Schedule Update

Here's what we have for the next few weeks:

February 19 Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic New Mexico
February 20 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt New Mexico
February 26-27 GIT LGRA Altoga, TX
March 5-6 RTG LGRA/NAWRA/AB NOTRA Boswell, OK
March 12-13 LKC AKC trials/tests Folsom, LA

There's LGRA in Florida the following weekend, and I'm checking on whether we can go to that.

So, tomorrow I head for the Desert Hare, with Rally and Fanny. Have to go alone, with just the car... economic considerations based on the lack of income-producing events two weekends in a row. The entry has dropped this week from the max of 18 hounds, to 14 hounds. Betters our odds, but also reduces the purse. Winning some money would be very, very welcome at this time.

Free Coursing the Lazy E

You ought to be able to see a bigger version of this shot. Click on it to enlarge. Rally is here, hot on the tail, as she always is. Randir stays with the course all the way to the fence. Randir don't do fences!  


This is Rally two days after her hypoglycemic episode at the Pack Hunt. Seems none the worse for wear.

And there's something gratifying about seeing an almost 9 year old Scottish Deerhound enthusiastically chasing some of the fastest jackrabbits in the country.. even though he doesn't put much of a fright into them.

The Lost Weekend

But before I go into last weekend... it's time to update the Shot On Site schedule..

Feb 5-6 GIT NOTRA McKinney, TX (Doggie Camp)
Feb 12-13 NOTHING! We need your input!
Feb 19 Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic Somewhere in NM.
Feb 20 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt Somewhere in NM


To make a long story short... as if that were easy for me to do... but the details will be found in the next issue of Performance Sighthound Journal.

We went to New Mexico last weekend for Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt. This is an event where folks run their hounds, or "pack", against the blacktailed jackrabbit, with the only "judge" being whether they catch the hare or not. Well, it was a long day, and our pack... "Dan's Hot All-Girl Review"... was drawn to go 6th. Well, by the time we were ready to run, Rally had gone into a hypoglycemic funk, and couldn't run. So our pack was reduced to Fanny and Buffy. Buffy being Buffy, just ran really fast straight ahead, and was a non-factor. Fanny was right on the jack for a couple hundred yards, but without help from Buffy, our day- and entry fee- was a lost cause.

Congratulations do go to Bill and Cindy Brown, and Chris Mason, whose packs did manage to catch their jacks.

The next day, the TCC hunt at the Corralitos, just kind of disintegrated, as we ran only one rabbit before 1 O'Clock, and the wind came up and everyone went home without completing the mixed hunt, or the Saluki breed hunt.

Thus, lost weekend.

But Monday was a new week, and we decided to take the girls- and Randir- back to the Corralitos for some free coursing. The best news to come out of this was that Rally seemed to be mostly recovered from her weekend "event", and her formerly dislocated toe seems to have held together well, when taped, as the photo shows.

Schedule

We're going to try and keep the schedule always near the top of the blog. So here is the latest:

January 15-16 AAWC ASFA Trials Hutto, TX
January 22-23 AHCD ASFA Trials Ferris, TX
January 29 Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt Las Cruces, NM
January 30 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt TBD NM

We're urgently seeking events in the Southwest (TX, NM, AZ, OK, etc) for February. Particularly the 12th & 13th. Anything action-oriented will do! Lure Coursing, straight or oval races, whippet or other breed, agility, horse, flower, cat, or rabbit shows, kid soccer... whatever! Thanks for anything you can help with.

Jabbering about the weather and other stuff

Is this another El Nino year? Lots of terrible weather on the coast and really nice weather everywhere else? Being in Texas for the second Winter in a row has been downright pleasant; most of the time. Take this week for instance- It's been t-shirt and shorts weather. And even when it gets cold- like it's about to tomorrow- I just need to look at a weather forecast for Wisconsin, or Michigan and I say to myself: This ain't cold. This is all right.

The AKC trials and tests at Glen Rose, TX last weekend were pretty successful, despite an uncharacteristic bonehead move on my part. On Sunday, I imagined that I had swapped CF cards with Margaret, and went ahead and reformatted the card in the camera. Oops.. senior moment... It was a card with the first 22 or so JC's, which hadn't been downloaded to the laptop yet. Gone... just like that. Fortunately, we have a program that we found last Summer when our external hard drive crashed, disappearing about 9000 archived images. It's called "Get Data Back", and it worked then, to recover the images, and it worked... finally... this week, after a couple of days of trying. Some of the images were corrupted, but most of the good ones were saved.

Many of you read about Rally, our half & half gyp in Performance Sighthound Journal. Since her early success in the open field, there have been a "series of unfortunate incidents". Starting with a dislocated toe in early December, followed by several episodes of grand mal seizures- origins unknown, but some popular, non-prescribed medications and treatments are prime suspects. The seizures are under control now, and we'll be weaning her off the phenobarb, as she's unlikely to have any more as long as I don't give her any more Ivomec or Arnica Montana. I think there's another whole Sighthound Performance Journal article brewing here.

We've been spending the week indoors. The Bounder.. er, the Hare Brained Express, has been parked inside at The Paint & Body Shop in Brownwood, TX, finally getting the tree damage repaired. The guys here have done a fabulous job so far, and the owner, Terry Blevins, (a poor, misguided "W" supporter), has let us live in the vehicle, has given us a key to the building so we can come and go in the evenings, and, the building even has a shower in the bathroom. With luck, we should roll out of here tomorrow. And the best part is the insurance company pays for all but $800 of a $5000+ repair. (Almost $6000 when the shipping's thrown in). And I thought all I did was damage the right outside mirror. Wrong-o.

More news as it happens, and after the AAWC trials in Hutto this weekend.

Schedule

Next on the agenda:

January 8-9 AHCD AKC Trials & Tests Glen Rose, TX
January 15-16 AAWC ASFA Trials Hutto, TX
January 22-23 AHCD ASFA Trials Ferris, TX
January 29 Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt Las Cruces, NM
January 30 TCC Open/Mixed Hunt TBD NM

Happy New Year 2005!!

Buffy leads the way!

Three days down, one to go. On Friday, the Borzoi Scarlett wrapped up the number 1 position. There were, as usual, a number of ASFA Top 20 hounds in attendance this weekend... 4 or 5 greyhounds, 6 or 7 whippets, and on and on. It's always a party at Cartersville at the end of the year. Speaking of which, the party at Les & Shirri's was as small and intimate as I've ever seen; but Margaret and I had a good time... especially me, as Margaret was pressed into designated driver duties.

This morning, at approximately 9:35AM, Buffy the Vampire Slayer became the first dog in America to chase a lure in 2005. She ran a totally typical Buffy course, zigzagging about the field, oblivious to the whereabouts of the lure most of the time, but doing it very fast, and looking cool. Fan Club members would be proud.

Just watched the Rose Bowl... the less said the better. A very entertaining game if you're not emotionally attached to the losing team.