Day One.

As we pulled into the field north of Deming, I looked North and spied a couple of eagles. Young Goldens.. possibly the same two I posted pictures of on this blog a little over a year ago.

There were also dozens of Northern Harriers in the air.

We parked, got the dogs out and set off to find us a few jacks... Margaret walking student, Sandia, with Fanny and Buffy free coursing. We spotted 3 jacks during the course of our first mile. The girls saw none, as they were out of position.

About that time I saw something moving about 200 yards ahead of us. I thought it was a coyote, so we got the girls leashed up, because then I spotted a second... then a third... and suddenly I realized there was a whold herd, and they weren't 'yotes; they were wild pigs, and it was really a fortuitous that we had everybody leashed.

Except, as luck would have it, that's when we jumped the jack that everybody saw! Sandia is getting pretty excited about this stuff, and wants to be let go. Well, we were still pretty close to the pigs, so nobody got let go.

I decided the only way the girls were going to get something to chase was if we kept them on slips. Good thing, too, as Buffy almost dived headlong into this...

Judging from the way it's opened up it was either the eagles or a harrier that got him. We may have interrupted somebody's lunch. It gets worse. We'll be revisiting this unfortunate critter, but...

It was starting to get a little warm, and we decided to work our way toward the car, keeping the girls in the slips. We jumped one just to Margaret's left.. she slipped Fanny, I slipped Buffy, and poor Sandia could only stand and watch what turned out to be a short exercize run, as the jack lost them in some dense brush. We headed towards the car, and Fanny did, too. Buffy, however, remembered where she saw a jackrabbit that wouldn't elude her. Yeah... off she went, and it didn't matter that it was almost a thousand yards back the way we came.. she went right to it. I was yelling my head off, telling her, "NO!", and "Stop!", and other totally useless commands. As I approached her and her lunch, she did what she's done for years: Picked it up and trotted away from me. We repeated this exercize in frustration twice more, and I just decided, screw it! (or words to that effect), told her we were leaving, and headed back to the car. She looked up at me, and at least she didn't say "Goodbye", she just looked mildly perplexed.

I got to the car, we got the other dogs loaded, and we saw Buffy wandering around, not exactly coming, and not exactly going away. Basically, she was milking the moment for all the drama she could. But I had a secret: The magic green cow tripe treats.

Everyone in the car, we started to exit the field, but we had one more photo opportunity to go, as we watched a Harrier hunting. That yielded this dramatic shot of a descent to the ground in an attempt to nab a small, furry, creature. We thought she was successful, but no dice.

Here's looking at you kid.

Announcement.

Announcement 1: We have arrived in New Mexico! Back at Dreamcatcher RV Park in Deming, and the good news is the goathead stickers that plagued us last winter in the field adjacent to the campground are pretty much gone, along with a great deal of the foliage. But there's enough cover in there to hide a lot of cottontails and jacks, and about a thousand Gambel's Quail, and other birds. I took Sandia out to see his first jacks. Took a while, but we were finally successful. I tried to video it with our new Fuji Z10 compact digital camera, (More about that in another post), with little success. But here it is...


It took me 3 or 4 viewings before I finally picked out the running jackrabbit. Good luck with that... :) Tomorrow we'll head out in earnest to some of our favorite fields.. Fanny will begin Sandia's training. Should have better video then.

Announcement 2: Pictures from the weekend trials in Hutto TX are now uploaded and available for viewing and purchase at our website.

Close, But No Cigar.

TCC, (The Coursing Conservancy), held its flagship event this past weekend at a location somewhere in a Southwestern state. We were interested in the results, because all of Sandia's relatives were entered. We figured any one of them would be a lock to win it all. We were wrong. So, congratulations to "Red".. (shown here running with Rally last February... the run where Rally's plantar ligament bit the dust). There was good news, though, as Sandia's mother, "Gogal" was second, and his Aunt "Camille" was third.

