Friday, May 22, 2009

Sue the Bitch!

Keeping you entertained while I think of something profound or pithy to write...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I Remembered!

Nope.  Haven't forgotten I've got a blog to run.   This road trip has raised such a level of irritation and frustration in me I don't want to spread it around.  The deerhound specialty last week was fun, and was finally an event that rain didn't hamper.  Oh, it rained, and it rained hard, but not during any of the events we were working.

It made me forget the mess that was the II.  At least I think I was at the II.  Activity at the storefront seems to be indicating I may have been elsewhere while it was going on.  It's making the decision to retire look real good lately.  

Anyway, enough about the past.  Got 114 Rhodesian Ridgebacks to shoot this weekend. 'Least that's how many have been pre-entered in the ASFA trial.  So while you ponder in wonder those numbers, here's a little chuckle for the day.  (HT  Shirley, who always finds the funniest stuff... when she isn't finding things that break your heart.)


song chart memes
see more Funny Graphs

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Why?

That's right.  Why be content to get stuck where a mere little Kubota tractor can help you effect your escape from the muddy clutches, when there's a really deep boggy situation just waiting down the road, and woe unto you if you venture a little too right or left of the hard pack.

And that's the situation we found ourselves in last Thursday.  First we tried the tractor again.  Not this time, sport.  The more it pulled the further right the Express wanted to slide until it was tipping precariously in the really soft stuff, and leaning on the chain link!  This also blocked the normal exit we call a "door".  Out the window, take the ladder off the back so Margaret could exit gracefully and head to Hugo to upload the II pictures.

Meanwhile, I called our road service provider, because we were going to need something bigger; much bigger.. than the neighbor's Massey-Ferguson.  We were going to need the big boy, because how do you extract a 20,000 pound behemoth that's heeled over against a fence, a foot and a half in the soggy earth... without damaging the awning, and the coach finish?  Watch and learn, kids... watch and learn:


These ol' boys were really good!

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Vertigo


Don't let the perspective of this shot mess with your mind.  This is a 4-shot "stitched" panorama of the parking area at Windyglen after all of the vehicles had left.  At the left is the front of our motor home, and at the right is the real of the motor home, as taken from the middle of the roof, so it's a 180 degree view with West to the left and East to the right.  Looks like the vestiges of trench warfare.  Sorry the image is so small.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Why Not?

That's right.  Why should we be any different from everybody else.  Just in time, too, as the skies opened up yet again right after we got it back on terra firma.

Rare Ducks at Windyglen.

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks.  As the map at the link shows, these guys are way north of their usual range. (We're on the Red River in SE Oklahoma).  "Very un-ducklike" indeed.  I thought they were something altogether different when I first saw them.

Look at all that green.  A bit different from what's been posted here recently, eh?


Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Nobody Got Hurt. (OK, one turned ankle)



Many readers will get it, but for some people, this is considered "fun". I'll try and have Margaret stitch together a panoramic shot of the aftermath. I'll go up on the roof and shoot the "aerial" version, now that everyone but us is gone.

This, friends, was the 2009 ASFA International Invitational Swimming and Diving Meet.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Infernal Road Trip

We are into week two of a 7 week road trip I really didn't want to make.  For starters, despite the fact we left Deming, and are now sitting in Bos.. Bogwell, OK we've already logged over 1700 miles. (Look at a map!).  That's because we first had to go all the way to Gray Summit, MO's Purina Farms for an event that featured rain, along with running dogs.  We then backtracked over 500 miles for a big national event here, which featured more rain.  Way more rain.  6 inches or more last Wednesday, followed by 1-2 more inches while I was trying to work (accompanied by wind, of course), then to add insult to injury, another couple of inches before midnight to make the field really fun on Sunday.

I'll have photos soon of the tractors extracting the cars and RV's at the conclusion of the festivities.

Later this week, we'll depart this garden spot and return the 500+ miles to Purina Farms for the Scottish Deerhound national specialty.  The 10 day forecast is for: rain.

At the end of the month, we'll be in Michigan for the Rhodesian Ridgeback specialty.  We'll also be able to load up more stuff from the storage unit, and have a chance to visit my brother, (my much younger brother) who, I found out, spent much of last week in the hospital replicating an episode of House.  If he gets his wish, he'll have a shiny new pacemaker by then so he can continue to ride and run, which is what he was doing last week when he suddenly found himself face down on the sidewalk.  The implications for me in this medical mystery, is that what he has is possibly genetic.  Oh joy.

By the way, it will probably rain while we're working in Michigan.

Then we will head to the Saluki specialty in Lexington where, experience tells us, it will definitely rain.  Usually with spectacular lightning and high winds.

Meanwhile, back home in Deming...


Now why would any sane person want to give up our lifestyle for that? (Yes, that's being facetious).

Friday, April 24, 2009

Optimism Is

Yesterday was the rabies vaccination expedition to the Deming Animal Clinic for dogs and the cat. Everybody was due except Sandia, who's a year off the schedule.

