This Week's Nature Shot

Another new irregular feature. Anyone who's followed my career knows I shoot a lot more than dogs when we go to an event. (NOTE: For longtime followers, I must regretfully report the cessation of the longterm "Women of Coursing" project, which has been defunct for just about three years now. You can do the math.)

My favorite subject is birds.

At the Racine Kennel Club field there's a pond in the outer reaches which is home to lots of wildlife. During the trial this past weekend, a couple of the exhibitors tried to get my attention as a good sized Great Blue Heron landed on the bank. It was too far away to shoot. But between courses I wandered out to the pond to see what was there. Much to my surprize, there were several waders feeding. The one you see here, is a Lesser Yellowlegs. More wildlife as it happens. 

In People Years.. He's 70!

I originally tried to publish this on Saturday, the 19th, which was my best buddy's actual birthday. But the vagaries of Blogger just stymied me to no end.
So.. here it is, two days late.

I'm astounded that every week we're at an event, people see Randir (Leelanau Mithrandir) for the first time and say, "I didn't know you had a Deerhound!". Well yeah; I've had him for over 7 years now. A teensy bit more if you throw in the fact that he was born in my basement and lived there for the first 10 weeks of his life. Then he went to his original home for almost 3 years, until I wheedled and cajoled his owners into "loaning" him back to me. (Thanks Dave and Laurie!). That was, as I say, more than 7 years ago. It's what would be called a "long term loan".

He was my favorite puppy. He was the brave explorer.. the only one of the litter of ten who would venture out of the puppy yard with me into the big wide world of the whole back acre and a half.

We've been exploring together ever since, from temporary homes in Kentucky and Wisconsin, to the coast to coast ramblings of the "Express". His favorite stop of all, (in fact the favorite stop of us all.. Dan, Margaret, and Randir's "girls", Buffy, Fanny, and Rally) has got to be New Mexico. This picture was taken last February. That's Randir at 9 1/2. You go boy!!

Hot Dogs!

I was feeling the itch to get out hunting today, so I emailed friend, author, and hound authority extraordinaire, Dutch Salmon in New Mexico to see if the recent, and way overdue, monsoon in the southwest had done much for the jackrabbit population and habitat. The news is good and bad for Dutch, who's also an avid angler: Too much water to fish, but a lot of the rain is hitting the Lazy E, a place we love to hunt. He also sent me this puppy story, (which appears under his byline in several southwestern newspapers). Some of you are going to be real interested in this:

Country Sports


Beware the Man with Eighteen Puppies

By

Dutch Salmon


On July 4th my dog Comet, a rough-coated Greyhound, had nine puppies. She was bred to Kyran, a full-blooded Tazi imported from Uzbekistan (more on this later). It was a planned breeding.
On July 24th my dog Mona, a ½ Tazi X ½ Greyhound, also had nine puppies. She was bred to Samson, a ¾ Greyhound X ¼ Saluki, but in this case Samson slipped through the fence and the puppies were a shocker. It was my fault, the first unplanned breeding in many years, yet it may turn out the best one in the end. But the sum is, I suddenly have 18 puppies in my life!
Not to panic (though initially I did!), half the pups are already promised to good homes and with the canine benevolence of other like-minded dog lovers who want a “one of a kind” dog, the rest – excepting the one or two I’ll keep -- will also be homeward bound in the next couple of months. But the experience has been an education in the derivation of our most ancient hunting breeds.
Various authorities surmise that the man/wild dog relationship began to form way back in the Paleolithic period when we were still hunter/gatherers living in caves. A mutual benefit of hunting and defense was a natural derivation of their talents and ours; little by little certain wolves or wild dogs were at least partially domesticated, hunting hip by jowl with our own wild ancestors. But the selective breeding process that produced types or strains of domestic dogs that we would recognize today as breeds didn’t begin until well into the Neolithic period when agriculture, stock raising, and “civilization” was upon us.
The first recognized type – generally credited – was what we today call the Saluki, an AKC recognized breed. The Saluki formulation was centuries prior to the advent of firearms (and thus “gundogs”) and indeed all the early hunting strains were swift hounds, generally called sighthounds or gazehounds, which could take game like hare, rabbit, fox, deer, antelope etc. without the aid of the human hand or weapon. Numerous ancient artwork from the Middle East clearly indicates that such hunting hounds were at work in the field at least several thousand years before Christ.
But the Saluki had a wide geography, and while all were used for the same general purpose – running down game – they would vary as to topography, tribe, or the game pursued. And in places they became known by another name.
According to Gail Goodman, author of the monumental “Saluqi – Coursing Hound of the East,” as the Saluki evolved from the Arabic countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Syria -- to the more eastern Asiatic domains like Turkey, Turkistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, it took the name “Tazi.” Again, different terrains, tribes, and exigencies of the hunt produced somewhat different types, but all were similar enough that the Tazi/Saluki became a recognized breed.
Over many centuries, these seminal sighthounds were selectively bred to become the Afghan of Afghanistan, Borzoi of Russia, and the Greyhound, Whippet and Scotch Deerhound of the United Kingdom. Other selective breeding creativity by hunters produced today’s bird dogs and trail hounds. But the middle-eastern sighthounds were the first recognizable breeds.
Did the Tazi or the Saluki come first? I’ll let those more expert than I sort that out (I’ve witnessed some heated arguments) and even then the best of them would be guessing – we’re talking about thousands of years of history. But there is no guessing about where most of the hunting Tazi/Salukis are now.
Hunting in the Arabic Middle East has fallen on hard times. The desert terrain meant the game was always sparse. Modern hunting methods, not Salukis but guns and mechanized pursuit, have taken an even greater toll on the wildlife, leaving the ancient pursuit with little to hunt and the hounds that much more rare and esoteric. There are still some good “desert breds” but overall the quality of the hounds has suffered.
In Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the old ways have survived, both in coursing and falconry. Magdalena author Steve Bodio, like me an enthusiast of the archaic, made several trips to the brutal steppe country of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where it boils in summer and grabs you with iron cold in winter. At considerable expense and effort, the result was the falconry book, “Eagle Dreams,” and the acquisition of three full-blooded Tazi hounds, duly imported to New Mexico. He said all the Tazi of the steppes were hard-boiled hunters, mostly for hare and a large subspecies of the red fox, and fine and valued companions. All eighteen of my puppies are the beneficiaries, to a greater or lesser degree, of this “blood.”
The breeding is apparent in the performance. Last winter Mona, barely a year old, and two other hounds did what the Tazi has done for thousands of years, pursue a hare (jackrabbit). The pursuit was sprint, jink, dodge and turn for 4 ½ minutes – an extreme course -- whence the hare, sensing the end, left them all gasping by ducking down a badger hole.
Showing her youth, Mona, one half of a Tazi import, was slightly slower in the early going, just as strong at the end, but the difference came after we had watered and cooled the pack. The other two hounds, a Greyhound and a Greyhound/Saluki cross, were content to follow in my footsteps as we hiked back to the truck. They’d had it. Within five minutes Mona was back at a strong lope, working out ahead like a bird dog, pure exuberance, using her nose as well as eyes and hoping to jump another jack. I was just as glad we didn’t.
You can’t teach that, or force it. You can inherit it from a line of hounds that have done nothing but work at their trade, and bond with their hunting masters, for thousands of years.
Most of our dogs, like most of us, have gone soft. I “work out,” but I could no more keep up with Jim Bridger or Ben Lilly than this year’s “best” Saluki at Westminster could keep up with Mona.
Now I have eighteen puppies. I have added some Greyhound blood, for that extra dash of speed, to the heritage of the Tazi/Saluki. I know from experience that most of the hares will still be too much for us. But win or lose, as the puppies mature, that link to the ancient and archaic will provide all the satisfaction I could ever want in the field.


