The Backroads Traveler: LaFayette, Georgia

 The 1836 Marsh-Warthen House, LaFayette.

 LaFayette is a small city in, and the county seat of, Walker County in the extreme northwest corner of Georgia. It's also the Georgia small town with which I am most familiar, because I lived in Walker County for 33 years.

Founded as Chattooga in 1835, as the Cherokee nation was struggling unsuccessfully to hold on to their homeland, the town was renamed LaFayette in 1836, in honor of the French Marquis who fought with the American forces in the Revolutionary War. Current population is about 7,000.

The surrounding county has a fair amount of industry, including the Roper Corporation, which makes GE appliances. Much of the area is given over to farming, with many beef and dairy operations.

LaFayette, by the way, is pronounced "LaFAYette," not the conventional "LaFayETTE." However, the downtown square is pronounced "LaFayETTE" Square. Go figure. 

The Marsh House, also known as the Marsh-Warthen House, was built in 1836 by Spencer Stewart Marsh, a prominent businessman who founded a major cotton mill in Trion. The house was owned by his descendants for 150 years.

During the Civil War, Union cavalrymen stabled their horses in the house. Bullet holes from the Battle of LaFayette are still visible in the walls. Check their website for the tour schedule, because it varies considerably according to the time of year. http://marshhouseoflafayette.org/. 423-994-8485. 

The Chattooga Academy.

The  Chattooga Academy was built in 1836 of bricks made at Rock Spring, a few miles north of LaFayette. Believed to be the oldest brick schoolhouse in Georgia, it cost $815 to build and has one large room on each floor with a chimney at each end. The Presbyterians used it as their meeting house until their church was built in 1848.

 

 The LaFayette First Presbyterian Church.

Just north of the town square is the First Presbyterian Church. Erected in 1848 in the Greek Revival architectural style so popular in the early and middle 19th century, it is still an active church. It served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union wounded after the Battle of LaFayette in June of 1864.

 A TRIBUTE TO A TIME THAT WAS.

Breakfast at Susie’s on the square. A LaFayette tradition for many years.

The name of Susie’s Café on the square in LaFayette was officially Susie’s Sunset Café. But I always thought it should have been named Susie’s Sunrise Café, because the early morning sun streamed in through the plate-glass front and illuminated everything all the way to the back wall.

Susie’s had booths down each side for those who preferred a feeling of relative privacy, but it also had a couple of long tables down the center where lawyers, businessmen, farmers, factory workers, and gas station attendants ate their breakfasts together and chewed the fat (no reflection on the bacon) in peaceable equanimity.

Susie's is gone now, and places like it in other small towns are a dwindling species.  Increasingly, you will find the old timers' morning coffee club at a Hardy's or McDonald's. A sad sign of the times.

The photos: The Marsh House was photographed with a Fuji X-T20 and the Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens. For the Chattooga Academy photo, I used an Olympus E-M5 with the Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 14-140mm lens, and for the church, the same camera with a Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 12-32mm lens. The photograph in Susie's Café was made with a small, quiet, Olympus SPn rangefinder camera loaded with color negative film.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    digital photography     travel     Fuji X-T20 camera      Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens     Olympus E-M5 camera    Walker County, Georgia     Marsh-Warthen House     Chattooga Academy     Panasonic Lumis G-Vario 12-32mm lens     Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 12-32mm lens     film photography     Olympus SPn rangefinder camera

The Photographer's Eye

 Demented spider. GA. Highway 193, Walker County.

 (Adapted and expanded from a post on September 15, 2021.)

 What does it mean to have a photographer's eye?

I think the indispensable ability is the ability to notice things. Most of us bumble through life half-aware of our surroundings. And then we pick up a camera and expect to start seeing interesting things. It doesn't work that way. We have to develop the habit of being aware of the world around us at all times, not just on demand. That's the difference between photographers who regularly produce good pictures and those who, infrequently or never, have a lucky accident.

Ford 8N tractor in shed, U.S. Highway 19, Lumpkin County, Georgia.

After the ability to notice things comes a sense of light. Very often, it's the light itself that makes a subject noticeable. Learn to study light -- observe how it falls at different times of the day and different seasons of the year until you can almost feel the way it works with your subject. This is a lifelong learning process and I'm still working at it.

Bottoms up! Diving swans on Berry College campus, Rome, Georgia.

The third element is composition -- the ability to arrange the subject in the camera's viewfinder so that whatever it is that caught your eye stands forth most clearly. If necessary, zoom your lens or move, so that your frame is clean and uncluttered, including only the essential elements that tell the story.

Good street photographers such as Elliott Erwitt and Henri Cartier-Bresson have an almost magical ability to simultaneously notice both a subject and the light and compose a photograph in an instant. Others, myself included, are not so fast. But not all kinds of photography demand such quick reflexes. Jay Maisel notices and photographs an incredible number of interesting subjects. Some of them do demand quick reflexes, but many of them are just sitting there, as it were, waiting for someone to notice and photograph them.

