Fun on the field

Headed over to Cleburne this weekend for their AKC trial. Congratulations are in order. On Saturday Nancy Hopkins lovely girl Hay Luz won a 5 point major and then Best of Breed. She then went on to take BEST IN FIELD! I know Nancy was walking on cloud 9, I would imagine she floated all the way home. Hay Luz turned in a beautiful run, just floating effortlessly over the course. Like brindle smoke.

On Sunday CJ took the 5 point major, then forfeited to Cuda for Best of Breed. I ran Cuda for Best In Field, and he won. This is his third Best in Field. He is one truly awesome dog. I couldn't be happier with him.

Next week I head to Shawnee for their AKC trial, and our clubs first fun trial. It should be a real blast. Linda and I always have a good time when we get together.

Taking a little trip

My son and I will be taking a trip the second week in June. We will first drive to Illinois to deliver two pups to their new home, then onward to Ohio to deliver another pup and visit with a couple of Borzoi folks for a day or two. We will then be wandering back down towards Texas, and plan on doing the tourist thing. My son wants to go to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky and the Louisville zoo, we will also probably hit the Cincinatti zoo while we are in Ohio, since we both love the things. He is doing some research on what he would like to see on the way back down, and we will be stopping in Tennessee to visit with my good friend Sandra, since we will be so close to there. So folks, how about some suggestions........must see things? Anything between Ohio and Texarkana, over towards the east coast. We are big on live attractions like zoos and aquariums, and also like things like Museums of Natural History and Science. Not so big on stuff like Six Flags and Sea World. Throw those ideas out in the comments section, and we will take a look at what you suggest. It's going to be a fun trip, we figure on taking about 2 weeks to cover the whole route and back home again. We are going to have a blast.

You swine!

Sometimes people just absolutely floor me with their crazy ass views. Here's a really good example. I had spent most of the day at my Dad's, working to clear a blocked sewer line. On my way back I get a phone call from a really good friend of mine who lives in the county. It seems he has knocked down two fair size feral hogs, and he wants to know if I would like them. You bet your ass I would like them. Since I am coming one way, and he's coming the other, we meet in the middle of town at the local (and ONLY) gas station, so that we can transfer the future ham steaks from his truck to mine. These are not huge hogs, but just the right size, around 100 pounds already field dressed (if you don't know what that means, go look it up). We drag piggies from the bed of his truck to mine (on a tarp). And I say my thanks. Right about then we both become aware of a very well dressed lady staring over the side of the truck. "Well, I never"......of course, my smart ass response was "you probably never will either". This crazy twit starts in about how cruel we are for killing the helpless little pigs, and that we are going to rot in hell. First question, how can I rot in a place I don't believe in? Now, I am hot, sweaty and tired, and in no mood for meddling yuppies, so I come around on her before Dave can. My question to her was..........Lady, where do you think your food comes from? Do you think it just grows in those little packages at the store? To which miss yuppie informs me that HER meat is humanely raised and slaughtered and then shipped to the grocery store, unlike these poor animals, who were shot (GASP!!!) in cold blood. Right then and there I figured out we had someone who had never been near a packing plant, and certainly nowhere near a commercial operation. My smart ass gene took over, as it is wont to do in such situation, and I informed her that these pigs were NOT shot in cold blood, she was welcome to feel of them, as they were still quite warm. Dave fell out of the truck laughing, miss snotty huffed across the parking lot to her Lexus (I should have known), and I resisted a very strong urge to hurl pig blood at her. With idiocy vanquished I brought fresh pork home and strung it up in a tree..........after a bit of bloody work, piggies are now resting in the freezer, neatly portioned up for our next "cold blooded" meal. Sorry folks, but feral hog is some damned good eating, and it's lived a much better life than anything the commercial processors could ever hope to offer. I wonder if miss yuppie is still incensed, or if she has found some other business to meddle in. At least she isn't bothering me. And I told Dave to give me a call if he gets any more of the delicious creatures. YUM!

News

Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up. Thousands are dead in Myanmar, yet the junta won't let assistance in. They want money and supplies, but won't distribute it. Their people are hurting, but they don't care, they are so paranoid about outsiders that they would rather let people suffer. Well, you can't help those folks, no matter how hard you try. Fingers are being pointed at the U.S. because we have not mobilized they same way we did for the giant tsunami, but you can't mobilize when the freaks running the damaged country won't let you in. Stupid.

China has apparently sustained massive quake damage. They don't want aid workers either, but they have a substantial military to distribute aid and help the people. They want food, medicine and money. Since they can at least provide it to their people, give it to them.