Interested in one of these pups? You ought'a get in touch with Dutch muy pronto. Email me to find out how if you don't already know.

If you want to see Steve Bodio's Tazi pups, (it's a population explosion out there in New Mexico!!), go here . I'll have a picture of Dutch and Mona up here soon.

Death of a Legend: "Where Men are Men, and Women Win the Iditarod"

Found this today in the Detroit Free Press online edition. If you can find a copy of Mitch Albom's 1996 Live Albom III:Gone to the Dogs collection , (try here), you'll find out why his peers voted him the best sports columnist in the nation for more than 10 years running. He's simply the best. And so was the subject of this column.

That Damned Black Bitch.

It's time to post a few more pictures... We went racing last weekend, down in Lewisville, Indiana. The track is one of the nicer ones we see in our travels. It's bordered by a small stream on one side, and a row of old, stately shade trees on the other. The trees provide a natural border, so that unsightly tape that shows up in pictures from other tracks doesn't need to be used here.

Rally has done well in her first 4 LGRA racemeets, winning 3 of them. That was going to change this weekend. Our friends, Jerry and Vada, had entered their greyhound, Gilda . It was her first event after a long recovery from a dislocated toe, (subsequently amputated), suffered at the ASFA Greyhound Specialty in March. We knew Gilda was going to be fast, but this was ridiculous! (and typical. That's Gilda #2, Rally #3, and Science #4... Rally had trouble with Science off and on this weekend as well, finishing 3rd on Saturday, but coming back for second on Sunday). Gilda went undefeated over the weekend.

It was a small meet, with Rhodesian Ridgebacks, (who almost ran me down!), Italian Greyhounds, and a veritable plethora of Basenjis. We were done early both days, just in time for lunch, provided by the people of Lewisburg for a nominal charge, in exchange for using the park for free. Great deal.

This weeks nature special:
 

Therapy

Democrats will love this. A lot of Republicans, too, I'll bet. Thanks to Frank V. for the heads-up.

Yeow!!

I realized I didn't know as much about the political landscape of our adopted state as I did about the state of our birth, Michigan. It was time to do some research. I discovered that South Dakota, unlike Michigan, has only one representative in Washington. But, what a representative! I think I can say, without argument, we've got the hottest Representative in the country. Dear readers, I give you Stephanie Herseth, (D-SD)....

She's looking for interns for the Fall term. I'm updating my resumé.

Take That, Irish!

I've been advised to lighten up. So here's my hero:

Asked whether Michigan should continue its series with Notre Dame, Schembechler said: "We don't need Notre Dame. They need us more than we need them.

That's Bo. Read more classic Bo here.

This Ain't Kansas.

While we're no longer "official" Michigan residents, we still have a lot of ties to the state, and we spend a lot of time here in the Summer. Frankly, we're pretty sick and disgusted by what we've seen in the political arena here in the last couple of months leading up to yesterday's primaries.

For starters there's the race for governor, featuring a polo-playing, multi-millionaire heir to the AmWay fortune, who tries to come off as a regular Joe Sixpack on his TV ads. Problem is, he's pretty good at it. Hopefully, the truth will come out: His "recovery plan" for the state will involve mandatory AmWay parties!

In the Republican congressional primary, a more sickening thing happened. Some radical rightwing religious conservative, a benefactor of a whole ton of out-of-state money, beat the incumbent, a moderate who had the backing of the party mainstream. The ads for the extremist candidate contained some of the most outrageous bullshit we've ever heard, proving that stupid people will believe anything. Just like in Kansas.

The state Democrats must be licking their chops.. because this ain't Kansas.

Sturgis

Just because we're full-timers in the motor home doesn't mean we're homeless! But it does mean we get to pick where we're from. For those who always wondered about the South Dakota plates on the motor home and the toad, the answer is simple: South Dakota has no state income tax; has the 2nd lowest vehicle insurance rates in the nation; has no vehicle inspection program; and a lot of other advantages over all the other states we had to choose from; and it has Sturgis.... home of the biggest motorcycle gathering on the planet.

