So it has been a few days since I have last posted any blog entries.  Like you probably already know, last week I fell and banged my head off of our front drive.  Little did I know that the effects of the fall would linger on for awhile.  I went to the doctors on Wednesday, two days after I fell, and they told me I had a pretty bad concussion.  This past Wednesday, Jenny and I drove to Warsaw, which is just a fifteen minute drive or so, and picked out a male pup out of CH PCH GRHBCH MCKEE’S DUSTY BOTTOM BLIZZARD.  Blizzard is now owned by Max Thornsley.  Blizzard’s previous owner was Steve McKee who passed away a little over a year ago from cancer.  Blizzard was bred to a pure Patch bred female that is owned by Charlie Wright.  Mr. Wright used to run a lot of ARHA Little Pack hunts, and is thinking about getting back into trialing.  Like I said, my girlfriend, Jenny, went with me.  She picked out a male and I picked out a male.  After looking their bites over, we decided to go with the pup that she had picked.  We both liked the way he was marked a little better than the pup I picked out.  All of these pup have very nice big houndy looking heads and are muscled up pretty nicely.  I am excited to start this pup.  I plan on trying to get him started relatively early.  I will finish up my Master’s Degree/Student Teaching in late May, and will be running dogs all spring and summer.  I co-own a small Lawn Care  Business with my younger brother so that also keeps me busy during the spring, summer, and fall months.  So, other than mowing yards this summer, and hopefully getting a full time teaching position, I will be running hounds.  I feel like I am in denial because I have not really got to actually have some really good chases since this first of the few big snows began to fall in the last month or so.  I would like to especially thank Max Thornsley for informing me about these nice bred, beautiful pups!  Even Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Jenny have taking a liking to him, and how could they not!  Well, that should be enough rambling on for this post!  Until next time, keep runnin’ them hounds! 
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Well, it is another snowy day here in Fresno, Ohio.  We probably have between another four and five inches of snow on top of the additional snow that we already have, just today.  I remembered I was just about out of straw, and the dog boxes were on the borderline of needing more straw, so at about 4:00p.m. I drove about a mile down the road to Agland CoOp to get four more bales of straw.  Between my dogs and my Mom and Dad's dogs that should hopefully be enough for the rest of the winter/early spring.  It doesn't seem to take very long for the beagles to get their straw broken down from its original "fluffy" state.  As soon as I see this, I put some more in.  I know of some guys whose houses I have been to this winter and have not even seen any straw in the boxes.  This is really sad.  I know my dogs do just about everything that I ask of them, so in turn I am going to make sure they are nice and warm when the temperatures start to drop.  If someone who owns dogs cannot do this either because he/she is to lazy or does not have the funds to by some bedding to put in the boxes, then he/she does not need dogs in the first place.  Like I said, the snow has been falling since about noon today.  When I came back with the straw my truck would not make it up the drive so I walked back to the house and go the tractor and snow plow and some rope.  I strapped the bales of hay to bar that connects to the three point hitch and was on may way back with the plow down of course.  I unloaded the straw and plowed our drives and then plowed our township road which actually dead ends probably about a half mile from the State Route.  Once I had the tractor put away, I spread some ashes from the woodstove in the basement on the drive.  After that I was walking back down the drive and slipped and landed directly on the back of my head.  I had blacked out for about ten seconds or so.  So tonight, my head hurts, and the straw has not made it to the kennels.  However, here in the next half hour I am going to plunge through the deep snow to the kennels and give each of my buddies some nice fresh straw.  They act like little children on Christmas when you put new, fresh straw in their boxes.  They get all hyper and run in and out of the box and swirl around making beds in the fresh straw.  Just seeing this is enought to bring a smile to one's face.  They really do show how much they do appreciate it!  Well, I guess I will just have to wait on the good spring running another day.  However, just a little message for all of those Believers out there:  In Church on Sunday, our pastor mentioned how we get so excited about the arrival of spring, or get so excited about doing the things we love to do; for instance running our dogs or going hunting, but we need to be most passionate and excited for the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!  Are you ready for His coming?  I hope you are!  Until next time, GO BUCKS!
 
