Age Before Beauty

You know you might be the youngest people in the campground when...

Poll Closing.

The "Mandatory Spay/Neuter, Good or Bad?" poll is now closed. Readers voted 84% to 16% (19 votes), that these laws are a bad idea. That's probably within a few points or two of the general population's views. I wonder if our legislators know. Someone should tell them.

It was actually worse than that.. because, remember, that Margaret voted "yes" by accident.. probably because I made the answers "no/yes" instead of the anticipated "yes/no". I learned my lesson... hope Margaret did, too. Wonder who the other "yes" votes were? Must'a come here by accident.LOL

Grindhouse.

If the TV trailers aren't enough to make you want to see Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's homage to exploitation movies of the 50's and 60's, then this review should do it. We were crackin' up!

WARNING: Mature readers only... no kids!

Bubba.

This is Bubba. Bubba lives across the road from Endgate Ranch, with a couple of girlfriends. Bubba and his girlfriends have a job to do, and they take it seriously. Their job is to guard a couple hundred sheep, lambs, goats and kids from the likes of me and other, more dangerous predators.

Since you all seem to like games so much, we're going to play another:

When I first spotted one of Bubba's girlfriends the other day, she was flying across the field towards the fence by the road I was driving up.. at a rate of speed that defied her size. Not surprising, as my reading up on this breed tells me that they were probably bred from a Mastiff like breed and a "native sighthound". That's a hint, folks. Anyway, he's very handsome, and actually quite friendly- as long as you don't have nefarious designs on his charges.

Sighthound-free Content.

We're wrapping up a little over a week at Endgate Ranch in Ferris, TX. We decided to forego the race meet up in Oklahoma, which was promising to be sparsely attended, and stayed here to shoot something other than speeding sighthounds. This is a nice change of pace for us, and lets us get to see other breeds work, like the Briard, above, and the German Shepherd Dog, below. These folks rarely have an opportunity to have their dogs photographed, so we look at it as offering a valuable (for both parties!) service.

As usual, we also ate out a fair amount. Two places to recommend if you're ever in Ferris, (and since Endgate Ranch is the locale for Lone Star Whippet Club, Afghan Hound Club of Dallas, and Gazehounds In Texas lure coursing trials, I'm certain many of you will find yourselves here.)Right in downtown Ferris is the Fiesta Cafe. Very good, and imaginative Mexican and Tex/Mex food. Last week we went to "Fajita Wednesday"... probably as full as you'll ever get on $6.15. I had the combination fajita plate, with chicken and steak. It was sizzling, so it was good. Today I had the Combination Enchiladas-- four, count'em four enchiladas: chicken, "meat", potato, and spinach. I think the next time we're here, I'm going all spinach. It was very, very good. And it was fresh, not frozen or canned spinach.

Sunday night we went to the Rockett Cafe. In Rockett. Texas. There are some names in this state. Specialty of the house is CFS. (Anybody who knows "home cookin'" knows that's not "cystic fibrosis society", but rather Chicken Fried Steak.) Good coating, meat tender, gravy perfectly seasoned, with a huge baked potato. And a cold Shiner Bock to wash it all down.

Speaking of alcohol: Not in Ferris. Rockett is also dry, but The Rockett Cafe is a "club", so liquor is served to members. I've never been in Rockett before in my life, but I was already a member! Thanks to my Unicard, which I purchased some years back in some other dry, podunk Texas ville'. Better have one if you're coming to Texas, because over half the geographic area of this second largest state... is dry. (Of course, much of that "half" is unoccupied as well, but that's another post.)

We'll be leaving tomorrow, going south to Livingston, TX to Rainbow's End RV Park- the home park of the Escapees RV Club that we're members of. I may drive down to Gulf Greyhound Park south of Houston this weekend to shoot some greyhounds racing, at the request of one of this blog's readers. That will be new, too.

It's lambing season at Endgate, so how could I not close with an image of unbelieveable cuddly cuteness:
They're so much fun to watch... just like puppies.

"Longdogs With Pedigrees?"

Some people in the Southwest, (particularly those who regularly get beaten by them), consider the Galgo Espanol as just another "longdog" (or sighthound cross). I don't know where they get these outlandish ideas!


That's right; one of these is a Galgo, and one isn't. Have fun.

Changes.

