2008 Piedmont Thanksgiving Hunt

Every Thanksgiving morning the Piedmont Hunt group organizes a fox hunt. They typically hunt every Thursday and Saturday, so of course Thanksgiving always overlaps that schedule. However, I think more folks come out for the turkey day chase. Today was a particularly good day. The weather was clear and brisk, my California butt was cold. It was a good hunt for spectating though, since the fox decided to run right by the spot I staked out.

This morning's event began at Oak Spring, the Mellon Estate which is apart of Rokeby Stables in Upperville, VA. The venue was conveniently just around the bend from my folk's farm. My father usually rides in the hunt too, but he's been sidelined with a shoulder injury like myself. He decided to fall off a horse and break his clavicle at the same time I opted for surgery. He claims he will be back at it next week...

I finally made use of a Flickr account and setup a set of pictures:
Piedmont Thanksgiving Day Hunt

Saturday Sights

It is a little chilly as the pond has frost.


It isn't too unusual to find parts of deer carcasses.


I caught some deer running from a hunter.


The Piedmont Fox Hounds fox hunt calling it a day.

The Ole Swimming Hole

Today I visited the Spring Hill Recreation Center in McLean, VA. It is the closest pool to the house in which I grew up. However, I did not swim there too often since it was not used as a USS practice facility until I was older and I was already content with my training facility. The team that did eventually move into Spring Hill Rec. was The Fish. Some of the kids I coached in clinics and summer league were apart of The Fish. The team quickly earned a reputation producing a whole bunch of young distance swimmers. When I was in high school they didn't really have any swimmers my age, they had a cutesy logo and a cutesy name so the older kids didn't want to join the new team. They have kept their swimmers over the years though and really built up some good ones to establish a well respected senior training group... One of The Fish's standout swimmers happens to be Kate Ziegler. She recently broke Janet Evans's long standing 1500m Freestyle World Record by almost 10 seconds. She is ridiculously fast. I am excited to she what she puts down in 2008.

It's Cold in Virginia

I flew into Virginia to visit the family for the Holidays. There is no snow but it is chilly. My dad had hoped to get me from the airport, but he had to meet with Ben Bernake. I know the country's economics are more dire than rescuing me from Dulles Airport.