Well the snow continues to fall today here in good ol' Fresno, Ohio.  However it is a light snow.  We had probably close to an inch of accumulation last night.  Christopher ran well for the Buckeyes last night in Akron.  His time was fourteen minutes, 33 seconds (14:33)  After the meet Christopher ended up back at our house for the evening, being it is only an hour drive from our home to Akron.  This was the closest of all his meets.  So last night after the race we got to sit around and talk.  His girlfriend, Ashleigh, myself, my girlfriend Jenny, my mom and dad, and my grandmother all made the trip to Akron last evening.  I am started to get a little Cabin Fever.  I have not actually had the dogs out of the kennels to actually go running in a little over a week.  I guess I have turned them loose a couple of times and ran them here at the house, but with all this snow on tracking is very difficult.  For a couple of weeks now I had hoped to attend my first ARHA Little Pack hunt today, but with all this snow I decided to stay home instead.  I guess I will wait "patiently" for the snow to melt and Spring to arrive.  I am excited about breeding my two females this spring when they come into heat.  It has been  a long journey on trying to figure out what stud's would compliment each dog the best.  I am pretty sure I have my stud picked for my Sadie dog, but am not sure what I will be breeding my Polly dog to.  Being the first time breeding either one of my dogs, I just want to make sure that I am making a good choice.  I sometimes wonder if other beaglers have as hard of time as I have eliminating studs and eventually deciding on which stud will be the best for each female.  I
 
I just added the photo page to my website late last night.  We have had five snow days for school so you can say that I have been doing a lot of surfing the web this week.  Luckily, the past two days of school have been cancelled the night before, so I did not have to get a 5:00 a.m. wake up call telling me that school had been cancelled.  Like I have stated in earlier posts, I am currently substitute teaching while finishing up my Master's Degree in Education.  I have one day of class left (Monday) and then I will begin my student teaching March 1st.  I am looking forward to student teaching and being handed my Master's Degree.  This evening my family and I will be heading to watch my younger brother who runs Track and Field and Cross Country for The Ohio State University, compete in the 5000 meter run at Akron University.  This will be a smaller event, but will serve as a nice tune-up before the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Meet that will be held on the campus of The University of Minnesota.  Mom and Dad, and my Grandmother plan on making the trip, but I will be too busy with Student Teaching to be able to go.  While uploading pictures last night to my website, it was a great time to reflect on all of the things that I have been a part of over the last few years.  Both of my brothers have competed for The Ohio State University in both Track and Field and Cross Country.  My older brother, Brian, is a 5 Time All-American at Ohio State!  He was the alternate on the 2008 Olympic Team in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase.  My younger brother Christopher, was a top runner on the Ohio State Men's Team in Cross country this past season, helping his team finish secon in the Big Ten this past season.  Like I said, he is currently running indoor track and field for OSU, and has two Outdoor Track and Field Seasons left.  I also got to visit Crater Lake National Park while out at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.  I had studied Crater Lake for quite some time (taking 5 Geology courses while at Ohio State).  It was very neat to finally be able to visit the park!  Crater Lake was the home of an ancient volcano.  When it erupted, its blast was of such great magnitude that it actually blew out the entire volcano, leaving a giant crater.  Today, Wizard Island, which can be seen behind me in the photos is a new volcano that is actually forming in the crater of the ancient volcano.  You can actually take a boat out to Wizard Island, but we were unable to, because even in July, there was too much snow to access all of the roads in the park.  While uploading the pictures, I had the chance to reflect where I have been with my beagle dogs.  From getting them as pups, to the first rabbit shot over them, to winning the 2008 Black Gold Ohio Jr. State Race, and then in 2009 Winning the Black Gold All-Age Race in Ohio with Polly.  I am excited to get my ounger dogs (Manny & Smoke) going, and adding them to my pack.  Manny (out of GRHBCH Rambling Crook) has already had two or three rabbits shot over him.  All of this snow has however put a damper on the running in Ohio.  I am excited for Spring, and all of the new things that it brings with it!  Hope you enjoyed reading my blog post for today!  Have a good one!
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My Brother, Christopher (#127) and the rest of the OSU Buckeyes at the 2008 Big Ten Meet
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My brother, Brian, over the water pit in first at the 2008 Olympic Trials
 
Since last Friday it has done nothing but SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, and did I mention SNOW!  I turned the dogs loose last Saturday while plowing the driveways here at home.  They enjoyed playing for about thirty seconds and then proceeded across the township road to where I usually first turn them loose when I run them at home.  I have not had to teach all week due to school closings.  I do not mind a day off, but really enjoy when a nice paycheck comes.  Jenny and I are heading into our final week of classes at MVNU.  It has been a long 19 months or so.  I am looking forward to student teaching and submitting my applications to several schools in hopes of getting a full-time teaching position.  Below is a picture of my Manny pup out of GRHBCH Rambling Crook.  I brought him inside today for a little while, while Jenny was working on some school work.  These photos were taken today while lounging in the recliner while enjoying a little bit of rest and relaxation.  I do not have many pictures of Manny so I asked Jenny to snap a few.  I am anxious for this snow to begin melting and the smell of springtime in the air.  I am also looking forward to a few of my springtime favorites: Listening to the "Spring Peepers" at night, mushroom hunting with Mom and Dad, turkey hunting, running dogs, fishing, and of course mowing lawns.  I am planning on breeding both of my females this spring when they come into heat.  I believe I have on stud dog picked out for the one female, but am still trying to figure out what stud would compliment my other hound the best.  Trying to decide what I want and what to breed to has been a struggle for me.  Hopefully my decisions on stud dogs will pan out to be a great choice! 
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Olinger's Born A Ramblin' Man
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Manny and Jason taking it easy!
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Manny and Jason watching some CSI.
 