We're parked for the night in Fort Stockton, TX. Tomorrow, we'll finally be in New Mexico, and by Wednesday Sandia will finally see his first jackrabbit. And Randir will amaze me yet again. It's about damn time!

Salesman of the Year.

When Patriot's QB Tom Brady finally retires from football, and owns every major record, he should consider a career in sales. He sure sold this play against the Jaguars

Flying Fanny.

Holy cow! Where did that come from? I'm used to getting shots like this of Buffy, but I've never caught Fanny in this position. She's peaking at just the right time and will be in the best condition of her life when we hit New Mexico next week. Not bad for almost 8 years old. Jackrabbits better look out!

T-Rex vs. Blind Faith

So, we managed to extricate ourselves from the trial site last Sunday while there was still a lot of daylight left. That gave us our opportunity to spend the night at the very nice campground of the Dinosaur Valley State Park. As a bonus, there were only 3 other campers in the entire park, so we were able to spread out considerably.

We got hooked up, fed the dogs, and went back into Glen Rose for a damn good Italian dinner at Juliany's. (No review links or web page). Second time we've eaten there, and it was just as good this time as the first.

Monday morning we were able to hit a part of the park's extensive hiking trail system. Extensive enough to have a lot of back country camping locations. Our objective, however, was to follow the trail along the river to see the dinosaur tracks, left in the sand over a hundred million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The tracks were left by the two critters below,

one vegetarian, one meat eater. The tracks can be seen clearly in the below image, and also in more detail if you click on the new slide show on the sidebar. There's something just really cool about being able to "time travel" like this.

We spent a couple of hours on the trail, ending up at the two models (see the slide show), before returning to the Express to pack up and get out before the very generous 2PM check out time.

As we left the park, we drove by a neighboring enterprise:

The cleverly named, "Creation Evidence Museum". Yin and Yang? Fact and Fantasy? Interesting juxtaposition. We certainly didn't have the time to go in and visit, and I would have most certainly gotten us tossed out if we did. I expect we'd see a model of Fred Flintstone and his pet, Dino. Overall, it appeared pretty low budget. A bigger-budget, much more subversive version is in operation in Kentucky.
Not to worry, though. Look at those teeth. My T-Rex can shred their Dog-ma.

Oregon: The New Georgia.

I didn't think it was possible to be this drunk without being dead. As the story notes, this is the second time in recent months in Oregon for record level plastered women. Gotta be all that rain and snow.

Patience! Stuff Coming.

I'm "borrowing" a computer and satellite signal now, because things are achingly slow out in the motor home, so when we move to a better area, watch for something I'll call "T-Rex vs. Blind Faith".. no it's not a '60s battle of the bands, but some quick ruminations on our brief stay at Dinosaur Valley State Park, (and their not-so-subtle next door neighbor). Also, watch for a new slide show from the park, a very cool place!

Got some links to some recent interesting posts from Steve B. and Patrick. Those who are regulars have probably already seen them.

Will I post something on OSU's latest embarrassing defeat at the hands of the SEC... ? maybe.

Stay tuned.

Oh! Quickly: Pictures from the weekend's trial in Glen Rose, TX are uploaded and ready for viewing at our website... link at right. Pass it on!

Hare-Brained Express Tour '08 Hits the Road

After a relaxing week spent parked at friends in the Houston area, the '08 "tour" logged its first 250 miles today. We're now parked in the RV parking section of that special hell known as a dog show. (Yes ma, I'll wear my galoshes!). Lucky for us, we're not here for the show, of course, we're here for the fun stuff! There's also a lure coursing trial as part of this show, so that's where we'll be tomorrow and Sunday. Glen Rose, Texas. One of these years, while we're here, we'll get over to the Dinosaur Valley State Park. It's supposed to be real cool.

