-sled weighs in at an astonishing four-and-a-half tons, due in part to the extensive use of carbon fiber in the floor mats, and turn signal indicator.  Power to overcome massive amounts of inertia comes from the technologically advanced cast iron, straight 6 cylinder EcoBǖst, (pronounced boooost), engine, which produces upwards of 175 BHP when using 102 octane unleaded fuel.  Naught to 60 times are expected to be in the range of sometime before dark, therefore, no convertible model is expected to be produced.  Our sources tell us that an optional 3-speed manual transmission, mounted on the steering column (!), has never, ever been considered.

The designers have really outdone themselves in recalling the essence of the original, right down to the extremely wide white sidewall bias-ply tires, to the rust spots on the quarter panels.  One wonders why, with all of these styling cues resurrecting the marque’s illustrious past, the “toilet seat” was left off of the massive chrome grille?  Perhaps it will appear on a higher trim level model.  We can only hope and pray.


Unfortunately, prices are not expected to fall in line with those of 50+ years ago.  You can expect to pony up around $25,000 for a base model, to a staggering $55,000 for the super deluxe, although to be fair, that price does include your own personal dwarf mechanic in a satchel, so you will never have to worry about breakdowns, or even regularly scheduled maintenance.


The Edsel Redux will be produced in limited quantities, by Ford of Honduras, and for reasons known only to those at the very top of the Ford hierarchy, will only be sold through Kia dealerships.   We look forward to our first test drive!


- Peter S. Tingly,  AutoLuddite




....Y'know... I've been thinkin'... I might just could be wrong... about all of this.  Just sayin'.

This Is A Big Fuc.. .. Deal!

Doves, seeking shelter during the worst.
I feared for their lives.

For the last two days, we've had temperatures well below normal. For example, the normal high for this time of year is 62°F. We struggled to come close to 20°F. Probably 40% of the state is without water, us included. Many are without natural gas, and with power companies effecting rolling blackouts, some have been without power. The winds from the North on Wednesday and Thursday were strong enough to turn a trace of snow into a blinding
blizzard!

In our area, particularly, the homes are not suited to cold this extreme. We've been without water since Wednesday night, probably because the water line from the well building to the house is not buried deep enough. Fortunately, our well building is well insulated, so there was running water from the tap there.. we were able to fill some 5 gallon buckets to at least be able to flush the toilets. We've been spoiled here, and had forgotten the rules about opening the taps to prevent freezing.. besides, who could have imagined that we would break the record for low temps by a whopping 20 degrees?!

The dishwasher is full. The kitchen counters are full of more dirty dishes. Our bodies are.. well, enough said about that. We could use showers.

I awoke at 6:15 this morning to the sound very much like a dog getting ready to empty its stomach. I was afraid the drains were about to back up. In reality, it was the faucet in the bathtub, trying mightily to produce water! It would produce only a trickle, but a trickle was more than we've had for more than 50 hours. To compound the good news, the same was happening in the second bathtub. Not a drop from any of the sink faucets yet, but now that appears only a matter of time.

The forecast for the next 10 days is for highs in the 60's. That sounds a whole lot like normal to me, and the last two days will be but an ugly memory. Next Winter we'll know better, and I want a wood burner in the house!

Darwin's Mountaineers.

A follow up article in the local paper goes into more detail on the four "hikers" who had to be rescued from the top of the mountains last week, but it fails to make them appear any... brighter.

Take a look at this picture:

The arrow at the bottom of the mountain is the parking lot and picnic area. The arrow at the top is Florida Peak, (partially obscured by clouds in this 2009 image), some 2500' above the lot, with no trails between the two. On a day when the sun sets around 5:30, who in their right mind decides to make a climb (not a hike) at 2 O'Clock? They may be in college, but they're obviously not math majors.

Darwin Award Candidates, Deming NM & Points (Far) East.

Yeah. Looks like a good place to hike when inclement weather is approaching, and you're wearing shorts and T-Shirts. Maybe you'd go up on "Lover's Leap", huh?. Then use your cell phone when you're completely out of your element and experience. Duh.

Call, Email, or Write Your Congressperson.

(But don't send a cable if you don't want to be immortalized by WikiLeaks)

Click on the post title above, or here, to see why-

"There's no single action Congress could take that would help the economy more than putting money in the hands of people who'll spend it right away."

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.

Hello There.

(Please cue soundtrack, below)

Hello there..

I'm Indiana Gauss.