What an evening.  I called Jenny on my way home from teaching today and told her that I was going to run dogs tonight because I might not be able to for the next few days with the big snow strom that is coming in tomorrow morning/afternoon.  I had to go to the bank and pay a bill and Jenny needed go to the bank as well.  Well once all this was done we headed to the house and loaded up the dogs.  Manny and Smoke on one side and Polly and Sadie on the other.  Manny has not been run with my two females that much due to the fact that they are rather fast and he is still pretty young, however, I wanted to turn them all loose because I did not have much time to run.  Polly struck on the first rabbit and boy was it a runner.  Jenny and I saw the rabbit three or four times before it ended up seeking refuge in an old, abandoned house in the middle of the woods.  Manny held his own, pulling some really nice checks to keep the track going.  He did not seem to get pressured and ran "his track."  We were out for about a half an hour and Jenny said she was already cold and that she wanted to get in the truck and go to my Grandma and Grandpa Olinger's in Chili, Ohio which was only a mile or so away.  (We could see there house from the hilltop we were running on).  For the next forty-five minutes I had to listen to here complain about being so cold.  I told her to "suck it up" because I was here to run and listen to my dogs for awhile.  On the walk back to the truck, she mentioned that if we ever get married and have children that she hoped for a son so that he could run dogs with me because it is just not her cup of tea.  I do believe she does enjoy going with me, but I understand that we will not always have the same interests.  Thank God she likes shooting her Pink Camoflauge Remington 597 .22 Long Rifle that I bought her a couple years ago for her birthday.  She really enjoys shooting this and plinking the spinning target that I bought for her to shoot at.  Overall, it was very enjoyable to have her with me while I ran dogs tonight.  She sat the last rabbit chase out.  She ended up sitting in the truck with the heater blowing and her laptop on her lap playing in Microsoft Paint.  Oh well, it was a great evening and I enjoyed her company for sure!
 
Still substitute teaching this week and it is currently my planning period, so I have plenty of time to get on here and update my blog while I wait to go to my next class to teach.  I ran my dogs last night after gettting home from teaching and getting the firewood in the basement stocked up.  I am excited about late winter/spring running where those buck rabbits like to run long and deep.  I ran the two pups yesterday (Manny & Smoke).  Manny ran two different rabbits and did a nice job.  Smoke continued to go with Manny, but is just not sure about everything that is going on.  I am still waiting to get him to a starting pen, but am sure that it is not hurting him any by having him "tag" along.  There was still plenty of snow on where I ran yesterday.  After picking up the young dogs, I turned Sadie and Polly loose.  They jumped and ran one rabbit right at dark.  Before running to a hole, the rabbit ran right up to me on the path I was standing on, turned around and ran about ten yards back the same path and hopped into a nice big rock pile.  Obviously the track ended there.  It was already getting rather dark, and the Amish man that has scouting cameras out told me to watch for coyotes because they have been getting pictures of them just about every night on the same farm that I ran last evening.  With that said, I will be carrying a gun/pistol from now on just in case I get to see one of those sly predators sneaking around in the brush trying to catch a rabbit or even one of my dogs! 
 
This post finds me sitting behind the desk at school today.  I am substitute teaching all week for the same teacher which is a nice change of pace.  Usually it is a different teacher daily, and you have no idea what to expect from one day to the next.  However, my plans have been layed out for me for the entire week, so I know what I am going to be doing.  This is my planning period, and planning period for a sub is great because obviously I have nothing to plan because this is not formal classroom.  I had a great weekend.  Got to spend some quality time with my girlfriend of eight years, Jenny, as well as spend some time with my brother, Brian, his wife, Jamie, and their daughter, Marley Grace.  She just turned two months old a couple weeks ago.  I also had a great weekend of pup training with my Smoke pup (White River Tuff E Nuff x Swampland's Blue Jessie and my Manny pup which is out of Rambling Crook.  Manny is starting to come on strong and seems to run a track in the snow pretty well for a nine month old pup.  My Smoke pup finally opened yesterday on a sight chase.  I love spending time in the field with my hounds.  Sadie and Polly may take a back seat for awhile until I get these pups going really good.  I will continue running them enough to keep them in good shape!  I plan on attending my first ARHA Little Pack Hunt in Farmerstown, Ohio which is only about a twenty minute drive for me.  I know the Amish man that is the head of the club pretty well.  I look forward to trying a new format and meeting some new people!