This included the nearly 13 year old Randir the Scottish Deerhound (which the clinic hilariously recorded as a Scottish Terrier...).

It's a 3 year vaccination.

That's optimism.

Living Bottle Brushes and Desert Porn..


Yep.  We're growing bottle brushes,

and these yellow, fuzzy balls (protected from the trunk on up by very sharp thorns!),

And if this isn't just a little bit disturbing.... I don't know.

Some of the many life-forms popping up in the yard now.  And there's more we're going to miss because we're about to take off on a 7 week torture tour. (See schedule to the right).  And I can say without any problem at all that if we'd had any inkling we were going to be settling down to a life of landed gentry we certainly wouldn't have committed to the bulk of these.  By the time we get back this will all be gone, I'm sure.  The next excitement will come when the rains start in August.

If anyone can ID these plants, please do so in the comments section.  Adios!

UPDATE:  big Hat Tip to friend Val (who should know!)  From the top:
Bottle Brush...  and I thought I was making a joke,
Sweet Acacia,
and the small yellow flower with the 10 (10 is the number and the  number shall be 10) massive erections stamens is
Desert Bird of Paradise!

We also have an almond tree!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Busy Busy Busy..

No rest for this little guy.  He's working the ocotillo from sunrise to sunset.  My "blind" is just sitting in the parked car next to the flowers.  I wanted to add this because I noticed the shot of the black chinned hummer I posted the other day is actually out of focus when you click to enlarge it.  Not so on this, which is my best hummer shot ever!  Click it.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

In The Yard Today.

Tarantula Hawk.  Check it out, this is one big wasp.  The body is about 2" long.  Click the link for the scientific stuff.

Wow! That's A Lot of Pixels!

You won't believe your eyes.  Hat Tip to Frank Vigneri..  Hmm, I've got some tree frog close ups in my archives...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Birds and Blooms.

In the past, we're usually long gone from Deming by this time of year.  We've never seen the bursting forth of life that starts happening in the desert about this time of year.  Now that we live here, that's about to change.   Having  the plants we have in the yard gives us a front row seat.

First up is the Ocotillo,
of which we have half a dozen samples in the yard.  A couple of weeks ago, they sprouted a group of red buds at the ends of their "stalks".  I took a closer look at them and realized that they would bloom even further, but I had no idea this plant that actually looks dead most of the year, would bloom like this.

The nectar naturally attracts members of the local hummingbird population, like this Black-chinned Hummingbird .
There's another, larger hummingbird hanging around, but I haven't captured his image yet.  It's either a Broad-tailed, or a Ruby-throated.  My money's on the Broad-tail.

Not hanging around the Ocotillo, but a new bird for me, is this 

Wilsons Warbler.  A bird that looks like it bought a bad toupee.

I've also seen a Scott's Oriole in the yard on a couple of occasions now, but haven't got its picture yet.

This is only the beginning.  I can't wait to see what happens with the prickly pear cactus.  Still no sign of the Mexican Poppies on the mountainside.  Still waiting.  If it happens while we're still here, (we have to take off on a shooting trip late next week), you'll be the first to see it.

"The Bird" 1954-2009

All through its history, there has never been a shortage of characters in baseball.  In 1976, there was no bigger character than the Detroit Tigers Mark "the Bird" Fidrych.

It was quite a jolt watching the local news tonight and hearing that Fidrych was found dead under his dump truck in Massachusetts today.

In 1976 I was living in Saginaw, MI. The local and national media was all abuzz about this eccentric, but amazingly talented pitcher who was starring for the Tigers.   Several of us with the day off, decided to drive the hundred miles south to see Fidrych pitch.  We got there, but the game was rained out.  We spent the next several hours drinking beer at the legendary Lindell AC bar.  So, while we missed seeing history on the mound, we did spend some time in a historic bar before schlepping back to Saginaw.

R.I.P.  Bird and the bar.

Monday, April 13, 2009

A Little Quiz.

So... I took this picture on my mountain hike yesterday.
It was on the side of the road up the mountain.  I know what it is.  Do you?
(click on image for larger view)

Mission Accomplished!

Don't think I mentioned it, but I'm going through one of those "bachelor periods" that happen a couple times a year.  Margaret flew off to New York late last week to visit with her kids, then made the hop to Michigan last night to visit her mother.

The fun addition to this trip is that she'll also be looking at vehicles.. something to load up with a fair amount of stuff from our storage unit and haul back here to New Mexico.  Right now, so I've been told, the leading candidate is a Ford cargo van.  We'll see what happens.

So with a lot of free time on my hands, and a cool (but very windy) day at my disposal yesterday, I decided it was time to climb a mountain.  There're plenty of them available, but I picked one that I can see from the back porch.  There are a couple of towers up there, so it makes an inviting target.

I filled my pack with water, a box of crackers, my Kabar knife, and binoculars, put my camera on the harness and walked away from the house at 11am.  By noon, I was probably a little better than halfway up.  I should note that this isn't exactly "technical climbing".  I only had to use my hands a couple of times, but the last bit was damn steep, and the rocks were shifting around. The wind was blowing strong enough to practically blow me up the hill.

