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.

Fun House.

While I babysat five dogs and a cat, Margaret was having fun in the Big Apple with her grown kids. They did all the touristy stuff, including attending this very weird off-Broadway show:

Looks like fun, in a kind of disorienting way. Looks like more fun to be in the cast!

Even DeMille Had to Start Somewhere.

OK, Dan gets a little out of control with Windows Movie Maker. Don't do what you do when you go out to the movies and rush out as soon as the movie is over. Sit there while the credits roll!

We may have to invest in a real video camera... this is too much fun.

Get ready... the dogs move out in a hurry, but don't miss Randir's "cameo"! And watch how smart Sandia (pink blanket) runs; doesn't use it all up on the runup, but starts to move up through the pack as the course gets longer. Smart dog. In this case, when the hare came back toward our postition, he had a huge lead and we were able to call the dogs off. We'll do more of this.

Coming Soon.

Margaret's getting fairly competent shooting movies with the little Fuji camera. We'll post some live coursing videos as soon as she gets them on a stick so I can load them on this computer. She also shot some ah... interesting... footage at a Broadway show when she was in New York. I think it's worth sharing.

On a commercial note: we're about to launch a storefront at Cafe Press. Margaret's been very busy this week working on some designs that you are going to want. Seriously. Stay tuned, and I'll post a sample and details before the weekend.

Money Pit.

That's the new name for the greyhound formally known as Rally.

After checking with friends in the Las Cruces, El Paso, and Albuquerque area for advice about vets, we decided to just take her to the local (and only) vet in Deming. Since she's shown a propensity for not staying sound for more than 6 months at a time, we were just going to get the most basic (read: cheap) repair, and retire her from running competitions.

Unfortunately, the local guy admitted he had little experience in repairing this type of injury... which by the way, was that the achilles tendon had completely separated from the calcaneaous (heel) bone. He set up a referral for us to a vet in El Paso.... one whose name we already knew from our previous search, and came with a glowing, albeit expensive, reference.

Tuesday, we'll take Ral Money Pit to Crossroads Animal Clinic, where Dr. Koschmann will do his magic, and she will either come out the following day with a splint, or an external fixator. I'll post some before and after pictures at that time. Our wallets will be some $1200-$1500 lighter. Money Pit, indeed! At least this way she may be able to run in next year's Pack Hunt with Sandia!

Oh, that the local guy could have done it... the office call, exam, and referral were a whopping $31.00! And we walked in without an appointment.

Update: So I don't need to tell you, those Google ads around this site are more important than ever. Who wouldn't want to look at the Patriots' cheerleaders in bikinis.. huh? You know you would.

Lethal Weapon 4

I just wanted to post one more shot of this jackrabbit, since it was kind enough to give me lots of good close-ups this morning.. Look at those back feet; in fact look at the whole rear assembly. Like an athletic sighthound, that's the "engine" that makes this critter second only to the pronghorn in pure speed in North America. Add to that the agility to turn on a dime at that speed and you've got one formidable prey species.

Yeah... we got skunked again today. What of it?

Double Suspension

Extended...

Contracted...

Ease on down, ease on down the ro-oad.

To say I managed to get myself into a good position today, would be an understatement.

Unabashed Self-Promotion.

Tired of coming to these pages every day and seeing the same post you already read yesterday.. or the day before that? Wouldn't you like to know when the content has changed without looking at the website itself? Of course you would.

We've hooked up with Feedburner to give you the tools you need to know when something new is here. Up above, is the headline thingy.. it scrolls through the past 5 blogpost titles. The cool part is, you can grab it and put it on your own blog, your My Space, or Facebook page.. anywhere you can paste a little HTML.. even on your EMail signature. Just click the "Grab this..." line and Feedburner will walk you through the rest.

At the top of the sidebar on the right, is a link to set up EMail alerts whenever there is a change here. Simple.

