Yeah, But it's a Dry Heat.

August 3rd, 4:44PM, Alpaugh, California. Glad I'm indoors.........

Margaret Spends Our Gas Money.

The spoils of our Thursday Wine and Olive excursion. We may be broke, but we'll be smilin'.

So That's What They Look Like...

...when it's too late to eat 'em...
...or too soon.

Sideways.

I have lots and lots to write, but a signal barely exists up here in the hills overlooking Paso Robles.

Yesterday, we went wine and olive tasting. The above signboard is in the lot of our first (and best) stop, Vista del Rey. Trying to pick 3 or 4 wineries from the more than 200 (!) in the Paso Robles area was a challenge best handled by Margaret's cousin, Mary, who's lived here for more than 30 years.

When we get a better signal, I'll try and cover more details on our tour. Today, we're taking Sandia to run on the shore. Meanwhile, here's the view from our lodgings...

I have a couple other "mystery" images to post shortly. Stay tuned.

Lemonade.

For 3 days we've been trying to recover the Scottish Deerhound "ribbon" images from the AKC lure trial. No luck. We've tried the SanDisk recovery software that came with the flash cards. We downloaded GetDataBack, with which we had significant success a couple of years ago- recovering 5 trials worth of images from a crashed external drive. Nada. I Googled a couple of other options, but they just aren't to be had.

On Saturday, we decided to take some pictures of the lure coursing judge, Denise Como..

(All you trial secretaries out there can now put a face to the name that appears on all your trial premiums!).

We had her hold all the appropriate ribbons, and Voila!

That's why we say, "when life gives you lemons...

...there's Photoshop!" (Elements).

That's More Like It!

For all you suffering in unbearable heat and humidity back east? The "extended forecast" looks just like the current 5-day, and the previous week was identical as well. I suppose if you look back over the last 30 days, and ahead 30 days there will be little change. However, we're not bored yet. I could see how boredom could set in, though...... BAAAhaaahahaahaahah! NOT!

*****

The perfect weather notwithstanding, the Scottish Deerhound portion of the reason we drove the 2500 miles to California was pretty much a disaster. We missed two events due to breakdowns, and the one event we did shoot- the AKC trial- "we" lost the win pictures. Perhaps our luck will change now.

We've got two weeks before the next event, up in Hollister. Our schedule is starting to fall together as to how we will spend that time.

When we leave Santa Maria, we'll head up the coast to Paso Robles, where we will park for a day or three at Margaret's cousins. She thinks she remembers that her cousin's husband is a good cook. There's that "food theme" again!

Then we have some options. We've been invited by a total stranger- but one who is familiar with this blog, and knows someone who knows Dutch Salmon, and therefore we're all friends (I like that logic)- to stop and spend time in Coalinga.

Or.. we may drive from Paso Robles to Alpaugh and spend time with Dr. John Burchard, whom I haven't seen in 8 or 9 years, and his cohorts, George Bell, and Herb Wells, (another photographer whose open field coursing images many of you may be familiar with). There's a better than even chance we could go scare a few jackrabbits.

We may do both! And probably will.

That should get us near to where we have to be in Hollister, which I've been told is only about 25 miles from where we might get a chance to photograph one of these guys:

Stand by for that! For a Hollister weather image, just add 1-2 degrees to the above ;0)

Long range plans- beyond the Hollister trials- call for a return on Interstate 80, through Wyoming, where we may veer north to Medicine Bow and, you guessed it, kick up a few more jacks. White tails, in this case. Then up to I-90 so we can see the sites of our adopted state: Badlands, Rushmore, Crazy Horse. Then we need to get our driver's licenses renewed while we're there.

And finally, back to Michigan. Whew!

I've got to talk about our dinner here in Santa Maria the other night, but I'll save that for another post. I'm still processing that.. literally, as well as figuratively.

Time to feed the crew.

Oh by the Way...

Lest you think we're still stuck in Needles, rest assured that we got away before the really hot weather hit ;0)

We arrived in time for the Deerhound AKC trial, and have been hard at work all week long. We'll try and get some details up when we get a chance to rest. Good eats abound!

Meanwhile, male readers should check out this interesting archery post on Patrick the Terrierman's blog...