swollen noses

My apologies for the delay in posting. We've had a hectic time with my folks in town -- and sadly, we've been a little distracted even from attending to them because we've been trying to also take care of The Mominator.

He got stung about 20times by bees (we think) on Wednesday... a few around his nose and head, but most on his back legs and butt, presumably as he ran away. We gave him Benadryl for a day which helped eliminate most of the hives and some of the itching... except by Thursday afternoon, he's already gouged himself in the nose trying to scratch. So then we started regular cleanings and applying Neosporin. And made him wear his other e-collar: the Elizabethan collar, a.k.a. The Lampshade.

Yesterday morning it looked like swelling had stopped going down (although there was still some), but the itch was obviously still there. By the time I got home last night, it was obvious he had some kind of secondary infection as well as histamine still in his system. And so we went to the after-hours vet. He's now on steroids and antibiotics -- and even after just 12hrs treatment he seems a little happier and his nose a little less swollen.

However, with his drug load, he will therefore be ineligible to race in the Cycling World Championships roadrace for Hungary tomorrow. However, if you go there quickly, you'll see that he got a nice shout-out from Wendy & Chris at Widdershins about his performance at the VCCNE hunt tests. (And congratulations to Seeker and Kay C on their performance, too.)

living with Vizslak

After my last few days of ranting about the state of the world, I realise it's time for a picture of the boys. For those of you who don't have Vizslak (the plural of Vizsla, apparently), here's a newer phenomenon to us. Not so much sitting on a chair, but climbing onto the top edge of the seat cushion. Odd. Or better... eccentric.

Now, it would be fair to say that we could require our dogs to stay off furniture (and they are only allowed on some). But there is some real joy to be had from having a tired happy Vizsla asleep on your feet, your lap, or your head. It's only when they're jockeying for position that it's actually inconvenient.

And yes! that's the little one in the foreground... all 31lbs of him!

My parents arrive tomorrow for roughly two weeks. Hope they like eccentric dogs.

vuelta glory

Laurels #1: I was bold three weeks ago in my predictions for the Vuelta a Espana: Carlos Sastre (CSC), Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), and Stijn Devolder (Discovery). Sadly Stijn was sufficiently worn out from the season's racing that the Belgian National Champion may not even ride the World Championships in the next few days.

But the results are in: Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Carlos Sastre (CSC), Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto). It was a dominating ride by Menchov and, while his second win in the last of the Grand Tours, he didn't win this year's race because the guy who finished ahead of him was disqualified for doping.

(I had Samuel Sanchez on my fantasy team as well... and so snuck in another victory in our 'yobbos' sub-league.)

Laurels #2: ESPN.com has a nice story on the dissonance between China's proposition that the Beijing Olympics will be the 'cleanest' Olympics to date, the approximately $480million trade in illegal Chinese-made steroids, and the monster raids by the DEA this morning.

jackass award

I was prepared to ascribe Lee Bollinger some credit for taking the unpopular stand of inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak and answer questions at Columbia University. Bollinger is an expert on free-speech -- and if you can't win hearts and minds by extending the freedom of speech to someone you despise (and who probably despises you), then when else can you?

But to invite someone to your 'house' and then make such insinuations about their character by assigning "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator" to them is frankly entirely lacking in class. Either summon the courage to say that your guest is a dictator or deny them an invitation. This is perhaps the only time that I would fine myself in concert with Zionists and Republicans. As the Weekly Standard column by William Kristol states: "In fact, the introduction with "sharp challenges" by Bollinger makes the situation even more of a disgrace."

That Kristol sees Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia as a "propaganda victory." Hmmm. Not sure which propaganda war we're talking about here. Pretty sure that whether Amhadinejad spoke at Columbia or not, few people's minds were changed about US foreign policy, international terrorism, the immutable facts of the Holocaust, and sadly probably not about Lee Bollinger, either. Kristol references Scott Johnson at PowerLine who concludes in his thoughts about the initial invitation for Ahmadinejad to speak: "And President Bollinger is a fool who is not excused from the dishonor he brings to his institution and his fellow citizens by the fact that he doesn't know what he is doing." Sadly, Scott was more correct than I would have imagined.

