Look up there in the Cafe Press box! New designs! "Life's too short to hunt with a slow dog", featuring 6 of the fastest, true sighthounds. They make great gifts, as do the "I'd Rather be Coursing", "The Family that Preys Together", "Prey.. Church of the Open Field", and "Hearts, Hounds, Arms & Love" items.
Many are available in coffee mugs, courier bags, T-Shirts, sweatshirts, etc etc etc. Still time to get them before Christmas.... but you have to HURRY!
Just Click and go there!
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!)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Ashley.
We just returned from Silver City, where we picked up new pack member, Ashley, from Dutch Salmon. This is a trial period. She's three years old, and is not quite used to living in a house.. with people. She did have access to the indoors, with Dutch's other dogs in the kennel. Right now, she's hanging out by the back door, and shows no inclination to venture further into the house. We'll see how it shakes out. If all goes well, we'll have a young pack for the Pack Hunt for the first time in several years!
For the curious, Ashley is roughly 3/8 Saluki-Tazi, and 5/8 coldblood greyhound. She's been out often with us, so going out with her tomorrow with just Sandia and me shouldn't be too much of a problem. Unless she decides to go the 90 miles back to Silver City.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Vertical Hiking
Meant to post this a couple weeks ago when it actually happened. Good intentions and all...
I'd been waiting for the daytime temperatures to cool sufficiently so I could do another scrabble up the North Florida Mountains behind the house. Wanted snakes and all to be gone underground for the winter. As it happened, I didn't see any snakes, but it certainly ended up warmer than I anticipated. And I did see a couple of lizards out sunning.
If you recall, the last hike (I have a hard time selling it as a "climb", because it's mostly steep hiking) took me to the radio towers to the East of the house. This time, I decided to go North. To here:
My original plan was to get up there, then come down through Rock Hound State Park, which is further to the left, out of the frame. Once I got up to the top, I changed my mind, which was probably a mistake. I decided to hike to the East, then follow the road South, past the radio towers, and down to the ravine I'd used for my return in the Spring. So I ended up approaching the house almost 180 degrees from where I left. It also took 4 hours, and I ended up 8 pounds lighter than when I began the day! I was a tired, broken hiker.
But I did reach my target...
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Ageless.
Happy 70th, Red Berenson.
"I don't have that feeling that I'm hanging on or 'I better enjoy this because it's going to be my last day'. I think I have an appreciation for what's happened here, but I'm really not looking back and I'm not looking that far ahead. I'm just worried about Notre Dame."
Only two other players in the history of the National Hockey League accomplished what Red did as a member of the St Louis Blues, and only Red did it on the road.
I remember watching his college career at Michigan in the early Sixties. A true "Legend" in every sense of the word.
"I don't have that feeling that I'm hanging on or 'I better enjoy this because it's going to be my last day'. I think I have an appreciation for what's happened here, but I'm really not looking back and I'm not looking that far ahead. I'm just worried about Notre Dame."
Only two other players in the history of the National Hockey League accomplished what Red did as a member of the St Louis Blues, and only Red did it on the road.
I remember watching his college career at Michigan in the early Sixties. A true "Legend" in every sense of the word.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving 2009
I think he was reminding motorists to "eat mor chikin."
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers and followers.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Back to Normal.
It took nearly a dozen trips to the open field this Fall to finally catch a hare, and as it was at this particular field last year, this was the first race of the day. It probably never should have even happened, and is a testament to the dogged (no pun intended) determination, speed, and endurance of today's pack; Dutch Salmon's Archie (above), Phylis, and Angie, and our one and only Sandia.
The call was long... way long. 50 yards out at least. But Sandia anticipated it, so I slipped him, which caused Dutch and his brother-in-law, Glen, to slip their hounds. We bitched about the distance they needed to catch up, which was compounded by the fact the hare was bee-lining right for the adjacent ranch, which meant they all had to slow enough, and duck their heads to dive under the barbed wire fence. All navigated the obstacle easily, and were still hot on the hare's tail as they crested a small rise and disappeared from sight about a thousand yards out.
They remained out of sight several minutes, and finally we saw Sandia and the girls returning, followed, much to our surprise, by Archie, who was packing the dead hare back to us. It was hard to tell which of the hounds actually caught the hare, because none of them were showing any evidence of having put their mouths on it except for Archie, who carried it all the way back, so he was proclaimed the winner. We think it's possible they actually went under two fences to bring this rabbit down, based on where we saw the dust clouds popping up while the hounds were out of sight.