Before we get too far from Richmond, I need to mention something I've let slide a bit recently: Food. We ate at two "Tex-Mex" joints and had barbecue from two places. Of the four, the Swinging Door Barbecue was the best. I like a place that keeps your options to a minimum. Pick a meat, pick a side, and order ya up a Shiner Bock. Or two. I ordered the Super Combo, choosing ribs, brisket, and turkey. "Vegetables" were cole slaw, beans, and potato salad. Check the menu... they were all beyond good. I loved the ribs but, considering the fact I'm not big on turkey as a barbecue item, this was the best I've ever had. Pecan wood smoked and oh, so tender. It was all good.

Today, at the suggestion of our hosts, we stopped on the way to Glen Rose, at Dozier's Meat Market and Barbecue in Fulshear. Sent Margaret in to get some goodies for the fridge; she outdid herself, bringing back pepper bacon, brisket, turkey, smoked sausage, and.... venison! We had cold brisket on bread as we drove, so a more detailed evaluation will have to come later, after we've heated some up and enjoyed it proper!

BLOG UPDATES:

Just need to point out a few new, and revised items on the sidebar. We've removed the AAWC March trial from the shooting schedule, because we found an excuse to stay in New Mexico an extra two weeks. Lure coursing and oval racing in Mountainaire! Looking forward to that. Beautiful location. We looked at some property there a couple of years ago. We'll also be checking out a friend's 40 acres near Deming. One of these years we'll go to New Mexico and not come back. That's the plan, anyway.

See the kinky new counter? Now we can see at a glance, how many are looking at the blog right now, and what country they're in. It's hosted in France. Click on it and see the other fun things they have. There's also a world map, with dots at the very bottom of the page.

And here's a "bleg".. (a beg on a blog): I've brought back the Google ads. I can't tell you to click on them, because that would violate the Google agreement terms, but there are some things on this blog that would help us out greatly if they got opened. Nobody says you have to look at 'em. And that's all I'm going to say about that. The tip jar is gone.

And I don't think I mentioned it on the last go-round of blog "freshening" but if you look almost to the bottom of the sidebar, you'll see the return of our old friend. We're almost down to a year, say hallelujah! Can I get an "amen"?!?!

Britney!

Who cares? Really.
If you got here because you searched "Britney"... get a life.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Steven Dunn/Getty Images

Another day, another feel-good story. And they have more in common than just the Maize and Blue color schemes will lead you to believe. Yesterday, Michigan sent Lloyd Carr out on a winning note. Tonight, in the Fiesta Bowl, West Virginia manhandled Oklahoma to the tune of 48-28. Yesterday, Michigan rolled up over 500 yards in total offense, using good old fashioned Big 10 Smash Mouth Football. Tonight, in the Arizona desert, West Virginia U rolled up over 500 yards in total offense using the "Spread" offense, tweaked to its highest level by former WVU and current (as of today) Michigan coach, Rich Rodriguez. Neither team was given much of a chance against their opponents.

Not only did we get to see the kind of exciting football that will be displayed in Ann Arbor next Fall... (and who doesn't like a bunch of 50+ yard touchdown runs), but we also previewed WVU's "3-3-5 Stack" defense; a defense critics say will never work against Big 10 offenses. Ask Oklahoma how they like it. ;)

So, congratulations to interim (and making a powerful statement for permanance) coach, Bill Stewart and the West Virginia Mountaineers for setting aside the distractions, and getting the job done against the Sooners, and for giving us Michigan fans a glimpse into a rosy future... pun intended.

UPDATE: This just in. It's a done deal.

Finis. With a Flourish!

Capital One Bowl, 2008. Michigan 41, Florida 35. A great finish to Lloyd Carr's career, and for Michigan's seniors. It's amazing what good health, and time to formulate a brilliant game plan will do for a team.

Florida's good, but their defense had no answer to Chad Henne's impersonation of Tom Brady, and Adrian Arrington's Randy Moss. Michigan's defense, however, handled Florida's Heisman winner just well enough to keep him from being a hero. Well done Blue. Brian has a message for sad Gator and SEC fans here .

