These Kinds of Tragedies Hit Us Right Where We Live.

Survivors Of Gas Station Explosion Mourn Tragic Loss Of Gasoline

It's bad enough the price per gallon is on the rise again without these senseless losses......... :o)

Air Show.

This weekend's lure coursing trial was held at the Triple Crown Dog Academy in Hutto, TX, and while there was plenty of speed, grace and agility on the ground, (Sandia picked up another 2nd place finish in Singles.... and he now runs a complete course without stopping in the middle!), the real show was in the air!

There were birds of prey aplenty, and they made the most of their photo ops, by flying directly overhead several times a day.

Of course, there will always be Red Tailed Hawks...

...and this was one of a pair that were doing quite the aerial ballet most of the weekend. I think they may be up to something.

As I was shooting the second runs of the day, I heard a commotion in the thicket next to where I was sitting. I glanced over in time to see all the small birds diving into the brush. I knew immediately what I was going to see overhead...

...this Sharp-shinned Hawk, on the prowl for lunch.

Finally, there was this large fellow; a Red Shouldered Hawk. My Peterson Guide says the red on the shoulders is not always visible from below, but it shows up just fine here. But just in case it didn't, there is the "window" at the base of the primary feathers to confirm the identification, which shows up plainly here as well.

On the Road Again.

That's us. And just in time, too. With all the rain of the past couple of days we were turning mildewy. We've been parked too long in high humidity and precipitation, and are longing for the land of single-digit dew points.

So today, we bid farewell to 2008 and hit the road for the first time in '09, and are heading for Texas, and then (oh yeah) New Mexico.

But first! We needed to stop off in Acworth, GA and get the new rear window graphic installed. It was past time to get the old one off..

...The dark parts were turning white, and the whole thing was dried out and brittle. Besides, few people knew what the hell they were looking at. When they finally figured out the jackrabbit, they missed the dog completely, which gave Buffy an inferiority complex.

With Margaret's new design, the ambiguity is right out the window, (no pun intended). It's right in your face..

Almost like a Greyound Bus, huh?

Thanks to a quick install by Les and his employees, we were on the road (again) in no time, beat the Atlanta rush hour, and got 2/3 of the way across Alabama before stopping for the evening.

Timing Is Everything

If you were at the G.A.N.G. year-end trials last week, you remember the "pond", or you looked at the pond pictures in the previous post.

If those same trials were scheduled to begin today... they'd be cancelled. We now have not only a pond, but tributaries as well. This picture was taken from the driveway after 2-3 inches of rain fell overnight and this morning. More is on the way...

Keep your powder dry.

That's Quite A Resumé , Norm...

Below is the funniest line I've read about the Minnesota senatorial race, and subsequent recount, which ended yesterday with a proclamation of victory for author/comedian/lecturer, Al Franken. It comes from this post by Nate Silver, of FiveThirtyEight.Com blog:

"Let's be frank: Norm Coleman doesn't have much of a future in electoral politics. Defeated Presidential candidates sometimes have nine lives, but defeated Senatorial candidates rarely do, and in his career running for statewide office, Coleman has lost to a professional wrestler, beaten a dead guy, and then tied a comedian. He doesn't have much to lose by fighting this to its bitter conclusion. But it's hard to envision how he'll come up with enough ballots to overtake Franken."

Coleman should think about that before he puts the state through a long, drawn out, expensive, and ultimately futile legal challenge.

So, congratulations to Al Franken. Minnesotans have shown the guts that the Texans didn't have a few years back when they rejected Kinky Friedman as their governor.

Watch This Space.

Coming soon...
World's biggest bumper sticker! Time to change out the Express' rear window graphic. Photos to follow.

And if you're partial to normal size bumper stickers, remember we carry with us a stock of all sighthound (and more) breeds to all the trials we attend. (Pharaoh Hounds currently SOLD OUT.. Thanks guys!!).

Also, bumper stickers and more are available at our Cafe Press storefront!

Waterboarding Is F-U-N!

My preference for shooting lure coursing on fields with a little bit of character is pretty well known. So when we arrived at the hilariously named G.A.N.G. Park, (which is, in reality, the home and property of our friends Les and Shirri), we were thrilled to see the result of weeks of rain in North Georgia; a pond, which Les thought he had filled for good, was back.

