Missing the Money Shot

I've gotten to where I don't bother taking the camera out to the desert when we go hunting.  It's heavy, gets covered in a fine, fine dust that seems like it can't be doing the camera any good in the long run.  And if I'm going to tote something weighty, I'd rather it be the binoculars so I can better watch the action when it goes over the horizon.

So it was yesterday, as I packed Sandia and Fanny in the car for a rare afternoon hunt with Dutch. A brisk East wind was blowing, keeping the temperature in the mid 50's, so we weren't worried about heat.  We were at a field we hadn't visited in several weeks, and is always good for a couple of chases, if not exactly bountiful.

We'd walked south about a mile and a half, and then cut west a bit, then back north an equal distance without even a sniff of a hare.  We decided to turn to the west for a while, and that's precisely when the hare jumped right in front of Sandia.  He got the jump on everybody, and had a good run up, which eventually turned the hare... hard, to the right, almost right into the mouth of Dutch' s Phyllis (winner of the Desert Hare Classic) who was closing fast.  I saw her head go down in the high cover, but she came up empty.  Sandia avoided the collision, and stayed right behind the jack through several more turns.

Eventually the hare made a straightaway break, with Sandia still on its tail.  In fact, that was one of the more impressive parts of this chase, that despite the extremely high cover in this particular field, Sandia never let the prey get more than a couple of feet ahead of him, always keeping him in site.  When they broke into an open patch I could see Sandia lunging, ever so close to the hares rear, but not quite making contact.  Those would have been some pretty impressive photos had I, you know, had my camera with me... 

But that's not the "money shot" referred to in the title.  Ninety seconds after the race began, Sandia, with some help from Phyllis finally snapped up the jack.  A very brief "discussion" ensued as to who "owned" the jackrabbit, and for a while Sandia carried it back in tandem with Dutch's soon-to-be impressive puppy "Cinnamon", but she finally let go and Sandia proudly brought "dinner" back to me.  That was the money shot, as these events are rare.

This was probably Sandia's finest overall course of his young life, the first where he really looked like some of the best Galgos I've seen coursing in the southwest.  The best moves of the jackrabbit didn't shake him. He kept it in sight despite difficult conditions, and he refused to give up until the job was done.

But his day wasn't over.  After a fifteen minute rest, and some goats milk and water, he was back out front as we started our final sweep back towards the vehicles, and boom!  Fanny jumped this one, and for a nearly nine year old staghound, did herself proud in the run up until Sandia and Phyllis took over.  This rabbit had a different plan than it's "brother", and ran in a- fast - straight line to the southeast.  Sandia was, again, right on it as the rabbit's sinister tactic became apparent.  It was trying to get to a heavy concentration of creosote bush.. nasty stuff you don't want your dogs running into, and pretty much guaranteeing the jackrabbits survival to run another day.

The dogs straggled back looking like survivors of a WWII beach assault.  Dutch's Ashley had a big hole in her foreleg, while Sandia had a long, ugly tear on his rear foot and, discovered later, a couple more holes in his armpit and chest.  Not deep, just tears, but ugly.  By the time we got home, he'd stiffened up significantly.  This morning, he's moving around much better, but we may take him to the vet, because he won't let us touch him.

The drawback to the vet idea is that they'll probably want to suture the wounds, which means he'd most definitely miss a big Galgo outing planned for next week.  Galgos are coming down from the north of the state, including his mother and siblings,  and others are coming from out East somewhere.  So for now, I've got him on antibiotics and letting him keep the wounds clean on his own.

Meanwhile, we've purchased a bigass crockpot, and there'll be jackrabbit in the dog food tomorrow!

So that was yesterday.  One jackrabbit got caught.  One got even.  Rubber match anyone? 

Bring On the Night.

From the front porch, sunset over the plain...

...and from the back porch, moonrise over the Little Floridas

Home.

We're there.  Up there on the masthead.

The Year Was 1980....

Our first will be Deming's 30th!

Can't wait.

Our Turn.

This segment's shown up on every other blog in the blogosphere this past week, so we might as well have it here, too... just in case you missed it. Wonder when Cramer's going  to jail?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Death of a Real Hockey Mom.

Every hockey fan knows that, with all due respect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe is "Mr. Hockey".  And if Gordie, (the only player to play on a professional level in 5 different decades), is Mr. Hockey, his wife, Colleen is "Mrs. Hockey".

Colleen Howe died today following a long battle with Pick's disease.  Not content to be just a wife of a hockey player, Colleen threw herself into the business of her husband's sport, in many cases helping negotiate his contracts.  There's a reason the word "formidable" shows up in this Detroit Free Press article and this piece on nhl.com reporting her passing. 