**************
The bowl game didn't keep me from channel surfing frequently to the great NHL hockey game being played outdoors in a blinding snowstorm.. in Buffalo freaking New York. I love football, but make no mistake about it: hockey is the most exciting sport in the world. If you missed it, make sure you watch SportCenter, or your local sports report tonight. Hockey like it was meant to be played.

One More.

Easily, the leap of the weekend.

Never underestimate your canine athletes.

Cleared For Takeoff

I've often mentioned here my preference for shooting on fields that have some character. "Flat" is the enemy of exciting lure coursing, and lure coursing images. On the list of great fields, soccer fields are usually at the bottom of the list.

This weekend, we were at a soccer/football/baseball complex located in the center of a big oxbow of the Brazos River in Richmond, TX. This is not your average soccer field lure coursing field... What makes it different from your run-of-the-mill flat field?

Ditches!

Hounds that negotiated the three jump opportunities on the course flawlessly were rewarded with high scores. The same can't be said for the less successful leapers...

Believe It: It's the Only Chicks These Guys Can Get.

P*TA is shipping inflatable sex dolls overseas, apparently for wild sex parties involving chickens, scalding hot water, and a goatee'd dead guy in a white suit. That's some rough sex.

Help Find Haggis.

No, not that nasty Scottish "delicacy"... this is a Scottish Deerhound, "Haggis", who's been missing near Bowie, Maryland since a car accident Thanksgiving. Details here.

According to reports on the Deerhound discussion list, he's been spotted many times, but will not approach anyone. He's in survival mode. I've heard of this happening with Salukis that get lost in the New Mexico deserts.. they become practically feral overnight, and won't even approach their owners. It's what keeps them alive.

Hopefully Haggis can be reunited with his people soon.

Georgians. Pick Up Trucks. A Pee Wee Football Team?!?

This will irritate Todd, but I can't help myself. There's just too much raw material. I'm just at a loss for this guy's motive.

All that's missing is "Mama", and "Prison". "D-i-v-o-r-c-e" is probably in his future, if this loser's even married.

Christmas Fark.

I just love Fark. Follow the link to see holiday stories about:

• Slow news day: Woman discovers she is allergic to Christmas trees


• Humbug, the law that banned Christmas


• It wouldn't be Christmas on Fark without at least one story of a drunk naked guy plowing his car into a garage. Happy Holidays, everybody


• 6.2 magnitude quake hits Japan. No word on possible tsunami. Large Caucasian man in red suit seen near epicenter wanted for questioning


• LAPD arrests 280-pound man dressed in Santa hat, red lace camisole, purple G-string, and black leg warmers for DUI. Thankfully, this article has no pics


• 
  
  Man missing in the wilderness near Humptulips found safe just in time for Christmas. In related news, submitter now can't stop saying 'Humptulips' (I've actually been in Humptulips! - DG)

...and some non-Christmas stories:

• Man demonstrating how he would kill companion with a nail gun shoots himself

Check it out. Lots more where that came from.

Anniversary.

Christmas day marks the 3rd Anniversary of the Hare-Brained Express Tour blog. I just finished looking over the very first couple of posts. I was pretty clueless, and Blogger was pretty primitive. But we've gotten to this point, and while readership isn't in the "Daily Kos" range, by any stretch of the imagination, we're averaging close to 20 looks a day. And that's pretty good. Thanks everybody.

Merry Christmas to All...

..or whatever your special holiday. As I mentioned the other day, we didn't get a card made this year, for a variety of reasons, none of which are important enough to go into here, so I just had a brainstorm. Our.. My Christmas Card to all readers... with thanks to Robert Earl Keen:

And That's Why They Call it "Jerky".

I was sure this story was going to take place somewhere in the South.

One-Handed Photography.

Why "one-handed"? I present you with Exhibit A. My left hand was busy holding dogs. Fortun-ately, I found out that vibration reduction is a good thing to have, especially when all I had was the heaviest camera in the arsenal-and no flash. Thank goodness for "editing tools"! Would have been a good time to test out a new D300. (I wonder if we're getting one for Christmas??).