Those of you who did your homework... (congratulations, Jesse M. Holmes, whose superior Googling skills allowed him to be the first with the correct answer to yesterday's trivia question! He was also the only one who entered, and I know there's a lot more of you out there!), will know that the current rally in Sturgis attracts over half a million bikers and non-bikers to this little South Dakota town every year. You also know that this mammoth rally started waaaaay back in 1938, as a little event with dirt track racing. The club that started it all was the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club. This AP article tells you all about it, and how the founding fathers feel about what the event has become. You can also find out more at the Jackpine Gypsies website.

And if you like what it's become, and you're lucky enough to have Sirius satellite radio , you can listen to Mojo Nixon on Channel 63, Outlaw Country, broadcast live all week long, from 4-8PM EDT. He's drunk and he's foul, and he's oh, so entertaining! Check it out.

JackPine Gypsies

All right... in the spirit of keeping things exciting around here, we're going to play trivia! (and also get an idea of how many people actually read this thing).

Give yourself 24 hours.. Who are the Jack Pine Gypsies? Or more specifically, who are the Jack Pine Gypsies Motorcycle Club?

Answers only accepted in the "comments" section. Good Luck!

Pulp Fiction

I don't know about you, but most of my reading is of the lighter variety. I like "great literature", but for the most part you can find both of us with our noses buried in the works of James Lee Burke, Elizabeth George, Lee Child, (if there's a greater hero ever thought up from a writer's mind than Jack Reacher, I'd like to know who he-or she- is!), Steve Hamilton, and well, you get the picture. Sure, I did just finish Don Delillo's Underworld this Summer, which will be the extent of my heavy reading for the year. (Great book by the way.)

But.. I'm getting away from the point: I've just been made aware (third hand, at least) of a website called "Bookgasm" that reviews the books that we really like to read- mysteries, crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, hard-boiled detective (think Mike Hammer), comics (and comix), anthologies and, yes, pulp fiction. I know it's a good site, because they hate John Grisham and James Patterson! I'll be adding the link to the list below. Thanks to Steve Bodio's blog for the tip!

(And if you need any further inducement, their reviews oftentimes include what they call "XXXcerpts". Use your imagination.)

No Moo Shoo For You

In a typical bit of hypocracy, the brilliant minds at PETA have called for a boycott of all things Chinese. It seems that the Chinese had a rabies epidemic on their hands and euthanized about 50,000 dogs. I think this may be more about competitive dog-killing, though, as this puts the Chinese substantially ahead of PETA in the total score. PETA's gonna have to kill at a greater rate than normal if they expect to get back in the game! Read about it here.

Inquiring Minds..

Ok.. Have gotten several email inquiries. People wanted to know if, since we were "in Rome", as it were... did we...?

Here's the (tastefully cropped) answer...


We could use the camera in the privacy of our own residence. So I did.

The camera rule makes sense, of course, when you think about it. As I've said, there's as diverse a number of members and guests at the resort as there are out on the streets.. and that would include folks who would rather not have the fact that they are there be known... I can think of a few: Legislators, clergy, teachers, etc.

As for us, we have no problem with it, obviously. As I said in the original post, I've wanted to go to Turtle Lake for a long time, but was put off by the price. Now I think the price is worth it. We may even become members.. maybe even lease or purchase a Park Model for summer living.

Now you know. See you there :)

We will now return to our normal life..

LGRA race meet this weekend in Lewisville, IN
Art Fair next weekend in Monroe, MI (A normal art fair, downtown!)
ASFA lure coursing the following two weekends- first in Racine, WI (MWCC), then in the Niagara Falls area, (LCLC).
Labor Day Weekend, we'll be in Ontario Canada for the GCA "Triathlon",
then back to Hobart, IN for Wind Chaser's ASFA trial, (and PIG ROAST!).
The Dog's Camp follows, either the next week, or the week after.

Naked Lunch

..and breakfast ..and dinner ..and, ..and Mini Golf! And, of course, the 1st Annual TLR Art Fair, which is why we were here. Bad news first: The art fair was pretty bad- for us, anyway, and most of the rest of the artists and craftpeople as well, it seemed. Attendance on Saturday was good, as the resort was pretty full for the weekend. Mostly naked people from the resort, but also a few "civilians" from the surrounding area as well.

But it's not all bad news, of course... first, it didn't cost us anything to put our talents on display.. (we're talking our photos and jewelry and minipurses, here!), and the camping rate was an incredibly low, $10 a night for water and electric. Compare that to their regular rates, for non-members of around $55 a night, and we were going to jump at the chance to hang out, (no pun intended), at a place I've wanted to visit for a long time.

So, you're asking yourselves, what is it like at a "Naturist Resort", a nudist camp, if you will? If you've never been, (and I'm assuming most of you haven't), it's nothing like you would assume... assuming you even thought about it.
Well... people are... naked. All kinds of people. We saw,
normal people,

fat people,

skinny people,

really really fat people, (we saw Jaba the Hutt on a golf cart!),

really really skinny people, (concentration camp-skinny),

we saw white people, black people, asian people,

kids, (but not many),

old people,

really really old people,

We saw couples and singles,

straight people, and probably gay people, and, I suspect, a few "swingers", and
one guy with a.. um.. ring.

Pierced & tattooed people, and unmarked people.

We saw that gravity really works! Meaning we saw very little that was "perky" (but what there was, was perky indeed!)

We saw that size doesn't really matter. Whew!

And we saw that more men than women shave.. (and we're not talking faces or underarms here.)
That was a surprise to me.

We saw people in the lake, and sunning on the beach. And playing disk golf. And volleyball, shuffleboard, petanq.

And people in the indoor pool and spa, and the outdoor "conversation pool".

And people covered head to toe in mud from the mud pit. (That was fun!)

