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.

New Toys. It's a Poll!!

It's a poll! You can vote. Try it!
Playing around with more web tools. Would like to get more interactivity going in this blog, so... how about a poll?



I think I know our readers well enough to know how this one will turn out. Not sure if this free service has safeguards against ballotbox stuffing, but I guess I'll find out.

In the future, we'll probably run these in the sidebar whenever we have a provocative topic. Oh, and I'm casting the first vote!

Bracketology II. Squeakball Version.

OK.. I'll admit to somewhat more interest than I intimated the other day. I do need to know: Is Duke out yet?

Update: 10:25PM CDT: Oh yeah!

Now.. let's boot the Irish out, too!

Update: 3/16/07 6:00PM CDT: Done! I suppose it's too much to ask for Florida and their girly-man to get bounced?

Announcement!

It is with great pleasure that we announce- finally- the website for our "non-canine" images: http://www.shotonsite2.photoreflect.com . The first images are up- currently we are only offering 5x7 in 8x10 acid-free mat, and 8x10 in 11x14 acid-free mat. Soon we hope to have large panoramas (ie the Florida Mountain series in 8 x 20, etc.) and possibly poster sizes, (but first we want to look at them and make sure the quality is what we want.) All images will be signed, and shipped in sealed plastic, "ultra clear" presentation bags.

Please think about our site when it's gift-giving time for the non-dog people in your lives, or when redecorating the den. And pass this information on to those folks who may be interested.

I'm hoping to figure out- maybe with the help of some readers (you know who you are)- how to put a little link to the site on the blog. Images will be added regularly, as we travel the country.

ADDED 1:15 CDT - Well, that was quick. Thanks to Todd B., there's now a link to the new site, just to the right. He must'a known I was talking to him. :)

Someday, in the best of all possible worlds, these will all be on the walls of our coffee house/art gallery, somewhere in New Mexico. Look for us.

Their Own Worst Enemy

I guess I missed this story the first time around, but it ranks right up there with the greyhound folks in California who thought it would be cool to invite a TV film crew out to a jackrabbit hunt. Maybe you've already heard about this "hunting club" in Pennsylvania, apparently suffering from cabin fever, who charged archers $12 to shoot live, farm raised turkeys.... which were tied to bales of straw. And we wonder why the antis keep coming after us.

Eric Sharp, outdoors writer for the Detroit Free Press, has good advice for all of us in today's column, including this all-important nugget:

"...but 'fair chase' is an emotional concept defined by the human brain, not the laws of nature.

So let's put aside any notion that emotion won't or shouldn't play a role in the future of hunting, or that we hunters can simply ignore the feelings of the great nonhunting mass. They are the people who get to vote on whether we can hunt." (emphasis mine)

More Coursing.

Brush up on your Español...

As long as we're passing movies along, here's some more coursing I found on YouTube. This happens to be Galgos in Spain from a 2005 championship meet. Many who know me know I've coveted a Galgo for years, (even though the houndsmen of the southwest US consider them nothing more than another mixed breed). And if you occasionally root for the hare, (and who doesn't?), watch the move the hare makes at the end of a fairly long course, to escape.



It turns out there are lots of live (and lure) coursing videos on YouTube.. although I guess that shouldn't surprise me. Most are not put there by AR anti-hunting whackos.. but a few are. I wish someone would explain the "Borzoi Wolf Hunt" to me, though. As one commenter wrote: "That was pointless." I'd have to agree.