No Country for the Old Locations.

The Oscars just ended. Early. That's unheard of, and I wondered what they would do with the extra 15 minutes. As it happens, they just went right to the local news, who made much of the fact that the night's big winner, No Country for Old Men, was filmed mostly right here around Las Vegas, New Mexico. Not Hollywood. Or anywhere else in California... or Arizona. Nor Utah or Nevada. You get the idea.

Being a big fan of the Coen brothers since their first major release, Blood Simple, I've put this Best Picture winner at the top of our Netflix Queue, so I'm ready for its March 11 DVD release.

One Last Time... With Feeling.

L-R: Romy, Ashley, Fanny, Jackrabbit, Sandia

Went out today with Dutch and Beth Anne. It's our last hunt in Deming for this year. I'll be leaving on Wednesday, and will spend an evening in Socorro. Thursday morning I'll drive up to 6000+ feet to meet writer/blogger/falconer/houndman, Steve Bodio, at his home in Magdalena. And while this picture shows the last hunt in Deming, we're far from done. We'll go out with Steve and his Tazis. Then we'll move on up to Edgewood and let Chris Mason see her "kid" for the first time since we took him away last August.... then we'll go out so he can kick his brothers' and sisters' asses ;-) Then, if I'm lucky, Margaret will decide she's had enough of Michigan Winter and I can pick her up at the Albuquerque airport Sunport (?) before the ESCA lure coursing trial. On March 10, we will finally leave New Mexico. Next up, Louisiana. Crawdads here we come.

But before I get ahead of myself, I will do a review of Deming, for all of you who like to keep up with restaurants that we visit around the country, and all that stuff. That will be in a future post. For now, enjoy the last dusty rabbit chase picture from Southern New Mexico.

You Want Fries With That?

How about a feather and a barf bag... You can't beat this meat. Hope they make it... Detroit needs some favorable press =)

Recyclable?

"It's a bad injury... whether it's on a dog or on a person"... so said Dr. Koschmann. And when you have a bad injury, you end up with something like the image above. That's Rally's fixator, which leaves her hock joint frozen in a slightly hyper extended state, so as to not put strain on the recently reattached Achilles tendon. Yup, it's screwed right into the bone.

That's a lot of stainless steel. Maybe when it comes out I can sell it for scrap and recoup some of our vet expenses.

Whoa!

Blogger's gone crazy! Over the last hour the Feedjit Live Traffic counter, and the SiteMeter have been rolling up numbers like this was the Daily Kos , or FARK, or... or... the Barack Obama for President blog, or something. It's like dozens (or more, it doesn't look like it's let up yet) of people all around the world hit the "Next Blog" radio button that sits onobtrusivly at the very top of the page in the Blogger Nav Bar at the same time, and they all came up, "Hare-Brained Express Tour 2008".

If you're one of those people, leave a comment, and let me know how you really came to be here. And thanks for helping my visitor count!

More Than Bumper Stickers!

Who can keep up with Margaret? Not me! We now have "I'd Rather Be Coursing" apparel at our Cafe Press store . Right now there's just the Galgo Español. Other breeds to come. Besides, who doesn't like the Galgo?? Not me.

"I Don't Know Art.. But I Know What I Like"

..and this isn't it. And actually, I do know art. Mojo Nixon on Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country loved the story, though.

Obama-nation

It's much better than it sounds!

From the "Low Concept" Department at Slate.com

It's A Hit!

Early indications are that you like the bumper stickers. In the Netherlands, especially! Love you, Anke! In addition to those, and the US, we've even sold to Australia.

Biggest seller so far is the Galgo Espanol. Did I mention we love you, Anke? :-) Followed by Basenji, and Borzoi. So... where's the Whippet folks? Greyhounds? Longdogs? Salukis?

See them all here. They'll be available on T-Shirts soon, as well, and Margaret will be coming up with new designs, too. Check it often.

Still More Birding Images.

Circus Cyaneus. What a great name for our old friend the Northern Harrier, (formerly Marsh Hawk.) We've gotten lots and lots of images of Harriers in New Mexico because they're probably the most numerous of the birds of prey here. Big birds anyway. They're always around every field we take the dogs to. We kind of caught this one by surprise when we were out east of the Floridas looking at property. I saw her- females are brown, and larger than the mostly blue/grey males- in the distance, moving our way, so I stopped the car and waited. The top image was at the instant she noticed us and veered away.

