Since 2009, the retirement home of Shot On Site Photography... the source of the finest sighthound performance images in the world. As of August 1, 2022, the blog will become much more photo-centric. Not only will I post images from the homestead in the foothills of the Little Florida Mountains, and surrounding environs, but also tips about shooting, editing, archiving, software, hardware and more. The political rants will become few and far between (but not eliminated! It is 2022 after all!)
Friday, June 09, 2006
Where to Next...?
This weekend we're at Purina Farms, Gray Summit, MO for LGRA. Photography and racing (if other greyhounds are present.)
Next weekend- off. We were originally planning on another LGRA/WRA meet in Antioch, IL, but the VA called me and wanted me to come on over next Friday to cut some more out of my back.
June 23-25 The "Ridgeback Rodeo", in Pennsylvania. This one should be interesting.
July 1-2 Michigan Gazehound Assoc., ASFA trial, Metamora, MI
Jully 3 RRCUS specialty trial, same place.
July 8-9 LGRA, Oberlin, OH.
Aug 5-6 LGRA, Lewisville IN "On the banks of the ..... whatever creek it is" (Good dog cooling stuff.)
Autumn will be full, and will be posted later. As you can see, there are lots of holes in our Summer schedule. Holes that are sorely in need of filling, if we're to survive the season, and put gas in the beast... I mean the "Express". We could use some suggestions, here. Including non-dog things: art shows, little league baseball, soccer, horses, etc. This is our cry for help!
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Dan's Latest, Greatest Tee-Shirt Design
Interesting Developments From Across the Pond
Desolation Row
Buffy & Fanny See Gran'pa
As you can see, they were duly impressed, shocked, and awed.
Not sure why these images wouldn't load in the previous post, but they made it here. The mysteries of Java script, I guess.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
ASFA II - Weekend's Best Images!
There are more. When time allows. Most of the good stuff happens when the dogs cheat. Just a fact of life in lure coursing.
Travelling East.... and pictures!
Anyway, we travelled a whopping 200 miles. All the way to Quinter, KS. We took the "scenic" route. Sane people heading East, would drive the 3 or 4 miles back to US-24 in Falcon, and follow it Northeast through the relativly "civilized" ..ie: populated, areas to Limon, where you can then hop on I-70 and go downhill into Kansas. Not us. We meandered a few miles East on Falcon Hwy, to Peyton Hwy, then South about 6 miles to Colorado 94. Back on I-70 East, several days ago, I noticed the billboard trumpeting this as the "most direct route to Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak area". So we took it as the most direct route back to I-70. Makes sense, right? Once we got on 94 and headed East, we were confronted with the white-knuckle billboard: "No motorist services, next 95 Miles". About halfway to the intersection of 94 and US 40, I found myself humming Dylan's "Desolation Row". Not only were there no motorist services, there were damn few people. Between the last population center of Ellicot, and Wild Horse on 40 there were only the crossroad villages with maybe 30-50 hardy souls, total. The rest was filled with miles and miles and miles of nothing. Beautiful big country. And you get a real understanding of why it's called "Big Country". Images are still in the camera, but we'll try and show some of it when we get them loaded.
Once we got on 40, things picked up. We even went through Kit Carson, Colorado! When we finally hit Oakley, we were rewarded with the bigger than lifesize Charlie Norton bronze of Buffalo Bill and the Buffalo....
Full disclosure: I didn't take this picture. I found it on the Internet. We didn't stop.. we were more interested than normally in finding a gas station. But it was quite an impressive piece. Apparently, Mr. Cody was born 20 miles from here.
Once we got enough fuel to move forward, we stopped at the Castle Rock RV Park in Quinter. A pleasant, honor system park, which, if you're not observant, would appear to be closed for business. But we read the sign, and had the whole place to ourselves. Except for the numerous cottontails and ground squirrels that drove the dogs crazy all night.
