Runaways.

Well. That was exciting... in a stressful kind of way. And hard on the vocal chords. (Cords?).

What was that, Dan? See, it's like this: To get Rally out of the motor home to walk, she has to be picked up and set down on the ground.. while this is happening, the door swings wide open, because both hands (and attendant arms) are on the dog. This offers a golden opportunity for Mr. Sandia to make a break for it. Most of the time I've made a circus grab, on the fly, and tossed him back in before closing the door. Today, I got a finger on his collar, but he just slipped off and away he went.

To make today unique, Fanny took advantage of the wide open door while I was turned and yelling at Sandia. Just one, I can get back fairly easily. With two, I had co-enablers. Away they rushed... toward the campground office. They said hello to a lady getting into a pickup, wheeled and ran back toward me.. hey, this was going to be easy after all.

Not. They ran to a corner and peed, looked over their shoulder at this...

Yes... a cornfield. A big cornfield, with a couple of deer stands on the perimeter. The temptation was obviously too much, as they disappeared. When the dogs disappear in the deserts of New Mexico, I don't mind.. I know they'll be back. This is completely different. Farmers in Michigan, and most other states in the vicinity, shoot dogs that are chasing deer. I hoped they didn't jump any deer. I did see a sandhill crane launch more vertically than they're used to.

Meanwhile, I still had Rally on the flexi, and she hadn't peed yet, so I couldn't put her back in, and I couldn't trudge across the cornfield with her and her cast, and the long-promised rain just beginning. So I stood on the campground side yelling, and they cavorted on the opposite side. I just hoped they stayed in the field and didn't venture into the surrounding woods.

Rally finally peed. I ran back to the motor home, threw her in, grabbed my Fox 40 Classic, and ran back to the cornfield, hoping they were still in sight. I was now ready to venture into the field myself... alternatingly yelling their names and blowing the whistle.. Sandia, made a run back toward me, I brought out a dog biscuit, caught his eye... and he slowed,... and then decided he hadn't had enough exercise. Meanwhile, Fanny had disappeared from view. Then Sandia disappeared.

It had now been almost 20 minutes they'd been running loose. I was on my own, because Margaret had gone into Ann Arbor to visit her parents.. if I dropped dead in the middle of the field, no one would find me until they came through to plant new corn. I had to find them..

I was halfway across the field when Sandia approached. And stayed. I got a leash on him, gave him a biscuit that he was too exhausted to eat, (although he did remove it from my jacket pocket after we were back in the house), and we went in search of Fanny.

We got all the way across, to the foot of one of the deer stands, and she was nowhere in sight. There was a trail that sloped downhill toward Goose Lake, west of the stand... as we started down it, Fanny broke out of the woods behind us, and stood to be leashed. She was finally out of gas. But not out of surprises.

I'd thought the worse thing that could happen was that they'd be shot by some farmer. Perhaps not... Fanny was covered in burrs... including covering her right eye completely; and she'd rolled in something exotic. Crane crap? Deer carcass? It was black, and greasy, and stunk to the heavens. Great. She needed washing, and it was raining and only about 45 degrees. I didn't want to bring her in, but that was my only option.

And that's how I came to do a thorough cleaning up of the shower and the bathroom today!

Return to the Swimmin' Hole

Remember that slide show from last October? You know, the one with Sandia and Rally playing in the little temporary pond in the back corner of Windyglen? Good. We figured, if still shots are good, movies will be even better.. so Margaret took Fanny and Sandia back to the pond which, due to recent heavy rains, was much bigger... and deeper, and shot this video with the Fuji ...

Listen... maybe that's why it's called Windyglen! And look at Sandia... that's why I think he's Bipolar.

Whats the Matter With Kansas?

Hey, we're back. Miss us?

We've been on the move for the last week or so.. from Oklahoma to Kansas to Michigan. Kansas was our stop last weekend for an AKC trial outside of Wichita... which leads us to the title of this post. And no, I'm not talking about Thomas Frank's excellent book by the same name, wherein he investigates why hundreds of thousands of poor Kansans voted against their own economic self interest in the 2004 elections. (Hint: they drank the Bush KoolAid).

No, I'm talking about our own wacky experiences in Kansas. First, we stopped in the brand new Wichita World Market... where we've found a wine we really like. Once in the store, I discovered we weren't going to be there for very long. No wine and beer section! What the hell is this? When leaving, one of the employees asked if we found everything OK... that's all the invitation I needed. Like she was prescient, she said, "Ah, the liquor?... thank you, Kansas". I don't understand what convoluted statutes allow Sam's Club to have a complete liquor store attached to their building, and forbids World Market from selling wine and beer. We never did get any wine.


Then, as we were leaving the state on Sunday, we witnessed a phenomenon we saw a couple of years ago: Every Spring, Kansans set themselves on fire.