Colleen Howe was far from a typical 1950s stay-at-home mom. She took a proactive role in her husband's career and burgeoning legend. She managed his business interests, in the process becoming the first female sports agent. It was Colleen who put together the deal that allowed Gordie, at age 45 and two seasons after his NHL retirement, to join sons Mark and Marty with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association.

"She fought as diligently as any agent I've ever worked with, in sports or Hollywood," Howard Baldwin said in a 2002 Sports Illustrated story. Baldwin was president of the WHA's New England Whalers when Colleen negotiated the move of Gordie, Marty and Mark to that team from the Houston Aeros in 1977. 

Fiercely protective of her husband's interests, she had his name trademarked, as well as the titles "Mr. Hockey" and "Mrs. Hockey." Over the years she was pilloried for being intrusive, but she ignored all the criticism.

"She got angry at the walls that were built up," daughter Cathy said in the 2002 SI story. "But she said, 'Well, I'll just pull 'em down!'"

~~~~~

In a book published by the Red Wings in 2007 to honor Gordie, he wrote a dedication to his wife: "While I received the applause, you stood behind me and cheered the loudest. While I focused on improving my game, you made sure the bills were getting paid. While I was on the overnight trains and planes from city to city, you were tucking in the kids and teaching them to pray for their daddy.

"You have been my biggest fan. My agent. My dietician. My counselor. And even now as you battle for your life, you are my inspiration, my strength, and the love of my life."

Read it all and see why a certain, soon to be a footnote, former Republican Vice Presidential candidate really cheapened the term "Hockey Mom".

Thus, the Name.

Image, New Mexico Garden Club

Apparently, there's a side to the Florida (pronounced Flor-ee-dah) Mountains we haven't seen yet.  Not sure when we'll see it, but the mountains have been known to occasionally sprout vast quantities of Mexican Poppies.

The person we talked to today thinks this has happened maybe 3 times in the last 15 years.  Since there was a lot of rain in last Summer's monsoon, we may have a chance to see it this Spring.  Here's hoping.  I'd like to get my own pictures of this event.

By the way, "Florida" is Spanish for "flower".

Nuthin' Lahk Dirt Track Racin'!

From the NOTRA meet in Mountainair this past weekend.  Dust a-plenty, mixed with dried sheep poop!

Can't Wait For Our First One!

The year was 1980......

UPDATE 3-4-09: Aha!  Cindy knew!  Good job, Cindy!  (of course Cindy has an unfair advantage)

The View.

Not to be confused with a morning TV talk show featuring a clutch of yakking near-celebrity babes, and not-so-babish babes.  Nope, this is the view early evening from the front porch of the Hare-Brained Homestead.  We went up to see if the battery of motion-sensitive searchlights would work.  One did.  More investigation is required.

That's Deming all lit up down there. It's going to take a long time to get bored with this.

Clothing With a Message

I don't usually promote fashions available from CafePress that don't make us a buck or two, but Patrick has designed some pretty cool gear with a message some who read this blog don't want to hear.  Doesn't mean it ain't so.  Check it out- he's selling with 0 markup, and he's letting you copy the art on the blog to make your own... whatever.  I'm going to make a shirt!

There's Political News...

...and then there's POLITICAL NEWS:

The Obama kinder will finally be getting their White House Dog sometime in April.  The news, such as it is, is that this won't be the puppy, promised by the POTUS on election night, but a rescue dog.  And what kind of rescue dog, you might ask, if you didn't already know?  Why, it's going to be a Portuguese Water Dog... just like the two Ted Kennedy owns, and like the ones a lure coursing friend of ours in Texas owns.

It's great that the Obamas are choosing a rescue.  It's unfortunate that they are choosing a breed that has so many health problems.  They've done their homework well on so many other parts of their lives, but not this time.  I guess they didn't get the message from Pat Burns.  

Personally.. I'd suggest a Galgo-  that's just me    ;o)

UPDATE 2/26: Or maybe not.  Time will tell.

Jennifer Says Michigan Will Take Your Money, Bobby.

Our friend, Cindy, who teaches at Louisiana State University- Shreveport, along with her husband, Paul, has mentioned to us often the lack of funding for higher education in the state, and the governor's attempts to further reduce what little funding there is.

Apparently, Cindy, the governor knows best.... Louisiana must have plenty of cash.....(?)

This is really Sarah doing a bit of  Victor-Victoria, isn't it?

Hare-Brained Homestead From Space.

Courtesy Google Maps..  In relation to the town of Deming, and I-10.  (Dark areas are the Florida Mountains, and the North Florida Mountains, with the Florida Gap between).

Rock Hound State Park boundary is to the north of the unnamed road. Rock Hound is the only park in America where rock collecting is encouraged, rather than prohibited.

