June 2024

It was the 6th of October on a cool and cloudy Kansas day.I was out riding my bicycle, while my wife was gone away.I was simply pedaling down a dirt road and didn’t intend any harm.But I must have woke the dog who was outside guarding Billy’s farm.That was almost 16 years ago, but it seems like only yesterday.When Billy’s dog nipped at my heel, and I quickly sped away.On those many fall and winter days when the wind blew out of the northeast,I saddled up my bike and steeled my nerves as I prepared to battle the beast.He must have seen me as something like practicing for the cowsThat he would have loved to herd if he were only allowed.I tried air horns, cap guns, and sometimes I would even squeal,Just trying to keep that dog away from the back of my heel.I even threw him a dog biscuit or two.