As Robert Louis Stevenson said,

                "The world is so full of a number of things                                                                     I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

Photos: The spider: Canon EOS A2, 28-105mm RF lens, Fujichrome 100 film. The tractor: Canon EOS 5D Classic, 24-85mm EF lens. The swans: Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 85mm lens, Kodachrome 64 film.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    photography techniques     film photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera      Canon 28-105mm EF lens     Fujichrome 100 film    Walker County, Georgia     digital photography     Canon EOS 5D Classic     Canon 24-85mm EF lens     Olympus OM2n film camera     Zuiko 85mm lens     Kodachrome 64 film

A Lifetime of Great Dogs: IV

Max looks on as Louise pets a heifer. 

 In April, 1992, a black dog appearing to be a spaniel/labrador mix wandered into Deer Run Farm while we were in the process of bringing in a larger mobile home. (Don was in Iraq and Kim, his wife, had come to live with us.)

A similar dog, but female, had been adopted by our good neighbors the Parris's about a week before. They named her Maria, and at first I thought this dog was Maria. Then I noticed he was a male, friendly, and with a jaunty air. I thought, this fellow is a maximum dog. So he became Mr. Maximum Dog, but Max to his friends. And he was our friend for the next twelve years. 

Which makes it all the more upsetting to me that this is the best photo I can find of him without going to the garage and digging through boxes of prints from the '90s.

Gladys and Max watch as Louise pets Freckles.

In those years we briefly had two other dogs -- Gladys, a small, collie-type, and Brigit, a border collie. Gladys was a nice dog, but she disappeared. We believe our other neighbor killed her for running his cattle. We think Brigit ran away, although we have never known for sure.

Max had demodetic mange, but thanks to Louise's loving care, lived a long, happy life. With sadness, we had him put to sleep when his life became burdensome to him.

I actually credit Max for saving our marriage. We finally sold our old house and were able to build on the farm in 1993 and '94. We had much difficulty with the contractor, and sometimes the tensions in our home were so great we could hardly speak to each other. So it became, "Max, tell your mother. . ." or Max, tell your father. . ."

Truly a maximum dog. I'll keep looking for a better picture.

More to come. 

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     family history   dogs

A Lifetime of Great Dogs: Part III

 Buffalo. A chow who was his own dog.

In December, 1987 we thought our house was sold, so we moved into a refurbished, 12x40-foot mobile home on our property in MacLemore Cove, intending to live in it until our new house was built. (The sale of our old house fell through, leaving us without enough money to build at that time. But that's another story.)

We brought with us to the Cove Harley and Schnoodles, and also our son Don's chow, Buffalo, since Don was in the Army by that time. Buffalo was a great dog, but very independent. He was happy with us, but he was his own dog. He disappeared after some months and we never saw him again. We don't believe he wandered off -- we have always believed our neighbor killed him.

Not long after we moved to the farm, I accidentally ran over Harley with the front wheel of my compact pickup truck. Incredibly, he lived. He had broken ribs and punctured lungs, but the vet put him in a sort of compression jacket and he recovered fully.

Sometime in 1989, we went into town for a few hours. When we returned we found both Harley and Schnoodles dead in our back yard. We believe they got into coyote poison that someone had put out. We mourned them, but were happy they both went together, so that one would not mourn for the other. They lived long, good lives -- 13 years for Schnoodles and 12 for Harley, and were a joy to us.  

Bear. My best buddy.

Later that year, some friends of Don, who was by this time at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, gave us a young chow, whom we named Bear. (As you can see, lots of imagination in our naming system.) Bear had a lot of personality and soon became my best buddy. Unfortunately, he was hit and killed by a car in 1991. Having pets is a life of love and loss, but very much worth it. We have been blessed by the dogs that have owned us.

To be continued.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     family history   dogs

The Backroads Traveler Part II: On the Way to Tybee

 

Shrimp boats in Lazaretto Creek on the way to Tybee.

Tybee Island is a great destination, but there's also good stuff to see along the Islands Expressway from Savannah to the island. Including one you should not miss.

Preparing to fire the cannon at Fort Jackson.

Leaving Savannah via East President Street/Islands Expressway, turn left on Woodcock Street and follow it to Ft. Jackson Road and Old Fort Jackson, built in 1808 at a strategic location on the Savannah River as part of President Thomas Jefferson’s coastal defense system. After the fall of Fort Pulaski in 1862, Fort Jackson became the headquarters for all the river defenses protecting Savannah during the Civil War. It fell to Federal forces in 1864, as General Sherman culminated his March to the Sea by taking Savannah. 

The U.S. War Department abandoned the fort in 1905 and it is now operated by the Coastal Heritage Society as a museum dedicated to education and military history. Open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a demonstration of muzzle-loading cannon firing is given at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily. There are also interactive programs for kids, adults, and families. 

Moat and wall at Fort Pulaski.

 From Fort Jackson, go back to Islands Expressway and go left (east) for ten miles to Fort Pulaski National Monument on the left.

Completed in 1847, its seven and a half–foot solid brick walls, backed up by concrete piers and earthworks, were considered impregnable. At the onset of the Civil War, it was seized by the State of Georgia, which then transferred the fort to the Confederacy. In November, 1861, Federal forces established a beachhead at Hilton Head Island, causing Confederate forces to abandon nearby Tybee Island. 