Fighting blog burnout, I decided to play with the appearance of the blog; (Margaret said the sidebar was looking "cluttered".) Moved some links down to what is now known as the "Blogroll/Links" area, and repositioned the counter and tipjar.. Yes! the TipJar is still here! For what it's worth. Also removed the Backwards Bush clock until we get closer to a more optimistic count... later in the year. It will be back!

I'll be deactivating the current poll, so if you know folks who haven't voted, send them on over. The next one will be in the sidebar, and might be more frivolous.

Look for a couple brief restaurant reviews coming up, and a report on the little GCA AKC trial yesterday. Also, maybe a picture of what we do when we're not shooting sighthounds, mountains, or birds.

Plinked a couple of geocaches earlier today in the cemetary down the hill from the ranch. That was fun, and took all of about 20 minutes.

More coming!

Pic of the Week

We took this last weekend at the Lone Star Whippet Club trial in Ferris, TX. You only wish your animals were this well trained, and behaved. I know we do.

We're hanging around for the Greyhound Club of America AKC trial, which is being held in conjunction with the club's southern specialty, then we'll probably go up to Boswell, OK for a NOTRA this weekend. That will put an end to our "Southern Strategy", as we'll begin the long, torturous swing back to the north, going first, to the AKC trials in Wichita, and then to ASFA trials in Belvidere, Illinois. Hope Spring will be following us.

Looming just ahead, of course, is Randir's big moment at the Scottish Deerhound Club of America's national specialty. Margaret's designing a special Shot On Site T-Shirt for the show ring. There will be no sneak previews... but we'll post it up here after the specialty.

New Toys. It's a Poll!!

It's a poll! You can vote. Try it!
Playing around with more web tools. Would like to get more interactivity going in this blog, so... how about a poll?



I think I know our readers well enough to know how this one will turn out. Not sure if this free service has safeguards against ballotbox stuffing, but I guess I'll find out.

In the future, we'll probably run these in the sidebar whenever we have a provocative topic. Oh, and I'm casting the first vote!

Bracketology II. Squeakball Version.

OK.. I'll admit to somewhat more interest than I intimated the other day. I do need to know: Is Duke out yet?

Update: 10:25PM CDT: Oh yeah!

Now.. let's boot the Irish out, too!

Update: 3/16/07 6:00PM CDT: Done! I suppose it's too much to ask for Florida and their girly-man to get bounced?

Announcement!

It is with great pleasure that we announce- finally- the website for our "non-canine" images: http://www.shotonsite2.photoreflect.com . The first images are up- currently we are only offering 5x7 in 8x10 acid-free mat, and 8x10 in 11x14 acid-free mat. Soon we hope to have large panoramas (ie the Florida Mountain series in 8 x 20, etc.) and possibly poster sizes, (but first we want to look at them and make sure the quality is what we want.) All images will be signed, and shipped in sealed plastic, "ultra clear" presentation bags.

Please think about our site when it's gift-giving time for the non-dog people in your lives, or when redecorating the den. And pass this information on to those folks who may be interested.

I'm hoping to figure out- maybe with the help of some readers (you know who you are)- how to put a little link to the site on the blog. Images will be added regularly, as we travel the country.

ADDED 1:15 CDT - Well, that was quick. Thanks to Todd B., there's now a link to the new site, just to the right. He must'a known I was talking to him. :)

Someday, in the best of all possible worlds, these will all be on the walls of our coffee house/art gallery, somewhere in New Mexico. Look for us.

Their Own Worst Enemy

I guess I missed this story the first time around, but it ranks right up there with the greyhound folks in California who thought it would be cool to invite a TV film crew out to a jackrabbit hunt. Maybe you've already heard about this "hunting club" in Pennsylvania, apparently suffering from cabin fever, who charged archers $12 to shoot live, farm raised turkeys.... which were tied to bales of straw. And we wonder why the antis keep coming after us.

Eric Sharp, outdoors writer for the Detroit Free Press, has good advice for all of us in today's column, including this all-important nugget:

"...but 'fair chase' is an emotional concept defined by the human brain, not the laws of nature.

So let's put aside any notion that emotion won't or shouldn't play a role in the future of hunting, or that we hunters can simply ignore the feelings of the great nonhunting mass. They are the people who get to vote on whether we can hunt." (emphasis mine)

More Coursing.

Brush up on your Español...

As long as we're passing movies along, here's some more coursing I found on YouTube. This happens to be Galgos in Spain from a 2005 championship meet. Many who know me know I've coveted a Galgo for years, (even though the houndsmen of the southwest US consider them nothing more than another mixed breed). And if you occasionally root for the hare, (and who doesn't?), watch the move the hare makes at the end of a fairly long course, to escape.