If you want to subscribe to a reader, or your Yahoo, or Google, or AOL, or whatever homepage or reader you use, you can just click on the "subscribe to a reader" button on the sidebar near the SiteMeter counter. I was shocked to find, when I pasted in the subscriber counter, that this blog has..... ZERO... none, nada, zilch... subscribers. Get off your butts people!

Meanwhile, On the Day Shift.

When it rains, it pours.

Yesterday, we drove out into the countryside to look at 40 acres that a friend has on the market. We took Sandia and Rally. When we parked, we let them out for a "potty break".. Sandia got leashed up, but Rally, who's been doing well of late on healing her partial torn achilles, slipped by. Well, she was staying close, so we figured we'd let her evacuate, and we'd leash her up then.

That was before the jackrabbit. And she was looking good for the first 150 yards or so. She even turned it, and was closing when...

Do I even need to finish the story?

Now we need a good orthopedic vet surgeon in southern New Mexico... and some means to pay them with.

Night Shift.

Whoa! What's this? It's night time.. this jackrabbit, being nocturnal, should be happily munching on vegetation... not running for his life! What could cause this non-standard behavior?

Well here's a clue. Scottish poacher uh, "entrepreneurial game harvester"*, Matthew, has the spotlight, and he knows how to use it!

And after a few trial runs the hounds, including Mona here, learn to follow the light, because that's where the jack is.

The biggest difference between day and night coursing is the course. Races are usually short, especially if the guy on the spot can't keep the hare in the light. From 7:30 to 10:30 last night we probably released the dogs on a dozen jacks.. maybe more, as I lost count. We drove only about 5 miles in that time, which brings up the other big difference: No Walking! (It does get a little tiring putting the car in neutral, hitting the parking brake, grabbing the camera, and jumping out the car over and over and over again.) The above is one of two that were caught.

Photographing this activity is just about impossible, so when I saw that image with Mona and the jack so close, and in the range of the flash, I was ecstatic, no matter that it's out of focus, and a little overexposed.. it's exactly what I was hoping to get on this little project.

By the way, for those who are interested, this activity is perfectly legal as long as no one is carrying a firearm. Dutch, being on the NM Fish and Game Commission made sure of that! And in this particular area, we'd be more likely to be confronted by the Border Patrol than the Game Warden.

*Thanks to Scottish native, Andrew at Regal Vizsla , for the politically correct terminology ;^)

Beaver Shots.

Another New Mexico "attraction"; big hair never looked so good.

Return With Us Now to Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear...

Among the many reasons we love this part of the country.. the jacks, the green chiles, the dust.. we have to include these vestiges of the Wild, Wild West . Would this happen in Ann Arbor? Not on your life. (Watch the video if for no other reason than to check out news anchor, Nicole Brady. Hot!)

Yeah. So There!

Patriots: 'Better A Diamond With A Flaw Than A Pebble Without'

...and yer mother wears army boots!

Super Tuesday "Humor"

Just a sidenote... the only part of me that would touch Ann Coulter's ass is the part at the end of my leg. No, the other end!

And the Winner Is....

Unknown.. at least here in New Mexico. More than 24 hours after the polls closed, there's still no winner in the New Mexico Democratic primary. With only one precinct left to count, Clinton leads by a slim margin of 1092 votes. But.. there are still over 17000 provisional votes to be counted, so it could be weeks before a winner is determined. Kind of mirrors the national race.

Close enough that if we lived here we could have conceivably cast the winning ballots! Our South Dakota primary isn't until June. I originally figured it would all be settled by then. Now I'm sure we'll order up our absentee ballots. We, like you, can make a difference. But who will we make a difference for? Hmmmmmmmmmmm...


...I just don't know...

Weather Pic.

Did I mention the wind? Today, it finally diminished enough to slaughter a jackrabbit and get it into the crockpot... only about 20 mph today. When the above photo was taken, it was gusting over 50. View is facing south. The Florida Mountains are back there... somewhere. The dust is in the air.

