Belligerent. Wouldn't run away, even with 5 dogs pushing me from behind as I stood in the doorway to capture this, admittedly soft, (understatement), image.
Dammit, they're a pain in the ass, but they sure are cute!
Since 2009, the retirement home of Shot On Site Photography... the source of the finest sighthound performance images in the world. As of August 1, 2022, the blog will become much more photo-centric. Not only will I post images from the homestead in the foothills of the Little Florida Mountains, and surrounding environs, but also tips about shooting, editing, archiving, software, hardware and more. The political rants will become few and far between (but not eliminated! It is 2022 after all!)
Belligerent. Wouldn't run away, even with 5 dogs pushing me from behind as I stood in the doorway to capture this, admittedly soft, (understatement), image.
Dammit, they're a pain in the ass, but they sure are cute!
"It's impossible to say whether the show's smug superiority is more grating than its anorexic thinness of content, but seeing them in combination may fill you with a kind of retributive rage. I for one want to go out and kill a dolphin."
...and away he (she?) went, across the coursing field, and over a fence and out of sight. Someone shouted the obvious, "loose the Deerhounds!". Only myself, 2 of the field clerks, and the two judges saw it.
I have no idea if the deer was watching from the edge of the forest, waiting for an opportunity to bolt, or if it was just the beneficiary of extremely lucky timing. Whichever... it showed great form!
Why didn't I mind being towed? We had two big climbs in front of us, including Sidling Hill, seen here. We figured we saved $30-$50 in gas! This thing looks much more foreboding when approaching from the East.
Speaking of hills... here's the driveway at Bill's Truck & Auto-
Somehow, we didn't get a shot from the bottom looking up. But you can see me in the only place I could get a cellular signal!
...was the wisest option. We'll try to post some video in the future to show why I couldn't disagree. And they were paying anyway.
But the fun was only beginning! The tow truck company was located up in Pennsylvania, about 45 miles away. The road service folks, in their infinite wisdom, tucked away from the realities of the world somewhere out in Phoenix,
decided "Bill's Auto & Truck" in Hedgesville, West Virginia was the place to go. "They're only 17 miles from where you are now", the road service tech told me. Not even as the crow flies was it that close! 60-some miles later, we were parked on a rural two-lane, at the foot of the steepest driveway I've ever seen. It was 20 degrees if it was 1. I drove the car up to the garage, where a hand-written sign on the window proclaimed, "Closed today for doctor visit. Sorry for the inconvenience".
This was more than a little confusing, as the road service people had talked to "Bill", and so had I. He was expecting us. I wanted to call him and find out WTF? what was going on. But there was no cell service. Big surprise.. look up Hedgesville, WV on a map sometime... the garage is up in the hills, 5 miles west of the town. I returned to the wrecker driver who stated the obvious: he couldn't pull the RV up that driveway.. and he couldn't turn around with the Express attached.
I kept trying my phone, and finally found that if I stood up on a stone block next to the driveway, and held my head perfectly still, facing in a northwesterly direction, I could manage 2 bars! First I called the road service folks and told them, as civilly as I could manage, that this was bullshit. If the truck had towed us up to PA to his garage, we'd be back on the road already. Next I actually got hold of "Bill", who told us about an alternative driveway, (not unlike an alternate universe) right next to the steep one. It's actually a "road" which showed up on my map program. We explored it, and I wasn't crazy about its possibilities either.
At this point, the tow driver said he had to go. So there the Express was left, on the side of the road, in the hopes that Mr. Bill would arrive soon.
Margaret drove off towards Hedgesville to do business at the post office, get gas in the car, which was nearly empty, and to try and get a better signal with which to speak to Bill, the mystery mechanic.
About a half hour after the tow truck left, Bill arrived in his vintage Ford Escort.. (popular item.. his neighbor was driving one as well!). Here is where things speed up; finally! Bill decided he could do the work right on the roadside as long as I turned the rig around so his legs wouldn't hang out on the road. He didn't have the right plug, or wire, and couldn't find one locally, but he had acceptable substitutes, which he magically modified. We fired that sucker up, as Charlie Daniels would say, and I swear it sounded better than it did before the explosion. The bill was $40. The tow was covered. We were on the road by 3:30, and got to Morven Park in Leesburg, VA way before dark!
It's now more than ten days later, we're back at the Holiday RV Park in Michigan, with the II and the Saluki National Specialty under our belts, and nowhere to go for over three weeks, and frankly, we can use the rest.
We'll post some pictures from the II and such in subsequent posts.. Meanwhile, I'll be searching the internet for a suitable radiator... it's got to be installed before we make the brutal drive to Lompoc, CA in July!
Lessee... dirt farmers below the Mason-Dixon line can't bring themselves to vote for a"Exit polls showed Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, again had
difficulty with white working-class voters in Kentucky. Clinton won more than 70
percent of white voters, and three-quarters of those who did not finish
college.
About 20 percent said race played a factor in their vote -- similar
to the percentage last week in West Virginia, where Clinton trounced Obama."
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.
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.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 ;-)