It turns out there are lots of live (and lure) coursing videos on YouTube.. although I guess that shouldn't surprise me. Most are not put there by AR anti-hunting whackos.. but a few are. I wish someone would explain the "Borzoi Wolf Hunt" to me, though. As one commenter wrote: "That was pointless." I'd have to agree.

Outtakes.

It's been some time since we mentioned the globe-trotting dancing guy, Matt Harding. In fact, I'd nearly forgotten he was linked here until our friend, Paula (the world's greatest bartender!) mentioned that she had followed the link recently. I decided to do likewise, and isn't this just perfect timing that he's released the long awaited outtakes video from last year's world tour. Without further adieu, here it is:



That damned rock wedged in the top of the 1000M fjord still creeps me out.

He's also going on another world tour, courtesy of Stride Gum. And we can't even get a damned dog food company to sponsor the Hare Brained Express!

Creedence Said:

"Looks like we're in for nasty weather.."

5:15PM CDT, Santa Anna, TX

Fortunately, it went just South... it was gathering energy and starting to rotate.

Bracketology

Those who are expecting a treatise on NCAA basketball should go here, or (for laughs) here instead. When the rest of my friends are wrapped up in "March Madness", I'm just afflicted with "March Minor Irritation". So no, this happens to be about Enlightened Bracketology, as found in the book, The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything, edited by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir. The book uses NCAA-style brackets to help you determine useful stuff, like "what's the greatest movie death scene?", or "which is more burned into your memory: 9/11 or JFK assassination?". Or best ad line, (I was way off from the "experts" on this one, but I still like my choice better!). Slate.com has put together 4 interactive brackets here, along with an essay by the editors, so you can try it out for yourselves. Let me know how yours turned out.

And dammit; I'm sticking with, "With a name like Smuckers.... etc".

New Mexico Reviewed..

We left New Mexico a little over a week ago. I was going to write a long review on the weather, the coursing, the eats, the touristy stuff and I realized I pretty much was doing that as we went along. Except for the eats, (and a couple other odds and ends). So briefly:


The Campos was apparently the place for us, this year, which is surprising, because we missed it completely last year. We more than made up for it this year, visiting at least 5 times. Might have been 6. The owner, Mr. Campo, is a former chef at the Double Eagle in Old Mesilla, near Las Cruces. He was delivering something to Deming several years ago, liked it, and started his own place. The menu is a fantastic fusion of New Mexican/Southwest/Cajun/Italian... If you can impress JoAnn Van Arsdale (with the Ceviche Zacatecas in this case), you're doing well. Very well, indeed. My favorites ended up being the Skilletini- a sizzling iron utensil filled with pasta, Italian and Cajun sausages, ham, and other tasty, heavily seasoned goodies, and the San Franciscan- one of the best "California" sandwiches I've ever tasted... smoked turkey, cheeses, tomato, green chiles and avocado with a spicy sauce, on very thick and chewy sourdough bread.

When going to The Campos it's best to ignore the ambience. There isn't any, other than the giant gourd on the north wall that's painted to look like a penguin. But we don't go there to be impressed by their interior decorator. The exterior, on the other hand is this masterpiece, which the painter (who's name I didn't get), was working on the whole time we were in Deming. The Campos doesn't have a website.. in fact, none of the places in town do, but you can find some great comments on all of them at ChefMoz.org.

In no particular order, we also went to our old standby, Palma's Italian Grill, a couple of times. Absolutely the best bread dipping sauce around... with excellent fresh bread. The Lasagna was still good, and the Tuscan Salmon was as good as we remembered it.. and still a steal at $9.95. And on Saturdays, the owner/chef still strolls around the dining tables with his wireless microphone, karaokeing Sinatra. You don't find that in the "big city".

El Mirador, is one of the many Mexican restaurants in town, and one that we hadn't visited before, but there always seemed to be lots of vehicles there during their two meals, breakfast and lunch. We had one of each, and they were real good- especially the huevos ranchero. Can't give a review on the menudo, but it looked good as it went by to the table behind us. The restaurant, (or one of the four that the same family owns in Deming), was featured in a 2002 issue of Bon Apetite, but I couldn't find anything online.

