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!

Runaways.

Well. That was exciting... in a stressful kind of way. And hard on the vocal chords. (Cords?).

What was that, Dan? See, it's like this: To get Rally out of the motor home to walk, she has to be picked up and set down on the ground.. while this is happening, the door swings wide open, because both hands (and attendant arms) are on the dog. This offers a golden opportunity for Mr. Sandia to make a break for it. Most of the time I've made a circus grab, on the fly, and tossed him back in before closing the door. Today, I got a finger on his collar, but he just slipped off and away he went.

To make today unique, Fanny took advantage of the wide open door while I was turned and yelling at Sandia. Just one, I can get back fairly easily. With two, I had co-enablers. Away they rushed... toward the campground office. They said hello to a lady getting into a pickup, wheeled and ran back toward me.. hey, this was going to be easy after all.

Not. They ran to a corner and peed, looked over their shoulder at this...

Yes... a cornfield. A big cornfield, with a couple of deer stands on the perimeter. The temptation was obviously too much, as they disappeared. When the dogs disappear in the deserts of New Mexico, I don't mind.. I know they'll be back. This is completely different. Farmers in Michigan, and most other states in the vicinity, shoot dogs that are chasing deer. I hoped they didn't jump any deer. I did see a sandhill crane launch more vertically than they're used to.

Meanwhile, I still had Rally on the flexi, and she hadn't peed yet, so I couldn't put her back in, and I couldn't trudge across the cornfield with her and her cast, and the long-promised rain just beginning. So I stood on the campground side yelling, and they cavorted on the opposite side. I just hoped they stayed in the field and didn't venture into the surrounding woods.

Rally finally peed. I ran back to the motor home, threw her in, grabbed my Fox 40 Classic, and ran back to the cornfield, hoping they were still in sight. I was now ready to venture into the field myself... alternatingly yelling their names and blowing the whistle.. Sandia, made a run back toward me, I brought out a dog biscuit, caught his eye... and he slowed,... and then decided he hadn't had enough exercise. Meanwhile, Fanny had disappeared from view. Then Sandia disappeared.

It had now been almost 20 minutes they'd been running loose. I was on my own, because Margaret had gone into Ann Arbor to visit her parents.. if I dropped dead in the middle of the field, no one would find me until they came through to plant new corn. I had to find them..

I was halfway across the field when Sandia approached. And stayed. I got a leash on him, gave him a biscuit that he was too exhausted to eat, (although he did remove it from my jacket pocket after we were back in the house), and we went in search of Fanny.

We got all the way across, to the foot of one of the deer stands, and she was nowhere in sight. There was a trail that sloped downhill toward Goose Lake, west of the stand... as we started down it, Fanny broke out of the woods behind us, and stood to be leashed. She was finally out of gas. But not out of surprises.

I'd thought the worse thing that could happen was that they'd be shot by some farmer. Perhaps not... Fanny was covered in burrs... including covering her right eye completely; and she'd rolled in something exotic. Crane crap? Deer carcass? It was black, and greasy, and stunk to the heavens. Great. She needed washing, and it was raining and only about 45 degrees. I didn't want to bring her in, but that was my only option.

And that's how I came to do a thorough cleaning up of the shower and the bathroom today!

Return to the Swimmin' Hole

Remember that slide show from last October? You know, the one with Sandia and Rally playing in the little temporary pond in the back corner of Windyglen? Good. We figured, if still shots are good, movies will be even better.. so Margaret took Fanny and Sandia back to the pond which, due to recent heavy rains, was much bigger... and deeper, and shot this video with the Fuji ...

Listen... maybe that's why it's called Windyglen! And look at Sandia... that's why I think he's Bipolar.

Whats the Matter With Kansas?

Hey, we're back. Miss us?

We've been on the move for the last week or so.. from Oklahoma to Kansas to Michigan. Kansas was our stop last weekend for an AKC trial outside of Wichita... which leads us to the title of this post. And no, I'm not talking about Thomas Frank's excellent book by the same name, wherein he investigates why hundreds of thousands of poor Kansans voted against their own economic self interest in the 2004 elections. (Hint: they drank the Bush KoolAid).