Inside the walls of Fort Pulaski.

The Federals brought in something new: rifled cannon capable of far greater range and power than anything previously known, and in April, 1862, set up batteries on the northwest shore of Tybee and swiftly proceeded to breach the “impregnable” walls of Fort Pulaski. The Confederate commander surrendered in just 30 hours. It was a turning point; the beginning of a new era in warfare.

From Fort Pulaski, continue east on Islands Expressway for about two miles, crossing Lazaretto Creek as you go, and turn right on Catalina Drive, then immediately left on Estill Hammock Road to the Crab Shack, a don't-miss destination!

 Lunch at the Crab Shack. Don't miss it!

Voted Savannah’s best seafood since 1998, the super-casual atmosphere at the Crab Shack might make you think you’ve stumbled upon a pirates’ hangout, but the food and service are worth walking the plank for. If you’ve never had their low-country shrimp boil, you are going to hate yourself for all the years you’ve wasted.

Also, don't miss the Tybee Island sunrise. It's worth getting up early for!

About the equipment: The photographs of the shrimp boats and sunrise were made with Olympus OM film cameras and (probably) Kodachrome 64 film, scanned with a Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner. For the other photos, I used an Olympus E-M5 digital camera with a Panasonic Lumix Vario-G 14-140mm lens.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2001-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Olympus E-M5 digital camera     Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 14-140mm lens    digital photography    Olympus OM film camera     Tybee Island, Georgia    Kodachrome 64 film    Georgia coast     Tybee Island     lighthouses     film photography     U.S. Highway 80     Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 film scanner     The Crab Shack     Fort Jackson, Georgia     Fort Pulaski National Monument

The Backroads Traveler: Tybee Island, Georgia

Sunrise at Tybee Island.

I prefer Georgia's mountains to its flatter lands, but everyone likes to go to the beach sometimes. And when you go, Tybee Island is the place to go.

As every Georgian knows, you get to Tybee by taking U.S. Highway 80 from Savannah. U.S. 80 originally ran 2,538 miles from San Diego, California to the beach at Tybee Island, but  now its western end is Dallas, Texas. 

'Most everyone who thinks about Tybee thinks about the beach, of course, but the island includes a community of about3,000 more-or-less permanent residents. With all the tourists occupying the many hotels, motels, and rental condos, the population is probably double that at any given time. Needless to say, the town's main industry is tourism.

The Tybee Island Lighthouse is open for tours.

While you're on the island, be sure to see the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Fort Screven. 

Completed in 1867, the lighthouse is 154 feet in height and is the fourth on this site, going back to 1736. The first two were wooden and did not survive long. The third tower was built of brick in 1773. When the Confederates abandoned Tybee Island, they attempted to blow it up with a keg of gunpowder, but its brick shell, twelve feet thick at the base, survived and forms the first 60 feet of the present lighthouse. The beacon, still with its original lens, continues to guide maritime traffic at the mouth of the Savannah River. The lighthouse keeper's house was built in 1881. The lighthouse is open for sunset tours on a limited basis, including climbing all 178 steps to the top. 

Fort Screven was finished in 1905, but decommissioned in 1947.

Fort Screven, the fortification adjacent to the lighthouse, was mandated by the state of Georgia in 1786, but construction did not actually begin until 1897, after the federal government took over the site. Completed in 1905, it was used as a coastal defense artillery fort and an infantry post and was decommissioned in 1947. Today, Battery Garland, one of six remaining batteries at Fort Screven, houses the Tybee Museum which, along with the Tybee Island Light Station, is operated by the non-profit Tybee Island Historical Society.
Also at Fort Screven is Officer’s Row, a group of houses with sweeping ocean views that were built as officer’s residences around 1900.The fort district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

 Drift fences help prevent erosion of the beach.

Other things to see on Tybee include the Tybee Island pier, which juts out into the Atlantic just off US 80 at Tybrisa Street. It’s a place for fishing, walking, and people-watching, and the pavilion at the end is available to rent for social functions. Also, while you’re near the pier, visit the Marine Science Center, located off the 14th Sreet parking lot. Their mission is “to cultivate a responsible stewardship of coastal Georgia’s natural resources through education, conservation, and research.” They offer walks, talks, and treks, maintain a gallery of exhibits of coastal Georgia flora, fauna, and habitats, and operate week-long sea camp ocean adventures for kids 6–11 each summer. They’re open Thursday to Sunday.

The dunes behind the beach at Tybee Island.

More about Tybee Island coming soon.  

About the equipment: A bit of guesswork here, because I've been to Tybe numerous times and and am not sure exactly when some of the pictures were made. The photos of the anchor, the drift fences, and the sand dunes were made with Olympus OM film cameras (best guess), probably on Kodachrome 64 film, and scanned with a Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner. The lighthouse and Fort Screven were photographed with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera fitted with a Panasonic 14-140mm lens.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2001-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Olympus E-M5 digital camera     Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 14-140mm lens    digital photography    Olympus OM film camera     Tybee Island, