What we’re reading…and two last minute gift ideas

Afield/American Writers on Bird Dogs edited by Robert DeMott and Dave Smith is a book Jerry discovered in E. Shaver, a charming book store in Savannah, Georgia. Complete with small, crowded rooms, comfy chairs, resident cats and a tea room, one could easily spend hours browsing in this independently opened shop.

Three of my favorite writers—Jim Harrison, Guy de la Valdene and Tom McGuane—are included in this anthology but so, too, are Tom Brokaw and William G. Tapply.

Jim Harrison on his favorite setter female Tess:
“Though utterly docile and sweet in the cabin or house, these are big running setters suitable for the southwest and Montana, though they shorten up in the denser cover of northern Michigan. When cynics say that our dogs are ‘too far out,’ we’ve learned to give a pat answer, ‘That must be where the birds are.’”

Tom McGuane on rising early and heading out with the Pointer Sisters, Abby and Daisy:
“There have been several hard frosts and the morning is young. Those rattlesnakes not yet denned will be too sluggish to matter. The cattle have been gathered from the hills and now it all belongs to us. The hawks are up to the same thing we are; and it is possible to feel the competition of the Northern Harriers as they course low to the ground in the very fields we hunt. The light from the East and the bright serration of new snow on the mountain ranges surrounding us seem to bind a vast country together.”

Guy de la Valdene on why he loves dogs:
“I love the everyday quirks in a dog’s character, its habits, its independence, the insouciance of its sprawling slumber, and the accepting drop of a dog’s ears at the approach of a trusted hand.”

What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren was given to us by Ken Johnson, an avid hunter who bought a Blue Ox x Chablis puppy from us in 2012. Lucy, as he calls her, has been back a couple times for training and we’re always happy to see both Ken and Lucy.

Ken bought the book in an airport shop on one of his many layovers. He is a founding partner of Covey Sales & Marketing, a company that represents many premium outdoor-oriented manufacturers.

The book is on Jerry’s bedside table and he has really enjoyed it. Not only is Warren a good writer but her insights are amazing.