No, I'm talking about our own wacky experiences in Kansas. First, we stopped in the brand new Wichita World Market... where we've found a wine we really like. Once in the store, I discovered we weren't going to be there for very long. No wine and beer section! What the hell is this? When leaving, one of the employees asked if we found everything OK... that's all the invitation I needed. Like she was prescient, she said, "Ah, the liquor?... thank you, Kansas". I don't understand what convoluted statutes allow Sam's Club to have a complete liquor store attached to their building, and forbids World Market from selling wine and beer. We never did get any wine.


Then, as we were leaving the state on Sunday, we witnessed a phenomenon we saw a couple of years ago: Every Spring, Kansans set themselves on fire.

They have their reasons. Good ones it turns out, as explained at the link. It's just bizarre to drive past mile after mile of smoldering grasslands. The smell and the haze aren't all that pleasant, but they're working on that.



And then there's "Pastor" Fred Phelps in Topeka. Actually, God hates you, Fred.


Now, I don't want to leave the impression that all is bad and bleak in Kansas. Saturday night we were invited out to dinner at the Kabob House restaurant on Wichita's west side. An intimate (read: small) place, featuring Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine. This was clearly a winner. I had the "Donor Alexander Kabob".... grilled, seasoned lamb, covered with a tomato-butter sauce, together with rice and bulgar. It was sooooo good. Finished up with a delicious Turkis coffee.


Now we're back in Michigan... I'm so glad we weren't still in Kansas when Kansas University won whatever meaningless sports tournament we watched on TV last night. We might have gotten trampled by the celebratory run on the campus malt shops. "Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk." What the hell does that mean? (Can you tell my money was on Memphis?).


Michigan. Snow in the forecast for the weekend. Figures.

Ontario-friendly Whippet Products.

Now the fine, law-abiding folks of Ontario, Canada have nothing to fear about putting the Shot On Site "I'd Rather Be Coursing" sticker on their vehicles... The American (and Global... except for perhaps Saudi Arabia) "Porn" version remains on the shelves.

See also new products for Azawakh, Irish Wolfhound, Ibizan Hound, Italian Greyhound, and Pharaoh Hound! (In addition to all the original breed goodies).

Where do you get them? here, of course.

New Slide Show!

As promised, Margaret's pictures from the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks (Tulsa).

That's all we have time for today, unfortunately.. gotta get Rally to the vet for the cast padding change. Wanted to do a sports wrap... that will have to wait till we get on the road again as this is probably the last chance we'll get to come into Hugo.

Briefly: Disappointed in the Final Four. Happy with the Frozen Four. Grand Valley basketball had a decent season (36-1) losing for the second straight year in the "Great Eight" to the ultimate Division II champions... Winona State this year. Tigers opening game today. That is all!

Another Easy Quiz.

Since the movies are uploading so quickly here at the library in Hugo, here's another easy quiz. (Post your replies in the comments section)

What dish is being prepared here? Certain people can't play... you know who you are. ;-)

Greetings!...

...from the booming metropolis of downtown Hugo, Oklahoma, where we've eaakaek mmgmgmgfmfmfm ldle0 eikdfjl94il... mmmfffff.... wait. OK, got my tongue unplanted from my cheek. We've escaped from Windyglen, where we've been spending the "off week" after last weekend's greyhound trial in Texas and NOTRA racemeet here in Oklahoma. Windyglen offers a lot for us... RV hookups, primarily, but a pastoral rural setting as well... and therein lies the problem, and which is why we've driven 22 miles to Hugo, and the Chocktaw County Library: WiFi. So, if you've been wondering what's happened to us, and why nothing has been posted recently... now you know.

I promised a shot of Rally's new look...

