Mitch's Blog

Here's something I saw while walking the dog: This Russian borzoi hound

Her name is “hippie,” and she was being walked by a lovely white-haired Russian woman with an accent straight
out of a 1970s spy movie. Hippie came right up to me and stuck her nose on the treat pouch on my hip; the Russian woman explained that Hippie is NOT allowed to take treats from other people because Hippie is bred to run and she takes the dog to the off-leash dog beach and if the dog were allowed to accept treats from other people the dog would not run; the dog would just go from person to person begging dog treats.

Hippie stood about 3-1/2 feet high, with a skinny body, long legs and a long, thin snout.

The breed has an interesting history.

They were formerly known as Russian wolfhounds and the name describes their history — they were bred in 16th Century Russia to hunt wolves. For centuries, they could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the tsar, with whom the breed was popular.

Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits.

Here’s Strider. He is the coolest man in the Prancing Pony — faded Levi’s, biker boots and leather jacket, smoking unfiltered Camels. He is wearing aviator sunglasses inside the dark bar; on anybody else they’d look affected and silly but on him they make him look even cooler. He is played by 1980s Sam Elliott.

Also: I can’t get over that there’s a guy in Middle Earth named “Bob.”