LATEST NEWS ON THIS HASH
Voted best trail of the Quarter 2012 by The Houston Hash & named: 1771 Three Dogs & a Cat Hash
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HOUSTON HHH (H4) #1771 - ASPCA Rescue Hash
Details DIRECTIONS: From Galleria, take 59 South, go past Highway6 and Take the University Blvd exit. Turn left on University Blvd and drive about a mile to the end of the road. Turn right into the park and right again into the shelter/kid park area, look for hashers. Approx. 15 mins from Galleria.
HARES: Mad Dog, Doggy Style, Krazy Puppy, Tender Vittles,
- plus Horse Fly & DriveBy
DESCRIPTION: LIVE TRAIL - For those who need to get ready for the full/half marathon run and burn the fat that you accumulated over the Christmas holiday. There will be a split trail (5 miles / 8 miles). TV & HFD will live hare the trails and we will provide great beer and hot food. It is DOG friendly and located in Sugarland. It is 100% cross country so dress accordingly and bring change of clothes. A walkers trail will be provided and auto-wankers are also welcome. This will be a great trail for virgin hashers, so invite your friends along.
Call the hash hotline at 71-DIAL-HASH (713-425-4274) for exact details on the day of the event. The hash hotline is updated every morning.
Source: http://h4.org/calendar/
NOTE: ASPCA is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals & the title is a joke on the Mad Dog family (Son-in-law's hash name Tender Vittles is the name of a US cat food).
BUYING THE BEER
A mind-boggling variety of wines, beers and spirits are available in this huge store (part of a chain)
The cask of beer is inside the plastic tub - which makes handling easier and collects spillage.
A returnable deposit had to be left to cover the cask, tub and beer pump.
Enough beer needed to be supplied for 80 to possibly 100 thirsty hashers.
Running out of beer was not an option on this 8-mile run!
Other beer had to be purchased for the 2 beer stops.
THE PRE-RUN
The run and walk started at the car park of the Brazos River Park
Duck lake and covered dining area are just part of the facilities of this public park
Feeding the hashers is a another responsibility of hares on the Houston Hash.
Doggy Style & Krazie Puppy made up a large urn of lentil soup (fakkes) - Greek Style
Many loaves of bread were purchased to go with it.
Waiting for the hashers to arrive. Tender Vittles is wearing his kilt to live-hare in
Hashers beginning to arrive. Tender Vittles (right) prepares his bag of flour.
The hares write examples of the signs they will use.
BC = Beer Check, V = View Check, X = Standard Check
T = Tender split (Short run), V = Vittles split (long run), W = Walkers trail
Horse Fly explains the signs to the hashers
All Head No Shaft greets Doggy Style
(AHNS had been away on contract work in Rio, Brazil and just returned)
(Hungary Puszi was away visiting family in Serbia)
Walker with super rugged-terrain push chair
Our truck becomes a fully-loaded sag waggon - with more bags inside.
Because it's an A-to-B run, the hashers bags (containing their change of clothes) -
need to be taken to the end point of the run.
THE PRE-CIRCLE FOOD AND BEER
Krazie Puppy and Doggy Style set up the food table at the end point (B)
Some hashers have contributed additional food.
DriveBy sets up a propane-fueled cooker in his truck to heat the urn of lentil soup inside a larger urn of water
The hares have to unload all the bags from the truck and lay them out for the arriving hashers
The chosen location under the bridge (which is under construction) which will provide shelter in case of rain
Juices Flowing sets up the haberdashery table
Hashers help themselves to beer from the cask.
Note the footpump & triple-tap arrangement (called the ubertap by the hashers)
THE CIRCLE
RA McPisser calles the hares into the circle
L-to-R: Horse Fly, Tender Vittles, Mad Dog, Doggy Style, Krazie Puppy
Hares "Cheers" and down-down
The Circle
Food, glorious food!
Other doggies in the circle.
Note the RA has a plastic bottle of beer (on the ground) with which he fills the hashers cups or tankards for a down-down.
The hashers are normally expected to bring their own drinking vessels - but some plastic cups are always provided
McPisser has another hasher in the circle for an accusation levelled at him
The hares are called into the circle again for some on-trail offense
Mad Dog takes the circle and calls in All Head No Shaft
Here's the old hash sign you requested last year
The Athens Hash gang:
L-to-R: Mad Dog, All Head No Shaft, Doggy Style, Juices Flowing, Krazie Puppy, Tender Vittles
(Parson's Nose was absent as he had flown to England earlier in the week)
Clearing-up when almost dark
(Note Tender Vittles hash jacket with his name on the back)
SCOUTING PARTS OF THE TRAIL IN THE SUBURB OF SUGARLAND
Scouting part of the trail on 29st December 2011
Scouting part of the trail on 31st December 2011
"P" shows the car park for the start point of the trail.
"59" is the Southwest Freeway coming down from central Houston.
The brown winding river is the Brazos River.
The vertibrae-like shapes lying between Commonwealth Blvd and Elkins Rd are
housing communities
dotted round artificial lakes & end-to-end measures approx. 1.6 km.
Scouting part of the trail on 6th January 2012.
The Brazos River can be seen twisting its way to the South East
A new road and bridge under construction.
Yes!! That will do as an ending point for the run. Shelter in case of a Houston sub-tropical downpour.
Testing unauthorized auto access from along the road under -
construction (partially blocked with striped bollards) to the bridge
Setting out to scout the last part of the trail (we had surveyed the first part the previous week)
There are many wild deer in this area (as well as wild boar, alligators, snakes, armadillos, etc)
Doe deer skull
...and another
Buck deer skull - stock photo
Later we spotted small herds of deer which would quickly disappear into the undergrowth
Good hashing territory
Some nice up and down bits
An up bit with nice scratchy thorny undergrowth
Ah! That looks promising! A gas pipeline supported by a bridge spanning the river.
A great challenge but unfortunately the gas company has anticipated us and blocked access.
Oh well! Another time with a ladder and something to cut the barbed wire.
An easy bit along an embankment. Lots of these around to prevent flooding.
Large ponds are common throughout this woodland
Some nice swampland. Might get lucky and encounter a 'gator
Good mosquito territory (or skeeters as they call them here)
Nice squelchy mud - the hashers will love this
A lot of dry and brittle branches and tree trunks to climb over.
The severe 2011 summer drought has taken it's toll
On On!
A snake has shed it's skin here
Lots of creeper hazards. Many hashers here were tough eyeglasses to prevent eye injury
A large owl looks down on us
It eventually takes fright and flies away
Heading for the end of this section of the trail.
A convenient place for a beer stop - next to a natural gas distribution plant.
The Houston area gets a lot of it's gas from the nearby Gulf of Mexico where there are 100's of offshore platforms.
THATS ALL FOLKS!!