The Dragon

We came..

We drove..

We bought the T-Shirt.

The Deerhound Specialty being over, we finally had to time to explore America's Number 1 motorcycle and sportscar destination.. The Tail of the Dragon. That's the portion of US129 that runs from Deal's Gap, NC north into Tennessee for 11 miles. In those 11 miles, the road has 318 curves! And all as smooth as a baby's butt, as you can see above. And all up and down, no flat places.

We took a few pictures, which you can see at the the Shot On Site website , but for the best images from the Dragon go to Killboy.com. That's "Killboy" (aka Darryl Cannon) on the right in the image below.. we had a chance to stop and chat on Sunday. Note that he's not the one with the camera. I can only hope that our business is so successful someday that we can hire associates to do the shooting for us. ;)

All kidding aside, Darryl was on his way to shoot at another curve, so we were lucky to find him here. There is always someone from Killboy.com at the Dragon... every day. If you go to his site, you'll probably even see us buzzing by!

This week, there are over 500 Mini Coopers there. Like I said, a serious driving destination. It was by far the most fun I've ever had driving the Escape, and Margaret only told me to slow down once in 22 miles!

Something Earth Shattering...

Scottish Deerhound Club of America, National Specialty Show.. Veteran Dogs, 9 yrs and over. This is the lineup. (5 were originally entered, so I thought, "OK, you're going to win something.")

At 10 years, 8 1/2 months old, Randir was the oldest dog in the lineup by 2 months. He still moves great. We had a lot of supporters ringside... when I trotted him down and back there was a lot of cheering.

The judge said, "You've got a lot of friends." I said, "I guess so." She then moved him up to second! My boy's having a hell of a specialty! Now I have to give money to another photographer!

These images by Margaret.

Scary Image of the Day

Fontana Dam. Part of the TVA system, and the highest dam east of the Mississippi. This is the view from our campsite!

First Brag...

Not a lot of time, but in Monday's LGRA race meet at the SDCA specialty, my old boy managed to win the Turtle! (For the uninitiated, that's the dog with the lowest score who finishes - in a racing manner- all three of their races. It's a very coveted award). He also won the award for being the oldest (10 years, 8 months) to do the same. Cool!

Hiatus.

Posting has been light lately. No particular reason, other than we've been cursed over the last couple of weeks with poor internet signals, which is the case today. We're at the Escapees Racoon Valley RV park north of Knoxville. We'll continue on our way to the deerhound specialty on Sunday. That will be a week-long event, and if anything earth shattering happens we'll be able to post on it, from our location on the southern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. (Earth shattering to be defined by how well Randir does in the show ring in veterans!)

Might as well show the schedule for the next couple of weeks. Following the specialty, (and a trip to Wheeling to have Rally's hock repaired), we will be at...

May 5-6 OKIGO AKC trial Fairborn, OH
May 12-13 MGA ASFA trial Gibralter, MI
May 20 Silken Windhound Purina Farms
May 26-28 INBC AKC trials Shawnee, OK
June 2-3 ASFA II Farmington, MN
June 5-8 SCOA specialty Lexington, KY
June 16-17 Open weekend
June 23-24 LCLC ASFA trial Youngstown, NY
June 30 July 1 MGA ASFA trial Metamora, MI
July 7-8 BGCC ASFA trial Columbia, KY
July 21-22 Open weekend
July 27-29 Ridgeback Rodeo Conneautville, PA

Updates to follow...

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1922-2007

The passing of an American literary icon. And iconoclast. Time to dig out the old books from storage. And get a Vonnegut film festival together from Netflix; don't think I've ever seen Mother Night.

Of all places, the best memorial I've read today, is by that dancing, globetrotting, madcap blogger, Matt Harding, (from Where the Hell is Matt? fame). Powerful stuff. And true. (but I'm still not removing the semicolon in the first paragraph!)

If you're Sirius radio subscribers, (or want to try it out online free for three days), you can catch a rebroadcast on Sunday evening, of today's "Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight" show, which was, in turn, a replaying of his 1996 interview with Vonnegut Jr. on his WNEW broadcast radio show. Well worth looking up.. I think it's on at either 7 or 8 PM Eastern time, Sunday April 15.

Galgos Revisited

With the end of the Galgo poll, I suppose you want to know the answer: The top image is Tuxedo. The bottom image is Queenie. Queenie is a Loomis, Nebraska staghound. Congratulations to those two-thirds of respondents who figured that out.

Comments- and A New Poll

Maybe you noticed I let a couple of weeks go without any posts. I was simmering... a little pissed, even. I try to make this blog informative, and to an even greater extent: entertaining. Other than a couple of comments that I actively solicited, I got no feedback on my April Fools Day post.

I realized part of the problem was that comments on this blog are moderated.. and you have to create an identity (even if it's "anonymous"). Maybe more work than you're willing to put in to it. (Or maybe you really believe "Bubba's" ancestors were created by Georgia hillbillies!)

