We came back to snow...

Well, we are recently returned from a fun, fantastic outing out in the Chihuahuan desert, south
of here. Ananas, (one of the African imports,from Mali) and Ultasila ( of Idiiyat es Sahel) joined
me on a running expedition to the southland. We started by waking around 3a.m. to get ourselves - mainly myself together- loading the backpack,food and water, brightly colored blankets and telemetry equipment. Everybody here was very excited and vying for the attention to come along on whatever it was, that was obviously a big deal. But many simply had to be compensated with a cookie and we three took off in the still darkness.
The dawn that morning broke slowly and allowed the oranges and pinks and new powdered blues to linger over the ridges to the east. The shadow and light then emerging on the high peaks to the west. It was a wonderful desert landscape to be driving through and I felt like I was seeing it anew for the first time again.
We had the pleasure of meeting up with the venerable Mr.Dutch Salmon for a mornings worth
of fun under the sun - feeling the steady flow of land pass under our footsteps and watching the hounds thunder off into the distance as they gave chase. We were joined also by his son Buddy.
Dutch's hounds were turbo boosters on overdrive and did not disappoint. Ananas had quite a good time and went out the whole way along with his dogs. She proved herself a true Azawakh
and true 'desert dog' by refusing water after both of her runs. Even though she was panting some, she wouldn't drink any water. I finally put some on her head and belly. But she seemed to think that was unnesasary too.
The field was really something, allowing for tremendous long runs.... and many miles from the nearest 'main road' (which was reasuring for me). We are grateful to have had such 'a good day'
and hope maybe we'll see some of you other folks out there sometime.

This is Tadawelt, one of my dearest and closest companions. She has enough attitude and wit to keep everyone on their toes here. She always seems to have this keen sense of knowing just what mood I'm in and is amazing at 'just being there' whenever I seem to need that the most.
She was given to me at another time of need and even though she proved herself quite troublesome at first... It was that funny trouble of having to work with her that helped me get through the loss of another I was grieving. Now, recently, she has had puppies of her own.
Hopefully, I will be sharing more about her and the pups in further posts.
Till then- keep shining from Mesa Viento

Beginings...

I'll go ahead and start posting, just to see if I can get something on the web.
This is a place I hope to share my interests in the visual arts and crazy passion for the breed of dogs known as the Azawakh, along with all things "desert" oriented and outdoor pursuits.
I'll probably get into alot of my opinions on stucture, preservation and the elusive effort/idea
of 'working' the dogs here in their "African" context. But along the way, I hope to journey into some of the more personal tangents that interest me along the way.