Landscape vegetation includes two palm trees, lots of cholla and prickly pear cactus, barrel cactus, a fig tree, and other trees, bushes, and shrubs yet to be identified. The pale pink roof to the right of the house is the cabin.  Lot is all the darker area, plus all the way to the right edge of the image frame.

A Change Is Gonna Come...

More than one, actually.

Since we committed to purchase the house in Deming, I've been referring to it here as "Mountain House".  More for lack of a better idea than anything else, it was merely a "working title" based on the fact that it was, well, up in the mountains.  Now that we've had some time to give it some thought, we are ready to unveil our Official Name:

This is the basis for a wood front gate sign, that our friend Tavo, (owner of the other dog in the Desert Hare crash) is going to carve for us.  Until last weekend we were unaware of this additional talent (among many) of Mr. Cruz.  We can't wait to see the finished work!

Another name that's going to have to change, is the name of this blog.  We're no longer going to be on "tour".  As mentioned before, we'll be venturing out occasionally to major events when invited.  This one was easy.  Once our travels taper off at the end of May, this missive will forever be known as:  Hare-Brained At Home.  The content won't change much.  We'll still write about whatever seems interesting at the moment, like the dogs, or good places to eat, or politics.

And if we're not traveling from event to event, whatever will we do for money?  We always knew that we'd have to come up with some kind of employment to keep us entertained (and fed) in the manner to which we were accustomed.  On a suggestion last Summer by our friend Steve Garth, Margaret did some researching and came up with our new, local business...   

Margaret thought the name was too "cutesy".. but I think I've beaten her into submission, and she's put together some cool potential business card designs, and logos.  This is just one example.  

The countdown clock on the sidebar, will let everyone know how close we are to moving in.  This is damned exciting!

Right on the Table?!?

I think I'd want a little more protein after.. uh.. you know.

Recipe for Disaster.

And I thought this only happened in lure coursing.  Not the part about the two jacks, though.

The scene:  Dutch Salmon's Desert Hare Classic, somewhere in the southwest US.  Margaret was slipping Sandia, in pink, between Luna, a lurcher/Tazi cross (and the winner of last year's event), and a saluki in blue.  

On a day that started out looking like hares were going to be at a premium, no one expected two to fire out of the tall grass like so many sporting clays.. one to the south, one to the north.  The "Tally Ho!" was called, and it was time to choose your rabbit!

Initially, Sandia and Luna chose two different hares, which got them going in opposite directions,

...which got them into what could have been a very serious situation.  In fact, it turned out to look much worse than it actually was. (And give me points for being professional, and keeping the shutter button pushed when my dog was in the middle of flying ass over teacup in the middle of the desert!).

They found their feet so quickly, that all three dogs got back on the jack, and a good course ensued.  I know it was good, because Sandia won it!

That got him into the second round, where he ended up finishing the day in 4th place.  I'm not unhappy with that, considering he was running against 18 of the best hounds in the southwest.  I am a bit unhappy that he finished behind his sister, Maya.  Again.  But as a friend reminded me, as a boy dog, he's not going to mature as fast, and if he's real good this year, he'll be awesome next year... and Maya will be in season!   ;o)  So that's our rallying cry:  "Wait till Next Year!"

More details on the Pack Hunt and Desert Hare Classic will be found in a future issue of Performance Sighthound Journal.  (We hope.)

"Cute" Weekly Bird of Prey

Burrowing Owl.  Although they are listed as endangered in many states, we see a couple every time we go out to hunt.  This one let me get pretty close before he bolted.

Yard Life.

We had to drive up to the new house today to make sure the manufacturer tags were still on both sections per federal law. (Who knew?).  As we turned off the pavement, there were a couple of trucks parked on the shoulder looking up at the mountains behind the house.  We stopped and asked what they were looking at.    Ibex was the reply.  They're reguler visitors I guess, so now we have to add a spotting scope to the budget.

As we turned into the driveway, much to our surprise, we jumped the young jackrabbit pictured above.  As it turned out, he was a valuable test subject for the fencing around the yard. I chased him, slowly, with the camera as he pretty much tested the entirety of the perimeter fence, finding no way out, until he worked his way back to the open gate.  If he couldn't find a hole, neither will the dogs!

The vacant  lot next door is home to a covey of Gambel's Quail.  Wildlife is abundant.  Can't wait for our first rattler of the Spring.  Yes I can.

He looks a lot like the Mimbres pottery rabbit, doesn't he?

Happy Birthday Chuck D!

200 years! Seems like only yesterday..