And golf carts.. lord, were there golf carts. The number one social activity seemed to be "cruising" in your golf cart... 1, 2, 3, 4 or more nekkid folk to a cart, and 6 carts (or more!) in a parade from one end of the resort to the other.. (but never out the gate).

And we saw naked women who weren't technically naked. A thing called a "wrap"; sheer, colorful, wispy, ...did I mention sheer?

We saw people in tents, people in pop-up campers, people in travel trailers and fifth-wheel trailers, and people in motor homes like ours, and bigger, aqnd newer. And people in permanent "Park Models" with decks, and landscaping, and two cart garages.

We saw naked people doing things that would give us pause- two come to mind: The guy building a deck. ("Careful with that circular saw, Harry!"), and a brave soul whacking weeds in his front yard with a gas string trimmer. 'Least he was wearing sensible shoes.

We saw that the staff wears clothes! (Oh, except for the General Manager/Owner.. who looks comfortable enough that he may have never worn clothes in his life.)

In other words, we saw a world very much like the one out here, where people wear clothes.


But you know what we didn't see? (besides tan lines)
Anybody we knew. And that's just as well, I guess.

I bet you'd like to see some pictures, wouldn't you? There's a problem:

Wrap Music

We're always on the lookout for tasty, less than fattening, fast food, and today, while looking for a source for cheap poop bags (our dog friends will understand), we stumbled on Roly Poly in Jackson, MI. This is a 10 year old Atlanta franchise business that specializes in wraps. And not just the old turkey, lettuce, american cheese slices.. no sirree. Today, we had the Number 38, Hickory Cristo: Smoked turkey, melted brie & swiss, spinach, mushrooms and tomato- in, your choice, a regular tortilla, a low carb tortilla, or a whole wheat tortilla. Add to that some fresh asparagus soup, and it's a hell of a good lunch.

Next, we want to try the #30, Basil Cashew Chicken. Check it out on the menu. If there's one of these where you live, give it a shot. Very tasty stuff.

Mas Mushrooms

Some more of the resident fungi here at our campground in Grass Lake, MI.

While researching these "fruits", I happened upon this excellent, humorous, and informative website about mushroom hunting.

Laugh, and learn.

These look like Pierogies. Top view of the colony in the previous post.

These aren't the prettiest blossoms in the bouquet, but they might be tasty. Who knows?

Not too sure about this one..

But I'm pretty sure about this one. I've seen these in the supermarket. I think. Anybody knows, let me know. If this is the last post you ever see here, you'll know I got impatient and went the "trial and error" route.



















Nah.

Calling All Mycologists!

Or.. more flora from the Holiday RV Park.

I decided it was time to let the events in the rest of the world take care of themselves, and I should get back to covering what's been going on locally. Thus, the following images. I want you to know I sacrificed my body to the deerfly and mosquito hordes to get these..

This place is a mycophile's (if there is such a word) dream. There are more varieties of mushrooms and other fungi scattered around the park, I don't have room to put them all here. They grow in colonies, and are very photogenic, like the above group.

Or individually, like this one.

They can also be ugly.. like a fungal version of moose puke!

No weaklings, they push themselves up out of the earth..

...to become impressive, blood-red goliaths like this. I'm not sure this is an edible variety. I wouldn't want to try it.

I do have some shots of mushrooms I'm 98% sure are edible.. I've seen them in the supermarket. I think. There's that 2% that worries me. Anyway, I'll have to upload another gallery, because it seems there's a numerical limit to the number of images I can put in one post. So, I'll leave you with the perfect parting shot:

I mean, what's a bunch of toadstools without, well.... you get the idea.

My One and Only Tour de France Post

I love a sports columnist with a sense of humor. Especially one who quotes Homer Simpson. This comes from the VeloNews Tour blog.

Floyd Landis will win the 2006 Tour de France. Hopefully the French can maintain their sense of humor. Americans will have won the last eight Tours, and 10 or 11 of the last 20! (I can't remember what year LeMond's first Tour win was).

Wanna be a Big-Time Pro Cyclist? Drink Beer!

You Ain't Never Seen Anything Like This.

You might think you've seen inspired, artistic, or even athletic bike riding. But you ain't never seen nuthin' like this. You watch the X-Games and see these overgrown adolescents on their BMX bikes, and they do the big air, end-over-end, jumps and spins, but just watch what this young lady does... on a normal bicycle! She rides it every which way except upside down. (That would be impossible... right?)

I found this on a blog called "Bike Hugger", (I know, it's a bit warmer and fuzzier than I like), while looking for more nuanced information on the Tour de France than I can get from friends' blogs. It's a decent blog, despite the name, and I may link it, eventually. I'll have to give it a little time to ripen.

Prepare to be amazed.

It's OK... He Activated the Cloaking Device!

This story appeals to me on so many levels. I'm a photographer, I like cars (and trucks), and I've been partial to Ford products ever since a second grade trip to Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI.

I'm not going to even give you a hint.. you gotta go there and RTWT. It's too funny. (Or scary, if you're the photographer.)

New & Improved!

Seems like this is the day to learn new things to do with the blog.. I've now added a short blogroll... (come on, impress me, people! I want to make it longer). You'll find it below the archives, near the bottom of the sidebar. (On the right side). It doesn't include things like Kausfiles, Huffington Post, etc., as everybody knows how to find those sites.. these are some of my favorites. Have at it.

The "Express" Feed

I wasn't even aware of this, but this blog is available as a news "feed". You can subscribe to read it whenever it's updated on your Yahoo, or Google, or MSN, or whatever homepage, or even, apparently, on your cell phone or PDA. How cool. I just added it to my Yahoo home page so I can keep up on what I write. (That's a joke, son). Just enter the following URL into your subscription search box: http://shotonsite.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Click here to see if your favorite newsreader is "atom-enabled".

Note: This is not RSS but is similar. I may switch to RSS at a later date, and will let you know.

Who are the Bloggers? Who Knows? Pew Knows.

