Little Brown Dog

Boykin Spaniels at work, play and rest.

[theflyingboykin]

Daddy

A walk in the woods the

Anniversary of my father’s death

Ferns,

Moss,

Woodpecker holes,

A field of flowers bounded by an open canopy of the sun

Beer can, crumpled.

Three ducks swim past,

A Bridge lamp, 

Souvenirs all.

Shooting ducks.

Me on his shoulders, wading to an island

His soft hip waders,

His patience, after I almost shot him in my excitement,

Duck, duck!

Wading back

His pipe tobacco pouch

Powdery snuff collected on one side of the screen,

Can I try? Sure, he said.

I retch.

What was he thinking?

Now we’re even.

  Lake is down

A scrap of surveyor’s tape, brittle, dry, now exposed

An empty Sunfish and kayak and the

Sailfish tiller extension, rekindles how we

Sailed through the channel to

Upper Goose Pond.

  Rounding the island under full sail we

Run aground,

Our centerboard nearly

Cracks. We celebrate our near ejection with

Two beers. He

Could do that sort of thing.

  Stars, constellations

Orion’s belt,

And Orion’s thingee,

Sunfish sail hanks

His Honda 4Traxx

My sister’s kayaks, the green and the yellow

Like wind chimes.

  Mom’s life vest,

Like his,

Orange, mesh pocket,

Name inscribed in black:

H. W. Smith, Jr. He said

If he capsized, drowned and floated down river,

They’d know whom they had found.

  Must have loved me lots.

Kept my cards in his briefcase

The books, unread, given back

L.L. Bean shoelaces, a spark plug, 25

Padlock keys to 25 fire lanes for forty years after he stopped patrolling them.

  We crawled them all in his Willys, Me

Sitting in his lap, steering,

Manual throttle pulled out a little, in

Four-wheel, Granny gear,

He was powerful like that.

  And one 16 gauge shell, unshot.

Went hunting the winter of my 8th grade, after JFK died,

Deer,

Snow,

Silence.

The 12 gauge pump, his.

The 16 gauge single shot, Mine. 

[theflyingboykin]

sort of hopes this isn't the last #Fire of the season, photo courtesy @LindaMortenson, drinks courtesy Mr. @LindaMortenson. Good cheer courtesy of @annefsmith1, who's bringing the #Boykins in stat. (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

is here with the guys in his group, Jeff, Houston and Cam, when this message popped up... (at Grace Community Church)

[theflyingboykin]

#MimiPerper gets it right, always. #JoeCraven #GSOnc is lucky! (at Mack And Mack)

[theflyingboykin]

#JoeCraven (pic) and #HowardLevy rock the house at Mack and Mack http://JoeCraven.com http://levyland.com #GSONC is so lucky! (at Mack And Mack)

[theflyingboykin]

Hi this is Dixie the #Boykin in a serious "stay" at puppy college. Miss Heidi loves to torment me; Peeps puts me in a sit/stay, then Miss Heidi torments me with a bouncing, squeaking tennis ball, a stupid pink stuffed sting-ray and her beloved 4 month old collie, whose stupid ears are taped down because he's going to be shown, or something like that, and the judges require a minimum 1/4" ear fold-down. Don't get me started. Despite the torture, I got a "very we'll done" thanks to Peeps, who really gets into this dog school gig. Oh, the big German Shorthair (pictured right), my boyfriend Dutch. I mess with his mind during the whole class. I own him. (at PetSmart)

[theflyingboykin]

Dixie the #Boykin, fell asleep on the ottoman, dead tired, turned over and her bootie fell off the ottoman, her feet on the floor, And she stayed asleep, Didn't wake up for another half hour. @spanielsofinstagram @gundoginstagram #rascals #bedhogs (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

will be painting something this color at Toad Hall (at Palmetto State Rover Recycling Center)

[theflyingboykin]

Axe blade, hollowed out, new handle ready #luckyaxe (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

is burning out the broken part of the handle of his Dad's old Collins Double bladed axe. I broke it blazing on the Uwharrie Trail. #ItLasted50Years #Sad #LuckyAxe (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

Fresh goose was the only thing I didn't find at Greensboro farmers market, But I did see these creeturs on my walk up Lindsay Street; Good thing for them I didn't have the Boykin spaniels with me. (at Greensboro Children's Museum)

[theflyingboykin]

One more reason why I love greensboro http://lightedchristmasballs.blogspot.com/2013/02/surprise-joy.html

[theflyingboykin]

Mama's gone camping? Fine. I'll just sleep on her pillow and the middle pillow and keep them both warm till she returns. (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

Peeps, go to sleep. Now. Today was fun, today is gone, tomorrow will be another one, every day from here to there, funny things are everywhere. T. Geisel (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

thinks Jimmy and Alfred did a slack job cleaning the silver so he had them do it over and they did. This happened right after Alfred asked Jimmy to "take it easy with Mr. Barrow at the fair and not "spoil" things. #DowntonAbbey (at Toad Hall)

[theflyingboykin]

Night night Daddy. It's been fun, love Dixie ps, nightey Mr. Dutch cc: @gundoginstagram @spanielsofinstagram #boykinspaniel #germanshorthairpointer

[theflyingboykin]

Get in bed Daddy and turn off that light. (at Toad Hall)