Ahmadinejad replied with far more grace in this instance, adding "In Iran, tradition demands that when we ask a person to be a speaker, we actually respect the students and the professors to allow them to make their own judgment."

On a related note: I found Roger Cohen's op-ed in the New York Times this morning far more poignant a pre-amble to President Ahmadinejad's visit than any of the blunders Bollinger staggered through.

In a different related note: Maybe Dan + Margaret were also around for this, but I was in Ann Arbor for graduate school and witnessed the infamous KKK rally of 1996. The city defended the Klansmen's right to free speech and agreed to host them on the steps of City Hall -- and protection of even the vilest human's right to speak cost the city $72,000 (presumably in police overtime and hazard pay). Now, would I rather have had $72,000 go to improving public school conditions, roads, or shelter for the homeless? Sure. But if we never dare to risk the challenge of the First Amendment, we'll be living in somewhere like Uzbekistan.

I don't know where Keshia Thomas is these days, but go here to see bravery the likes of which we hope our university leaders genuinely possess.

verdict's in...

Verdict #1: The USADA has finally reached a decision -- actually a 2-1 opinion -- on whether Floyd Landis partook of illegal substances in his 2006 Tour de France win. And so, while Pat McQuaid of the UCI has made a few snide comments about Floyd's yellow jersey, Oscar Pereiro should shortly be awarded the official title of 'winner.'

TrustbutVerify has, by far, the best coverage.

Verdict #2: Genevieve Jeanson, former enfant terrible of women's professional cycling, has now admitted she also took EPO as a teenager. She has an interesting variation on the Senator Larry Craig defence:

'After the suspension was announced [in January, 2007], Jeanson continued to deny the charges. She now says, "It was not Geneviève that lied. It was someone else I did not know. It was something I was told to do and yes, I do regret it."'

Verdict #3: Sadly, while some skeletons do seem to be coming out the closet, professional cycling still needs to deal with over-zealots like Meat and Pat McQuaid and quasi-professional outfits like the French LNDD lab.

'"We are on the front line no matter what. It's normal. The lawyers use all the means at their disposal. They shoot with cannons," de Ceaurriz said, adding that some of the lab staff were affected by the hype surrounding the case. "I think they'll be happy but no more than me. They will be happy because they were dragged through the mud a little bit," he said. "That the laboratory or its director is dragged through the mud is not too serious. But it is bothersome when it touches the staff."'

Again, if Floyd did it, then he did it and damn him. But when the UCI asks Cycling Australia to withhold Allan Davis's entry into the upcoming World Championships (despite his repeated offers to submit DNA) because he may or may not be linked to Operacion Puerto, and the director of the LNDD whines about why having to run accurate tests cuts into his and his staff's summer break, the problem of doping in professional cycling is far broader than homologous blood transfusions, EPO, and where cyclists went on their summer vacations without telling anyone.

hunt test highlights

Here are a few reflections on the weekend -- which may be useful for folks out there who have pointing dogs and, while they may never hunt them, may be interested in more fully exploring their dog's intellect and genetic disposition.

As I mentioned, we met some great folks at the test including Kim and Mike Barry who are Forest King Vizslas. (Kim is also the President of the VCCNE. And therefore an Important Person.) We also met Rich and Adrian who were at their first hunt tests as well. They had brought Ella, their beautiful 16mos Vizsla-girl -- who took a shine to Jozsi, in particular.

In any case, her hunting ability outshone her taste in boys. The video is of Ella's run on Sunday morning. Even in the video, you can see what a pretty girl she is. And she does the same thing Momo does when she absolutely knows she's found a bird... everything goes rigid except the wiggling stub of her tail. She stays nicely staunch while Rich goes in to grab the bird (because it doesn't want to fly) and then throws it into the air. I'm not sure if Rich's pistol mis-fired or the video cuts off the 'pop', but for the purposes of the test when the bird flushes (or has to be thrown), the handler fires the pistol.