Anyway, Mr. Puppy was suffering from extreme cabin fever, so I packed him.. and Rally, in the car and drove 30 miles to the Big Thicket National Preserve, where these images were taken on the Kirby Nature Trail. We had a great walk, with the following exceptions:

• Extra 3 miles of walking, backtracking to find the cell phone



• Half a dozen deer ticks on the dogs. (None on me.)

Other than that, a very nice afternoon for a walk. More images are on the new slide show on the sidebar. If you want to see larger images, click on the slide show to be taken to the web album. Enjoy. As usual, heavy on the fungi.

Crazy Horse Lives!

image ©Crazy Horse Memorial Fnd.

The Memorial, that is. With the help of a $5 million matching donation, from a South Dakota billionaire banker, the memorial, which promises much more drama than a bunch of dead presidents or Confederate generals, will probably be completed. Hopefully in our lifetime.

The Mother of Invention.

I've been logging a lot of internet time since I have a lot of it on my hands, and I don't have to share "WiFi time". Tonight I finally decided to check out a relatively new service from Netflix, called "Watch Instantly". I/We've been subscibers of Netflix for a number of years, and enjoy the huge catalog of movies they have to offer.. mainstream flicks, indies, documentaries, TV shows, foreign, classics... the list goes on. Our problem is our travel schedule. The movies have to catch up with us, and we don't always watch them right away. In fact, right now we've got a movie on our shelf we've been carrying around for over a month. That's not economical at $16.95 a month.

With the "Watch Instantly" option, I can download up to 16 hours of movies during any billing period, so tonight for my "road test" I downloaded some Japanese Anime... a little ditty called "Girl's School"... (and now I know why geeks and adolescent boys are so enamored of this genre ;^)

Next, wanting to watch something short, I chose Season 1 of 30 Rock, (primarily because I was forced to miss it when it was on air because - someone - always wanted to watch CSI instead). My personal opinion is that 30 Rock is one of the funniest, and best written programs on television due, in no small part, to it's creator, Tina Fey. Not only is she wickedly, brilliantly funny, but she's so damn hot! (It's OK... Margaret knows about this crush and is cool with it.. right?) Besides, I'm not alone!


Anyway, my experiment with Netflix downloads.. (which are included in our monthly service, by the way) was a mixed positive. Because I'm parked a fair ways from the antenna at this campground, the signal was low, causing some buffering issues, but Netflix has a nice fix, which halts the stream until a sufficient amount of buffering has occurred to not hold up the movie again. Their viewer (which you download for your first movie) adjusts to the speed of your connection. Overall, I like it, and will probably use it whenever we're in a place that has faster than dial-up speeds.

A Pretty Cool Dog.

HT Linda Stillwell in Oklahoma.

Not to bum everybody out, but it's been reported that Skidboot passed on earlier this year.

A Problem.

The return flight's not until the following Friday!

Shades of "Donald & Lydia". So much for doing our part for world peace.

I've Got Some Bad News.. and Some Good News.

There. It's not just the South. Received word last week from Margory that the spectre of AB1634 is about to raise it's ugly head again. Just when we were ready to venture into the Sunshine Golden State next Summer for the Scottish Deerhound Club of America National Specialty at Lompoc. Not if this piece of garbage passes, we won't. Not one tire tread will cross that border, and if the Club is smart, they'll pull their event out of the state. Anyway, keep abreast of the news on this issue by regularly checking (and supporting) the link above.

On a related subject, Steve Bodio informs us of a new advocacy group directed specifically at sporting dogs. Check out the website, and see if it deserves your support. I like the looks of it.

The Bachelor

That's me. Took Margaret to Houston Intercontinental Airport.. (yeah, yeah, I know.. think Washington National.. or Idlewild).. to fly to spend Christmas with "the Georgia Reiniches". (Congratulations reader Cynthia!). Ordinarily, we'd both go, but with no events to attend in Georgia it made no sense to make the 900 mile trip there when we were going to be back here in Texas for year end.