The G.A.N.G. folks, being an entertaining bunch, made sure that for most of the five days of lure coursing trials scheduled for the end of the year, the pond would be in play... at least for the more enterprising of the hounds.

So many hounds spent so much time in the water that one of the exhibitors donated a prize for the most entertaining of the swimmer/diver/skier/SCUB.. well, you get the idea. A judge was selected from those on hand to peruse and select a "winner" from our many images. When all was said and done, this Afghan Hound was picked as the best water crosser....

I decided to include a few favorites of my own, which include not just the comic antics of a few goofy dogs, but also this graceful, and picturesque Saluki...

...and for pure comic relief, this sequence featuring an Ibizan Hound who was sure... absolutely sure that...

"I can clear this thing!...

...I think I can clear this thing...

...ummm.... uh-oh...

...nope. Can't clear it after all."

For me, that was the jump of the week. Check out all the water shots at the above link, and all of the images from five full days of lure coursing here.

Making A Little History

Today, Tuesday January 30, 2008, Sandia became the first Galgo Español to run officially in an American Sighthound Field Association lure coursing trial. Granted, it was only the "Singles" stake.. (hounds run by themselves, with only a ribbon as a reward), and he didn't win... but he did take the 2nd place ribbon... Out of an entry of 2. It has something to do with his propensity to stop in mid-course and want to come back. A simple shouted command to keep going gets him around the rest of the course. It wasn't always that easy, so I'll take what we get.

This image was supplied by photographer, Lee Gearhart of Uma Rapiti Photography, who plies his talents in the Southeast US. You may find more Sandia images at his website.

I'll have more on the pond in the picture in a future post. It played a big part in keeping everyone entertained this weekend.

Hare-Brained Express Tour 2008. A Look Back.

For the first time since the Express took to the road, our annual odyssey didn't begin and end in Georgia. Ended, yes, (red flag) but we started our 2008 travel in southeast Texas (green flag). Things are back in sync now, as we're not leaving Georgia until the first or second of January. I assume we'll end 2009 back with our friends in good ol' red Georgia!

This map illustrates our GPS trail for the year. What it can't show, unfortunately, are the legs that were traveled more than once. Trust me, there are quite a few. It also shows our travel leaning more and more towards the Southwest, a trend I suspect will continue, until we don't travel at all.

That California trip sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't it?

Merry Christmas from the Families.

Robert Earl Keen

More CMT Music

More CMT Music Videos

What the heck. After perusing South Park, Monty Python, and other Christmas anthems not safe for work or kids, I ended up with the same video we used last year. And it's so good, arguably the greatest non-traditional holiday tune ever, we're just going to make it an annual thing. Our "christmas card" to you!

Only In the Southwest.

The quality's not great, but that can be explained away by the fact I shot it from the moving Express, through a dirty windshield... the curved part... with my phone! It's also heavily cropped, but was just too cool to pass up.

If it's hard to make out... it's this fellow in a Santa suit.

Thats the Old Christmas Spirit!

The Farkers are having fun with this one... I particularly like the comment from the British MP who declares "These cards are profane. Christmas is a Christian festival and should not be associated with swearing and vulgarity."

So, on this shortest day of the year, I'd like to wish one and all a happy Festivus! Patrick the Terrierman, explains why the distinguished MP is basically full of crap.

Meanwhile... I do need to throw together at least one web card for this holiday season. If you know us, watch your inboxes!

Nice Trip.

For no other reason than I like my free screen capture software...

While Margaret was in Michigan battling snow, cold, sleet, rain, and what-all, this was the trip I made the last week-plus. The dogs and I battled nothing but sun, wind, jackrabbits.... and abject poverty. You can help, and it won't cost you anything. Just click... you know.. up there at the top? Those things I can't mention? Do it. It will make you feel like.... Christmas!

East to West on the top, and West to East on the bottom. If you care.

Portraits: Dogs at Play.

Man, I've missed this place. It might be snowing and blowing elsewhere in New Mexico, but down here in Deming, it's been mostly sunny and in the mid-60s the last couple of days.