We ran five jackrabbits today, in a bit less than 2 hours. A couple more were almost caught, but with each hare run, the hounds get a little bit more tired, while the hare is always a fresh one. Doesn't hardly seem fair, does it? Counting our trip out on Friday, Sandia, and Dutch's Phylis ran 9 jacks in the span of three days. This, of course, will only make them stronger. Plans are to get out to a different field later this week.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veterans' Day 2009.
Phil Ochs, one of the great voices of the so-called "folk revival" of the 60's. (And one of my all time favorite "protest" songs.) For veterans and fellow travelers.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Subcontracting.
Here's a scene from the first course of the first TCC hunt on Saturday. I didn't feel like toting around the camera and my heavy binoculars, so I subcontracted out the duties, and passed my camera off to our friend, Frank Vigneri, who captured the release perfectly. That's me and Sandia on the right, running with a longdog, whose name I didn't get, in pink, and Sandia's brother, Zuni, in yellow. The jack can be seen upper left, and despite the handicap of being on the wrong end of the line at the start, Sandia won this course.
Because the temperature climbed over 70 in the early afternoon, the hunt was called after the preliminary round, so Sandia ended up 4th overall, out of 15 entered. It was a pretty good day.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
History Quiz. Clue #1
Friday, October 30, 2009
(New) Mexican Stand Off.
Buffy barks at a lot of things she sees out the window; cottontails, quail, jackrabbits. Sometimes they're in the yard, most often the things she sees are outside the fence.
She started barking this morning. We looked out the window. Coyotes. Four of them, just crossing the road right in front of the gate. Buffy hates coyotes. She was bred in Iowa to be a coyote hound. She's loudly voiced her hatred for coyotes since she heard her first pack of yodelers as a 15 week old pup back in Franklin, Wisconsin.
So, what the hell.... we opened the door and let everybody out for a mad dash to the gate.
Coyote wasn't intimidated, and probably would have continued the stare down if I hadn't come
out on the front porch with the camera. He trotted off immediately after this picture was taken.
Buffy will never outgrow her hatred of coyotes.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A New Slide Show.
Previously on these pages I presented my new, cool idea of fast digital captures, shot one-handed from a speeding vehicle. Having just completed another round trip from Deming to a New Mexico location further north (in this case, Mountainair) on I25, and other federal and state highways, I now have sufficient samples of this fun, new art form to load a new slide show to the blog.
Very little tweaking of the images have been done. Mostly the simple, subtle enhancements available from Google's Picasa program- straightening, adjusting contrast, cropping, etc.
Since there was snow on the Floridas yesterday, I think it's time to remove the "Spring/Summer" show from the sidebar. This new show will replace it shortly, and will be added to as we travel further afield. Hope you enjoy.
History Quiz.
Since we've been in a nostalgic frame of mind lately, this is a picture of the 1964 Ann Arbor (MI) High School debate team.
Why?
(Some of you know, and I know who you are, so if you answer, your comment won't be published until the quiz is over. If ever. Clues may be found in the labels.)
Of no particular connection to the quiz, but currently topical, the write-up accompanying the picture (which appears in the 1964 Omega, the high school's yearbook), recounts the teams win at the Flint Northern Invitational Debate Tournament, where the debate topic was: "Resolved that the federal government should provide essential medical care for all citizens at public expense."
Better Late Than Never.
A little more than 2 years ago, I wrote a brief memorial to honor Ann Arbor's most famous "street person", Jake Wood. At the time I said that somewhere amongst my thousands of negatives and slides I had a picture I'd taken at the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival . (That was the "exiled to Canada" festival.) I said I'd post the picture if I ever found it.
Yea! And here's to you, Jake.
Friday, October 23, 2009
And That's Why Glenn Beck's Crying Like a Little Girl.
Voters' Testosterone Affected By Presidential Election Outcomes - Really - Air America
Posted using ShareThis
Who would have thought anything worthwhile would come out of Duke?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
"Please Release Me, Let Me Go"
A very short slide show of the best "slips" of the weekend in Stanley, NM.
We're laughing with you.
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