Spring Has Sprung!

The calendar says it's closer to the beginning of Summer than the beginning of Spring. But in Michigan, I don't consider it to be really Spring until the Trilliums bloom!

Trillium Grandiflorum

A member of the lily family, the Trillium that we know in Michigan, is also plentiful all across the Upper Midwest and Northeast. It's also known as the "White Wake-Robin", and in French, "Trille Blanc".

Following the link under the photos will take you to information about this complex and scientifically important plant. It will also explain the inexplicable: those leaves? They're not leaves. And the stem's not a stem. WTF??

Around here, it's just the final sign that Spring has sprung.

Feelin' Like Hedda Hopper..

Sometimes I get to be like one of those Hollywood gossip columnists.

The ASFA trial this past weekend was a carbon copy of the previous 4 weekends.. one good day, one day of rain. The trend had been rainy Saturday, and pretty nice Sunday. As a change of pace, this past Saturday was gorgeous.. probably the best trial day of the year so far, and Sunday.... let's just say I'd finally had enough of the rain and wind and cold, already. I walked off the field!

While hanging out around the Express watching Margaret work ;-) I spotted this license plate.


I didn't think much of it at first, figuring it was just another vanity plate purchased by a dog fan who had an affinity for the United Kennel Club. Then I started to "put two and two together." Judging at this particular trial were two "high elected officials" of ASFA. Ok... the two highest officials. During lunch I noticed these two officers in earnest, private conversation with a mysterious dark-haired woman I didn't recognize from the trial.


What could it mean?


I keep coming up with "Four".

"Grapes."

If you don't know who this is, I feel sorry for you. Got a rare chance on Saturday night to watch the Red Wings game on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC out of Windsor, Ontario. After the game we got to see this.. Is that a great suit, or what upholstery? And that's not all.

Uh... Thanks!.... Somebody.

I owe somebody a big "Thank You". Wish I knew who. This very outrageously colorful item of headgear arrived with our weekly mail forward.

Let me back up a bit and explain how our mail works.

Full time RVers, like Margaret and I, get to pick where we call "home". Pretty cool, huh? After a lot of research, back in 2003, we chose South Dakota. Thousands of other RVers call South Dakota home, as well, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because there is no state income tax, no vehicle inspections, and vehicle insurance rates that rank among the lowest in the nation.

Where there are incentives like that, there are numerous businesses that sprout up to cater to people like us. One such place, in the tiny town of Emery, SD, is My Home Address, Inc. When you send something to us by USPS, that's where it goes. It gives us a street address in the community that allows us to get driver's licenses, vehicle registration, voter registration and more. For all intents and purposes, were South Dakotans! Unlike many of the people who use this service, we actually stop in from time to time and pick up our mail in person. That lets us go to the bargain hot lunch at the Senior Center, and meet and chat with our "neighbors".

Usually once a week we call Ron at My Home Address and tell him where we'd like that week's mail sent. And that's where we came in...

Last weeks mail delivery came in two packages.. one Priority Mail envelope, containing all the bills, and checks, and magazines, and other flat stuff. and a small box. The box had the hat, in a plastic bag, and nothing else. No shipping notice, no notes. Just the hat.

The folks at My Home Address had to obliterate the original address and return address before they put their address label on it, so the original return address is mostly unreadable. I can make out the last three letters on the first line: "son", (maybe "sson"), and the last digit of the zip is "5" (maybe "45", maybe not).

So there it is... somebody knows about my checkered military past, and sent an appropriate gift. If someone doesn't fess up here, it will forever remain a mystery. But thanks... whoever you are. I wore it at the MGA trial this past weekend.

Prom Season

1967

Fun With Photoshop Elements.

...and a distorted window. Just for fun, while we wait for the wildflowers to bloom in Michigan. Expecting Trilliums any time now.

Meanwhile, On the Fringes of a Field Trial...

Unless a field trial (lure coursing, racing) is being held on private property, there's usually more going on. Over the years, we've seen draught horse shows, radio-controlled gliders, and of course, soccer... going on nearby. Because Margaret needs a spacer between courses or races, I'll fire off a random shot of anything that's happening.. most often it's just a shot of the grass, or trees, or clouds in the sky. But often it's birds, or airplanes. Case in point this past weekend:

The military's largest aircraft, the C5, doing touch and go's at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and out on the cross-country course, this young lass....