Today, we drove another 200 miles to Abilene. (See why we wouldn't make it to Lexington?). As I sit here, we're enjoying free WiFi and cable TV at the Covered Wagon Campground. Not a bad deal at all for twenty bucks. Tomorrow, before we leave, we'll head on out to the National Greyhound Association headquarters to pick up a squawker, and maybe some new muzzles for NOTRA and LGRA racing, and we'll see what other interesting stuff they have for sale. Last week, on the way to Colorado, we stopped at the Greyhound Hall of Fame. We've been there several times in the past, but this is the first time we took Buffy & Fanny in to see Grandpa:
(there'll be an image here eventually... having trouble uploading it)
Eventually, we'll end up at the SLASH LGRA racemeet at Purina Farms in Missouri. More later.. I still want to put up a couple of images from the II.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Time again to catch up
So much has gone on since the last posting... the quiet death of California AB2110, a couple of NOTRA race meets that Rally did well in, the recently completed ASFA II that Rally did very well in, all the travel to get from the Deerhound Specialty to the race meets in Indiana and Illinos, and the long haul from there to Falcon, CO and the II.. Whew! It's been an exhausting couple of weeks. I do want to get in a review of this II... hopefully in a couple of days. But, at this time, I can at least congratulate my friends, Teri and Jack on their IG, "Miller" winning the whole enchilada. And here he is:
More thoughts on the II and other stuff when it's not so freakin' late.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Life Imitating Art
The purpose of this self-imposed hell was not to be touristas, but to photograph the performance events at the Scottish Deerhound Club of America's Centennial National Specialty... (actually, according to the catalog, the first national specialty was onlyh in 1965, but the club's been around since 1906). I also wanted to make another trip to the Frankenmuth Brewery.. an excellent microbrewery and pub, overlooking the Cass River.
But, I digress... I was shooting the ASFA lure coursing trial when this altercation broke out (precipitated by a misunderstanding in the previous corner)
When I looked at the image.. it reminded me of something. Something very much like this:
Not exactly like this, but I couldn't find an image on the web to match what I was thinking of.. at any rate, picture fighting Chinese dragons. It was brief, but loud, and intense. Cooler heads prevaled and both dogs were dismissed to sit in the corner and think about their transgression.
If you like Scottish Deerhounds (and who wouldn't?), there are lots more images of them (behaving themselves for the most part) on our website, and if you want to know who won the various events, you can see them here
I'll leave you with my favorite shot of the whole week, and it doesn't even show a Scottish Deerhound doing anything... other than getting groomed prior to the big Parade of Champions on Saturday. I just like the way my new Nikon SB600 flash lit up the piper perfectly.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Therapy Dogs
So goes the opening paragraph in today's Human Nature column by William Saletan at slate.com. Read the rest here, including links to past Human Nature columns about dogs- including how tasty they are.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
More Great Journalism
Yet another positive piece on live coursing. The backlash against the wacko's may be in full swing. Thanks again to Steve Bodio's Querencia blog via friend Margory in California, keeping the faith.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Ultimate Cellular Service
The Dog Press Fights Back!
This article was just posted to a number of dog lists. Imagine... balanced reporting on a subject like live coursing! KGO in San Francisco should be so ethical. Now, if the author, M. J. Nelson would have given me the photo credit I'd be a hell of a lot happier with the article.
Friday, May 05, 2006
...And then there's the thousand dollar mint julep.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
More of Margaret's Pictures.. as promised.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Biggest Penis
Rantoul is also the home of a friend; a successful Urbana retailer... shoes and orthotics. He's had a '65 Shelby Cobra for a couple of years, which he really enjoys. But when I called to invite him to dinner at Sol Azteca, he had news. Big news. The Cobra is on the block. He's purchased something more... um, more. He said he should cruise by the campground in it. I asked what... the new Shelby GT500 Mustang? No, he said, more than that. I said not a GT!?!? Yup.
So here is the ultimate phallic symbol. 550 supercharged, intercooled horsepower; a top speed somewhere north of 200mph (although our friend will admit to only 145... so far). The engine is a work of art. The interior, positively cocoonish. The body... well, see for yourself. All the cues from the legendary GT40 that smoked the Ferraris at LeMans in the '60s are there. It's just 4 inches taller; right about even with my hips at 44 inches.
We spent a good 45 minutes, looking over the beast, and taking these pictures (and believe me, this is a small sample). A local guy stopped and asked permission "to drool". He kept congratulating our friend, and shaking his hand... like, did he just plunk down 160 large on transportation, or did he win the Power Ball lottery?
