I long for the days
When quail abounded
Wild and ubiquitous
On much of the Nation
When tracts with edges
And corners and fence rows
Gave food and cover
To hide, nest and hatch on Read more
Lament for a Sport
Blog
A Sad Loss for Field Trials
The loss of the Purina All-Age and Shooting Dog and Handler of the Year program is a serious blow to our sport. Since 1963 (for the All-Age dogs), it has provided a fair and easily understood measure of achievement and an aid to clubs in promoting their trials. Read more
Priceless Treasure
Our family had no traditional inheritable wealth. But we had a treasure chest of unmeasurable wealth in family stories. They often carried lessons.
Among my favorites is the story of Uncle Walton and the trombone.
Uncle Walton was the youngest of my father’s four brothers, born in 1901. My father, nicknamed Jack for a family border collie stock dog who died the week of his birth in 1897, was second youngest. Robert, Quin and Harry, Jr were the others. Read more
Crime and Punishment in the Bird Dog World
In the summer of 2003 there appeared in the venerable American Field Magazine, founded in 1874, an announcement that would shake the rafters of bird dog kennels across our continent.
Henceforth, the FDSB would require DNA proof of FDSB registered parentage to recognize a dog’s wins in FDSB sanctioned trials. The evidence required would be in the form of a cheek saliva swab, to be analyzed by a company in the business of such analysis.
Read more
Lesson From a Storm
Third cutting
Fine and bright
I had mowed raked hauled and stacked it
With schoolmates just
Two months before
Also that summer
We had dug a deep well
Run a pipe to the barn
Plumbed in a frost-free spigot
Through it we now filled buckets of H-2-0 for the ewes
Read more
Farming and Unintended Consequences
Farming teaches one about unintended consequences, but not painlessly.
For example, the unintended consequences of importing hay from far away in a drought year.
In the early 1950s we had some bad drought summers in Appalachian Virginia. They left us short of home-grown hay. So we bought hay from Ohio , shipped in by train and tractor-trailer truck. Read more
Season Over
Well, the season’s over
Quail paired off for mating
Tack and chaps hung in the trailers
Points tallied, Gulf fishing boats awaiting
Trialers take stock
Of the season just completed
Count the pluses-minuses
Is the glass half full or empty? Read more
A Railway Baggage Wagon
I never see an image of a railway baggage wagon without it triggering a movie in my mind. The setting is the Norfolk & Western Railway Passenger Depot at Cambria, Virginia. The year is 1944. I am there with my father. I am 7 years old. My father is there to collect any incoming mail addressed to his law office arriving on the soon arriving west-bound passenger train. We are Read more
A Rivalry
T’was in a time when men (and sometimes women) from small towns in our region were often competitors, and rivals, in whatever engaged them, be it commerce or profession or sport, or all the above.
In the town concerned in this yarn, an adjoining place was a military base, a large training area called “Fort X” or “Camp X” depending on the decade, but the same Defense-Department-owned ground, named for the same long-dead Confederate Commander, the “X”. Read more
Another Pete-Bob Scheme
“Pete-Bob wants to see you,” Joanne greeted Ben as he arrived at his office Friday morning after breakfast at Millie’s Diner with Sam Nixon MD.
“What about?” Ben asked, skepticism in his voice.
“Says he has a special opportunity, just wants to be sure it is legal,” Joanne said. Read more