Field trialing is never boring.

Lights On!

There's a phrase in lure coursing and racing, when a dog whose previous enthusiasm for pursuing artificial lures is, shall we say, lukewarm. We say "the light came on" when that dog suddenly goes from lackadaisical to earnest chasing.

It happened with Fanny, it happened with Rally, and Saturday evening at the end of the practice sessions at the OKIGO trial in Ohio, it seemed to happen with Sandia!

His eyes are locked on the lure, and he ran right past me, (and that's a new thing!). In fact, he didn't even glance my way. He needed a bit of the ol' "gitit,gitit,gitit..." a couple of times, but he ended up doing most of the course.

On Sunday, we tried it again, and he demonstrated that, while the light is indeed on, it's a low watt bulb. He'll need a lot more practices before he's ready for the intense, heated competition of...

...the Singles Stake ;-)

New Gear!

Last Summer, when I wrote about the sad plight of our Nikon D200 digital SLR, I mentioned that I thought my good Karma was starting to turn bad. I may have been a bit premature. Just a month later, Nikon introduced the D3 which, at $5000, I can only dream about, and its little brother, the infinitely more affordable D300. The two cameras are nearly identical.. the major exception being the D3 is Nikon's first "full frame" digital SLR- it has a larger sensor than all the preceding models- and it can shoot at ridiculous resolution at nearly night-time conditions.

Since that fateful immersion in July of last year, we've struggled along without a high res camera. Our old D70 was obsolete even before the D200 was introduced. (It's for sale- make an offer!) Our workhorse D2H's only advantage is a very useful high shutter rate.. (8 frames per second). Unfortunately, in the last two weeks, the D2H started showing signs it was reaching the end of its useful life. Not surprising, in that we fire the shutter off 2-3000 times a weekend. Do that for 4 years and the shutter starts resisting my commands that it do its job. It's begun hanging up on a regular basis. I got through last week's trial, but knew something had to be done. And soon. Even though we couldn't afford it.

Last Monday, we ordered up a D300. It arrived Wednesday. And I love it. It makes obsolete everything we've used before, and most everything else on the market, excepting the D3. The most striking difference? Color. Color like I've never seen. The following images were all basically point-and-shoot snapshots, at my brother's house, and Margaret's parents' house. Also, check out the "white-on-white" dog statue... last year's technology wouldn't be able to capture that tonal gradation without completely blowing out the highlight areas. And it all works without me having to think a whole lot about what I'm doing. And that's the most valuable advantage of all.

UPDATE: Apologies to those who looked and found no pictures. A Blogger problem. I've had to reduce the file sizes significantly, so the resolution isn't quite what you'd see if you looked at the originals, but the colors are still there.

What a Relief.

Now Margaret, who didn't know about our Meijer's boycott, won't have to return all the groceries she just walked in the door with...

After I had posted about the Meijer's donation program with H$U$, I tried to find info on it at Meijer's site, and could find nothing. Then I emailed USSA, and received this reply:

Dear Mr. Gauss:

Thank you for your message. Meijer has indeed dropped the donation portion of its photo contest. We are currently working on a news release about Meijer's decision to drop the program with HSUS. Thank you for your continued support of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance.

Sincerely,

Cory Johnson I Director of Communications

You may now return to your normal shopping habits. Never underestimate the power of thousands of pissed off hunters.

Great Television.

When PBS began promoting Carrier way back before Christmas, I knew I wanted to see it. A documentary film crew was given unprecedented access to the nuclear attack carrier, Nimitz, and also to it's crew. The program is 10 one hour episodes.. we missed the first two hours on Sunday, but caught the hours 2 and 3 last night. All episodes are available online.

For someone who spent four years in the Navy.. without setting one foot on board a vessel of any kind, (until, with only a month left in service, spending about a half hour visiting the USS Repose hospital ship in Danang Harbor), I'm finding the whole program fascinating. I'm almost glad I had the shore duty I did! Aircraft carriers are like a small town of 5000 (!) diverse residents, most of them very young, crammed into about 4 acres. And for 6 months at a time, they can't get away from each other.