Right away you're probably noticing that the hardware's gone, replaced by a removeable cast. In retrospect, the external fixator device was probably not a practical solution for a dog that lives in a motor home with narrow passageways, 4 other dogs (not to mention a cat), and plenty of other obstacles... like catching the device on the door of the crate. Sandia also got his paw caught inside one of the rods as well. What fun. The upshot is that it got loose, and she developed a staph infection in the bone that was resistant to all but 4 antibiotics, (fortunately one of them was Tetracycline... for which we got a 4 week supply at WalMart for $6!). So, for living up to her new name yet again, the good folks at Louisiana Veterinary Referral Clinic put her in the cast, and Rally is much, much happier. We've had the cast off twice now, to change the padding, and the drainage has been reduced to light spotting, and the swelling around the tibia has gone down noticeably. She thinks she can even run. She may, but probably never competitively again. We'll see what Jim Radcliffe thinks when we remove the cast for good in 6 and a half more weeks.

**********************************************************

If anyone is still interested, the answer to the last geoquiz, was Dyess AFB in Tye, TX... which is next to Abilene. One of only two places in the US where you could see the B1B bomber.. (the other being Elmendorf AFB in South Dakota... but you'd likely see snow on the ground if that had been the location). And when I say they come in low, I mean it. Just check this out:

...and when the wind is blowing the other way, and they're taking off over the campground and the Flying J, instead of landing, consider this: It's four times as loud, with long flames shooting out of the afterburners. Just way too cool.

**********************************************************

We'll be staying at Windyglen for another few days, so don't look for much here until we head up to Wichita. Unless something happens that I just have to write about.

Oh, Margaret and Sally drove up to Tulsa yesterday and visited the Oklahoma Aquarium. Margaret got some terrific pictures with the little Fuji camera. We'll be changing the slide show soon!

New Stuff at Cafe Press

We've added Scottish Deerhound and Italian Greyhound to the bumper sticker assortment. Here's the "tongue in cheek" IG version.. You get it, right?
Right now we've only got the IG in the bumper sticker, but we've got the deerhound in stickers and apparel items. Check 'em out!!

Not With a Bang, but a Whimper

Brian at MGoBlog has all the detailed analysis anyone could possibly need on the Pryor commitment earlier today.

Just as a side note... We're pretty sure we know where he's going, but are we really sure he knows where he's going... in his loaner Corvette?

"If everyone's here," he said, "University of Ohio State."

That's a MAC school, isn't it?

Well.... if he takes too long to figure out the name of the school, they'll just take the 'vette away and give it back to Maurice Clarett.

Jambalaya and the Crawfish Pie and the Filé Gumbo...

...And lure coursing at DebMar Farms near Bush, Lousiana. Nice field, huh? When we were here pre-Katrina, you couldn't see across this field. 14 double-trailer logging trucks, and innumerable bonfires later.. you have a pretty good lure coursing field.

We arrived on Thursday, and Friday morning drove to New Orleans for brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters. We stuffed ourselves at the buffet and the egg station (tip: creole seafood omelet.. excellent) to the extent that we didn't get back to the car in time and collected a pretty, orange parking ticket. $20. Expensive parking. Cheaper than a seat belt violation in New Mexico, however.

Saturday broke warm, windy, and humid. A tad uncomfortable, but a far cry from the snows of a week before in Edgewood.

We were visited by Matt Mullenix and family. Matt is a contributor at the Querencia blog, is an avid falconer, and owns a whippet, Rina, from our hosts this weekend, the Bahms. You can see Matt's take on the blogger "meet-up" here. And here they are:

Unfortunately, Matt and family had plans for the evening, so missed the crawfish boil, and the live band- which had its act cut short by a visit from the local authorities who said they could hear them "five miles away". All in all, a fun evening. A fun weekend. And here's a wildlife pic from the weekend:

Not the rare, Ivory Billed Woodpecker, but its relative, the Pileated Woodpecker. Caught it flying overhead on Saturday morning; undoubtedly looking for all those pines that used to be here.