So, Pew Research does more than just tell us how low your president's popularity numbers have sunk... (and I'll bet they sink lower after yesterday's veto- but that's another story for another day).

Their Pew Internet & American Life Project recently completed a phone poll of a few thousand internet users, and a separate, smaller poll of bloggers to tell us who we are. And it seems most of us are,

" focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family."

That pretty well sums up my intent. Well, that and keeping the old tip jar full. I see that's doing as well as the old Google ads! I'm relieved.

You can read the entire Pew report in PDF format here. You can also click back to the Internet & American Life home page and take the poll. Quite interesting.

So... why do you blog?

Holiday RV Park Flora

Having showed you some of the fauna of the campground, (the toad), here are some of the flora. These were taken in May, I think, when you could still walk the trails without dressing for full combat with the most carnivorous of the fauna: deerflies & mosquitos.

This is the trillium. A true harbinger of Spring in Michigan.














Apple blossoms.

More Balloon Fest Highlights

Cool stuff- like the Mitchell B-25






The Jackson Antique Tractor Club..










..and a cool quartet of precision flying WWII trainers. All in all, a fun afternoon.

That's A Lot of Hot Air...

More images from the Balloon Festival...

About 40 balloons mass launch for the "hat toss". Pilots have to gauge the wind direction and speed to properly come across the field and toss a hat onto one of several poles that are placed there.










Nice try... but no cigar.



Old Mac Donald may have been funky, but this was my personal favorite.


Will add some from the small air show later... 

Old Mac Donald Had A...

...uh, hot air balloon? Well, yep, in this case.

One of the more mind-boggling examples at the Jackson (MI) Hot Air Balloon Fest today. Careful with that pitchfork, Mac!

More Fun With Dogs

Is this suit (and we're not talking about the guy's birthday suit!) frivolous? You decide.

Speaking of "birthday suits", we're now only two weeks away from the Art Fair at Turtle Lake Nudist Resort. Bet you can't wait for our post on that one!

Gentledogs, Start Your Engines!

Living with 4 hounds, I shouldn't be surprised by anything a dog decides to do. Check this out, as a f'rinstance. (BTW, this is an excellent blog for those of you who love automobiles as much as I do. Worth bookmarking.)

Another One In the Books.

As long as I'm talking anniversaries, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this past 4th of July weekend, (yes, the weekend the camera went missing!) marked the 12th year of the existance of Shot On Site Photography. Time flies.

Back in 1994 I was just toiling with the masses in corporate America. I was a Regional sales manager for a manufacturer of environmental testing equipment in Ann Arbor. (A company that has since been sold to a British firm who's brought their "nanny state" rules to the table... I'm oh, so glad I got downsized out of there! Rumor has it, they're on the sales block again. Whenever we have dinner with an old workmate, I'm told how lucky I am to be out of there. No shit.)

So, downsizes happen... I'd already been toying with the idea of a part-time photography business. Even came up with the "Shot On Site" name while I was still working. When the axe fell, I was forced out of a state of inertia, and into action. My first gig was the MGA trial in Metamora, MI.

Now, things were a whole lot different back then. My cameras- a Nikon FM, and a Nikon FTn Photomic, were totally manual, as were the lenses... including a 500mm mirror lense. This means I would have to focus manually on a moving object.. the dog.. and advance the film, manually, after each exposure. Of course, I was shooting film, (digital cameras were $10,000 behemoths that only the New York Times and wealthy gadget freaks could afford), and needed to run out on Saturday night to find a 1-hour lab to get the film processed. Then I would have to number each print, and put them in presentation books to show on Sunday. Many late nights were spent in grungy Knights Inns, drinking beer, watching ESPN, (or adult fare on HBO), while I performed these menial tasks.

Of course, this also precluded shooting Sundays, the second day of most trials, because I would be busy showing and, hopefully, selling proofs, reprints, and enlargements to the trial entrants.

If that first event, 12 years ago, hadn't been a success, I may not be here writing this blog post. I'd probably be greeting you at WalMart instead. But it was successful beyond my wildest imagination! Over $700 gross sales, which we still consider good for many events even now. So I decided to keep doing it, and the rest, as they say, is history.

There are a couple of heroes I should mention. People who helped make it happen.. First, is Jack Helder, who told me about someone he saw at a trial in Lexington, KY who took pictures on Saturday, and returned with stock to sell the next day. I believe that might have been Robert Nix, who I wrote about here. If Jack hadn't made it sound easy, (little did I know..) I might have looked for work elsewhere. The photo that accompanies this post is Jack's "Mali". This was my first "famous" image. I've said often that it's the picture that "made Shot On Site", and I'm not joking. It's been used by ASFA in brochures, and has been published often, even in the UK.

The other person is Dr. John Burchard, now of California, but back then he lived in Rhode Island. The MGA trial weekend had, as a bonus event, the ASA (American Saluki Association) Brahma Cup trial, so John and his then wife, made the trek out in their Argosy. John was sufficiently impressed with my work that he spent an unheard of $150 on proofs, reprints, and enlargements. Once I knew there were people with dogs out there, who recognized talent, I knew I was going to be doing this for a long time.

There were others there, that weekend, and they all made it possible. I have so much fun doing what I do, that it hardly feels like work. Switching to digital three years ago, probably has something to do with that, too. LOL.

Strictly Titillation

Odd, that until recently, I didn't know I shared the same birth year with the Bikini swimsuit. In an effort to make up for this oversight, I invite you to click here for a Brief History of the Bikini. It includes a famous photo of Brigette Bardot at Cannes. Her animal rights politics aside, she may be the most sexy woman who ever lived. At least that's what I thought in Junior High... even though I wasn't really sure of the concept of "sexy" at the time. Have fun.

I Didn't Know They Did This!

Here at the Holiday RV Park in Grass Lake, Michigan, the wildlife is very diverse... squirrels, chipmunks, flickers, cranes, deer, turkey... and this fellow who seems to have taken up residence in the base of a tree. Judging from the sawdust, he seems to be in the middle of a major remodeling project.

