Saturday, November 12, 2005

Purina's new Web site for sporting dogs Purina has a new Web site, www.proplan.com/sportingdog, aimed at providing useful info on such topics as  performance dog feeding, carbohydrate management and replacement, hydration strategies and pre-season conditioning, from dog experts around the country. There's a Sporting Theater section, with video clips to illustrate the above topics and more. The site also features interviews and profiles of some of the top breeders and field-trial competitors. And, this month, the site will provide a link to the daily web cast update of the AKC National Open Retriever Championship. And to think that not that many years ago, we figured all you had to do was make sure your dog had a good breakfast and he could hunt all day! Later... 10:02:03 PM    comment []

Upland Almanac WInter Issue The winter issue of Upland Almanac arrived this afternoon while I was raking and burning leaves, hoping to finish that chore before rain and darkness fell. The weather and night beat me again, so I've still got a section of yard to finish when it dries out again. After dinner, I read UA from cover to cover, something I rarely do at one sitting, but four hours of raking left me without enough energy to do much else. Anyway, I was glad I did read it. Saw my short piece on Wisconsin dove hunting in the "Flushes" section. Then read a nice piece on Dan Lefever, Tom Carney's back-page column and editor Nancy Anisfield's hilarious "Woodcock Slapstick," which she might as well have called "Shorthair Slapstick," since it was all about the antics of her 8-year-old GSP, Harley. Loved it. Reminded me of a piece I wrote years ago on my springer spaniels, I called "Blazing Spaniels." Never did sell that piece, tho I offered it to a couple mags over the years. Maybe I should send it to Nancy... Scott Winston's "Just Shy of a South Dakota Grand Slam" reminded me too much of my recent SD hunt. Guess I can't sell her that story... The best piece in the mag, however, was Tom Parmelee's "The Pleasure of his Company," a short essay about an old gent who befriended Tom and taught him a thing or two about wingshooting with his well-worn 20-ga. Model 12 pumpgun. I won't spoil the ending for you. Pick up a copy. You'll want to subscribe. Later... The winter issue of Upland Almanac arrived this afternoon while I was raking and burning leaves, hoping to finish that chore before rain and darkness fell. The weather and night beat me again, so I've still got a section of yard to finish when it dries out again. After dinner, I read UA from cover to cover, something I rarely do at one sitting, but four hours of raking left me without enough energy to do much else. Anyway, I was glad I did read it. Saw my short piece on Wisconsin dove hunting in the "Flushes" section. Then read a nice piece on Dan Lefever, Tom Carney's back-page column and editor Nancy Anisfield's hilarious "Woodcock Slapstick," which she might as well have called "Shorthair Slapstick," since it was all about the antics of her 8-year-old GSP, Harley. Loved it. Reminded me of a piece I wrote years ago on my springer spaniels, I called "Blazing Spaniels." Never did sell that piece, tho I offered it to a couple mags over the years. Maybe I should send it to Nancy... Scott Winston's "Just Shy of a South Dakota Grand Slam" reminded me too much of my recent SD hunt. Guess I can't sell her that story... The best piece in the mag, however, was Tom Parmelee's "The Pleasure of his Company," a short essay about an old gent who befriended Tom and taught him a thing or two about wingshooting with his well-worn 20-ga. Model 12 pumpgun. I won't spoil the ending for you. Pick up a copy. You'll want to subscribe. Later... 9:59:48 PM    comment []