Tonight, the ship and crew enters the Persian Gulf.

All hands stand by.

BONUS: The sound track is awesome. Playlist on the website.

For Midwesterners; Others May Audit the Course.

Meijer's invented the concept of the "hypermarket", long before there were WalMart "Supercenters". Groceries and dry goods and hardware and automotive and more, all under one roof. While they're slightly higher priced than Wal Mart (but not significantly so), we will usually choose to shop there when we're in their market areas (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois).

The other day, I got this email notice from the United States Sportsmen Association, informing me that Meijer's had fallen into league with the devil.

I just sent my letter of "protest" to the Meijer CEO. I urge anyone reading this in the above states... or, what the hell, outside of it... to do the same. I told them if H$U$ gets their way, they will ultimately end up closing down their pet and sporting goods departments.

Just do it.

For information on how H$U$ works, check this out from, (where else), Patrick.

Join USSA's Sporting Dog Defense Coalition here. The Sporting Dog Defense Coalition was a major player in the defeat of the anti-coursing bill a couple of years ago in California.

If the Shoe Fits...

Hey fellow bloggers...
Smile if you think this is about you.
It's not me!

Raison Raisin d'etre

Fans of the puppy will be happy to know that, 36 hours after the fateful ingestion of the shriveled grapes, he's completely asymptomatic. Up early this morning, and getting in trouble... oops! There goes the bottle of antacids. Well his tummy was probably sore from all the puking yesterday.

This morning's walk eliminated the last of the charcoal and more raisins. Interesting visual: a two-tone turd; black and brown. I decided not to go back to the animal hospital for further bill padding. He's going to be fine.

Drinking normally, peeing normally, no runs, no vomiting, and definitely... no lethargy.

So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'Roll Star...

Who wanted to be in a rock'n'roll band when you were young? Admit it. We all did. In high school, a friend and I, who had no instrumental skills, but vocalized our asses off, got together with a band and performed in the Senior Talent Show... we did songs by this new group from the British Isles. The Beatles, I think they were called. We got two encores, even though the teacher running the show said we couldn't have any. Screw you man! The chicks were screaming.

That's how I got to know Jim Osterberg.

Jim Osterberg? Oh yeah, he goes by Iggy Pop now.

Anyway, it never happened for me, but one can dream... Problem is, when people dream the dream they don't think far enough into the future. I heard this song today while listening to Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight old-time freeform radio show on Sirius radio.. It's definitely not "work safe". Is it "kid safe"? I don't know; I don't know your kids...

Rivalry Returns... (with a conspiracy theory)

The NHL playoffs are about to get interesting... finally. (Now that those irritating Nashvillains have been put in their place.... the golf course). The Red Wings next opponent is the always-hated Colorado Evil.. Avalanche.

It's been a number of years since the teams have met in the playoffs.. Well, the Wings have been there, but the Avs have been golfing by this point in the season.

But when the rivalry was hot.. was it ever hot! What hockey fan (the rest of you can move on to another blog at this point) will ever forget this:

.

But the league is trying to effect Detroit's concentration with the most bizarre rule ever handed down: No swinging the octopus over the head! WTF is up with that? Ah well... Wings in 6. Bank it.

Back to dogs and other stuff.

UPDATE: This is too funny!. Game 1: Detroit 4, Colorado 3.

Pins and Needles

It's always something.

For the next 24-36 hours I'll be keeping a watchful eye on young Mr. Sandia.

He sleeps soundly every night on a stack of blankets next to the bed. Till around 6:30 or 7:00am... then he goes into his active phase, counter surfing, table hopping, etc. This is when he gets destructive... grabbing a plastic cup from the bathroom sink and chewing it up, finding the leather sunglasses case and chewing it up, reading paperbacks by ripping out the pages... and mostly- looking for something to eat. You get the idea.

About 6:45 this morning, as I was dragging my ass out of bed, (Margaret had spent the night at her parents to prepare for their meeting with a lawyer this morning), I saw Sandia bouncing something large and cylindrical by the sink. It looked like the blank CD container. If only. It was a container of raisins. There weren't nearly as many as there had been last night when I put the container up in the overhead storage, (absently leaving the door open). He had apparently got up on the ottoman and then the chair to retrieve them.