When I said yesterday that I would give the dogs a break, I didn't mean it quite literally. Fanny has some kind of foot injury. Much pain, but no bruising, or swelling, or blood. Mysterious. Yesterday Buffy dropped her gracilis muscle- and - smashed a toenail. The sisters are out of commission for the rest of the season... Buffy probably for good. The good news is that the puppy is staying sound, as is Geezer-boy, Randir. Rally is an enigma. We'll test her achilles tendon this weekend up in Mountainair at a NOTRA "practice" race meet. She seems ready.

In other news... my 3 week bachelorhood ends tomorrow, as I go to El Paso to pick up Margaret. And not a moment too soon.

Mountain Blanket

Can't let the day go by without at least one post. This was about 7AM MST today. This solitary-but very large- cloud hung over my favorite little mountain range for hours. That's the Capitol Dome formation on the right. I need to get out and do more of this, and give the dogs a break. Tomorrow looks promising.

Y'Oughta See the Giants Fan's Jaw!

That's a real fan! I only considered putting my fist through the wall...

The Dark Side.

Absolutely last word on the Subpar Super Bowl... The Nueva York Giants were the recipients of some of the greatest luck in the history of sport. Or was it luck? Maybe there were dark forces at work that we can only wonder at, or dream of.

This was the kind of "luck" that Notre Dame used to have before their god deserted them after the hiring of Charlie Weis. There must be supernatural forces in play here... but not benign forces. These are dark forces. These are Faustian- Robert Johnson down-to-the-crossroads kind of sinister forces. I'm convinced of it. What other explanation could there be for this...


So enjoy your brief notoriety, Eli. Down the road, the piper will still have to be paid.

Damn... I despise that whole hillbilly family ;^)

How About This Sport Fans??

Who's the Numero Uno Champion Factory in college sports? I bet you know.

HT Brian at MGoBlog . Yeah... big hint.

Freakish Dogs.

Airedale Terriers the size of Irish Wolfhounds! I'm told they're bred for wild hogs, and they're apparently not a mix. Sandia didn't really like them sniffing around.

Buffy's Day. Looking Old School.

Like she used to do it back in the day. First jack of the day, and she led out like a young dog. Speaking of the young dog, yes, that's him running just behind Buffy.

And Buffy just enjoyed herself immensely. Still the prettiest dog on the planet.

Is That All There Is?

Well, that pretty much sucked. You realize this means the world still hasn't made Mercury Morris shut the fu hell up. Y'know, 18-1 still looks one win better than 17-0 to me ;)

Is Eli Manning a better quarterback than..... Peyton Manning? Sure looks that way. Is he a better QB than Tom Brady? You must be joking.

So thanks boys... for the most boring 3 quarters of football. At least the 4th quarter was... um, interesting. And, with the exception of the T-Mobile ad with D-Wade and Charles Barkley, the commercials were lamer than any year in recent memory.

And I'm out of Tequila.

Stanley Cup, anyone? I like hockey better, any way. Go Wings!

Hey look! The Biggest Loser is on NBC!

Is This It?

2:42 left. Patriots 14, Giants 10. It's up to the Pats' defense. What a phenomenal drive by the Brady Bunch. Holding breath.

More Live Blogging...

4th Quarter starts. Still anybody's game. Giants have a very good defensive plan, but one that could... should burn them some time in this game. Eventually, Brady's going to find the open receiver for the BIG ONE. One hopes.

If Patriots win, my pick for MVP is Wes Welker... fastest white man in the NFL.

Ohhh no. A big play by the Giants! More later.

Tom Brady & the Heartbreakers?

Hey, this is almost like "live blogging" the Super Bowl! Except this is all you'll see here until the end of the game. Maybe.

I know it's only half time... (great show by Petty et al, by the way), and I know the Pats have the lead, but geez.... I don't like the way this game's going.