I'm a famed dashing and handsome blog-cheologist.  I seem to have stumbled upon this ancient and neglected blog.  It appears to have been vacated by some early race of idealistic, energetic blogger.  I've seen this before.  You would think that these indigenous writers would have vanished mysteriously from the face of the earth, but that's not so.  In true nomadic fashion, they've become part of the diaspora to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other so-called "social networking" sights.  Their laziness had gotten the better of them, and they no longer wanted to make the effort to toil at their thankless blogging tasks.

Fortunately, the final history of bloggers in general, and this blog in particular is far from being written.  Enough empirical evidence exists to predict that this blogging malaise is reversible, and that this blog will become a hive of literary activity very soon, (in blog-cheologic time, that is).

In fact, I can pretty fairly predict that soon you will here be reading about such diverse topics as:

• Geocaching

• The Pack Hunt, and Desert Hare Classic

• Driving miles and miles of desert and mountain jeep trails

• Desert wildflower reports

And probably a whole lot more.  You would be wise to monitor this location closely.  That is my professional opinion.  Now, I must be off to kill some Nazis and eat monkey brains.

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.

HOUSEWARMING!!

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

The Year Was 1980....

Our first will be Deming's 30th!

Can't wait.

There's Political News...

...and then there's POLITICAL NEWS:

The Obama kinder will finally be getting their White House Dog sometime in April.  The news, such as it is, is that this won't be the puppy, promised by the POTUS on election night, but a rescue dog.  And what kind of rescue dog, you might ask, if you didn't already know?  Why, it's going to be a Portuguese Water Dog... just like the two Ted Kennedy owns, and like the ones a lure coursing friend of ours in Texas owns.

It's great that the Obamas are choosing a rescue.  It's unfortunate that they are choosing a breed that has so many health problems.  They've done their homework well on so many other parts of their lives, but not this time.  I guess they didn't get the message from Pat Burns.  

Personally.. I'd suggest a Galgo-  that's just me    ;o)

UPDATE 2/26: Or maybe not.  Time will tell.

A Change Is Gonna Come...

More than one, actually.

Since we committed to purchase the house in Deming, I've been referring to it here as "Mountain House".  More for lack of a better idea than anything else, it was merely a "working title" based on the fact that it was, well, up in the mountains.  Now that we've had some time to give it some thought, we are ready to unveil our Official Name:

This is the basis for a wood front gate sign, that our friend Tavo, (owner of the other dog in the Desert Hare crash) is going to carve for us.  Until last weekend we were unaware of this additional talent (among many) of Mr. Cruz.  We can't wait to see the finished work!

Another name that's going to have to change, is the name of this blog.  We're no longer going to be on "tour".  As mentioned before, we'll be venturing out occasionally to major events when invited.  This one was easy.  Once our travels taper off at the end of May, this missive will forever be known as:  Hare-Brained At Home.  The content won't change much.  We'll still write about whatever seems interesting at the moment, like the dogs, or good places to eat, or politics.

And if we're not traveling from event to event, whatever will we do for money?  We always knew that we'd have to come up with some kind of employment to keep us entertained (and fed) in the manner to which we were accustomed.  On a suggestion last Summer by our friend Steve Garth, Margaret did some researching and came up with our new, local business...   

Margaret thought the name was too "cutesy".. but I think I've beaten her into submission, and she's put together some cool potential business card designs, and logos.  This is just one example.  

The countdown clock on the sidebar, will let everyone know how close we are to moving in.  This is damned exciting!

Google "Chrome"

Seemingly rolled out with little fanfare- I happened to see a little blurb on a Google page- there's a new web browser in town. And it's excellent! Google Chrome.

I installed it yesterday, and so far it's performed flawlessly.  Every control is simple and intuitive.  I think there's a "help" button somewhere, but I haven't needed it.  There's very little garbage on the toolbar, which gives you a bigger screen area for content.  (See the screenshot of this blog page, above.)

And speaking of content, the web pages open at broadband speeds.. and I'm using EDGE/GPRS, which is only about twice as fast as dialup.  

It has a nice memory feature, that keeps track of the number of times I go to a website, and all the most - visited are shown on the front page when you open the browser..  so I better keep some variety in the porn surfing!

I tried Firefox some time ago.  It was OK, but there were some issues that irritated me.  I think it was a problem that had to do with .pdf files.  Haven't opened any .pdf's with Chrome yet, so I probably shouldn't speak too soon.

Give it a try.  It's free.   From download to your monitor only takes about 5-7 minutes; which is amazing in itself.

And now tonight's entertainment, which is in no way relevant to the subject, other than it has the word "chrome" in the title.  Take it, Melissa....