Anyway... we were too hungry to take a ride last night (!!!???), but we're on the next time we pass through the area, and call ahead.... yeah; steaks on the grille and 100mph+ joy rides on the back roads. Does life get any better? Oh, probably, but what's wrong with the occasional indulgence?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
John Lennon Would Love It!
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Death Wish?
Is this the dumbest bird in the history of the natural world? Sure, birds fly into windows all the time, you're saying to yourself. But have a listen...
We were in the mud up to our rims at the Boone County fairgrounds, following the BCOSW lure coursing trial over the weekend. We decided to let the ground dry, and see if we could get out on our own without an expensive road service call. So, we spent a couple of nights there.
Around daybreak yesterday, I was awakened by a rapping on the bedroom window. The shades were down, but occasionally I could see a shadow corresponding with the rapping, pulled open the shade, and saw this young robin... not accidently, but purposely attacking the window, which is, not coincidentally, mirrored on the outside. So what he was doing was endlessly attacking his own reflection... which he must have assumed was a rival that had to be driven off at all costs. We began to think he was going to drop dead from exhaustion, but that didn't happen. With only occasional forays out for worms, he kept this up until we left the fairgrounds around 1PM! Now that's what I call a really slow learning curve! And if that's the case, what does that say for Gabriel on the inside? He was there for all those hours as well...
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Updates, Updates, Updates
California AB2110
This odious piece of legislation has passed out of committee. I'm not sure when it will come before the full assembly, but people in California are advised to not give up now. It squeaked out on a 4-3 vote, with the bill's sponsor "sitting in" to fill a vacancy and break the tie on her own bill. Interesting.
Also interesting is a reported last minute amendment that will narrow the bill's scope, possibly banning only "competitive" open field coursing. Details are too sketchy now, but if this is true it should be considered a major victory, and probably more than the dumb asses who brought this all on themselves deserve. More here when details are known.
Shot On Site Schedule..
Getting back to the mundane... here's the latest on where we're going to be over the next several weeks..
- April 9 - GLIWA, Racine WI, ASFA trial. Irish Wolfhounds only
- April 15-16 BCOSW, Belvedere IL. ASFA
- April 22-23 WCLCC, Crown Point IN. ASFA
- April 25-29 Irish Wolfhound Club of America National Specialty. ASFA, LGRA, etc.
- May 8-13 Scottish Deerhound Club of America Nat. Specialty. ASFA, LGRA, etc.
- May 20-21 CCRR, Other Breed NOTRA, Carthage, IN
- May 27-28 Unknown
- June 3-4 ASFA International Invitational, Falcon CO
- June 23-25 "Ridgeback Rodeo" somewhere in Pennsylvania..
That's the news for now. See you out and about.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
I'm Never Going Hunting Again
EKOJASTI -- The state Natural Resources Commission voted today, April 1, to impose $1 surcharges on hunting and fishing licenses to help an animal rights group develop nonlethal methods of reducing the state deer herd.
At a special meeting in this Upper Peninsula village, the NRC also voted to ban antlered deer hunting in the eastern UP and create a spears-only zone in Ann Arbor. The ban on antlered hunting was approved in an attempt to increase buck numbers. The spears-only zone was created to learn if the most primitive hunting method can reduce urban deer populations without upsetting vegetarians.
Read the whole thing here.
I can now see clearly that if an entire state, like Michigan, which has a rich heritage of hunting, can make the kind of sacrifices outlined in this article, then I can make my own small sacrifice... So, on this First Day of April, in the year 2006, I make this vow: That I will never again release my hounds on a living animal. I will join P*TA, and the H*US, and will deliver to them the names and contact information of every person I know, (and those I don't, and those I will make up), who hunt with their hounds. I will turn over all of my hunt photos to ABC, CNN, and the above organizations, to be used for the greater purpose of ending worldwide hunting, including the hunt for Osama. I will work for the passage of AB2110 to ban coursing in California, because some coursers in that state have already shown they have the intelligence of a box of jelly donuts- minus the jelly- and shouldn't be allowed out of their houses unattended. That is my solemn vow. You will all thank me some day.