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Rosco and Meg

November 22, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
Rosco said he’d scout for me No one else would, so I said thanks He led Meg out and cut her loose She grabbed an edge and took it, out of sight Rosco swung up on his ugly mare Reined her into woods on right  Next thing I know Meg popped out on the left Took that edge forward, happy, fast, to my delight  Read more

Opening Day

November 15, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
Opening Day On your way With your bird dogs It’s the best life can be Another season you’ve made To go forth behind them As they surge before you Seeking scent on the breeze Read more

The Surest Way

November 6, 2024 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach seemed to spend more time on fights among siblings these days than any other problem. And the leading cause of the disputes was joint ownership of real estate inherited from a parent.  “Don’t leave your children property to own together. It’s a sure recipe for an ugly fight,” Ben would say. His father had had a saying forty years earlier, “Surest way to destroy brotherly love is to leave brothers shared ownership of a farm — or anything else.” Read more

Abandoned Churches of North Dakota

October 24, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
Have you driven North Dakota Seen the churches long abandoned Standing unpainted off the highways Still standing tall as when erected by Homesteaders Just off ships from Norway, Sweden, Germany? Families hauled here by the railroads The Great Northern and the Soo Line In their immigrant cars filled with Man, wife, children, team, cow, shoat, ewe and goose Read more

No Thrill

October 19, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
There is no thrill so fine As to release a derby you Have bred and raised from a pup In its first field trial stake Watch it cast to the front Hunt in yonder to a ridge Turn to see you here behind Then cast on in glee to find Birds to point and hold — For an instant Then as fall falls away Into winter as it grows Into a muscled real bird dog And stays longer at its finds Lets you walk in front to flush Finally watches birds fly away Stays put to get your praise Earned by learning what you want How long will it take You never know until it’s done But when it is you can take pride In your journey with your pup Read more

No Chance

October 11, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
I was sitting on a bar stool In a dark beer joint With a long neck Bud And a pickled pig's foot I was alone Nursin' a grudge 'Gainst a field trial judge Just throwed out my dog  For flaggin' on point Read more

Worst Mistake

October 3, 2024 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach and Sam Nixon MD were settled in Ben’s library-conference room at 4 PM on a Friday with drams of The Macallan 12 in plastic mugs and splits of club soda to dilute it on the table before them. Both were glad the work week was over — it had been a tough one. Sam had to tell a patient her cancer had returned. Ben had to tell a grandfather his favorite grandson had failed out of the grandfather’s Alma Mater.  Ben mentioned the bird dog trainers, field trial and hunting plantation types, were just back from summer training on northern prairies. He and Sam were invited to a dove shoot on Mossy Swamp Plantation tomorrow.  “What was the worst screw-up you saw field trial judges make in your years of doing that?” Read more

The Great Field Trial Dog Snatch Caper

September 17, 2024 | Non-fiction | Comments
This is a field trial story worthy of Sherlock Holmes, or Laurel and Hardy, but that could have been tragic. It’s the story of the theft of a handler’s entire string of entries at a field trial held at Amelia, Virginia in the early 1980s, a time of strong competition among accomplished east coast pro and amateur handlers... Read more

A Few of Means

September 11, 2024 | Poetry | Comments
A few men and women of means Kept all-age field trials alive Through depressions recessions and wars Helped by trainers in love with the game Since 1874 Read more