So here I sit, at the Escapees Rainbow's End RV park in Livingston, TX. Just me, 5 dogs, and a cat. There's a big ham dinner on Christmas at the Activity Center, and maybe one of the single RV geezer ladies will hit on me. You never know.

Anyway, there's plenty to do around here. The Big Thicket National Preserve is not far, and Lake Livingston offers much to explore as well. I'll survive.

Oh! One more thing: We never got around to getting a Christmas card done this year. So don't be running breathlessly to your mailboxes every day. I should come up with something before the holiday.

If not, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody!

Wow! It's Like Christmas in.. in.. December!

Yes, that's brand spankin' new University of Michigan football coach, Rich Rodriguez... Godfather of the spread offense. And believe you me, boys and girls there's going to be some changes made... not just at Michigan, but the whole Big Ten; if they want to keep up, that is. This will represent a sea change, a paradigm shift, a... a... oh, I don't know- pick a superlative- in the conference. This might just be the guy to drag the Big Ten, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. And I couldn't be more excited. We will soon be playing a very un-Big Ten brand of football!

When the rumors first surfaced last Friday, I thought it would be a great hire, but didn't think it would have a prayer. We talked about it at the lure trial this weekend, but no one thought, given the ridiculous way the coaching search had progressed over the last month, that Michigan would accomplish anything more than getting Rodriguez a healthy raise from West Virginia U. When I was told yesterday that Michigan actually pulled it off, I was ecstatic.

The same can't be said for the poor residents and students in West Virginia. For the second time in less than a year, Michigan has grabbed a high profile coach from West Virginia University. Last spring it was John Belein, the basketball coach. They're feeling abused down there, but it's been going on for over a hundred years. As it happens, Michigan's first great football coach, the legendary Fielding H. "Hurry Up" Yost, known best for his "point a minute" teams at the turn of the last century was born in Fairview, West Virginia in 1871, only a handful of miles away from Rodriguez' home town. Wow.

I even got an email from a well known veterinary orthopedic surgeon who operates out of Wheeling, WV and is a WVU grad, voicing his disappointment in Coach Rod, and wondering how he could leave the team in the lurch and not even coach the Fiesta Bowl game. But this is just how the game is played in the big time, like it or not.

And speaking of playing the game... if West Virginia had done it's part, and not gotten upset by the lowly Pittsburgh Panthers in the last game of the year, then "Coach Rod" doesn't have his secret meeting with the Michigan search team in Toledo, Ohio, and Les Miles is assembling his new coaching staff in Ann Arbor, and not preparing to put a whoopin' on Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game. Funny how things work out.

For now, we'll just have to remember, if we have to take a dog to WV for treatment, we'd better remove our "M" sticker from the rear window, and the "Big House Football" frame from around the license plate.

Just like I can't wait to get to New Mexico to run the dogs on jackrabbits, I can't wait for next Fall!

Yeah. They're That Good!

Patriots Proud Of Defeating Whoever That Last Team Was

FOXBOROUGH, MA—Patriots quarterback Tom Brady diplomatically emphasized that defeating whoever it was they had just played gave him and his...

Site Changes

Seems like whenever we return to civilization from an extended visit to a land of zero, or limited, internet signal, it's like being resurrected from the dead. I'm sure you're tired of coming aboard and seeing the same (cute) picture for over a week straight. But here we are again, at a decent little campground on the side of US 290 near Hempstead, TX. Not WiFi, but the GPRS/EDGE is about as fast as I can remember.

Anyway.. over the past month we've made some changes to the blog. While the general appearance remains the same, we've been able to add a lot of new elements, because Blogger finally made it easy to do.

Starting from the top, you've probably already noticed the slide show. I picked jackrabbits to start, but will probably change the subject matter from time to time. If you want to see a larger version, just click on an image.

