Wow! It's Like Christmas in.. in.. December!

Yes, that's brand spankin' new University of Michigan football coach, Rich Rodriguez... Godfather of the spread offense. And believe you me, boys and girls there's going to be some changes made... not just at Michigan, but the whole Big Ten; if they want to keep up, that is. This will represent a sea change, a paradigm shift, a... a... oh, I don't know- pick a superlative- in the conference. This might just be the guy to drag the Big Ten, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. And I couldn't be more excited. We will soon be playing a very un-Big Ten brand of football!

When the rumors first surfaced last Friday, I thought it would be a great hire, but didn't think it would have a prayer. We talked about it at the lure trial this weekend, but no one thought, given the ridiculous way the coaching search had progressed over the last month, that Michigan would accomplish anything more than getting Rodriguez a healthy raise from West Virginia U. When I was told yesterday that Michigan actually pulled it off, I was ecstatic.

The same can't be said for the poor residents and students in West Virginia. For the second time in less than a year, Michigan has grabbed a high profile coach from West Virginia University. Last spring it was John Belein, the basketball coach. They're feeling abused down there, but it's been going on for over a hundred years. As it happens, Michigan's first great football coach, the legendary Fielding H. "Hurry Up" Yost, known best for his "point a minute" teams at the turn of the last century was born in Fairview, West Virginia in 1871, only a handful of miles away from Rodriguez' home town. Wow.

I even got an email from a well known veterinary orthopedic surgeon who operates out of Wheeling, WV and is a WVU grad, voicing his disappointment in Coach Rod, and wondering how he could leave the team in the lurch and not even coach the Fiesta Bowl game. But this is just how the game is played in the big time, like it or not.

And speaking of playing the game... if West Virginia had done it's part, and not gotten upset by the lowly Pittsburgh Panthers in the last game of the year, then "Coach Rod" doesn't have his secret meeting with the Michigan search team in Toledo, Ohio, and Les Miles is assembling his new coaching staff in Ann Arbor, and not preparing to put a whoopin' on Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game. Funny how things work out.

For now, we'll just have to remember, if we have to take a dog to WV for treatment, we'd better remove our "M" sticker from the rear window, and the "Big House Football" frame from around the license plate.

Just like I can't wait to get to New Mexico to run the dogs on jackrabbits, I can't wait for next Fall!

Yeah. They're That Good!

Patriots Proud Of Defeating Whoever That Last Team Was

FOXBOROUGH, MA—Patriots quarterback Tom Brady diplomatically emphasized that defeating whoever it was they had just played gave him and his...

Site Changes

Seems like whenever we return to civilization from an extended visit to a land of zero, or limited, internet signal, it's like being resurrected from the dead. I'm sure you're tired of coming aboard and seeing the same (cute) picture for over a week straight. But here we are again, at a decent little campground on the side of US 290 near Hempstead, TX. Not WiFi, but the GPRS/EDGE is about as fast as I can remember.

Anyway.. over the past month we've made some changes to the blog. While the general appearance remains the same, we've been able to add a lot of new elements, because Blogger finally made it easy to do.

Starting from the top, you've probably already noticed the slide show. I picked jackrabbits to start, but will probably change the subject matter from time to time. If you want to see a larger version, just click on an image.

Below the slide show, I just added our shooting schedule for the next 2 and a half months. This is much more convenient than doing it in a post and then watching is scroll down, down, down and out of sight (and mind). It's always going to be right there. That big gap between the AAWC trial at Hutto, and the Pack Hunt/Desert Hare Classic, represents our "vacation" in New Mexico. We'll be running jacks, eating green chilis, and drinking tequila. I also may venture into Mexico for some discount dental work and new glasses. And maybe this will be the year I finally meet Steve Bodio face to face! That may mean more tequila.

The next couple of blocks of items remain pretty much as they always were. I should point out a few new links in the "blogroll". First, they're not all "blogs", but that's just a technicality, right? You can now link to both of our Photoreflect sites: Events, for your dog's pictures in action, and the Nature & Art site. You were probably also wondering what's up with the "Life With the Georgia Reiniches". First one not named Reiniche, (or Jenkins) to guess correctly will win a $5 Shot On Site gift certificate. Hint: check their archives.

I also added Fark.com. Yeah, like he needs our help. If you've just crawled out from under a rock, Fark is the number one visited site (OK, occasionally number two) on the internet. Go there and you'll see why. It's addictive.

Last, at the bottom of the sidebar, is the return of the Backwards Bush countdown calendar. Where we're about to go under 400 days!

Dog posts and more puppy pictures coming soon! Just weighed Sandia. 49.5 pounds! Holy Crap! And one other news flash: We now know why Rally has been so slow of late. She's begun a tear of the achilles tendon on her left leg. So she's back on the disabled list for at least two months, according to Dr. Don Hulse of Texas A&M. Thanks doc. :(

Y' Want It?

You can have it. Go on. Take it. You know you want it. C'mon take it. Just try.

I believe I've finally succeeded in capturing Sandia's personality. ;^)

Rally's, too.

Monkey In the Middle.

More Fun at the South's Expense.

I don't make this stuff up. While watching some football this weekend, on CBS's Chattanooga affiliate, I noticed something strange. Everytime a promo for the Victoria's Secret annual Christmas program came on, the volume would go down, rising up again after the spot. It would also happen when the football announcers would talk about it. This happened on Saturday, during the college games, and on Sunday during the NFL broadcasts. And who's job is it to sit and monitor these spots, because it was definitely someone manually turning a volume control dial? (Because they didn't always get the sound all the way off).

Is it me, or is this just plain weird, since the air dates and time are flashed on the screen during the promos? So who's being protected here? Or maybe it just says something about literacy in the South.. they can't hear it, and they certainly can't read it.

Wilderness.

Yes, we're lost in the wilderness again. This time, about 6 miles east of I75 near Calhoun, Ga. We're camped out for the week at friends' new home and lure coursing venue: "GANG Park". As coursing fields go, this one's got some character, ie: no flat, level parts anywhere. Cool.For economic reasons, we decided to stay for the week following the trial we shot last weekend, even though we're not shooting this weekend's trial. When the bus ain't moving, we ain't spending money! We also had access to the field and some pretty big dog runs all week...

...something we don't see at a normal campground. Drawbacks include the fact that neither our phones, nor our aircard are picking up a signal. So I'm writing this from the Java Junction Cafe in Calhoun. Pretty good place.

UPDATE: I got rushed out of the coffee shop on Saturday before I could finish this with a fun little anecdote. The name GANG Park comes from the lure coursing club, "Greyhound Association of North Georgia". We know that, but apparently the nearby residents didn't. When the homeowner put up a fancy "GANG Park" sign, the town offices were flooded by calls wondering how they could let "gangs" have their own place!? It's all been straightened out now, and since there was no permit for the sign, it has now been removed.