A name that always popped up in the polls on who has the best green chile cheeseburger, was the local (or regional?) fast food chain, Blake's Lottaburger, and since, coursing our dogs aside, green chiles are a big reason we keep going back to New Mexico, we thought we'd better give it a try. And it was damned good for fast food!

The night before the Pack Hunt, we met a couple of other hound folk, and Dutch and his family, at the Holiday Inn, so we finally were forced to eat at the Prime Rib Grill. I forget what I ate. It was a Holiday Inn, after all.

And on a memorable Saturday night, we drove to Silver City to meet with Dutch, Cherie, and Buddy, and Susan Trow (visiting from Canada), and we drove to even further altitudes to the Buckhorn Saloon & Opera House, in Pinos Altos. Entering into the saloon portion, built in the 1860's, we were warmed by a huge potbelly stove. We went to our linened and silvered table and enjoyed some of the best steaks anywhere- we had he special, New York Strip, smothered in melted cheese and, what else?, green chiles. It was all the more tasty, as it turned out, Susan wanted to buy! We relented. You never have to twist my arm much.

Our last week was in Roswell, and I can't tell much about the local cuisine; we ate at Chili's one night because we had gotten some gift cards for Christmas, and the Golden Corral on another night because, well... we just think the GC is a cut above most other steak buffet places. You ought to try it sometime.. especially for the dessert bar! I almost forgot- we did eat at a small chain steakhouse, The Cattle Baron, following the Saturday hunt. A memorable salad bar, and for some reason, I chose to have blackened Halibut- at a steak place. Was good, though. We also met for the draw on Saturday and Sunday at a former Denny's, now christened, The Cover Up Cafe. Very good breakfasts and free coffee with a meal.

That pretty much covers the food end.. we also enjoyed the "Dine In" nights at the Escapees RV part- every Thursday evening, volunteers put together some good home cookin', with salads, desserts, and drinks for a ridiculously low price. They also have ice cream socials every Sunday, and breakfasts on Saturdays if we could get up in time.

Deming also got us our cheapest oil change ever for the RV. $30 at Tinley Tee Tire Co. Also, helpful repair services can be had if your RV or big rig breaks down in the area at E&M Truck Service in Deming, and REMCO towing and Service in Roswell.

Speaking of Roswell, I also met another "living legend" of the New Mexico houndmen : David Hise. "I got rabbit dawgs, coyote dawgs, bear dawgs, hawg dawgs... I hunt everything. You wanna go chase some rabbits?" So we did, and I ended up breaking Rally good. But like another well known convert earlier, David began to trust the GPS when he was judging the hunt. I got made the huntmaster for the two final runs- promised a hare in 30 yards- and was wrong. It was 40.

We stopped, finally, at another Escapees park, in Lakewood, NM- there's a post office, and not much else, but it looks like you can walk out of the park and chase jacks. Something to remember for next year. The next morning, we cruised into Texas. And that's enough writing for now.

Headlines That Just Catch Your Eye

"Alaska Moose Brings Down Helicopter". Hey Rocky.. watch me pull a helicopter out of the sky....

Here's A Plan...

...Army Doctors shouldn't lay a finger on ChickenHawk Cheney's blood clot until something is done for the troops he purportedly supports, at Walter Reed, and other veterans' hospitals. Seems the useless ones always get priority treatment. Just a thought...

Park in the Suburbs...

...Drive into town, in a real "town" car. Shot On Site at "The Ranch" Escapees RV Park, Lakewood, NM.

They're Doing It Again...

Those damn yankees...

"That’s our Boston: from proud birthplace of the American Revolution to a city of drooling idiots just blowin’ shit up."

Read all about it here.

The Schedule...

Yeah, us too. But our 6 week vacation in New Mexico is nearly over, and not a moment too soon, because we're broke. It's time to make some money to pay the bills. So here's the schedule for the next couple of months:

• March 3-4 AAWC Hutto, TX
• March 10-11 WGRA Boswell, OK
• March 17-18 LSWC Ferris, TX
• March 22 GCA Ferris, TX*
• March 24-25 #OPEN# (Possibly NOTRA, Boswell)
• March 31-April 1 #OPEN# (Possibly LGRA, Iowa)
• April 7-8 IGCA Valley Center, KS*
• April 14-15 BCOSW Belvidere, IL
• April 22-28 SDCA Specialty, Fontana, NC
• May 5-6 OKIGO, Fairborn, OH
• May 12-13 #OPEN# (Possibly OB NOTRA, Indiana)
• May 20 Silken Specialty, Gray Summit, MO
• May 26-28 #OPEN#
• June 2-3 ASFA II Farmington, MN
• June 5-8 SCOA Specialty, Lexington, KY

*Pending approval of organizers

Lots of choices after that... we'll just have to see how it plays out.