Today, we went to Louisiana Veterinary Referral Clinic to have Rally checked out. She didn't check out well. The fixator was loose, and she had a lot of swelling around the tibia. She's sporting a new $500 look. Pics as soon as I take 'em.

Forward.. Into the Past.

Let me digress briefly. Yes... of course the WalMart gas station with the refueling alien was Roswell. We spent that night in Tatum, NM. The town has free full hookups behind the community center. A nice touch. Last time we stayed there.. a couple years ago.. it was Thanksgiving week. We got invited into the center for the town's annual potluck Thanksgiving dinner! We have a soft spot for Tatum.

The next night, we stayed here:

Where is it? Nearest major city will do. (Todd can't play).

Quickie.

Let's just say I was wrong about Louisiana... about having a good signal and getting caught up, I mean. So much to cover.... after so much gumbo, jambalaya, red beans & rice, bananas Foster, etc, etc All will now have to wait until we're back in Texas. I know Matt Mullenix is sitting on pins and needles waiting to see his "family portrait". ;-)

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

We hit the road yesterday morning, and drove the Express out of New Mexico for the first time in 2 months. Signal's been spotty, so not much new added here. When we get to Louisiana, I'll have time to catch up. Meanwhile, here's an easy little geo-quiz to keep you occupied. Where is this? Post your answers to "comments".

UPDATE: Had a correct answer already... took about 2 minutes, but I did say it was easy. I'll hold publishing comments for a few days, so others can post their- correct- responses.

Leave it to the Finns & Russians...

...to do Southern Rock right! Todd, this is for you ;-P



HT Steve Bodio, and/or whoever sent it to him, with info on the band at the link.

OK. Not Funny Any More.

This started about 7 last night. Just light flurries now, but the winter storm warning continues until 6PM tonight, with another 1-4 expected. And I have to drive in to the airport to get Margaret at 4. In one of those meteorological mysteries, there's virtually no snow in Albuquerque, just 30 miles away. The problem will be getting there.

All In the Family

It was damn cold when I got up this morning, but by the time we got up to Moriarty and got the dogs out of the vehicles, it was damn perfect weather. This would be the only chance we'd have for a -truncated- family shot. Maya (that loooong dog from a previous post) on the left, Zuni in the middle, and well, what readers of this blog don't recognize Sandia? The people? It matters? Okay, Steve Garth, and Chris Mason (without whom, neither Steve or I would have these fabulous Spanish Greyhounds).

I would be an irresponsible owner if I didn't post at least one picture of the group chasing a jack, with Sandia prominently in the lead...

... and a solo shot of Sandia's backside, showing some pretty decent muscling..

..and after Sandia had run two, I leashed him up so Maya and Zuni could get some decent photo time ;-) Sandia's run way more than his littermates at this point which, depending on my or Chris's point of view is either a good thing or a bad. Time will tell. Today was his last rabbit until next Fall at the earliest.. so I guess I could have let him chase a third one. It was a great day out with good people and promising dogs.

We headed back to Edgewood for breakfast at the East Mountain Grill... something I was looking forward to all week. The best huevos rancheros I've ever tasted.. with green chiles, of course, and good black beans. We had to wait for Steve a bit, because he was hung up in the parking lot on the phone with Jermaine Dupri. Oh, these movers and shakers I hang out with.

Heads Up

Three quick things:

Tomorrow, 3 or 4 of the Galgo littermates are going out hunting. I predict a post about that later in the day.

New slide show on the sidebar. Magdalena. People, dogs, landscapes, horses,..... and pigeons. Click on the show for the captioned version.

Last: I just chopped a buck off the price of the bumper stickers at the store. We realized there may be some price resistance to a five dollar bumper sticker... even a spectacular, vibrant, attention-getting, custom design that our Margaret sweated over for days! There's lamer stickers there for $6 and more. Be like the folks in the Netherlands: buy a bunch! (And Anke: we'll do something nice for you... kind of like price protection).

A Long Dog, But Not a Longdog.