So, I'm thinking of unmoderating the comments section. I originally did it because I got spam comments. I've created a new poll.. over on the sidebar. If the numbers support it, I'll remove the hard parts...

WTF??

April 3, 2007 Interstate 45 near Huntsville, TX. (Where they do the needle thing... I hear the Texas legislature is considering the death penalty for jaywalkers. And down the line, they may want to also kill people who wear stripes with plaid, or polyester.) The wildflowers were blooming, the weather was downright hot.. and humid. The sun was shining. Ahhh Spring!!

April 5, 2007 Weidmann Park, Valley Center, KS. Hmmmm.

April 11, 2007 Kellogg RV Park, Kellogg, IA. There's a disturbing pattern developing here. Can you see it? Remember that cute little lamb picture from March 31... that was supposed to signify "March goes out like a lamb". Apparently, that lamb had another agenda, because once he went silently into the barn, he apparently transformed himself into Hannibal Lector!

This has already been a record-breaking Fall/Winter/Spring for us, weatherwise... this latest bunch of white precipitation will just assure that the record is never broken. So there is a plus-side, I guess: It will never be this bad again.

Right.

All About Bubba.

The "Bubba Poll" is now closed. For those waiting breathlessly for the answer... It's Georgia. That's right, Georgia. And not the one over there in the old Soviet Union.. the one in the American South. Bubba is an
Appalachian Corn Hound;or rather he's descended from the Corn Hounds, which were first created in the North Georgia mountains at the turn of the last century by mountain men who needed sturdy guard animals to protect their "corn likker" stills. Borrowing heavily from the French Great Pyrenees, for size, American Pitbulls for tenacity, and an occasional greyhound for speed in pursuing the hated "Revenoors" out of the mountains, these ingenius mountain dwellers produced a hound whose only vice was a taste for fine French wines and cognacs. Alas, this was to lead to the ultimate demise of the breed, even though it guaranteed that they would stay out of the moonshine. Because of their expensive tastes, these poor hill folk were unable to afford to keep this handsome dog. Additionally, the Corn Hound was able to somehow maintain beautiful strong, white teeth throughout their lifespans, which led to poor self-esteem among the very people that created them.

The entire population was, therefore, shipped off to Texas during the Great Depression, where the somewhat-wealthy Sheep Barons were able employ them in their current capacity, as sheep guarding dogs. So that's Bubba's story.. so rare, you won't even find it in Wikipedia!

And not only that, but... what?
What's that?
What's today's date, you say?

Why.. It's April Fool's Day.

And Bubba's an Akbash. From Turkey.
Congratulations to all who got it right. Texas, Todd?? ;)

Mission Accomplished.

Unlike other big lies you've heard, using the above statement.. I actually made it down to LaMarque, Texas last night to shoot some real racing at the Gulf Greyhound Park. I mentioned in a previous post that a reader had asked if I would take some pictures of his dogs if I was ever in the area. We were... and I did. And won a couple of bucks in the process! But not on the race pictured below...

...that's "PDX Carnage" in the number 4 blanket; one of the dogs I was there to shoot. Unfortunately, Carnage wasn't anywhere near the front when I snapped this, but I think it's pretty indicative of the intensity of the sport nevertheless. The reader's other dog, "PDX Blackie", won it's race.

I also met up with our friend, Kelly, who had a dog, "C Ya Tag Heuer",

running in a later race. Kelly was invaluable in helping spot the dogs I had to shoot... and, she bought me a Shiner Bock. Way to go Kelly! Lots of images available for viewing at the Shot On Site website.

Kelly, and her friend, Tammy, also reminded me numerous times as I left, to "drive safe" on my 100+ mile trip back to the campground. Ha! Little do they know...

...about my history of driving in Houston. I wonder if I should tell the story here.. hmmmm.. it involves my brother, Mark, and his Toyota, my cousin and her husband, a football game, and most importantly, psychotropic mushrooms, big draft beers, and, yeccch!, Andre Cold Duck, (did I mention the UCLA Song Girls?). What do y'all think? Want to hear the story?

Images ©2007 Shot On Site

Must Mean it's Almost April...

©Shot On Site

Age Before Beauty

You know you might be the youngest people in the campground when...

Poll Closing.

The "Mandatory Spay/Neuter, Good or Bad?" poll is now closed. Readers voted 84% to 16% (19 votes), that these laws are a bad idea. That's probably within a few points or two of the general population's views. I wonder if our legislators know. Someone should tell them.

It was actually worse than that.. because, remember, that Margaret voted "yes" by accident.. probably because I made the answers "no/yes" instead of the anticipated "yes/no". I learned my lesson... hope Margaret did, too. Wonder who the other "yes" votes were? Must'a come here by accident.LOL

Grindhouse.

If the TV trailers aren't enough to make you want to see Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's homage to exploitation movies of the 50's and 60's, then this review should do it. We were crackin' up!

WARNING: Mature readers only... no kids!

Bubba.