Fortunately, they have the human equivalent of the Cray Supercomputer as the head coach, so I assume the problems will be adjusted to during the halftime. History awaits.

As to the commercials? Worst I can remember. That Doritos ad with the giant rat? WTF??

Hey Sports Fans.

I know I snuck the above poll in there last night, but surely by now, with only 3 hours left to vote, there'd be more than Buddy Salmon's and my vote. Hop on it, OK??

An Informed Electorate...

As Super Tuesday approaches, it's good to remember...
Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Kin.

Got an email this morning from Steve Garth, who has Sandia's sister, Maya. He included pictures that he said I could share... so below, is Maya.

She looks very much like Sandia. Looking a little bit different, because he's smooth-coated, is brother Zuni...

He also seems to be not as long in the body as Sandia and Maya.

One trait they share in common, is the willingness to get it on after Mr. Jack! That's "trainer" Wiz, the Saluki, in the middle.

We're hoping to get together with all these guys in a couple of weeks. What fun!

Life Comes At You Fast...

..at least here in New Mexico. And I like fast stuff, so was enthralled by this news of a new "land speed record" out of Holloman Air Force Base. (and not just because the puppy's name is mentioned in the article!)

No indication if Amtrak is looking into the technology for getting the trains to run on time.

Oh Good. It's Not Just Me.

(Gilkey-Detroit Free Press Photo)

I've told fellow football fan friends often.. I really don't remember this guy's career at Michigan. I'm not alone.

Unsafe in Any Decade.

Noooooooo!! No! A thousand times NO! Hasn't this asshole screwed up enough elections for two lifetimes? Please someone, put me out of my misery.. better yet, put him... wait, does he have Secret Service protection yet? I better let you all finish that particular sentence.
Not again.
Sob!

Gleaned from Google Ads.

Hope you all are checking out the Free Hog Hunt ad. I'm afraid my semi-dyslexic brain looks at that every time and sees "Tree Frog Hunt". MMMMmmmm-mmm, 30-40's my limit.

Every now and then something interesting pops up, up there. I saw this product advertised, but only briefly, the other day. Good thing I remembered the name of the business. This is a very interesting product. I'm trying to figure out if it's a product that would lend itself to Open Field Coursing. It's certainly less expensive than the California-made mechanical slips that most of the people are using now.

I'd like all my hunting friends to check it out and see what you think. It may need some modifications, but they wouldn't seem to be difficult. It would probably also be easy to modify for lure coursing. Check it out and send me some feedback.

Looking for dog food? Lots of ads for that up top, too. Help us out, and check them out.

Dad? Can We Go Hunting?

That's what he's saying. I don't need an animal communicator to figure that out. It's been four days.. the winds of the last two days (35, gusting to 50 and blowing lots of dust) has petered out, bringing in a cold front from the North. Perfect, to go out and chase a few.

As usual, Buffy used her scouting talents to jump all the hares today. She just doesn't have the endurance any more to stay in the race, (and the picture). I had Sandia on a slip lead for this one. I let him free course back to the car, and on the way back Buffy jumped one for him.. they disappeared across the road, but I did see Sandia jump one of his own on the way back. Just about the time we got to the car, we got another one up, but too far away. I actually called Sandia off of it. He's one smart puppy.

Today's Nature Shot: Horned Larks. This desert's thick with 'em.

Not Politics. Aren't You Glad?

Getting back to dogs... think dogs don't know how to have fun?


We're in New Mexico... (well, I am, anyway) to avoid this crap, but damn! This looks like a blast!

HT Paula, my BFF ;^p

We Roll 'em Out, You Pick 'em.

Mysterious Traveler Entrances Town With Utopian Vision Of The Future

Listen. It beats the latest "State of the Union Address".

If you don't vote, don't bitch.

Election (1999)

Election year humor from your friends at Slate.com

Proof-readers Wanted

Have you stopped beating your wife?