Shot On Site. Going...going... ??

The other day I posted a picture of a beat up 2-story barn in the middle of some very spacious ranch land. We had our listing guide in hand and used up more than a half tank of gas looking at various levels of abode.

Today, we got more serious, and called a realtor, so we could look at one place in particular that captured our fancy. She told us about another place that was just coming on the market, and not listed yet. It was, she said, "in the mountains". The price she gave got our attention.

We met the agent at a nearby crossroads, and followed her, as promised into the mountains. The North Florida Mountains to be precise. Which means one of the views from the porches is...

...The South Florida Mountains. Look behind, or to the North and the North mountains are practically in the yard. This little, (about a thousand sq ft) house sits between Rock Hound State Park, and Spring Canyon State Park. The view straight west from the front porch is of the Deming Plain, far below.

For people who would want to come visit, there's a bonus:

This little guest cabin sits behind the main house, on the 1 1/2 acre fenced lot. It has a kitchenette, bed, and 3/4 bath. The main house comes with a washer and dryer, side by side fridge with ice maker, dishwasher, 2 full baths, a perfect room for an office, and one bedroom. Yes just one, which is probably why the price for all of this on a nicely cactus-landscaped lot is.. wait for it.... $60,000. Margaret loves this place. So do I.

But we still wanted to see the house we originally called the agent about..

...an adobe "work-in-progress", 16 miles south of Deming. Also 1000 sq ft, with 18" thick walls, the owner/builder began this project in 2004. There's a detached workshop/garage as well. I really like this place, but it's priced considerably higher than the mountain house. But not out of reach. And there are miles and miles of jackrabbit habitat right out the back door!

Interior is still under construction, and is only two rooms. The bedroom is to the right of the bed, which had been moved to install the bedroom floor tiles. Next, this large main room will get tile on the right, which is the kitchen side, and the left will get hardwood. Love the exposed beam ceiling!
As if that weren't cool enough... he's put in Sherita's shower!

...and added a cedar plank ceiling. On 4 acres, this one goes for $79,000, has views of the Florida Mountains as well as the Tres Hermanas mountains near the border, which is only about 20 miles south.

We've probably never been closer to getting off the road, and settling down than we are right now, right here.

But don't worry. Shot On Site Photography is not going away... at least not completely. If we do this thing, we'll still have the Hare-Brained Express, and will continue to shoot the high profile sighthound events like the ASFA II, and breed specialty trials, and we'll probably continue to travel East to Georgia at year end. Margaret would insist. It's that grandchildren homing device implanted in her brain.

We'll be starting a new business in this neck of the woods, too, doing photo and video home inventories for insurance and estate purposes. In fact, Margaret ordered the software today.

And a photographer could make a career out of just recording the various faces of the Florida Mountains. Plus, there's so much more of New Mexico to explore and discover.

Just a heads-up. What a day.

You People Are Great!

When asked to step up, you respond with vigor.

While we're not exactly swamped with DUTCH T-Shirt orders, we've gotten more, in a short time, than I would have expected. Some people have even donated the $28 and decided to fore go the shirt so the whole amount goes to Dutch, which is cool. Other people are sending cash, with no strings (or T-Shirt orders) attached.

Thanks to bloggers Steve Bodio and Todd Birchfield our original post went nearly viral. On the first day we broke all visit records, logging 247 visitors!
We received donations from Great Britain, as someone had cross posted Steve's post- which linked our post- to the British website, The Hunting Life. We're still getting several visitors a day from that site.. and a lot of them are off to the bookstore, as many of the comments were about Dutch's landmark book, Gazehounds & Coursing. I think he may be moving a few copies this month.

I've heard from the quilt raffle organizers, and they've raised over.. well, a lot of money, and that was before you all read about it here, so a lot of money may turn into a shitlo boatload of money.

And if you follow the live traffic feed over there on the sidebar, you'll see that a goodly number of blog visitors have left via Dutch's bookstore . Dutch has confirmed one book sale... a very expensive book, in fact.. as a direct result of our post.

So.. why not keep up with the good news:

Buddy came home from the hospital on Saturday, and in Dutch's own words, "is on the mend". The snowball effect of which is that Dutch was able to bring out his hounds yesterday.. hounds who hadn't run in nearly a month.. to put the fear of god your deity of choice into a few jackrabbits. We took this opportunity to give Dutch his own shirt. He likes it, and thinks everybody should get one! ;o)

Other than the fact we had to walk 2 hours before jumping the first one, a good time was had by all. We'll be doing it again tomorrow.