Two hours and fifteen minutes after I started, I was back at the house, soaking my shaking legs in the whirlpool bath.  Today my legs are very sore, as I knew they would be, but not too bad.
Next time I do this, I'll make sure that someone knows what I'm doing.  It's not exactly wise to go off on an excursion like this alone.  But I do want to do it again.  There's a higher point on the Little Floridas I want to try.

Meanwhile, here's a little slide show.. images I stopped regularly to capture (and catch my breath) on the way up and back down again.  Enjoy.

Monday, April 06, 2009

We Go "Hunting"

"We are Fam-i-leeee"... That's Sandia and his sister, Maya in the image above. While she's longer than tall, and he's taller than long, the family resemblance is still unmistakable.

Maya's owners came down to Deming for the open house on Saturday, and became the first overnight guests in the cabin. They pronounced it very comfortable.

Yesterday morning we headed out to the well known big ranch with Dutch, and another acquaintance with some rookie Azawakhs. Recently, the jackrabbits at this location have been bountiful, to say the least. On this day, for whatever reason, they made themselves scarce. Maybe the increased coyote activity we noticed had something to do with it. We almost never see coyotes here, and on this morning, we saw 4 in the access road as we arrived, and later, two followed Sandia's aunt Camille back from her first run. The stopped when they noted the people in the equation, and returned to whatever nefarious deeds they were originally involved in.

On a typical recent day we would have run 6 or 7 jacks by 10:30, and been on our way back to Deming for brunch at the Campos. Yesterday, we were still struggling to find a 4th rabbit so everyone could have run twice at 1PM!

That's when we put Sandia and Maya off-slip to better scare up the hares. As the picture above shows, they worked very well together. Not straying too far, stopping periodically, then moving, right to left, left to right in front of the gallery. We'd been at this for nearly an hour and were walking in the direction of the vehicles when they took off at a run. Not an all out run, but purposeful, until they flushed a group of meadowlarks. Oh. Birds. And as soon as we relaxed again, Sandia was right on the butt of a jackrabbit! So they did see something.

They were quite a ways away when this race started, but Dutch released Phyllis, and the Azawakh was slipped and everyone was away. The pack followed the hare right towards the vehicles, which smart ones sometimes try to use as a "pick", but this fooled no one, as the 4 dogs stayed right on it.

They were out of sight briefly, then we could see them still in a group, way beyond the vehicles... a quarter mile for more. My binoculars were in my pack, so I was doing my best to see the course with the naked eye. I saw the dust cloud, then saw no more.

We waited for further developments, when someone said, "they're coming back." We started walking towards the trucks, as a couple of the hounds waited there. Then I heard, "one of them's carrying something". It was Sandia, and they'd caught the hare on a roughly two minute chase. Dutch, who had watched with binoculars, said Sandia would have won the course if he'd been judging it, but all 4 hounds would have had an assist in the kill, as the group was turning the hare every 50 yards or so. I've seen Sandia not bring the hare back when he wasn't the hound who picked it up, so I know he got this one. It will be in the crock pot by this evening.

So, here's the "money" shot I didn't get a couple weeks ago. He dropped it about 50 yards short of us.. I guess it felt pretty heavy after running it almost a mile, then carrying it back almost a half mile.

People are always discussing.... (arguing?) the difference between "coursing" and "hunting". My definition has always been pretty simple: If you go out with your hounds and don't bring back a jackrabbit... you were coursing. Yesterday, Sandia and his kin, and buddies went hunting!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Shrinking Bedroom.



Don't ask me.

The king-size bed that came with the house was fine with me.  But Margaret's been pretty much living at the 2nd hand store downtown, and there was this bed.  We saw the headboard a month ago.  I really liked it.  I wanted it, because the bed in the house was just that- a bed.  The headboard would really make it look nice.  It's identical to the bed used in the TV series, Medium.

Problem.  The headboard, and matching footboard were part of a California king bed.  Same width, but 6 freakin' inches longer, and they wouldn't sell just the headboard.  Oh well, I thought, ...and thought about it no more.

That didn't stop Margaret from pursuing it, however, while also picking up more chairs, tables, lamps and such.  As it turned out, they took our basically brand new bed in trade, and today they delivered it and set it up.  All of a sudden, the bedroom looks a whole lot smaller!  Amazing what 6" of mattress and some lumber can do to shrink a room.

But it is very cool.  The mattress, it turns out, is a brand new Sealy- still in the bag- with a cushy pillow top.  It also came with the matching bedside cabinet!

At 30" high, we were worried about our resident octogenarian*, but he continues to amaze...  


Think about the effort required to kip-up those rear legs!  I've said it before, and I'll say it again about this old man who is now the lone surviving member of his litter: What a guy!

*at the human equivalent of 88 years old, he's very nearly a nonogenarian!