A Call For Wallets.

Seems like every year about this time, disaster strikes.  Last year the readers of this blog came together and gave from the heart to help Dutch Salmon's family defray the costs incurred when their son, Buddy, was deathly ill.  (He's fine now, by the way. Just saw him on Christmas).

This year's crisis involves a dog.  An 11 month old Tazi puppy... (probably like a second cousin to our new Ashley).  Young Irbis, from Steve Bodio's recent litter suffered a terrible compound fracture, and requires immediate surgery, or he will lose his leg.

Steve is like a lot of artists, in that he is generally broke.. (I can relate), and will have a difficult time funding this procedure.  He has put out a bleg (begging on a blog) on his Querencia blog.  Go there and see how you can help... see how his readers have helped.   Any amount greater than zero will be greatly appreciated.  You've come through in the past, and I know you can do it again.

UPDATE 7:51MST -  Nice work.. I hear the goal has been reached!

It's An Annual Tradition!

Yes friends, followers, and readers, once you go past two years, it becomes a tradition.  I'm speaking, of course, of the annual playing of our Holiday video, Robert Earl Keen Jr's "Merry Christmas From the Families".  The greatest Christmas song ever written!  "White Christmas"? Hah!  "Sleighride"? You must be kidding.  What makes it so great, you ask?  It plays as well in July as it does in December, that's what.

Grab an eggnog, sit back and relax.. or sing along (that's what I do), and you all have the best of Holiday Seasons, and a great new decade!

Incongruous.

Considering the fact that only rain was forecast for our area, this was a bit of a fun surprise this morning.  Always seems just a bit odd to see snow on a palm :)

Every Day In Every Way...

...yada yada yada...

I'm probably looking forward to this Winter's coursing season a little more than I ever have.  For the first time, we'll have hounds who are fit and ready for competition right out of the box.  Remember, for the past 5 or 6 years, we've been showing up in New Mexico in January after having spent the previous 11 months traveling around the country, shooting lure coursing trials, and staying at campgrounds where we have to leash up the dogs and walk them around a small area.  Rarely...no, never, have we stayed anywhere where the dogs were free to run around.  So when we got to New Mexico, we had a limited amount of time to get them ready for competition, or even for just going out free-coursing.

Well, that all changed last March, when we moved into our house in Deming.  We've been running consistently, at least once a week, and more often, twice since the end of September.  And that's made all the difference in the world for Sandia.  Of late, he's been spending more and more time at the head of the chase, especially late in the chase.  Check him out.  That's one buff  looking Galgo!.

Is he handsome... or what?

First Team Test.

Make no mistake, Sandia and Ashley have run together numerous times in the last two years, but always they were accompanied by other hounds. Dutch always brings at least three dogs, and before this year, we'd usually have one of our older girls, and we're often accompanied by other friends from the area.

This photo, however, captures the first jackrabbit run by Sandia (blue) and Ashley (pink) as a "team".  Yesterday morning, Margaret and I took the pair to the big ranch on the way to Las Cruces.  They turned it a couple of times, (the images was taken after the left turn, and just prior to the right turn).  Just before they disappeared over the yucca covered ridge in the distance, we saw Ashley pass Sandia...  briefly.  At that point, he downshifted, spooled up the turbo and repassed.  Then they were gone.

They didn't bring anything back to us, but I figure that's just a matter of time and training, a couple times a week.  Probably going out again tomorrow.

Nothing Punches Up the Numbers Like a New Dog!

Stocking Stuffers! (From the Shameless Commerce Div.)

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!

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.

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...

Last time I climbed, I had no one to record my progress.  This time, Margaret was home, and was able to man the telephoto I left on the tripod on the back porch.  With 2-way radio communication, we were able to get the above photos of me at the peak.

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.

The Life.

Yeah, because the Express broke down before we even hit El Paso, we missed the big lure coursing trial we were going to shoot this weekend.  I had to do this instead.  Damn.  (Sandia in blue)

Thanksgiving 2009

I think he was reminding motorists to "eat mor chikin."

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers and followers.

It Was 40 Years Ago This Weekend.

What would it hurt to repeat a little history, really.

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.

A Good Coyote.

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.

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.

DUI

The official recreational pastime of the State of New Mexico.

History Quiz. Clue #1

Come on, people! These quizzes aren't any fun if nobody plays! So here's an altered version of the photo of the 1964 debate team, to help you focus. Our conservative-appearing mystery personality also played on the tennis team.

It's Sad, I Know...

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Not completely SFW (language)