Today's Feature: Fanny!

Posing nicely, here, with Cooke's Peak as a background. Last time we saw Fanny on these pages, she was chasing plastic, and looking damned good about it. This, however, is significantly more impressive:

Hard to believe this hare got away. But Fanny's going on 8, she's not 8 months old. She's running well enough to get entered in Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic, though.

We started of with Fanny free coursing, and Sandia on a slip lead for the first time. He was in this course, but I held him up just a little too long, so he didn't make the pictures. They ran about a half mile, and both came back quickly.

Then we jumped one that was too far out.. Fanny took off anyway, but I held Sandia. The course took Fanny back towards the car, so I started walking that way with Sandia. I watched as Fannt flushed another on her way back... a very fuzzy, distant telephoto shot shows that she should have come back with tail fur in her mouth! She was soooo close all day.

Before Fanny made it back to us, we jumped one for Sandia to run on his own. There are some pictures, but this is Fanny's day. :) He disappeared over a ridge pretty quickly. There's a good sized valley, with lots of brush, so I knew he'd be back soon. And he was, just about the time Fanny got back, so I leashed them up, as they'd had enough work for one day... Fanny 3, Sandia 2, and it was starting to sprinkle.

As we left the field I saw my old friend, the Golden Eagle on a power pole. Magnificent creature!

Wow! A Record-Setting Day.

(click to enlarge)

You guys are awesome. You must really like Sandia. Or was it the old Deerhound? Whatever the motivation, yesterday set an all time record for visits to this site. 126 visits! Only a few weeks ago, the daily average was around 18-22. Do the math. The traffic increase seems to be connected to our westward movement into New Mexico. Hmmm.

And based on the new country counter we've put on the sidebar, we're actually getting readers from other coutries.. I mean other countries besides the Netherlands. ;-) South Africa? Bahrain? Austria? Yemen? Sweden? Argentina? Vietnam?...... Vietnam? (No, I don't have any children there trying to hunt me down... that I know of.) A quick check on SiteMeter shows that many of the visitors from these other countries... 30 different countries!, actually spend time here, and read stuff. Others, for whatever deviant reasons, get here from Google searches that take them to the screwing deer photo I used in a previous post. Many others come here from Patrick's blog, or Steve Bodio's Querencia, which is odd, since he doesn't have a link to us there.

Anyway... thanks for visiting. I'll try to make it worth your while to keep coming back. For instance, I'm taking Sandia out again today, so we can beat the possible "wintry mix" that's coming tomorrow.

The Family that Preys Together...

Sandia's Aunt Camille ...and himself.

UPDATE 1/23/08: Some people thought that Sandia caught a second jack. Would that that were true! I just remembered this picture of Camille from a TCC hunt two years ago, (which also appeared in the Performance Sighthound Journal article on the Galgo), and how Sandia looked so similar with his jack. I wanted to put the two together. That's all.

Oh Wait! This is Really It!

What comes after giddy? (Besides "up"). We returned to the "big ranch" today, after a one-year hiatus. Things are looking good there.

Let Sandia loose with Buffy and the auld warrior, Randir, and they almost immediately got into action.
Sandia can close! This hare is in peril.

And look who's joining in!! (Shh.. let him think he's helping.. he's 11 1/2 now, after all).

But Sandia apparently doesn't need any help, even though Buffy sneaks into the shot to try and steal some of the glory. This run came as quite a shock to me... I didn't expect this level of performance for a couple of months yet. He's only 8 months old! Thank you Chris! He's definitely a keeper. And to the reader who is here every day from Holland... I expect a comment! ;-)

Semper Fi.

Saw this new TV commercial today during the Patriots-Chargers game. It gave me chills.


I've enjoyed watching the Silent Drill Team ever since I first saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show back in the early '60s; or was it the '50s?!? Yikes! I'm old.

Some of you know that while I was a "Navy guy" for 4 years, my last year, 1969, was spent with the Fleet Marine Force in VietNam, with a Marine rifle company. I have a lot of respect for them.

Semper Fi.

This Is It!

Giddy. That's how I feel. But, after all, what did I expect? He got to watch us on Wednesday. And he got to watch at least 12 courses at the hunt yesterday. I knew he'd know what to do.

Off-lead portrait. Cooke's Peak.

What's that? Something moving!

It's a rabbit!

Go! Sandia, Go!

And, of course, he came back. We'll keep him.

Scenes From a Hunt.

Yesterday, I took Sandia and the camera to a nearby hunt. It was good to see old friends, and meet some new ones, and get reacquainted. But mostly, it was good to see hounds doing what they do, doing what they've done for more than a Millenia; and doing it in such a beautiful setting.

This dog worked hard, over a long, long time and a great distance. Usually, unlike life, hard work isn't rewarded. In this case it was.

They're back out there today, but I have another task. It's time to let Sandia loose on a jackrabbit. Let the learning begin!