Remembrances

Spring Shuffle Delayed

July 29, 2024 | Ben Reach, Short Stories, Ted Baker | Comments

Oliver Bain sold his AI (artificial intelligence) Unicorn (billion-dollar start-up) to Microsoft instead of taking it public. He was 58, and unknown to any around him, had a secret ambition he would now satisfy. As a boy growing up on a farm in Virginia, he had walked with his father, a dirt farmer, behind home grown pointers and setters after quail. Read more

My Favorite Spot on Dixie

June 12, 2024 | Remembrances | Comments

Many of us have a favorite spot on Dixie, now Livingston Place. Mine is just east of the George Evans house. On it surrounded by a low white picket fence rest the gravestones of great Dixie bird dogs and retrievers, field trial and hunting, for Mr. Gerald, Mrs. Eleanor and Miss Geraldine. Read more

Leonard

June 7, 2024 | Florida Open All-Age Championship, Remembrances | Comments

I reported my first field trial in January 1995 and my last in January 2022, both at Chinquapin Farm, both the Florida Open All-Age Championship. Many in between all over the continent and every year the Florida. All but a few on borrowed horses. Read more

My Love Affair With Chinquapin

January 10, 2024 | Florida Open All-Age Championship, Remembrances, Ted Baker | Comments

My long life (85 years) has been marked by good luck. None so great as meeting Ted Baker and gaining his invitation to report the Florida Open All-Age Championship which I did from 1995 through 2022. As a result, I watched the continent’s best all-age dogs in competition head to head annually over twenty-seven consecutive years on wild quail. Just think of it. Read more

Joe

November 15, 2023 | Poetry, Remembrances | Comments

He was the best I ever owned But in truth he owned me A setter pup from Flash and Pat From their first litter of a dozen more Joe Prince gave me Joe A weanling gift for Christmas I’d got Flash for him from Bill Anderson And Pat for him from Arthur Bean She a daughter of Alamance Pride Runner-Up to Hilmar for Arthur in the Eastern Open ‘76 Flash Read more

When January Comes

October 17, 2023 | Florida Open All-Age Championship, Poetry, Remembrances, Ted Baker | Comments

When January comes I will be here at home First time since 1994 Won’t be at Chinquapin The second week Of that cold month at home I spent in North Florida From 1995 through 2022 Read more

No Regrets

August 4, 2023 | Remembrances | Comments

My life grows short I somehow know But I dread not death Or where I’ll go Read more

More Field Trial Friends Remembered ~ Marshall Loftin

July 7, 2023 | Remembrances | Comments

Like Ed Mack Farrior, Marshall was a link to a glorious period for field trials and a consummate raconteur. He had also seen his share of hard times. He was not an admirer of The National Bird Dog Champion Association, for a very personal reason—its rigidity had cost him his best customer and field trials its most avid English setter sponsor, Dr. J. U. Morrison. Read more

More Field Trial Friends Remembered ~ Ed Mack Farrior

June 24, 2023 | Ed Mack Farrior, Remembrances | Comments

Meeting Mr. Ed Mack Farrior was one of my most fortunate human encounters. I had been invited to report the Amateur Free-For-All at Union Springs. Knowing fellow Virginian Parke Brinkley and Mr. Ed Mack were close friends, I asked Parke to provide an introduction. Read more

Field Trial Friends Remembered ~ Luke Weaver

June 20, 2023 | Luke Weaver, Remembrances | Comments

A gift of old age is remembrances of friends departed. Here are a few of my favorites. Luke Weaver Read more