April Fools

Asmall gallery of some of the more unusual vehicles seen at Deming's annual "Smokin' Oldies" car show, because I suddenly ran out of time to write a clever April 1 post....

Easily the most unusual vehicle at the show.. and it wasn't even in the show!
 Honda GoldWing  powered trike.

Gotta love the coolant overflow receptacle!

Waiting for the intrusive wand ultrasound.

"Girl I'm just a Jeepster for your love"

Several visitors were fatally impaled on the fins.

Insert toilet seat joke here.

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.

Future Headlines

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

This happened yesterday.

This happened today.

This will happen tomorrow...

Progress Reports. (2 in 1)

A few weeks ago I wrote about the emergence of the poppies, and also about the beginnings of Sandia's thyroid supplement treatments.  Here, in a single image, is evidence that not only are the poppies on an accelerated growth spurt, but also that the supplements are beginning to have, however slight, a noticeable effect on Sandia's appearance.

Shamed!

I've been shamed.

I have this "Donate" button, over there towards the top of the right sidebar.  I figured, what the hell, maybe someone's getting enough enjoyment, or useful information out of this blog that they'd maybe pay fifty cents for it.  It's been there for nearly the entire eight years this blog's been in existence.  In all that time, there has not been a single donation made.  Not even when we were roaring hither and yon around the country in the Hare-Brained Express, and I was posting up a storm.

I had pretty much given up on getting rich off this blog.  I had thought maybe I could get beer money, between the Donate button and the Google Ads, but no such luck.

But something changed today.  I opened my emails and discovered that a donation of more than fifty cents had been made into the PayPal account!  Significantly more!  By someone I don't even know.  And this, during a period when I've been posting at a rate of 4 times a year.  Obviously, this is a call to do much better.

Thank you, person from Farmington, NM.  I will try to do better.  It's not like there hasn't been a whole lot going on around here.  And if we get the water pipes replaced, and Margaret's yarn supply organized, you can most certainly sleep in the "Lincoln Bedroom" if you're ever down here.

Here's a picture from my recent trip to Kilbourne Hole.

180° view inside Kilbourne Hole

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.

The Buckeyes' Summer of Schadenfreude.

Click to animate.



Starring ~ Terrell Pryor as Hogan "Tats" Hero

               OSU Prez  E. Gordon Gee as Klink, the Bell Captain Colonel

               

Disgraced former OSU coach, Jim Tressell as Sgt. I. C. Nutting-Schultz.

"LSUfreek" appears regularly in the college football blog, Every Day Should Be Saturday .  Follow him on Twitter.

Buy lots of popcorn.. it's going to be a long, fun Summer!

The Latest Cool Thing.

The Library Of Congress presents The National Jukebox.



Explore!



..and more!

Persistence Hunting

The pronghorn. The fastest mammal in North America.. the second fastest animal in the world, capable of running 55mph for extended periods.

In another part of the state of New Mexico, hundreds of miles from where I'm sitting, human beings tried to run a pronghorn down, using only their lung capacity, their legs, and their brainpower.  What the hell are they up to?

"The pronghorn is the second-fastest animal on earth, while the men are merely elite marathon runners who are trying to verify a theory about human evolution. Some scientists believe that our ancestors evolved into endurance athletes in order to hunt quad­rupeds by running them to exhaustion. If the theory holds up, the antelope I'm watching will eventually tire and the men will catch it. Then they'll have to decide whether to kill it for food or let it go."

I'm not sure whether or not I can buy into that theory, but it's really tantalizing to picture it.  Read the whole article to find out how these world class marathoners fared against our New Mexico Pronghorn.

This, of course, is not the only animal that is run down by humans.  There are numerous, incredibly fast and agile football players in college and pro ranks, including the University of Michigan who hale from a poor, rural location in Florida called Pahokee.  They  hone their skills like this..



Cottontails and "muck rabbits" (whatever they are)are one thing. Our blacktail jackrabbits are another thing altogether. Nobody is going to catch one on foot. That's why we use another method that's nearly as old as persistance hunting-

One Win Away!