If you have dogs, you know this is a bad thing. Potentially one of the worst things. Toxicity can occur with as little as 0.16 oz per Kg of body weight.. in Sandia's case that's about 4 oz. I estimate he ate around a half cup, possibly more.

Researchers still haven't found what it is in raisins (and grapes) that is toxic to dogs and cats. A micotoxin is suspected, but hasn't yet been identified. Toxicity manifests itself in some cases in acute renal (kidney) failure, and anuria, (lack of urine production). These are sometimes fatal, and can occur in just a couple of days.

I got on the Internet to see if I could use Hydrogen Peroxide to induce vomiting. Indeed I could. Knowing it was OK, and being able to squirt it in his mouth? Something altogether different. If Rally is the most perfect patient veterinarians have seen, Sandia is her evil twin. By myself it was impossible to hold the dog, open his mouth, and squirt the H2O2 in. Not enough hands. Time to call Margaret and wake her up. I was going to need the car anyway.

I think I manged to squeeze about 15ml into him with no result. I walked him and he started gobbling grass like a milking cow. OK... he was going to do it his way. Still nothing.

Meanwhile, Margaret had called Ann Arbor Animal Hospital and we were good to go. I dropped her back off at her parents and made a beeline to a place I hadn't seen in at least 15 years. Believe me, it didn't look like the picture you'll see at the link back then! In fact, my experience with AAAH goes back to the '70s, when Doc Hergott ran a small 2 exam room facility in a little red house at the same location. That's Ann Arbor for you. They told me Doc was still alive, which is surprising considering all the time he spent at Stadium Tavern, just across the street, where I was tending bar to supplement my GI Bill college fund.

But I digress. I brought Sandia in, and he was immediately swept away behind closed doors.. (I really hate when that happens).. to have vomiting induced. No WalMart Hydrogen Peroxide here, they gave him an injection of Apomorphine. He only vomited up about 12 raisins. He was also given activated carbon, which is an absorptive... to pick up any toxins in the digestive tract and carry them out the back.

They took his blood for a CBC (complete blood count), and a "comprehensive organ function" scan. All values at the time were normal. I have to take him back tomorrow and have this $125 worth of blood tests done again. It never ends. I believe I will follow Patrick's advice, (#8, way at the bottom of the post), and question the $25 dollar item entitled: "Nursing Care Daytime"(?) Just how is that different from the $50 office visit?

Anyway, I will be watching the boy for signs of vomiting and diarrhea (none so far), increased thirst, (about normal), and lethargy, (everybody in this house is lethargic at some point of the day... right now, for instance). Other than being a little quieter than normal, and he's had a traumatic day, he seems pretty normal. His evening walk did give up the evidence that some raisins made it out of the stomach before the Apomorphine made it in.. I made like a CSI and counted around 2 dozen,inflated and looking more like little grapes at this point. Later in the evening, more raisins were produced along with the activated charcoal... now that's something to see: jet black stools.

If we make it through the night without any incidents, I think we'll be out of the woods. And believe you me... I'll be doing a thorough scan of the counters before retiring tonight. Good practice for everyone.

Tractor Supply Company Takes a Snipe at Foo Foo Dogs..

...and scores a direct hit.

I saw this wonderful new ad last night, and thought, "Wow.. I gotta find this and post it tomorrow".. but insomniac Pat Burns, Terrierman scooped me- and not for the first time- so you can watch it there.

A Week in the Life...

It's been an interesting past few days.. you might say from the ridiculous to the sublime.

We shot the River Raisin Rhodesian Ridgeback Club's AKC lure trial last weekend. Saturday was soaking waves of cold rain, all... day... long. That was fine; I've worked in the rain before. Could be worse.



Sunday, it got worse. The snow in and of itself wasn't bad, it was the 25-30mph gusting Northeast wind that was driving it that really sucked. Of course, in typical coursing irony, the snow moved on, and the sun came out... 20 minutes after the trial ended. The wind didn't go anywhere, however.