And of course right here in the U.S. we have had many folks left homeless by the severe weather that has been rolling through for the last couple of weeks. I wonder what we did to piss Mother Nature off? Parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri........devastated. Other states that are not normally twister targets are also being hit. Hell, the radar last night showed 4 inch hail just south of me. 4 inches.........that shit can come right through a roof. You best be hiding under something pretty solid if that kinda of frozen water starts falling. I cannot even imagine in my wildest dreams what that would be like. The weather has just been truly bizarre this year. Tornadoes where they don't belong, giant hail, terrible straight line winds. And then we have the fact that Florida is on fire. And they can't get it stopped. Nature is throwing a fit.

And don't even get me started on gas prices, which are climbing yet again. But the big news story is why Shrub gave up golf. Who gives a shit? Oh, I get it.........it's another excuse to raise gas prices. Our weakening dollar is killing us, along with a weak economy. Speculators are driving the cost of oil through the roof. At some point, that bubble is going to bust, and when it does, I sincerely hope it takes the whole load of speculators down with it. Stop lowering the interest rate and further damaging the dollar, remove crude oil from the speculative market, drill right here in the U.S. (to hell with the enviro-nazis). The "crisis" is man made, and if the idiot in charge had two brain cells he could get the situation dealt with. But since he is a lame duck, there is absolutely no incentive to do squat. Of course his big oil buddies wouldn't be happy if he took action either. And no, I don't think any of the three current stooges who are running for the oval office will do any better. They are too busy running around trying to find mud to throw on one another. Just another cluster of politicians who are lying their way to where they want to be. They whole situation is just pathetic, and downright frightening.

Mutterings........

The weather radio has been going off all evening, nasty weather all around. Except here. Not even one drop of rain. Of course, one of those storms had 3 1/2 inch hail, so maybe I DON'T want the storms to come here. But we sure could use the rain. I have already had to start watering the flowers, the ground is parched and cracked. It looks like we might be in for a very long hot and dry summer. Not funny.

It seems someone from Louisiana is trying to buy a Borzoi to cross with his Blueticks. Now, that just does NOT make sense. I am all for purpose bred dogs, and unlike many, I hold no prejudice against long dogs. They are the ultimate running machines. But a Borzoi bred to a Bluetick???? Trying to make faster coonhounds maybe? But that would be taking a big chance on ruining the nose on the ticks. Certainly not coyote dogs, since Blueticks babble on the track, giving the coyote plenty of time to vanish. Not fast enough for jacks, not hard enough for hogs. For the life of me, I cannot come up with any reason why this particular cross would be good for any kind of game. Maybe they hunt something in the Bayou that I don't know about, but I sure can't figure out what this guy is thinking. Weird.

And I have black hands..........both of them. The shower is getting grouted, it's black. This stuff stains like nothing I have ever seen in my life. Most grout washes right off, I can't SCRUB this off. It's unreal. I am not sure what the coloring agent is, but it certainly sticks. My nails look like I haven't washed my hands in a month, and I damn near took the hide off with a nail brush trying to get this stuff off. It's nasty, in the worst way. But, even with the black hands, I can see how the shower is going to look when it is finally done. Going to be mighty sharp, for damned sure. I will post pictures tomorrow. I have to go get some more black on me, as if I didn't have enough already.

Oh, I am running this neat program in the background, it lets me know where everyone comes from when they view this blog. It's pretty interesting to see the same locations pop up every day or so. And it lets me keep track of one particular location, since I seem to have my own personal little weirdo out there in cyberland. This little program lets me know when weirdo pops onto the blog, and when they leave. And it gives me more ammunition should I ever feel like charges are necessary. Of course, there are other really cool programs that let you track IP addresses back too. A handy feature if you have someone hanging around that keeps changing addresses to keep you guessing. Maybe one of these days I will run the locator program in the sidebar of the blog, but for now, it's going to remain private. And yes, I know weirdo will see this, but I really believe they lack the intelligence to figure out a way around it, and I am quite sure they won't be able to resist the urge to come back here and hang around.

And lastly, we have skunks again this year. Six dead so far, one got away........we are covered up with them again. Other than the stink, they can carry rabies. So they die if I see them. And it looks like I am going to be thinning the local coyote population soon, they are getting pretty bold again. Of course, the upside to this is that the local varmint population goes down. I see a rabbit call and a rifle in my near future. This happens every couple of years. I hate to do it, since they have their place in the ecosystem. But that place is NOT at the back of my property.

First Point

Today at Denton Kennel Club Bo was WB for her first point under judge Murrel Purkhiser. Hemi beat himself by acting like he didn't have two brain cells to rub together. Me and that boy have got to have a chat.

A Mother's Pride

My son is growing up so quickly. Tonight is his Junior Prom. How hard it is to realize he has grown almost to adulthood, but the pictures just don't lie. I am very proud of him, he is my heart and soul. Even though he is nearly grown, a Mother's love doesn't change due to age. His first formal event, he will do just fine. Here's my handsome son.




And pictured here with his date for the evening, Heather. She is just beautiful!



I hope they have an evening to remember. These years are so fleeting, memories are to be treasured.