That's weather to take the dogs out in, and out we went. On Tuesday, I took Randir and Buffy to the other side of the Floridas. We jumped one jack that Buffy chased for a while, till it went through a fence. Randir didn't see it, so I didn't get the annual picture of the old dog and the rabbit. There'll be more opportunities next month when we return. Today, Sandia and Fanny got to chase 3 hares with Dutch's and Beth Ann's dogs. One was neatly dispatched after a 2 minute course.

So.. without further adieu...

Randir. AKA "freak of nature". To paraphrase David Allan Coe*, if he looks 12 and a third, I'll kiss your ass.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still the prettiest dog on the planet. Don't you even try to disagree with me.

Buffy's sister, Fanny. Getting in touch with her "inner Lion".

And Sandia. Now over a year and a half, and looking debonair. (And showing off the evidence that he now knows how to go through barbed wire, although the secret is to go under it.)

*Be advised, if you follow this link, it ain't work safe.

Br'er Rabbit. Lepus Californicus.

The Blacktailed Jackrabbit. Nice of him to consider the composition, too, don't you think?

I went out with the 12+ YO Randir, and the nearly 9 YO Buffy today, and got some really nice late afternoon-lit shots of them. When I figure out which ones I like best I'll post them.

The Alternative Anthem.

A couple years back, I wrote about Susan Werner's alternative anthem, "My Strange Nation". Recent events in America have shown that the optimism expressed at the end of the song was not misplaced, and when all is said and done, it really is a love song.

I just put it on my new MP3 player, so I thought I'd share it once more. Enjoy.

Weekend's Not Complete...

...Without a Sandia "Ribbon Shot". Excited, ain't he? ;-)

Moonset.

Brownfield, Texas.

Socorro, New Mexico

Watch for more images from the current trip on the slideshow window to the right!

No Cigar.

As hunts go, this one was about as strange as they come. Yesterday, we had 10 dogs start, and after the first run (TCC runs two complete runs in a hunt, as opposed to a seeded final), the roster was pared by one following a tail injury on one of the dogs, which was operated on in conditions that could only be compared to Civil War field surgery. Let's just say it was uncomfortable to watch. Man, those suckers can bleed.

As reported yesterday, Sandia finished second to his sister, Maya. The Holiday Cup, (which, in fact, is not a cup at all, but a massive wooden chest with a bronze casting of what looks suspiciously like an Italian Greyhound), is awarded to the hound with the highest combined score for the two days. So we returned today minus most of the competitors. In fact, today's hunt consisted of yesterday's 1st place hound, Maya, the 5th placer, Camille, and one of the 2nd place hounds, Sandia. For the mathematically challenged, that's an entry of three. All Galgos.

But somebody had to win the cup, and there was no lack of suspense because there was only 3 points separating the hounds, so off we went to the field.

Very high winds were predicted, along with the possibility of snow or rain, so we were hoping to get this finished quick. The wind was already blowing pretty briskly as we started walking, and questioned our sanity as we had to stop every couple yards to remove "Jumping Cholla" spines from the dogs' pads.

Mercifully, we jumped the jackrabbit after only about a half hour of tramping through the mesquite, yucca, and cholla. Sandia saw it first, off to our right, and I called the "Tally Ho". The course was unexciting, as courses go, and the dogs were soon out of our sight. The judge, standing on the tailgate of her truck, saw a little more than we did, but not enough to satisfy her. She wanted a re-run, but Steve and I had had enough. We said just score it, and agreed to end the hunt on this prelim run.

Sandia won the course over Maya by one point, but he went into the day trailing by two. The "cup" went to Maya.... L-R Chris Mason (breeder), Holiday "Cup", Maya, Steve Garth.

Congratulations Maya and Steve! The torch has been passed to the next generation of Galgos!

Sandia's "Maiden"

Briefly- Sandia's first judged hunt would have to be viewed as a success, as he did end up tied for 2nd place (with two greyhounds). And he did finish ahead of his Aunt Camille, who finished 5th.

So? Sounds like there's a "but"...

But... his sister, Maya, won the hunt.

Ah, tomorrow is another (wetter, windier) day!