This is Sandia's littermate, Maya, at an oval "fun run" on Saturday in Mountainair. Chris said she was long. No, I did not Photoshop in an extra section of body. She's looking good here, but lost interest about the time the lure began to turn. Sandia did pretty much the same thing, after first coming to visit the photographer :-)

Any and all dogs were welcome to run. Below is proof that 4 legs aren't required to get around the track, as long as there's plenty of heart.

Whose Ass They Gonna Kiss Now?

Sports journalism's ridiculous love affair with Green Bay Packers' quarterback, Brett Favre is finally going to end. Favre's agent has announced that the man I call the most overrated player in the history of sport, is going to retire. The media's lavish praise of the man who holds NFL records in interceptions... (yeah, touchdowns too... big deal) reminds me of the way the political media falls all over themselves to shower accolades on presidential candidate Barack Obama (all of which is warranted, by comparison.... Buckeye state: do something right for a change!). That Favre, he's no Tom Brady ;-) He wouldn't even have the one, lonely Super Bowl ring he owns if not for this former Wolverine, Heisman Trophy winner, and Super Bowl MVP...

So good bye, Brett. Go fishin', and don't let too many of your baitfish get "picked off".

Rhymes With "OH NO!!"

Morning in Edgewood, NM...

...Dogs had a good time, though.

Not like it was any big surprise.. it was predicted days ago. Took Sandia by surprise, though. He'd never seen snow before, and the driveway was quite slippery. And why isn't that rabbit running away?

10:30 AM.... it's all gone.

"You Puttin' Me On?"

Here you go. The best thing to do when you're blocking (as opposed to blogging), is to just put it aside for a couple of days, let it ferment, and suddenly it's all clear and ready to go. If my home page is any indication, there's a whole lot of blocking goin' on.... as I see nothing new for several days from Patrick at Terriermandotcom, nor Steve at Querencia, nor Christie at Dogged, nor even Brian at MGoBlog. In fact, the only new post is from Andrew at Regal Vizsla , and that's because he and his wife just returned from a most extraordinary "vacation". They're back in the Bronx, but their luggage is still somewhere in Mongolia. It'd be well worth your while to check it out.

But this post is supposed to be about my trip up to Magdalena to meet the above mentioned Steve Bodio... and the reason I was blocking, was that for two days I was trying to compose a post to impress the famous (in his fairly large circle) writer. Finally, last evening, it hit me: He's not going to try and impress me with his photography! ;-) So this post will include mostly what I do best: pictures. That first image up there isn't mine, but I'll get into that later.

I arrived in Magdalena about 9 am, and after a little searching, found Steve and Libby's house. First I met the dogs... the famous Tazis, from Kazakhstan, and Plummer, the English lurcher, (and Steve, correct me if I don't have it spelled correctly), and the little wired dachshund, whose name I forget... did I mention I'm terrible with names?... but remember that she's 13, and has her own set of steps up to the overstuffed easy chair.

UPDATE: Lily! Her name is Lily. Thanks Steve.

I've seen so many images on the Querencia blog of the interior of Steve and Libby's that it was hard to appreciate that this was my first visit. What I wasn't prepared for was the amount of art on display... pretty much on every exposed wall surface - nature and wildlife and other works. And sculpture on most horizontal surfaces. Other rooms contained books... oh so many books; but that was to be anticipated, and finally, the gun room. Steve has written extensively about vintage firearms, shotguns mostly. I was allowed to examine a late 1800's British shotgun, and it was interesting to see the fine detail work up close and not through the glass of a museum case.

But I came up here to run some jackrabbits with Sandia and the Tazis, so after a breakfast at the Magdalena Cafe & Steakhouse, Steve and Libby piled their pack into their vintage Ford pickup truck, and I followed back down Highway 60, to the Lee Ranch, where they have exclusive and unlimited access to a couple thousand acres of pretty good jackrabbit habitat.