Below the slide show, I just added our shooting schedule for the next 2 and a half months. This is much more convenient than doing it in a post and then watching is scroll down, down, down and out of sight (and mind). It's always going to be right there. That big gap between the AAWC trial at Hutto, and the Pack Hunt/Desert Hare Classic, represents our "vacation" in New Mexico. We'll be running jacks, eating green chilis, and drinking tequila. I also may venture into Mexico for some discount dental work and new glasses. And maybe this will be the year I finally meet Steve Bodio face to face! That may mean more tequila.

The next couple of blocks of items remain pretty much as they always were. I should point out a few new links in the "blogroll". First, they're not all "blogs", but that's just a technicality, right? You can now link to both of our Photoreflect sites: Events, for your dog's pictures in action, and the Nature & Art site. You were probably also wondering what's up with the "Life With the Georgia Reiniches". First one not named Reiniche, (or Jenkins) to guess correctly will win a $5 Shot On Site gift certificate. Hint: check their archives.

I also added Fark.com. Yeah, like he needs our help. If you've just crawled out from under a rock, Fark is the number one visited site (OK, occasionally number two) on the internet. Go there and you'll see why. It's addictive.

Last, at the bottom of the sidebar, is the return of the Backwards Bush countdown calendar. Where we're about to go under 400 days!

Dog posts and more puppy pictures coming soon! Just weighed Sandia. 49.5 pounds! Holy Crap! And one other news flash: We now know why Rally has been so slow of late. She's begun a tear of the achilles tendon on her left leg. So she's back on the disabled list for at least two months, according to Dr. Don Hulse of Texas A&M. Thanks doc. :(

Y' Want It?

You can have it. Go on. Take it. You know you want it. C'mon take it. Just try.

I believe I've finally succeeded in capturing Sandia's personality. ;^)

Rally's, too.

Monkey In the Middle.

More Fun at the South's Expense.

I don't make this stuff up. While watching some football this weekend, on CBS's Chattanooga affiliate, I noticed something strange. Everytime a promo for the Victoria's Secret annual Christmas program came on, the volume would go down, rising up again after the spot. It would also happen when the football announcers would talk about it. This happened on Saturday, during the college games, and on Sunday during the NFL broadcasts. And who's job is it to sit and monitor these spots, because it was definitely someone manually turning a volume control dial? (Because they didn't always get the sound all the way off).

Is it me, or is this just plain weird, since the air dates and time are flashed on the screen during the promos? So who's being protected here? Or maybe it just says something about literacy in the South.. they can't hear it, and they certainly can't read it.

Wilderness.

Yes, we're lost in the wilderness again. This time, about 6 miles east of I75 near Calhoun, Ga. We're camped out for the week at friends' new home and lure coursing venue: "GANG Park". As coursing fields go, this one's got some character, ie: no flat, level parts anywhere. Cool.For economic reasons, we decided to stay for the week following the trial we shot last weekend, even though we're not shooting this weekend's trial. When the bus ain't moving, we ain't spending money! We also had access to the field and some pretty big dog runs all week...

...something we don't see at a normal campground. Drawbacks include the fact that neither our phones, nor our aircard are picking up a signal. So I'm writing this from the Java Junction Cafe in Calhoun. Pretty good place.

UPDATE: I got rushed out of the coffee shop on Saturday before I could finish this with a fun little anecdote. The name GANG Park comes from the lure coursing club, "Greyhound Association of North Georgia". We know that, but apparently the nearby residents didn't. When the homeowner put up a fancy "GANG Park" sign, the town offices were flooded by calls wondering how they could let "gangs" have their own place!? It's all been straightened out now, and since there was no permit for the sign, it has now been removed.

Eye Candy

Just ignore the message.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, with reports of wild turkey attacks, and wild turkey overpopulation, it's hard to believe that at one time they were nearly extinct in America.

Patrick gives us a comprehensive background, as usual, on how at least one big government program worked. Maybe too well.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey.

Football.