Any toad experts out there? I've never seen a toad in these kinds of digs before.
 

Another Interesting Blog

Fortunately, there are several alternate routes for us to get the motor home to the site of next year's Scottish Deerhound National Specialty in... in... er..., it's either North Carolina or Tennessee. It's in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure...

Anyway, one of the routes follows something called the Tail of the Dragon, and involves an unbelievable 318 curves in 11 Miles! Photographers actually have businesses taking pictures of all the motorcycles, and exotic sports cars that traverse this route. This blog shows some of the action. (Make sure you scroll all the way to the last picture!).

This web page tells more about the road and the area. Gee.... we can't wait. Even the routes we can take with the motor home will be difficult. Not like this, though.

Matt has moved!

The dancing blogger... or the blogging dancer, whatever he is, has moved his blog to here. I wrote about "Where the Hell is Matt?" a couple of months ago. He was recently on Good Morning America, again. It was recently divulged that his globetrotting, dancing, lifestyle was underwritten by a chewing gum maker. This begs the question: How can Shot On Site get a freakin' sponsor? We'll make the whole motor home available for graphics. Except the rear window.

Matt's newest dancing video would appear to be just around the corner. It includes Argentina, Easter Island, New Zealand, Norway, and more. You can see the 2005 video at the website.

An Irregular Feature: Crash of the Week.

And there were many to choose from, but this is the winner: Zuli vs. Adam. (Adam being the interloper, as noted by the leash with no human on the end.)

Brief Sports Comment: Loyalty

Events this weekend were momentous in Detroit pro sports history.

The Red Wings' Steve Yzerman announced his retirement after 23 years, the last 20 as the team's captain; an NHL record. He came to Detroit when he was 18, and stayed in Detroit to his retirement. This will probably never happen again in any sport. When you look up the word "captain" in the dictionary, it should always be accompanied by a picture of Steve Yzerman. (Detroit Free Press columnist, Mitch Albom, gives a proper tribute here. If you're any kind of Wings fan, or even a hockey fan, prepare to get weepy.)

The agent for Detroit Pistons' star, Ben Wallace, announced that his client was signing a big contract with the Chicago Bulls, and would be leaving the Pistons, where he helped the team win one NBA title, and was much beloved in Detroit, as much for his wild, Buckwheatian Afro, as for his fierce defensive prowess. He turned down an offer which would have made him the highest paid player on the Detroit roster. Detroit gave him a chance to flower where other franchises never even gave him a look. He'd played his college ball at some out-of-the way Division II or III school. He took the money and ran.

Who do you think gets my utmost respect today? Say goodbye to playoff basketball, Ben.

I Must Have Great Karma!

On Monday, July 3rd, I lost my camera. My $3000+ Nikon camera. Not only the camera, but the $900 zoom lens, the $200 brand new Nikon flash, and the $200+ Pelican hard case they were all in.

We'd just left the field in Metamora, MI where the weekend trials had been held. This is out in the (wealthy) boondocks of Northern Oakland County (or Southern Lapeer County, I'm not sure). It's "hunt country"... lots of horses, hounds, and large homes on huge chunks of land. The roads are dirt, narrow, hilly, and heavily wooded.

As usual, when we can't take the motor home to the site, we commute in the Escape. We'd loaded the EZ Up, and tables, and generator, and all the mundane pieces and parts that make up our "store" into the Escape, and as we've done dozens of times before, put a towel on the roof in the secure square created by the Yakima bike rack, and tossed the camera case up there, along with the lunch cooler. We've never secured these items, because they're very heavy- especially the camera case. The rear of the Escape was packed to the ceiling, so I had no center rear view in the mirror. We waved at the stragglers, and drove out onto Rock Valley Road.

After turning north on Barber Road, the longest, hilliest, most washboardedest stretch of the commute, we hit a big hole on the right side of the road- a hole I'd missed completely the first two days of the event. Margaret shouted her usual epithet, which I won't repeat here because her kids read this. I never checked the outside mirrors.

Forty minutes later, we pulled into the Water Tower Travel Trailer Park in Lapeer, got the dogs out of the motor home to walk, (they'd stayed back in air conditioned comfort on this day), when I glanced at the Escape- particularly the roof, and asked the stupidest question of the day: "Where's the camera?!!?"

Handing the dogs to Margaret, and jumping back in the car, I peeled out of the campground at just over the posted 5mph speed limit, and with Margaret's admonishment to "don't speed", made my way back to Metamora in the afternoon traffic... why were so many people still working on this day before a holiday?

By the time I got back to the stretch in the road where I was certain I'd lost the case, it had been over an hour. We'd seen two oncoming vehicles when we were leaving, either one of which would have seen the case if they'd travelled that far.. it would have rested right in the middle of the road, because there were hills going up on both sides of the road... the dropoffs coming a little further down the hill. What I found there, was what I expected: nothing. I checked the dropoff areas as best I could.. there was no evidence of any heavy object sliding down there. There was only poison ivy. Lots of it.

I drove back to the field to see if, on the off chance, anyone had dropped it off there. It was a way-off chance. I absorbed as much sympathy from the folks there that I could stand, and decided to drive back to Metamora and report my loss to the police. When I arrived there were a fat kid and his mother talking to a uniformed cop in the lobby... I was hoping that maybe they'd found this black case on the backroads and had just come to inquire if there was a reward. No such luck.. they were reporting an alledged theft of something the kid considered valuable by someone he had considered a friend. I think he decided to not file a complaint.

Another, not so observant, officer asked me if I was with these people. Duh. I said no , and asked if anyone had by chance turned in a black camera case with a few thousand dollars worth of gear in it. Not yet, he said. He said that most of the people who would be travelling those roads were rich and honest (I'm thinking that's oxymoronic!), and would turn it in if they found it. I left my name and number, and got back in the Escape to make the depressing, empty-handed, return to Lapeer. I called Margaret and told her to check the RV insurance to see if this kind of loss was covered. I wasn't optimistic.