60 Year Old Solos Navajo Bill Hill Summit.

Waiting for the rescue chopper. (See the speck... waaay up there)
Self Portrait, at 4800'.
That's the spot. No, not the big one on the left, that little "pimple" on the right. The northernmost point of the Florida Mountains. Yes, they put caches in out-of-the-way places.

35 Miles Down the Road...

...there ain't no Booby, NM.

Image of the Day

The view from Nick's Dome Cache. Had to do some climbing to find this one. If you look on the righthand side, on the "road", you'll see the Escape, where Margaret and Rally were waiting. They served a valuable service waiting by the car, however. When we arrived, the GPSr was connected to the car- when I disconnected it, it went blank. The batteries were dead! Here I was, within a 10th of a mile from the cache, and in the middle of freakin' nowhere, with no tool to get to the goodies! Why I crashed out of the Boy Scouts. I decided to go looking anyway.

While I was scouting around a rockpile that looked promising, Margaret waited by the car. About a half hour later, a guy came up the hill in a jeep. He was looking for a way around the mountain. Not here, dude. So when he turned around, Margaret blocked his path and forced him to sell us two used AA batteries, which he took out of his flashlight. She gave him 2 bucks.

Freshly armed, I climbed the mountain, and found that sucker! This was a big one.

I decided to be greedy, and take one of the Border Patrol luggage tags. There were lots of fun things in there, including a Fuji single use camera with a couple of shots left. So I took a self portrait. This is a lot of fun, and today- a lot of work!

Geocaching

I mentioned my new handheld GPS receiver in the post about Dutch's hunts, where it helped guide the hunters on a methodical, efficient path. It worked very well. A popular activity for people with these devices is called Geocaching , (pronounced Geo-cashing). All over the world people have placed little boxes and packets of trinkets, and log books and other ephemera, in out of the way places. They then put the coordinates on geocaching websites.. which look something like this, along with hints, and a little description of the location. Once armed with this knowledge, you grab your GPSr, (ours looks like this), hop in your car, (or 4WD vehicle as the case may be), and head out for the cache location.

The Greenleaf Mine Rd Cache we were looking for yesterday looked to be an easy drive, about 8 miles outside of Deming, until-

It took a couple of minutes to make the herd move out of the way, and then we were on our way again.. our target was somewhere near that first low hill on the left side of the image, above.

We parked as close as we could, and began walking toward the coordinates... (geocachers apparently are easy to spot, as they're usually in the middle of nowhere, walking in little circles, and looking at their hands.. something like this)-

If you see them about to step off a cliff, or into the path of a speeding packmule train, give them a shout. We found the cache within about 5 minute of parking; there were fun goodies inside the little tin (about the size of a bandaid box). Having nothing to trade, we just signed the log, and returned the cache to its hiding place.

This was our 2nd find, and it's a lot of fun. You can see our log entry at the website referenced earlier. In the Deming zipcode alone, there are currently 472 caches, some of them accessible only by Jeep, and serious hiking boots. Others are right at the side of a busy highway. See what's hiding in your neighborhood.

Dutch's Hunts.

People are whining.. actually only one person is whining (LOL), about not seeing any results from the Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic. Having just finished my article for Performance Sighthound Journal, and hitting "send", I really don't want to cut myself off at the paycheck, so you won't see any details here. But I will say they were fun, we had plenty to eat and imbibe, and we used our GPS receiver for the first time to plot an organized, methodical trek. It seemed to work well. The above is the track, and waypoints ("HAR-" is jackrabbits jumped and coursed, "NC-" is, of course, "no course") for the Desert Hare Classic. We found the "glory hole" and we worked it!

The weekend's big winners were Dutch, and Chris M. For how they did it, you have to buy the magazine!

Copy Cats?

That's the subject of this interesting slide show at Slate.Com entitled,
Can Photographers Be Plagiarists? (warning: brief nudity.... that ought to increase the click-count).

I've seen enough lure coursing photos by other photographers.. (both full time photographers, and part time photog... oh wait.. with one exception, I'm the only full time photographer shooting sighthound performance portraits. Freakin' scabs!)... to know that they can sometimes look alike, and very occasionally, I have trouble knowing if a shot is mine or one of the wannabes out there. (But only very occasionally..LOL; Y'know, sighthounds- and other canines- can only be in just so many poses or environments.)