John Runyan.
Steve Hutchinson.
Charles Woodson.
Ian Gold.
Steve Breaston.
Amani Toomer.
Braylon Edwards.
Anthony Thomas.
Brian Griese.
Jim Backus.
Drew Henson

These are just off the top of my head... Oh yeah, and this guy...


...and there are dozens more. All stars, or at least valuable role players in the National Football League. What's their connection? Obvious to most sports fans: they all played at Michigan. And were coached by Lloyd Carr. Hmmm. Maybe he was better than the "experts" thought. His 13 year record would certainly lead you to believe it.

Lloyd retired this past Monday after 13 years as head coach. He's been getting a lot of praise this week, much of it from the same fan sites, and bloggers who screamed for his head for the last 4 or 5 years. I'm not going to add to the craziness.. You can find all the good stuff at just about any sports site you wish to Google.. ESPN.com, Sporting News, Freep.com, etc. But I did want to point out a new blog I've added to the blogroll column at the right. MGoBlog is maybe one of the best written blogs- of any genre- that I've read. I've listed it below Bodio's and TerrierMan's blog because, well, because it's just that good. Even if you're not a Michigan fan, you will enjoy Brian Cook's posts. In fact mgoblog scooped the mainstream media on news of Lloyd Carr's impending retirement- almost a week before it happened.

Meanwhile, in the real world of Division II football, where national champions are determined the old fashioned way, with a tournament, my Grand Valley Lakers will be hosting North Dakota this weekend in a second round game. It's difficult to remember back that far, but North Dakota was the last school to hand the Lakers a loss. That was back in 2004! If you haven't been paying attention that's 38 straight without a loss, and includes the past two DII championships. I'm hoping for 39, 40, and 41... and 3... over the next couple of weeks.

Go Lakers!

We're Global! ...and a mystery

This is pretty cool. Here are the last 100 visitors to this site, by location. Every continent is represented! The mystery is that nearly all of the non-US visits came from Google image searches that returned hits to this post from last year. Now what would be on the internet that would cause people from all over the world to search for the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds album cover? Did I miss something?

I Just Didn't Get This Town.

photo from the co-pilot seat by Margaret.

Envy!

We're still over about 2 months away from our Winter break in New Mexico. We've got a bunch of dogs that aren't getting any younger, and one who has yet to see his first jackrabbit. And here we sit on the wrong side of the country.

Meanwhile, many of our friends have already gotten a couple of hunts under their belts in Wyoming and New Mexico. Blog posts about hunting are showing up here, and here.

And perhaps, the bit that increases my anticipation of getting into the desert the most, was the news from the TCC mixed hunt the weekend before last: The hunt was won by Sandia's sire, Tuxedo; 2nd was his "Aunt" Camille; 3rd was his mother, Gogal. A real "family affair".

So, when you see us over the next several weeks, make sure you buy lots and lots of pictures so we can enjoy our New Mexico trip... at $3.50/gallon. =8^(

Schedule Update.

Later this morning we'll head to our favorite Georgia state park, which means we won't have a particularly strong signal- if we have one at all- so I wanted to post the changes in our schedule.

Next weekend, Nov 17-18, we will be at the greyhound training track in Jacksonville, FL for two days of all-breed NOTRA (oval racing). I've wanted to get to this track since they started running NOTRA events there last year. It's a real track, with a rail lure and sand surface.

This means we will miss the Michigan - Ohio State football game. Given the events of the past weekend, maybe it's no big deal.

The rest of the 2007 schedule:

Nov 23-25 MAWA (ASFA trials) Calhoun, GA
Dec 1-2 OPEN DATE. Call us!
Dec 8-9 AHCA (AKC trials) Lampasas, TX (New field!)
Dec 15-16 ASA/GBSC (AKC/ASFA) Waller, TX
Dec 22-23 OPEN.. Happy Holidays!!
Dec 29-30 AHCGH (ASFA) Richmond, TX

We'll list a couple more Texas trials at the beginning of the year, and then it's off to New Mexico for a month (at least) to show Sandia his first jackrabbits. We will be so ready for that!