Margaret was more optimistic than I. She kept saying that someone had found it, and would turn it in. I was thinking, "I'm going to get my Nikon D200 earlier than I expected". Most people are honest, but what would you do if you were driving down the road, found a case full of digital camera gear, but no identification? I know I'd be conflicted at the very least.

Anyway, a couple hours passed. The phone didn't ring. I started slamming doors and drawers, and feeling more and more depressed. I was burning pork and vegetables on the grill when Margaret came out the RV door and said, "Phone call". I got excited and asked, "Police?". She said no. I took the phone.

"Is this Dan?"
"Yes"
"Dan, my name is Cindy Schweiderson" (I have no idea if that's the correct spelling, I didn't ask), "and I live in Dryden, MI. Are you missing something? Something like a..."
"Like a large, black camera case loaded with expensive equipment?" I completed her question. "Yes, I am."

The story becomes rather unbelievable at this point:
"My husband's a conservation officer, and was returning home with his patrol boat on the trailer. He found it on the side of the road. When he brought it in and we saw what was inside, I said 'I'll bet this belongs to that man that was taking pictures at the field trial' ".

I asked her if she found me by calling the police. No.. she had been at the trial on Saturday, visiting with a friend who has Italian Greyhounds, so I asked if she'd been in our "store" and grabbed one of my business cards? No, again. So how did she find my phone number? She did what any thinking person would do: She went online to a dog list and made an inquiry. It's good to be famous.. or notorious, I'm not sure which.

Even more unbelievable is the fact that Mr. Conservation Officer didn't find it anywhere near where I thought I'd lost it. He spotted in in the weeds, on the side of Dryden Rd; a much heavier travelled, paved road, running from M-24 to the village of Dryden, and used by a lot more people who aren't "rich and honest". Obviously, the right guy came along, at the right time. We figured out it hadn't been on the ground more than 5 minutes!

I offered to come pick it up, and she said she was going to be in Lapeer the next day for the 4th of July parade, knew where the campground was, and she would bring it. Which she did the very next day. Even refused a reward, or a dinner at the White Horse- so I gave her one of my matted nature pictures.

And that's how I got my camera back. If that ain't great Karma, I don't know what is.

A Fabulous Fourth..

First things first... Happy Independence Day (belatedly) from our vantage point in the Meijer's parking lot in Lapeer, MI. Now if Dubya would quit tapping my phone I'd feel really independent.

We're Still Here!

Things get backed up some time, and that's where we are with the blog... tomorrow, I'll catch up on the schedule, maybe cover the Ridgeback Rodeo, talk about Steve Yzerman & Ben Wallace, and recount a harrowing tale (with a happy ending) about good Karma! Can't wait, can you?

Today's Health Tip

Here I was, thinkin' that I was going to meet up with Stone Phillips at this nice rural Ohio home, and we'd discuss teen sex on national TV... Instead, I get whacked over the head, and when I wake up, my back's been sewn up... and my kidney's gone!

In all seriousness... this is an example of why it's smart to cover up and/or wear your sunscreen! This is where one of two "atypical" moles had resided on the back of yours truly. The other one was on the back of the neck, and looks about the same.

They were removed last Friday at the Ann Arbor VA hospital by a pair of young... really young, dermatologists. I had thought, at first, that I'd wandered onto the set of Grey's Anatomy, they were so pretty... the boy doctor and the girl doctor.

So I spent the better part of an hour face down on a surgical table while they went at my flesh.

They reassured me that these were not malignant... but that they weren't exactly normal, either. All in all a scary proposition.

And that's why we weren't at the race meet in Antioch last weekend. 

Going... Going...

...and nearly gone. "I heard the news today, oh boy..." that the city of Detroit has finally decided to tear down Tiger Stadium.


And when it's gone there will be only Fenway Park in Boston to represent the old time stadiums. It's hard to get really worked up about it.. it's been sitting unused for 7 years now. The last game played there was in 1999.

This web site
keeps track of "at risk" ball parks. There's a nice sentiment there that resonated with me somehow:

For many, old ballparks represent simpler times and a more egalitarian atmosphere; they also serve as direct links to the past, bridges to childhood memories of time spent as a child with parents and loved ones.

No wonder, then, that an old ballpark can stir some powerful memories. In an ever-changing world, an old ballpark is an island of stability and tranquility. There are few places that are the same as they were 20, 30 or 75 years ago. Your grandfather's Tiger Stadium is the same as your father's Tiger Stadium. Sadly, it's not your Tiger Stadium if it's torn down to make way for a Best Buy or a Home Depot. That's why this list was compiled: to stir public awareness and to perhaps make people realize that there are old ballparks worth saving.

I don't know how "powerful" the memories are, but they remain.. Tiger Stadium is the one sports venue in Detroit that I went to more than once or twice. I saw one hockey game at the old Olympia... never went to "The Joe". Saw one Pistons game at Cobo Arena. Haven't been to the new football field yet, or Comerica Park- the Tigers' new home. I was trying to remember how many times I have gone to Tiger Stadium.. at least half a dozen, probably more.

I remember coming into Detroit to attend a game when I was very young. I was with my father, and the neighbor kids and their father. We were down on the expressway, and there was a house burning, up on the surface street. "Fully involved", as they say on TV. Had nothing to do with Tiger Stadium, per se, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

I think it was at Tiger Stadium where I first became unable to pee in public.. may need hypnosis to confirm that theory.. but there was an event in the public restroom that I remember well. Big room with long troughs. Very fancy plumbing, and zero privacy. I might have been 10, or so.

In later years, we drove down from Saginaw to see Mark "The Bird" Fidrych pitch. He was a phenomenon of the '70s. Known for talking to the ball. The game was rained out. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Lyndell AC. A legendary bar near the stadium.