This is one of the great fields we shoot at. It's a private farm, and there are great rolling hills that are actually grass.. not a mowed hay field. Makes a natural bowl. Take a look when we get the pictures from the weekend uploaded to our website. (Should happen later today). I think the Saturday Borzoi runoffs give a pretty good look at the topography, as I moved into the bottom of the bowl.

From the trial, I drove into Ann Arbor to drop Margaret off at Weber's Inn and Restaurant, a legendary local establishment. She was going to get to spend the night there, in one of the nice poolside rooms, adjacent to her parents' room. I could have stayed, too... but somebody had to go back to Jackson and take care of the dogs. I would join up with them all on Monday morning.

Why? I probably haven't mentioned this before, but Margaret's parents are HUGE Michigan sports fans, and longtime members of the M Club, the folks responsible for the "Go Blue" banner any sports fan who watches football on Saturdays will recognize. They attend countless basketball (men's and women's), hockey, baseball, softball, swimming & diving, gymnastics, meets every year.

The guest speaker at the M Club luncheon (poached whitefish or grilled chicken) would be Michigan's new head football coach, Rich Rodriguez. This was his first meeting with "the club", and it seemed he started off on the wrong foot, with a group you really don't want to piss off. He was late, leaving the host to stall for time, while the natives got restless. And dessert was not a part of the lunch. WTF??

Well, "Rich Rod" finally showed up, to a lukewarm standing ovation... I overheard one of the men at our table say, "He doesn't deserve a standing ovation.. he was late". Tough crowd. They would warm to him, though; I knew they would. This guy is a favorite of ESPN, and we were about to find out why. For a kid who grew up in a tiny coal mining town in West Virginia, he's certainly a fabulous extemporaneous speaker. I hazard to say he can probably out-charisma any coach in the Big 10.. and a majority in the rest of the country.

But why take my word for it? Just watch this clip Margaret shot.. this was his "wrap up" story, about how fortunes can change in the business of college football coaching..





Needless to say, at the end of the hour the crowd was a bunch of pussycats, and they were eating out of his hand. More fun than I've had in a couple of years.

Tuesday, I had to finish up my article on the Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic for PSJ . Finish, did I say? I had to start and finish it.. already past the deadline. What the hell... I always work better under pressure. By Wednesday morning, I got it finished up and, not to boast,... (OK... I'm boasting), it may be my best stuff yet, so make sure you get your subscription started if you don't already have one. The issue should be out in about a month. Should be a good one, because Dutch will also have a piece about lamping jackrabbits, with some of the pictures I posted here during our Winter in New Mexico.

Anyway, Jackie, the editor, had a fabulous idea. We met her at Chicago Water Grill in the little burg of Jonesville, MI. We've met her there before and we were looking forward to it, as it's one of those incongruous places: fine dining at it's best in a little town far from any bustling metropolises. It gets its name from the fact it sits on US12, known as the Chicago Road... the way you got from Detroit to Chicago before the advent of the Interstate System. I had a Grouper sandwich.. I've mentioned here before my love of grouper haven't I? I'm sure I have. Desert was a "Old Fashioned Tin Roof Sundae". They even do Bananas Foster at your table, (which, by the way, was the answer to the last little quiz, not that anybody cared apparently.) Great restaurant if you're ever in the area. Go out of your way if you have to.

And for a final little restaurant tip... how about the place we just had lunch? Los Tres Amigos. In the Top 5 of all the Mexican and Tex/Mex places we've written about in the past. We try to get there at least once every trip into southeast Michigan. Try the Enchiladas Pacifico- 3 enchiladas stuffed with at least 2 dozen large, grilled shrimp, covered with green sauce (not green chiles.... damn!), rice, guac, beans, and sour cream. The best. Really good margaritas, too- you know that's important.

Tomorrow we'll be off to Stony Run County Park near the town of Crown Point, IN. This will be our first ASFA trial in quite some time.

Bone Appetít

We having Chow for dinner?

Interesting thread floating around the portion of the blogosphere that I hang around in... dog for dinner. Read Patrick's interesting piece here, and Steve Bodio's here. Further links to related posts and articles at the respective blogs.

Save me the tenderloin!