This image was taken a second later, and really shows the aerodynamics of the body. The Peterson Guide describes Harriers as "slim hawks with slim wings, long tails.... flight low, languid, gliding..." I enjoy watching them, as they're always hunting, watching the ground for voles, which is their main prey. You can always tell the Harrier by the large white rump patch, clearly visible above.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this particular trip to New Mexico has been particularly rich in viewing birds of prey, both large and small. Just from memory:

• Bald Eagle
• Golden Eagle
• Northern Harrier
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Zone Tailed Hawk... (maybe; briefly over the car, and I remember it was dark, with a black and white tail)
• Cooper's Hawk and Sharpshinned Hawk
• Peregrine Falcon, and
• Kestrel.

..and probably more, but it's hard, sometimes, to get a positive ID on a bird sitting on a yucca when you're driving by on the interstate at 75mph ;-)

Someday, I'll write about how I got so into amateur birding.

No, They Mean the Pecans.

The MLBPA was getting nervous. (That will require a little bit of thought) ;-)

Subliminal Bleg.

Lotta stuff gotta happen, before this can happen. Jackrabbits everywhere. Buy stuff!

Good Veterinarians, Good Eats.

Rally, I mean Money Pit, is recovering down in El Paso at Crossroads Animal Clinic. We took her in this afternoon, and met Dr. Jim Koschmann, who's the closest thing we've met to Jim Radcliffe, the wonder vet, back in the East. He explained the procedure he would use to re-attach the achilles tendon to the heel bone. We like being treated like we're not stupid.

Dr. Koschmann called later this evening to tell us that the surgery was complete and Rally was resting, and that she'd "done quite a job in there". There was more damage than just the tendon, but he got it all together and stitched it up, although to hear him describe the procedure it sounded more like he was making a rug on a loom! And she'll have an external fixator holding everything steady for the next 6 - 8 weeks. Robodog.


The best part about the timing of this little errand to El Paso was that we were able to stop in La Mesa, NM and have lunch at a place that had been highly recommended by local friends- HT Val Koeppler- and also by the Sterns, of Road Food fame. Chope's Bar and Cafe is a true "hole-in-the-wall" gem. Chiles rule there, and their rellenos are their specialty. Very lightly breaded, and deepfried, in a combination plate with enchiladas, beans, and the best taco I think I've ever had. Magnifique! And, as always in this part of the country... lots of green chiles. Rumor has it that former Dallas Cowboys head coach, Tom Landry, used to fly to El Paso so he could eat at Chope's. The cheerleaders, too. They swear it's true. It's on my keepers list.

British Invasion

In the last couple of hours we've had blog visitors from England, Scotland, and Ireland. They arrived from a message board on this very cool British website. Not being a member, I don't have access to the message that linked to our blog, but they seemed to spend time looking at the Desert Hare Classic posts and picture.

Interesting website, covering all things "hunting" in the UK.. of particular interest: Lurchers, and Lamping. Return the favor, and check it out.

UPDATE: The Hunting Life website has been added to our link list.

Buteo Regalis

As the last vehicle.. (us).. left the field on Sunday, we were buzzed by this magnificent Ferruginous Hawk. It was as if it were saying, "It's about time you people left... I'm hungry!".

Birding on this trip, especially as regards birds of prey, has been most impressive. Today, for instance, we saw a Peregrine Falcon. Too far away for a picture, unfortunately.

NOTE: Yes, I know I need to clean the filter ;-)

After the Classic.

Sandia gets rewarded for walking 10 miles in the gallery over two days...

...and grows a goatee. :-)

Honey... Where's the Piggy Bank?

We're gonna be rich!

Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic Results.

We have a winner. If you don't remember where to get the details, re-read the previous post. Here's a little dig at the folks that went to the so-called Grand Course... Saturday: 11 jackrabbits run; done by 12:30. Sunday: 9 jackrabbits run; done by Noon. And nobody here is going to tell you where we were. Forget it. Nope.

Dutch Salmon's "Pack Hunt", 2008 Results.

A tie. Details in a future Performance Sighthound Journal.

OK.. a little teaser: The weather was perfect, and everyone got their money's worth.

The Doors Are Open. A Crack.

It will be a while before we have a "Grand Opening", but the Shot On Site store is now open at Cafe Press. The storefront needs some work, but the page you all will be interested in is the linked page.

We're starting with a bumper sticker,

an old favorite in fact, but updated. Eventually there will be so much more. Apparel, ceramics, totes, notecards, etc, etc, etc.

All images on the work are by Dan, and all the designs spring from Margaret's fertile imagination.

Currently we have the bumper stickers in Salukis, Longdogs, Galgos, Greyhounds, Borzois, Whippets, Ridgebacks, and Basenjis, with more to come. Each is available in several color schemes as well. We're looking forward to seeing them on a lot of cars in the coming months' trials. Enjoy!! And Pass it on!!!

(The copyright watermark will not be on the product you buy).

UPDATE: We've added the storefront link to the linklist on the sidebar.