I saw the Lions play an ABC Monday Night Football game there. The series was in it's second season. We could see Howard and the boys in the booth.

That booth was another phenomenon of Tiger Stadium.. hanging off the upper deck, directly behind home plate. Van Patrick, or Ernie Harwell, or George Kell, or Al Kaline would have to duck the foul balls. You could hear the ricochet on the broadcasts. And how did Ernie always know where the guy down the left field foul line, who caught the ball, lived? "That foul ball was caught by a man from Whitehall, Michigan..." Amazing.

I've sat everywhere in Tiger Stadium... the upper deck on the 3rd base side, the box seats on the 1st base side, the centerfield bleachers, lower deck behind the plate.

So many amazing things happened there, just in my lifetime. I didn't go to any games in 1968, (I was in the Navy), but I followed closely the World Series from my duty station in Memphis. They were all Cards fans- it was Tim McCarver's hometown.) The CW is that the Tigers saved the city that year... it was the year after the riots. The Tigers brought the city together.

Again in 1984, the year of "Bless You Boys". The Tigers started the season 35-5 and never looked back. That World Series gave us a preview of Kirk Gibson's proclivity for dramatic home runs.

An on and on. I can see the stadium in my mind's eye. I can smell it. I can taste the peanuts purchased from the vendors on the way to the turnstile. I guess I'm going to miss it. I'm surprised at how much the memories came back as I started to type.

Comerica Park's a nice place. One of the best of the new "retro look" parks. But it ain't on Michigan and Trumbull.

Panhandling

The observant among you will notice certain changes to the right of this post. First, the absence of the Google Ad. This was supposed to generate lots of income from the millions of readers of this blog, when they click on the ad for "West Highland Terriers For Sale", or "Mac lessons", or whatever. In a year in a half, the total number of click-throughs on this fine program totalled exactly: 0. I never even clicked on them myself, because that would be illegal! So, our total income from the Google AdSense program totalled exactly: $0.

Obviously, something wasn't working... and that something was: Google Ads. So I've resorted to a more direct approach: The Tip Jar. I really don't expect it to do much better than the Google AdSense program, but who knows? It works through PayPal, and it's for a good cause. When you click on the Tip Jar (assuming you find the content of this blog a) helpful, b) insightful, c) humorous or entertaining, d) educational, or e) all of the above), you will be directed to PayPal.com where you can donate any amount no matter how small (or large) to the "Bounder Fuel & Maintenance Fund". It costs a lot of bucks to haul this 10 ton behemoth around the country... lessee.... 80 gallon fuel tank X $2.75 a gallon..... wow! You could feed a platoon of Marines in Iraq for that kind of money. And, we just put over $800 into it for a tune up and new front springs; the coach batteries are dead.. that's another $150, minimum. And the beat goes on.

This will spur us (me) on, of course, to make this blog even better. It was enlightening to find, at the II, that people actually read it! I had no way of knowing.. readers rarely comment, which was the only way to know someone had looked- until I added the counter- another new feature on the right hand side. It is also linked to an ad. I have no idea what Pronto Pasta is, nor do I wish to find out. The counter's free because of it. Maybe if someone clicks on the Pasta thing, they'll report back on it.

Lastly, I was shamed into putting the link to "Go Coursing Dot Com"... since there's supposedly a link to our photo site on their site. (I haven't found it, nor have I found the photo credits for the fine photos of their hounds). The proprietors are good people, Red State-bound though they are, and the products I've used.. mostly the "Burn Out" (and mostly on me!) are excellent. When our coursing and racing blankets wear out, we'll replace them from GoCoursing... Check them out! Now, maybe they'll be shamed into making a donation for fuel...

Onward and upward...

Is This Oxymoronic?

Think about this: The Fifty Greatest Conservative Rock Songs. Apparently not to the National Review. Here's a commentary I found on the Huffington Post, where you can link to the whole sordid article.

By the way.. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" aside.. the Beach Boys's Pet Sounds was one bitchin' album. (And we were conveniently ignoring the "abstinence message" back in the '60s anyway... isn't that right dear?)

Speaking of Underwear..

We rarely stop at campgrounds that have cable TV.. and we don't have a dish, so discovering Fuse TV was quite a revelation last night. Proof that anyone.. maybe even me.. will do anything for money. You gotta see Pants Off- Dance Off. I can't think of anything to add.

Boxers, Briefs, or.......?

Never know what you're going to read at Slate.com, as the above link will show. Gotta admit, I like the 3rd option in cold weather, but in the hot, sticky stuff we've got going on now... going "commando" is preferable. Lessons from Vietnam well learned.

Where to Next...?

While it's fun to report, and opinionate, it's always good to be reminded what this blog-thing is really all about for us. The reminder came last weekend at the ASFA II when probably no fewer than a dozen people (probably more- I wasn't counting- but enough that I was astonished by the volume) asked: "Where you guys off to next?" Well, for their benefit and yours, here it is:

This weekend we're at Purina Farms, Gray Summit, MO for LGRA. Photography and racing (if other greyhounds are present.)

Next weekend- off. We were originally planning on another LGRA/WRA meet in Antioch, IL, but the VA called me and wanted me to come on over next Friday to cut some more out of my back.

June 23-25 The "Ridgeback Rodeo", in Pennsylvania. This one should be interesting.

July 1-2 Michigan Gazehound Assoc., ASFA trial, Metamora, MI
Jully 3 RRCUS specialty trial, same place.

July 8-9 LGRA, Oberlin, OH.

Aug 5-6 LGRA, Lewisville IN "On the banks of the ..... whatever creek it is" (Good dog cooling stuff.)

Autumn will be full, and will be posted later. As you can see, there are lots of holes in our Summer schedule. Holes that are sorely in need of filling, if we're to survive the season, and put gas in the beast... I mean the "Express". We could use some suggestions, here. Including non-dog things: art shows, little league baseball, soccer, horses, etc. This is our cry for help!