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The Saddest Tale

August 9, 2022 | National Free-For-All Championship, Poetry | Comments
You can talk about your endurance tests And yes, Ames is one with its three hours in West Tennessee And the Livingston Place for its hour fifty in briars and Florida heat (But you must not call it Dixie Plantation for both them words ain’t woke) And four hours down at Paducah in three days is a worthy test I guess But the toughest of all Was at Sedgefields West ( Mr. Jimmy’s Sedgefields ) In the National Free-For-All Read more

Diss and Ace

August 2, 2022 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
“What does diss mean?” Ben asked Joanne. “Disrespect, or a put down. Kids say it a lot.” “That clears things up,” Ben said. He had just got off the phone with Fred Carter, a bird dog trainer-handler worried about getting sued. He’d said an owner had dissed his scout, and that was maybe the cause of the incident that could get him sued by the owner. Later that day, Ben drove to Fred’s little farm to get more facts. He was greeted by ten kennel runs of barking bird dogs. Fred and his scout, Benny Blevins, were cleaning runs and preparing the evening’s feed for the dogs. Read more

Three Men and a Dog

July 11, 2022 | Short Stories | Comments
Billy Bowles arrived at the Ames Plantation Saturday at noon and took his lone entry to the Trapp Memorial Kennels where he had reserved a run and two stalls nearby for his mounts. He heeled the pointer Rip from his truck to the run after hanging his own water bucket inside the door and putting fresh hay in the plastic barrel. (Rip as always had traveled from Georgia in the truck’s front seat beside Billy). Read more

Blowout

July 8, 2022 | Short Stories | Comments
He heard the blast and felt the lurch simultaneously, and knew in an instant what had happened. Trailer tire blown, no spare. He fought the wheel, not daring to brake, then grappled for control, avoid a jackknife, the ditch…he was stopped, ten feet off the left edge of the interstate pavement. He got out, confirmed the four horses were all standing. Using a flashlight, confirmed none of the four were bleeding. Read more

A Day Remembered From Summer 1952

June 25, 2022 | Remembrances | Comments
I had just turned fourteen. It was about four in the afternoon on a sunny Saturday. I had finished my farm chores, showered and dressed in clean Lee blue jeans, a white T shirt and black Converse high-top sneakers for a four-mile trip to down-town Christiansburg. Read more

If You Ever

June 20, 2022 | Poetry | Comments
If you ever as a boy Shot at a grouse or quail Over a dog pointed You know the thrill For some that thrill persists And becomes a way of life An escape from countless worries A way to capture joy And for a few The connection with the dog Becomes the thing And bird dog field trials come to dominate The beauty of the country Where game birds live Read more

Burn or Bury (A deadly serious story)

June 15, 2022 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ike Slapp died after surviving two wives and leaving two daughters, one by each wife. Ben was fishing in Montana with Sam when Ike bit the dust, literally and figuratively. Ike’s older daughter took the bull by the horns and arranged Ike’s funeral and burial without consulting Ben or her sister. When Ben got home he found Ike snug in his coffin, buried in a local cemetery with (literally) his first wife. Read more