When we were at the Gila National Wilderness a couple of weeks ago, walking the Whitewater Creek Gorge, I walked past an elderly gentleman who had set up his tripod, with Nikon D200 aboard. I didn't look at what he was shooting, because I was going for a more (hopefully) unique shot from the bottom of the gorge, at creek-level. When I got back up to the trail, I glanced across to see what he had been shooting. I liked it. Here is the shot:

Is it plagiarism? Judging from the amount of trampled earth, and lack vegetation between the trail and the subject, I'd say no. It's just appreciation of a nice image by probably hundreds- if not thousands- of photographers- amateurs, professionals, semi-professionals, and just plain tourists.

Margaret Plays With Photoshop.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Today's image returns us to my favorite 15 mile long mountain range. The Floridas. With a twist: Tumbleweeds blown against a fence, with the mountains in the background. Visual evidence why photographers call this time of day "the Golden Hour".

Coming Soon!

We're working on the Spring Shot On Site schedule. We should have something up here in a day or two.

Briefly, we'll be staying in New Mexico for two more weeks, then we'll be spending March in Texas. More details to come.

And I can't forget to put up a report for the recently completed Dutch Salmon's Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic.

Stay tuned.

A Fish(y) Story.

Who doesn't love Grouper?

I thought I loved Grouper. But maybe it's farm raised Asian Catfish that I love. Or something called Painted Sweetlips. (I can't make this stuff up!).

NOAA investigators in Florida found faux Grouper being sold in 17 out of 24 restaurants that they targeted! But it's not just a Florida problem; they say this is happening all over America. Read the whole Washington Post story here. (You may need to register. It's free.)

NPR also covered this story today. Listen to it here.

Y'know, Asian catfish doesn't sound all that bad when you compare it to the two fish entrees whose DNA the investigators couldn't identify. That's scary.

Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.

Going On Offense. Breeders Take it to the Antis!

Got this (rather long) post in one of the lists we subscribe to. This sounds so good I feel I should pass it on. Feel free to do likewise.

Monday, February 12, 2007 10:28 AM
Subject: REPOST OF LEGISLATIVE ALERT - OPERATION: DOOLITTLE'SRAID

PERMISSION TO CROSS POST WIDELY

Joint Initiative Between The Doberman Pinscher Club of America and The American Rottweiler Club

Operation: Doolittle's Raid

The Legislative Committees of the Doberman Pinscher Club of America(DPCA) and The American Rottweiler Club (ARC) have recognized whatevery member of the purebred dog fancy has noticed over the pastseveral years. With increasing frequency, legislative bodies in our cities, counties, and states throughout this country have seemingly become hostile to the interests of purebred dog lovers in the UnitedStates. Indeed, the passage of the egregious anti-dog legislation in Louisville, Kentucky within the past several weeks has raised the stakes substantially for us. Anti-breeder legislation is picking up steam. It is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has been introduced in the state of Indiana. It is metastasizing throughout the country. We cannot merely fight a defensive struggle and expect that our interests will be preserved. All too often, our members have been faced with struggles on another front. Liability and homeowners insurance companies increasingly refuse to insure, or even cancel, those of us who own purebred dogs despite the responsibility that we take in raising and housing our loving members of our families, and regardless of the fact that our dogs have never had an incident resulting in any claim being filed with our insurance carriers. DPCA and ARC know this. The American Kennel Club knows this. The AKC Legislative Department does an outstanding job in working with all of us in very difficult circumstances. The problem of fighting against anti-dog legislation in every state and every city cannot be solvedat the national level. AKC can only do so much. It is up to each of us to step forward at this time. People ask: "what can I do"? They see anti-dog legislation everywhere they turn. They hear stories of insurance companies canceling policies, forcing their friends and family to make choices. Do I giveup my dogs? Do I move somewhere where I may be left alone?These are choices none of us should have to make. Now is the time for us to go on offense. Now is the time for us to take the lead. Now is the time to advance our cause rather than to wait for the next anti-dog bill to threaten us. DPCA and ARC have launched Operation: Doolittle's Raid. In Washington state, HB 1105 has again been introduced in the Washington House ofRepresentatives. This bill, the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill", twice passed the House of Representatives. In 2005, the bill made it through the House and received a hearing in the Senate FinancialInstitutions, Insurance and Consumer Protection Committee. We ran out of time in that session. Now, the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill" is moving again. On Thursday, February 1, 2007, HB 1105 passed out of the House Insurance Committee. The prime sponsor of HB 1105 is Representative Tom Campbell who is the Chair of the House Committee on Environmental Health. HB 1105 is very simple. It is one paragraph long. It simply prevents insurance carriers from refusing to insure or canceling the insurance of any homeowner based upon the breed of dog he or she owns. Its simplicity is transferable to other states. The DPCA and ARC have committed in Operation Doolittle's Raid to persuade legislators in 20 states to introduce HB 1105 during the month of February. We will strike in 20 states simultaneously. For once, we will be on offense. For once, we will make insurance carriers have to defend themselves on multiple fronts. For once, we will control the agenda instead of the agenda controlling us. Now is the time. For those who have asked what you can do, we have an answer. Call your state legislator. Meet with him or her at his orher office. Invite him or her to your local shows as a "Distinguished Awards Presenter" to present the Group or Best in Show trophies. Provide him or her with a copy of the "Deeds Not the Breeds Bill", which is the purpose of our initiative which we have titled Operation: Doolittle's Raid. Ask him or her to introduce the bill immediately. Here is a link to the bill: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1105.pdf Lastly, once the bill is introduced in your state legislature, we need to know so that we can assist you to publicize that the bill has been introduced in your state. We are now in the process of populating the DPCA LobbyNow Tool with Talking Points to use in the battle that is to come. Our Doolittle's Raid, like the original, is designed to be a daring move intended to shock our adversaries. TheDPCA and the ARC need the help of committed purebred dog fanciers throughout the United States, in many different breeds, to launch this initiative successfully.