That's what they said, anyway. The ranch is on a huge, flat plain between the mountains that overlook Socorro to the East, and the Magdalenas to the West.

It certainly looked like good rabbitat. (I made that up.) So off we hiked, paralleling the fence. My first hint that this might not go as well as expected was when Steve said, "we've usually jumped a couple by the time we've gotten to this point". I should mention that it was now close to noon on the warmest day in this neck of the woods since October... if it wasn't 70, it was very close.

We changed direction, and headed north for a few hundred yards, then veered back toward the vehicles. Finally, I spotted a jack, but it had jumped over a hundred yards away, and was headed north. Sandia saw it, but I had him on a slip, and didn't release him. Steve's dogs didn't see it until it was almost out of sight. That's all they needed; away they went. I held Sandia. They came back fairly quickly, and we walked back to the cars, and the big stock tank which is a regular ritual for the Tazis, and especially Plummer, who's getting on in years and heats up pretty easily.

I finally let Sandia go so I could shoot some pictures. He wasn't much interested in the stock tank.

Back in the vehicles again, we returned to Magdalena to plan the rest of the day. I had to get back to Socorro and the rest of the herd who, as it turned out, Steve and Libby wanted to meet, so the plan was hatched. After Steve fed the pigeons, we'd go to the RV park, walk the dogs, (it's always good to have dog walk helpers!), and then we'd go to lunch at El Sombrero. That's when the day got interesting.

Steve offered to drive so we wouldn't need two vehicles. I got "shotgun", and Libby got the middle, and we headed for the restaurant at the north end of Socorro. I had noticed, when we were still in Magdalena, that Steve didn't bother with his seat belt, which is probably normal for the denizens of that little, out of the way village. He also wasn't using it as he drove to the restaurant. I didn't bother with mine either, so when the Socorro cop passed us, I wondered: do they enforce the seat belt law in Socorro? Maybe I should slip it over my shoulder anyway.

"WHOooop -WHOooop!!"

Guess enforcement's high on their list in Socorro. Be it safety or Revenue Enhancement, Steve's donating fifty bucks to the town coffers.

That little detour out of the way, and it was on to El Sombrero, or more correctly, Frank and Lupe's El Sombrero . We'd been told by a local friend that this place wasn't any good. Steve and Libby say it's the best place in Socorro for Mexican food. (The reviews at the link are, uh... equally mixed). Personally, my lunch was excellent, but if I'd read the menu description of the stuffed sopapilla completely, I'd have noticed the potatoes stuffed in there along with the excellent carne adovada. Add the rice and the refried beans, and we were a little heavy on the starch.

Lunch conversation, covered a range of topics from politics (we agreed to disagree), and food, and complaints about the Socorro police. It was probably the most fulfilling day of the entire 6+ weeks I've spent in New Mexico. I truly wish Margaret had been here, too.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's Steve, Libby, and the hounds in front of their casa. (That doxie's around there somewhere, too). Like I said, I'm lousy with names, but will fill them in if Steve sends them. Looking forward to his thoughts on the day.

I'll probably put up a new slideshow next door with highlights from this trip, and maybe the whole New Mexico trip.


;-)

Blocking & Tackling.

This post is not about football. Nor is it about mechanical physics. Nope, it's about my brain blocking how I want to write up the past 48 hours. Right now, I need to get ready to drive from Socorro to Edgewood, NM. So I'll tackle it when I get settled in there. In case you were wondering....

10,000!

It took three years and three months- more or less- but this here "Hare-Brained Express Tour" blog-deely-bob has just had its 10,000th visitor.. I know, I know the SiteMeter counter says 7767, but that's because when I switched to that counter from the old unlamented PastaPronto counter, we already had 2233 in the books.

So congratulations to the 7:51AM ET visitor from Quebec, Canada whose ISP is Look Communications. I think I know who you are, but post a comment and let the world know! Maybe there'll be a prize!

10,000. Next milestone: 25,000. At the current rate of growth that could happen this year!

Your Vote Matters. Really.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

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.