What if there were no more field trials?
Soon there would be only ankle warmers
For only competition’s testing leads to better breeding
It’s not a way-out theory
It’s the truth Read more
What if?
Category: Poetry
Days Remembered
I was twenty three to thirty
Care worn and sometimes depressed
But grouse season opened
So I put my setter in the plywood box I’d built Read more
Mountain Roads
I love to drive the byways Of the counties of my youth Where the Blue Ridge rises steeply And the hollers hold streams roiling in the spring Where white pines blend with rhododendrons And hickories caress poplars and ginseng grows below Where stone bridges span the bottoms and high vistas wait at tops Where Forty Fords hauled moonshine and peach brandy to West Virginia miners in my youth Yes I Read more
The Prairies
There is something about the prairies
That’s different from anywhere else Read more
You Know
You know your momma was deep south if
You ate okra
In Shrimp Gumbo or
Fried crisp or stewed and in soup
Or with rice Read more
Fall
When the hint of cool fills the dawn
And the summer heat starts to fade Read more
Collie
A collie casts
To gather sheep
Its purpose known
Its will pristine Read more
The Band
They are a band
Of determined souls
With a common goal
To make a bird dog
Truly grand
Twenty odd trainer-handlers
At any time across the land
Engaged full time in the major circuit all-age game
Read more
Escape
What is a perfect escape from our worries?
I know but one
To hunt grouse with a son
And one or two bird dogs you share
You do not have to bag birds
You only need to go forth together
Where grouse live and enjoy the prospect
Watch your dogs search ahead Read more
My Good Luck
I look back
Across decades
Of a grand life
With joy and gratitude
And for no part more
Than my bird dog field trial life
Which began modest but became grand Read more