Cordially,
Jeffrey P. Helsdon
Legislative DirectorDoberman Pinscher Club Of America
jurisdobes@aol.com

Jan Cooper
Legislative DirectorAmerican Rottweiler Club
jan4rott@rott-n-chatter.com

PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST WIDELY
Dale Maddox Geddis Associate Legislative Director

Catwalk.

Yesterday was a "tourist" day. We decided to revisit the Whitewater Creek Catwalk, in the Gila National Wilderness. We went last year in the midst of the 5 year drought. Not a lot of water in the creek at that time. We thought... wrongly as it turned out... that with all the recent rain and snow in the area, that there would be a whole lot more water this time. While the level was up slightly, it didn't quite thrill like a roaring torrent would. The record water level in the canyon is about 6 feet above the catwalk floor level, and about 20 feet above what you see here. Judging by the washout areas on the access road, we were a few weeks late.

The canyon is characterized by high, steep rock walls, and massive boulders in the streambed.

A little closeup detail of one of the many falls in the canyon.


We know that lady in red, I think.

Yet Another Fine Day In the Field.

Another Day In the Desert

Up early yesterday morning. Meet with Dutch, and Susan, who's visiting from way up in Ontario, Canada, with her two deerhounds. The weather is ideal, the mud we trudged through 10 days ago is only a memory.

Unusual day for the hounds in that they caught every hare they chased. The sequence in this online album is from the second hare. Rally was in the lead until she collided with Angie a millisecond after this cover image was taken. She's very sore today, but is moving around- much better now than when we got home yesterday. She could barely stand at that point. If she continues to improve at this rate we won't have to pull our pack from this weekend's Pack Hunt.

Enjoy.. and remember, all images Copyright 2007, Shot On Site Photography. Leave 'em online.

Coming soon: Album from today's trip to the Gila National Wilderness Catwalk.

Men At Work.

Deming, New Mexico.

In Addition to the Human Toll...

...The Florida tornados also had
this devastating effect on a well known wildlife project. There's just a glimmer of good news in this report.

Those who know us know cranes are a large part of our wildlife and nature images.

HT to Frank V. in New Mexico.

Image courtesy Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership

I Like a Nice '07 Zapp's Cajun Crawtater...

Potato-Chip Connoisseur Detects Notes Of Sour Cream, Onion

ST. CHARLES, MO—"A fine chip can be worth years of waiting," said Nathan Sterkin, whose refined palate allows him to appreciate flavors like "flamin' hot" and salt.

Yankees Can Be Morons, Too.

Several times in these pages I've cast aspersions on Texans, (among other Southern denizens).
Recent events in the Northeast prove that there's enough stupidity to go around.

Pretty bizarre.