Blog

My Nanny

March 25, 2025 | Remembrances | Comments
Nanny was my maternal grandmother, Ethel Blevins Privett, born in 1867, daughter of Dr. John Faulkner Blevins of Selma, Alabama, born 1838, 18th graduate of Tulane Medical School in 1858, Captain and Assistant Surgeon in Law’s 44th Alabama, present at the Sunken Road at the Battle of Antietam and a half dozen major Virginia battles of the Civil War,  and afterward assigned to hospital duty to care for the wounded in Richmond, and after that war, a practicing physician in Selma until his death there in 1901. Read more

Happiness Plantation

March 12, 2025 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Its name was apt when Bud Branch bought it after selling the business he founded and by brains and hard work grew to great value, then sold for cash. From age sixty to eighty Bud enjoyed it immensely, as did his sons Al and Fred, both hard chargers like their dad but in law (Al, counsel for plaintiffs badly injured) and venture capital (Fred, private equity in Silicon Valley). To deepen the plot, Al and Fred had different mothers, Al’s Wife One, Fred’s Wife Two, the Trophy Wife. Result, predictably, Al and Fred hated one another. Read more

Hawfield

February 25, 2025 | Field Trial History, Parke C. Brinkley | Comments
No history of field trials in Virginia would be complete without a chapter on Hawfield. For several years following the loss of the Camp Lee grounds in 1940, The Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries and The Virginia Amateur Field Trial Association spent a great deal of time and effort in attempting to find suitable grounds. This search culminated in 1948 in the purchase of Hawfield, a 2,760 acre farm in Orange County. The manor house had burned in 1936 and the farm became run down, much of it had grown up and the drainage system had ceased to function adequately and very little farming was being carried on. Read more

Last Call

February 17, 2025 | National Championship, Poetry | Comments
’Twas at the National Championship in 20?? After all the entries ran and failed to make a case Not a single covey had been stood, bumped or chased The three distinguished judges were disgusted with the place At lunch they called a huddle to decide what now to do One had a flask of whiskey, one a flask of gin The third a batwing of brandy if you can believe that sin The senior judge said call ‘em back till we get one worth the win Read more

Pedigree Fraud Corrected

February 10, 2025 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Bill Blain bought Unicorn Plantation with the proceeds of the sale of his own Unicorn, product of an element of Artificial Intelligence he stumbled upon while designing an algorithm. He had fallen in love with the Red Hills of Georgia when an investment banker took him there to shoot quail and to pitch the sale of his start-up.   He fell in love with bird dog field trials when at dawn one day of the quail hunt he rode with a plantation hand to watch him work a derby he was preparing to run in the Continental Derby Championship.  Read more

The Derby

February 3, 2025 | National Championship, Short Stories | Comments
Last Hope took the right edge after leaving the breakaway. His bracemate, a pointer named Hollywood Hal, took the left edge.  Both dogs hunted them forward out of sight. In the second field they were found pointing, Hal in front, Hope backing. Bob and Bill knew Hal had stolen the point, for Hope was the faster dog. All was in order at the flush. Both dogs were watered from their scouts’ detergent bottles and released. Read more

Understanding Death

January 25, 2025 | Remembrances | Comments
Death is always but a moment away. My father died of injuries from a car crash when I was fifteen. I had known his death was coming soon since age twelve. How had I known? Because of a freak storm you can learn all about on Wikipedia, the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, our family woke to radio warnings of a fast-moving nontropical cyclone with devastating force. Deep drifting snow and sub-zero temperatures were forecast to arrive in the afternoon. Thanksgiving day had been mild and pleasant. I had turned twelve on June 29. Read more

Memories of the Free-For-All

January 17, 2025 | National Free-For-All Championship, Remembrances | Comments
It was my privilege to report the National Free-For-All Championship at Sedgefields, Safford, Alabama a few years just before its discontinuance as a three-hour stake. It was unique, and its loss was a blow to the sport.  First run in 1916 by the National Field Trial Club, it was first won by John Proctor (HOF 1954), which had won the National Championship the week before after a two-hour second series. Read more

Remembering the Florida

January 10, 2025 | Continental Championship, Florida Open All-Age Championship | Comments
This week marks the third anniversary of the last Florida Open All-Age Championship, conducted the second week of January at Chinquapin Farm through 2022. Started as the Suwannee River Open All-Age in 1969, becoming a Championship ten years later in 1979, the trial stood for excellence, attracting the top all-age handlers and owners throughout its history. Key to its success was the dedication and generosity of its sponsor, Edward L. (“Ted”) Baker.  Read more