This is Bubba. Bubba lives across the road from Endgate Ranch, with a couple of girlfriends. Bubba and his girlfriends have a job to do, and they take it seriously. Their job is to guard a couple hundred sheep, lambs, goats and kids from the likes of me and other, more dangerous predators.

Since you all seem to like games so much, we're going to play another:

When I first spotted one of Bubba's girlfriends the other day, she was flying across the field towards the fence by the road I was driving up.. at a rate of speed that defied her size. Not surprising, as my reading up on this breed tells me that they were probably bred from a Mastiff like breed and a "native sighthound". That's a hint, folks. Anyway, he's very handsome, and actually quite friendly- as long as you don't have nefarious designs on his charges.

Sighthound-free Content.

We're wrapping up a little over a week at Endgate Ranch in Ferris, TX. We decided to forego the race meet up in Oklahoma, which was promising to be sparsely attended, and stayed here to shoot something other than speeding sighthounds. This is a nice change of pace for us, and lets us get to see other breeds work, like the Briard, above, and the German Shepherd Dog, below. These folks rarely have an opportunity to have their dogs photographed, so we look at it as offering a valuable (for both parties!) service.

As usual, we also ate out a fair amount. Two places to recommend if you're ever in Ferris, (and since Endgate Ranch is the locale for Lone Star Whippet Club, Afghan Hound Club of Dallas, and Gazehounds In Texas lure coursing trials, I'm certain many of you will find yourselves here.)Right in downtown Ferris is the Fiesta Cafe. Very good, and imaginative Mexican and Tex/Mex food. Last week we went to "Fajita Wednesday"... probably as full as you'll ever get on $6.15. I had the combination fajita plate, with chicken and steak. It was sizzling, so it was good. Today I had the Combination Enchiladas-- four, count'em four enchiladas: chicken, "meat", potato, and spinach. I think the next time we're here, I'm going all spinach. It was very, very good. And it was fresh, not frozen or canned spinach.

Sunday night we went to the Rockett Cafe. In Rockett. Texas. There are some names in this state. Specialty of the house is CFS. (Anybody who knows "home cookin'" knows that's not "cystic fibrosis society", but rather Chicken Fried Steak.) Good coating, meat tender, gravy perfectly seasoned, with a huge baked potato. And a cold Shiner Bock to wash it all down.

Speaking of alcohol: Not in Ferris. Rockett is also dry, but The Rockett Cafe is a "club", so liquor is served to members. I've never been in Rockett before in my life, but I was already a member! Thanks to my Unicard, which I purchased some years back in some other dry, podunk Texas ville'. Better have one if you're coming to Texas, because over half the geographic area of this second largest state... is dry. (Of course, much of that "half" is unoccupied as well, but that's another post.)

We'll be leaving tomorrow, going south to Livingston, TX to Rainbow's End RV Park- the home park of the Escapees RV Club that we're members of. I may drive down to Gulf Greyhound Park south of Houston this weekend to shoot some greyhounds racing, at the request of one of this blog's readers. That will be new, too.

It's lambing season at Endgate, so how could I not close with an image of unbelieveable cuddly cuteness:
They're so much fun to watch... just like puppies.

"Longdogs With Pedigrees?"

Some people in the Southwest, (particularly those who regularly get beaten by them), consider the Galgo Espanol as just another "longdog" (or sighthound cross). I don't know where they get these outlandish ideas!


That's right; one of these is a Galgo, and one isn't. Have fun.

Changes.

Fighting blog burnout, I decided to play with the appearance of the blog; (Margaret said the sidebar was looking "cluttered".) Moved some links down to what is now known as the "Blogroll/Links" area, and repositioned the counter and tipjar.. Yes! the TipJar is still here! For what it's worth. Also removed the Backwards Bush clock until we get closer to a more optimistic count... later in the year. It will be back!

I'll be deactivating the current poll, so if you know folks who haven't voted, send them on over. The next one will be in the sidebar, and might be more frivolous.

Look for a couple brief restaurant reviews coming up, and a report on the little GCA AKC trial yesterday. Also, maybe a picture of what we do when we're not shooting sighthounds, mountains, or birds.

Plinked a couple of geocaches earlier today in the cemetary down the hill from the ranch. That was fun, and took all of about 20 minutes.

More coming!

Pic of the Week

We took this last weekend at the Lone Star Whippet Club trial in Ferris, TX. You only wish your animals were this well trained, and behaved. I know we do.

We're hanging around for the Greyhound Club of America AKC trial, which is being held in conjunction with the club's southern specialty, then we'll probably go up to Boswell, OK for a NOTRA this weekend. That will put an end to our "Southern Strategy", as we'll begin the long, torturous swing back to the north, going first, to the AKC trials in Wichita, and then to ASFA trials in Belvidere, Illinois. Hope Spring will be following us.

Looming just ahead, of course, is Randir's big moment at the Scottish Deerhound Club of America's national specialty. Margaret's designing a special Shot On Site T-Shirt for the show ring. There will be no sneak previews... but we'll post it up here after the specialty.