Here's Rich and Ella. Another proud dad and a dog who's happy their dad's so happy. And if there are a couple of things I've learned halfway through Junior Hunter, it's that this test level is really about the dog -- and if the dog has had some exposure to game birds, then the best thing the handler can do is simply minimize their presence as much as possible. You can certainly do your best to get the dog in as good a starting position as possible with regard to the bird-field and the wind -- but just trust the dog and get out of its way.

two up, two down

This weekend's big adventure was a drive to our first Vizsla Club of Central New England event and Momo's first hunt tests. The two tests -- one on Saturday, one on Sunday -- were held at the Francis Crane Wildlife Management Area out by Falmouth, MA, on Cape Cod. I had forgotten just how beautiful it is down on the Cape especially at this time of year, and the Crane WMA is a lovely 2,000 acre parcel of barrens, scrub oaks, brambles and grasses. With Meg in Flagstaff spending the weekend with Denise and Steve, I took the boys down there to visit the Maine contingent of the VCCNE who were camping on-site, and for their evening walk -- to give Momo a baseline for what the vegetation smelled like. And he found a covey of four quail that were, presumably, left over from a previous trial.

I won't keep folks in suspense, in part because I'm incredibly proud of the Mominator. He went two for two in his first ever hunt tests. Now, it is an AKC Junior Hunt Test -- this isn't rocket science and Momo has demonstrated the basic skills to me many times. But he has also never run in a brace, ie. with another dog, only once had an audience while he worked, and has never had his dad throw birds in the air. (I was going to say that he's never had his dad point a gun at birds and miss... but sadly, he knows that all too well.) So, in short, he did great.

And I know. It's a nice picture of the boys. I don't care to have my picture taken and the smile is as proportionally cheesey as I am proud of His Senior Majesty.

Saturday: uh, glad I had my Filson hunting bibs in my hunting bag in the truck. What was allegedly supposed to be 'intermittent showers in the afternoon' turned out to be 'rain with intermittent drizzle and mist until mid-afternoon.' Uh, wet. For the test, they were putting out bobwhite quail... skinny, little bobwhite quail, I might add. And these poor little things just wanted to burrow into the grass to try and stay dry. So, several braces blanked due to the limited scent and lack of breeze. (And if you don't find a bird, your dog can't be rated on bird-finding ability and therefore can't pass the test.)

Momo did as well as I could have expected on Saturday. He was braced with a hard-running German Shorthair who needed so much hollering from his handler to keep him in the same county that it took a fair amount of reassurance from me to help Momo understand that he was actually doing fine. The test lasts 15mins, 5mins of which is spent walking into position. Once we got in the bird-field, Momo managed to find two birds. For the Junior Hunter, dogs have to look intent on hunting, listen to their handlers, point, and remain staunch while the handler boosts the bird into the air and fires a blank pistol. And then you keep trying to find more until time is called. Between the weather and the novelty of the situation, he did fine... solid, but nothing spectacular.

Sunday: Just a beautiful fall day. Perfect, maybe. Not too warm with a light breeze from the north. And as soon as we got to the WMA for their pre-test walk, Momo was just jacked. The picture here is of him pointing a very sodden quail -- it might be the darkly-striped spot in the foreground. He then posted another covey of four or five birds. And this was before the test. I then put them back in the dog-box in the truck until our brace was called. But all Momo wanted to do was get in the bird-field.

I was nervous for his run because he was braced with his cousin, Seeker, who was being handled by his original human father, Chris Russell from Widdershins. But after a very quick hello, he was all business. I will take credit for getting him in the right spot on the field for him to work most of it without having any major re-directions, but past that point he just became a quail finding machine. I don't know how many birds he found... two new friends, Rich and Adrian, who we met there who walked with our brace said they lost count after four. I think he got six, but it might have been seven. With the exception of one not-so-staunch point, he looked great. I was really proud of him. I made the judge laugh by saying that watching him was like giving crack to kids. Not perhaps the most politically correct metaphor, but he was high on quail -- and looking like every bit the regal vizsla he is.

Jozsi, to his credit, also pulled the occasional nice point, got his nose full of quail scent and, as with him and pheasant wings, isn't at all phased about sticking a live bird in his mouth and bringing it to you. The omens are good... but not for quail.

We had a great weekend -- and the folks at VCCNE who organized the test deserve a big round of applause. A lot of new friends were made -- and high expectations established for Momo's next two tests.

There'll be more to follow shortly. Including video.