They have their reasons. Good ones it turns out, as explained at the link. It's just bizarre to drive past mile after mile of smoldering grasslands. The smell and the haze aren't all that pleasant, but they're working on that.



And then there's "Pastor" Fred Phelps in Topeka. Actually, God hates you, Fred.


Now, I don't want to leave the impression that all is bad and bleak in Kansas. Saturday night we were invited out to dinner at the Kabob House restaurant on Wichita's west side. An intimate (read: small) place, featuring Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine. This was clearly a winner. I had the "Donor Alexander Kabob".... grilled, seasoned lamb, covered with a tomato-butter sauce, together with rice and bulgar. It was sooooo good. Finished up with a delicious Turkis coffee.


Now we're back in Michigan... I'm so glad we weren't still in Kansas when Kansas University won whatever meaningless sports tournament we watched on TV last night. We might have gotten trampled by the celebratory run on the campus malt shops. "Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk." What the hell does that mean? (Can you tell my money was on Memphis?).


Michigan. Snow in the forecast for the weekend. Figures.

Ontario-friendly Whippet Products.

Now the fine, law-abiding folks of Ontario, Canada have nothing to fear about putting the Shot On Site "I'd Rather Be Coursing" sticker on their vehicles... The American (and Global... except for perhaps Saudi Arabia) "Porn" version remains on the shelves.

See also new products for Azawakh, Irish Wolfhound, Ibizan Hound, Italian Greyhound, and Pharaoh Hound! (In addition to all the original breed goodies).

Where do you get them? here, of course.

New Slide Show!

As promised, Margaret's pictures from the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks (Tulsa).

That's all we have time for today, unfortunately.. gotta get Rally to the vet for the cast padding change. Wanted to do a sports wrap... that will have to wait till we get on the road again as this is probably the last chance we'll get to come into Hugo.

Briefly: Disappointed in the Final Four. Happy with the Frozen Four. Grand Valley basketball had a decent season (36-1) losing for the second straight year in the "Great Eight" to the ultimate Division II champions... Winona State this year. Tigers opening game today. That is all!

Another Easy Quiz.

Since the movies are uploading so quickly here at the library in Hugo, here's another easy quiz. (Post your replies in the comments section)

What dish is being prepared here? Certain people can't play... you know who you are. ;-)

Greetings!...

...from the booming metropolis of downtown Hugo, Oklahoma, where we've eaakaek mmgmgmgfmfmfm ldle0 eikdfjl94il... mmmfffff.... wait. OK, got my tongue unplanted from my cheek. We've escaped from Windyglen, where we've been spending the "off week" after last weekend's greyhound trial in Texas and NOTRA racemeet here in Oklahoma. Windyglen offers a lot for us... RV hookups, primarily, but a pastoral rural setting as well... and therein lies the problem, and which is why we've driven 22 miles to Hugo, and the Chocktaw County Library: WiFi. So, if you've been wondering what's happened to us, and why nothing has been posted recently... now you know.

I promised a shot of Rally's new look...

Right away you're probably noticing that the hardware's gone, replaced by a removeable cast. In retrospect, the external fixator device was probably not a practical solution for a dog that lives in a motor home with narrow passageways, 4 other dogs (not to mention a cat), and plenty of other obstacles... like catching the device on the door of the crate. Sandia also got his paw caught inside one of the rods as well. What fun. The upshot is that it got loose, and she developed a staph infection in the bone that was resistant to all but 4 antibiotics, (fortunately one of them was Tetracycline... for which we got a 4 week supply at WalMart for $6!). So, for living up to her new name yet again, the good folks at Louisiana Veterinary Referral Clinic put her in the cast, and Rally is much, much happier. We've had the cast off twice now, to change the padding, and the drainage has been reduced to light spotting, and the swelling around the tibia has gone down noticeably. She thinks she can even run. She may, but probably never competitively again. We'll see what Jim Radcliffe thinks when we remove the cast for good in 6 and a half more weeks.

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If anyone is still interested, the answer to the last geoquiz, was Dyess AFB in Tye, TX... which is next to Abilene. One of only two places in the US where you could see the B1B bomber.. (the other being Elmendorf AFB in South Dakota... but you'd likely see snow on the ground if that had been the location). And when I say they come in low, I mean it. Just check this out:

...and when the wind is blowing the other way, and they're taking off over the campground and the Flying J, instead of landing, consider this: It's four times as loud, with long flames shooting out of the afterburners. Just way too cool.

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We'll be staying at Windyglen for another few days, so don't look for much here until we head up to Wichita. Unless something happens that I just have to write about.

Oh, Margaret and Sally drove up to Tulsa yesterday and visited the Oklahoma Aquarium. Margaret got some terrific pictures with the little Fuji camera. We'll be changing the slide show soon!