The Words We Write
Posted on January 30, 2016 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
On a Tuscaloosa fall Saturday otherwise long-forgotten, I was at home watching the Tide play on the road when the sound of my front porch mailbox lid falling shut caught my attention. As a college student at the time I didn’t get much from the postal service outside of bills, class registration information and the […]
Mitch
Posted on December 1, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
By the time he came to know “Mitch,” as his grandfather called him, Mitch was an accomplished angler in his own right, though one long-past his prime. Mitch had spent his entire career around the water, fishing both the fresh and the salt. Whether it was his determined work ethic or the fact he could […]
Pleasant Surprise
Posted on November 3, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
“Roostertails,” he mumbled, dejected, peering into the tackle box. “Of all the lures. Roostertails.” He’d set the tackle box with the spoons, buck-tail jigs and other assorted saltwater lures by the back door so he’d be sure not to leave it behind. Considering all his tackle boxes looked alike, had the culprit been anyone other […]
The fish fry
Posted on October 4, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
“Mama! Get the grease ready!” my grandfather said to my grandmother, whose answer I could barely hear over the static-filled cell phone connection. The purpose of the call was two-fold: one, we had caught enough fish for supper and two; we were safely off the water. Both of them have been gone for many years, […]
‘Ol Pinfeathers
Posted on August 31, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
She dropped the dove in his hand, shook her head, snorted, and spit a wad of wet feathers on the ground, the moisture quickly wicked away by the chalky dirt. “Pin feathers,” he said. “Eight seasons together and she still can’t stand ‘em. But, if you’re a dog, it’s just part of dove huntin’.” He […]
Bucket ‘a Bolts
Posted on July 31, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
It was by little coincidence that mere moments after I eased comfortably in my chair – weary from a full day of yard work and eager to catch the last few minutes of the ball game – that the toy stove in my daughter’s dollhouse, the one she’d been playing with all afternoon, broke. Pandemonium […]
Getting “Skunked”
Posted on July 2, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
“Whoop!,” he said, jerking his arm up swiftly, driving the crankbait’s pair of treble hooks home. “There he is!” Even on ultralight tackle the fish was boat side in moments. They rarely fished the pond anymore, and the growing pile of small bass flopping in the bottom of the cooler proved it. “I wish we […]
A Pair Beats a Dozen
Posted on June 2, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
Until my children were born, the only parenting I’d done involved dogs, chickens and a cat or two. The puppies in particular were quite the handful as all 12 required round-the-clock attention and were born at my wife’s and my busiest time of the work year. The dame of the litter – our Lab – […]
Pear Dogs
Posted on April 30, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
I first noticed it last summer while mowing the lawn. The pear tree in our backyard seemed to be dropping leaves – which happens every year – except it was unseasonably early. Was it the heat, or maybe a gust of wind, since several branches lay scattered around the base of the tree as well? I […]
Survivors
Posted on April 1, 2015 by bob in OffTheBeatenPath
The odd set of tracks in the damp earth alongside the road were unmistakable; four long, well-scaled toes on the left, none on the right. He smirked, recognizing them instantly, and muttered under his breath. “Seems you survived another year Ol’ Peg,” he said. He’d first come across the turkey and his tracks three springs […]