The following confusing poll arrived today with our regular Trailer Life Directory Technical eNewsletter:

We Want to Know

Do plan to RV more or less in 2008

than you did in 2007?

Yes

No

Thank you

The Rear End's the First to Go.

That's what they say, anyway. Here's more proof that Randir is a biological freak! Remember, this is an eleven and a half year old -male- Scottish Deerhound. And... he'd just had 4 or 5 (short) runs on jackrabbits prior to this leap.

Forgive the quality.. I shot this with the phone :)

What Bulgarians Want.

Had our first visitor from Bulgaria yesterday. One of the fun features of SiteMeter is the ability to glean a lot of information from the visitors to the blog. This would include the search words they used on Google to end up with the old Hare-Brained Express 2008 on their search results.

I don't know what's more disturbing.. the search, or the fact that we had a post that was, at least on the surface, relevant.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and say this visitor is an old Soviet Bloc female Bulgarian Olympic weightlifter.

Making Great Dogfood.

Begin by having fast, agile, and long-winded hounds who can catch the second-fastest land mammal in America.

Then follow the steps in the slide show... (advisory: If you're used to getting your meat in a bag at a fast food drive-thru, or in the shrink-wrapped, styrofoam packages I mentioned previously, these images may not be your cup of tea)



For detailed step-by-step instructions, click on the slide show.

Must be a lot of tryptophan in jackrabbit. All the resident hounds have been sound asleep since dinner!

Milestone: The Best Ever.

I don't care if you don't agree with me. The greatest baseball radio play-by-play man- ever- turned 90 today. Don't believe me? Rent One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. What other baseball announcer could inspire a column like this one from the author of Tuesdays With Morrie?

A New, Completely "Natural" Feed From Nutro?

Well.... no. Of course not. But soon, since I couldn't find a procedure anywhere on the Internet for dressing out these guys, (and being someone who doesn't mind getting his meat in the magic shrinkwrap and styrofoam packaging), I decided to have an expert, none other than author, fisherman, houndman, M. H. Dutch Salmon, show me how it's done. And since I have a camera, and know how to use it... you all will learn how, too.

This fella's documented from the chase to the dog food dish. Next jack, I'll try out Steve Bodio's recipe... I'm thinking I'm going to like it. Dogs are already half out of their minds here, and it's still outside in the crockpot.

That's coming up in a future post. Hang in there.

Eight More Years!

This week's Onion story, plays on your sense of nostalgia. If this weren't deliberate satire, it would make a great true story. Dammit.

Chasing Jackrabbits Sure Makes Me Sleee...zzzzzzz

Today's Feature: Fanny!

Posing nicely, here, with Cooke's Peak as a background. Last time we saw Fanny on these pages, she was chasing plastic, and looking damned good about it. This, however, is significantly more impressive:

Hard to believe this hare got away. But Fanny's going on 8, she's not 8 months old. She's running well enough to get entered in Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic, though.

We started of with Fanny free coursing, and Sandia on a slip lead for the first time. He was in this course, but I held him up just a little too long, so he didn't make the pictures. They ran about a half mile, and both came back quickly.

Then we jumped one that was too far out.. Fanny took off anyway, but I held Sandia. The course took Fanny back towards the car, so I started walking that way with Sandia. I watched as Fannt flushed another on her way back... a very fuzzy, distant telephoto shot shows that she should have come back with tail fur in her mouth! She was soooo close all day.

Before Fanny made it back to us, we jumped one for Sandia to run on his own. There are some pictures, but this is Fanny's day. :) He disappeared over a ridge pretty quickly. There's a good sized valley, with lots of brush, so I knew he'd be back soon. And he was, just about the time Fanny got back, so I leashed them up, as they'd had enough work for one day... Fanny 3, Sandia 2, and it was starting to sprinkle.

As we left the field I saw my old friend, the Golden Eagle on a power pole. Magnificent creature!