Thu, 3 Oct. 2024, The Thirstday Hash, was hared by Cumming Right Meow for about six hounds from Goose Island Brewery. Don't know what happened, but she provided snacks for the pack at the finish along with the beer.
hash break
Fri, 4 Oct. 2024, The First Crack of the Moon Hash by SnatshSquatch for a pack of five hounds from the Unforgetable Bar. Trail headed west and I fell behind. But there were four T and E Splits and I needed all four. Especially after screwing up the first one so bad. Seeing the last one, Cumming Right Meow disappear over Irving Park, I opted for that T and E. And there was a Split, W and S. I tried S and nothing, but at the alley I headed west and came to another Split, cumming south from a Check that I didn't know about. Well, I came into the Split backwards so it had to be the other way, south. I thought I saw a mark in shadows and so I kept going a long two blocks south. So, I guessed that the last Split had to be correct somehow and went east and back north looking for something, falling flat on my whatevers. Really, a hidden in shadows unlevel sidewalk. Finally, as I got back near that Split I figured out that it had to be a Check that I missed. Well, back On and quickly rejoined the Eaqle part of the trail and a long straight towards Milwaukee and another T and E Split. Two Splits and a Check later and I again rejoined the Eagle trail. a block later was BN and they were long gone, now for the return to the south and on and On and two more T and E Splits and more MIlwaukee and finally right past where I was at the southern end of the first T and
E split. Damn. From here it was On In and the pack was waiting in a park, eating snacks from Cumming Right Meow and drinking beer. Lifa, and Meat Inside Her and Berts Special Friend. We held circle and finally headed on out.
Hash Break
Sun. Oct 6, 2024, 2:00pm, The Chicago Hash. Cuntlery and Homo Dynamics hared from Illuminated Brewery for 12 hounds. A long chalk talk and unusual marks and such and almost 3:00 before we finally got out. A quick Check and I'm following Rip 'em and Snip 'em to another quick Check and then another. By now I'm back with Lower Wackoff. The pack is off to the west, but not On. They return and we find marks SW and over tracks and to a Split. We're On or so we thought. But we couldn't solve that Split. There was about 7 or 8 of us and we worked both ways and couldn't find anything. Lower Wackoff and myself want back to the Check to redo that search and see if there was a mistake and another way out. Nope. Upon returning towards the Split, we see Complimentary Nuts waving for us. We followed him. Problem, we had to go two whole blocks to solve that Split. All previous marks were close and frequent. WTF. We never go two blocks without a mark, especially after a Split. And this mark was another Check. How was this trail found? Cell phone. Now this Check was solved and as I'm following along, I come to a turn mark in an alley and the turn is marked F. I'm thinking someone followed that turn and came to an F. They returned and found trail out of that alley and On In to the 1st beer stop. I'm thinking this F had to be wrong because in the Chicago Area we use Fs to return to the last Split or Check. It should have been a Back Check. And there are the walker's drinking beer. So, we get instructions to cross this huge field and only find the walker's trail. So, we all end up following that, past two gimmick stops and finally the running trail merges in, and we runners are off again. The two trails quickly split up again. And we ran on and on past Checks and Splits until we came to a BN and nothing after that. No beer and no walkers and nothing. By the time I arrived. Lifa had used his cell and found an address of where the B was, over a mile behind us. Apparently, we missed a Beer Stop at the hares house. Two more mistakes here. Apparently, shortly after the two trails split, we were supposed to find B2. But what must have happened was that we found a Check or a Split that was too close to the out trail from B2 and we picked up on that trail and were long gone. That is a hare fault. We would have no idea we were on the wrong trail. And the fourth error was no B after the BN. We had no idea where to go. As the runners were thinking about what to do, Lower Wackoff and I decided to head back to the brewery. It was already after 5:00 and, over two hours on trail. We missed a turn, and the other runners finally decided to do the same thing. They beat us back to the brewery. Shortly after we arrived, the hares and walkers arrived. Not happy.
I know Cuntlery has to spend a lot of time planning her trails and walkers options and multiple beer stops, and gimmick stops. But there is something missing in the plans and execution and learning how we do things in the Chicago area. And maybe her plans are too grand until she learns how to better do things here. Perhaps cumming out and doing some other trails as a hound might help. And remember, even damn good hares have trails that get screwed up. We all try to do it right and want a magical finish were everyone comes in together and had a great run. They seldom happen that good. It's part of the game. Just two weeks ago Bit On The Clit laid trail were there were still marks from a previous trail and there hadn't been any rain. Half of the pack picked up on the old marks and then back on new marks and missed half her trail and we were at the finish. Meanwhile the other half of the pack was a mile away at a beer stop. Homo Dynamics remembers that trail and came in halfway through circle because of it. Shit happens. Learn from the mistakes and try to not make them again. I told her a way to avoid that, and it might not happen again. Show your plans in advance to a real experienced hare and things like Sunday might not happen again. We all want to lay great trails and run great trails.
Hash break.
On and Swing Low