The Michigan Wolverine men's ice hockey team is one win away from their tenth NCAA Division 1 Championship! (Yes that's a record, as is the fact that this is their 21st consecutive year making the tournament).

Last night, behind the tallest 5'6" goalie in The Universe, they put the clamps on the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota, easily the best team remaining in the tournament. They had a 36 goal scorer! Nobody in college hockey scores 36 goals! Not often, anyway. Last night he was shut out, along with the rest of his teammates, 2-0. And when Michigan scored the empty net goal to ice the victory, it was all too much for this hapless Sioux fan-




You wouldn't think there would be much flexibility in those heavily padded hockey gloves, but Louie Caporusso does a fine job of returning the sentiment!

Michigan plays University of Minnesota-Duluth tomorrow evening for the championship. On ESPN.

UPDATE 4/10/11: Alas...  Good run for a bunch of overachievers, though, especially Little Man Hunwick.

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 Lost "Sparky" Video, Found.

Last year when former Detroit Tigers manager, Sparky Anderson passed away, I posted a memorial and a video clip of my favorite "Sparky moment".  As I said then, the video wasn't the version that I knew existed, but was unable to find.  Thanks to the fine folks at the Down With Detroit Facebook page I can now share this great Detroit moment with everyone..

RIP Sparky Gibby vs Goose Game 5 1984
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

It's very clear that Sparky wanted everyone within the sound of his voice to know, "He didn't wanta walk him". And I suppose we should offer our thanks to Hall of Fame pitcher, "Goose" Gossage, for not doing what his manager wanted him to do... walk Kirk Gibson.

Paper Trail..

Everything but the Paper Cut: Eye-popping Ways Artists Use Paper | Fast Company - StumbleUpon

Between the Lines, by Ariana Boussard-Reifel

Having recently discovered StumbleUpon, I find that it is yet another exquisite time waster.  The above piece on ways contemporary artists are re-imagining paper is a great example.

This blog, and it's "sister" blog, Scanners! are both registered with StumbleUpon.  You can help create traffic when you click on the StumbleUpon logo. It's found on this blog on the right hand side in the subscription area, and on the Scanners! blog at the upper left side).  Increased traffic means potentially increased ad revenues.  Maybe.  Hey, it's worth a try!

UPDATE: As I continued my morning "Stumble", I discovered yet more amazing paper art.  To apply the term "painstaking" to this work doesn't even begin to cover it.

Not A Couple.

Ever wonder what would happen if your dog jumped a jackrabbit when a large bird of prey was in proximity?   Would the bird, (in this case a handsome Prairie Falcon) join in the pursuit?  Would it steal the prey?  I wondered the same thing!
I’ll keep on wondering, too, because the falcon  flew off just a second after I snapped this image, and a good half hour before we finally jumped a hare.   Ah, what might have been.

The Best Super Bowl XLV Ad You Didn't See..

..unless you were watching Armed Forces Network in Afghanistan, or from a carrier in the Gulf..



Some find the fact that our servicemen don't get to see the real commercials on AFN as slightly un-American. I think I agree, but if all of the PSA's were this well done, they'll be all right.

The Most Awesome Set-up Video Comes From...

The University of Alaska - Fairbanks "Nanooks" hockey team...



Who knew?

I'm A Roadrunner, Baby...!

...and I sound like this. Not like this.

He was on the front porch! I've been trying to get a picture of one of these shy suckers on the run for, like, years. Hallelujah!

One Magical Night in December, 2010

Last night was a night to stay up and enjoy (and capture) the show.

Soundtrack provided by the Paul Winter Consort and their iconic composition, "Icarus". It would not surprise me at all if the Consort was playing at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York last night, as they do most Winter Solstices.

Enjoy.

UPDATE Dec 22: I was close. I just checked the schedule, and the Winter Consort played the cathedral on the 16th, 17th, and 18th. But I also found a free music download while on the website!

Blocked Memories

Hey, check this out! Sandia is there, (and also hangs on my office wall). Very cool stuff from Margaret's future DIL!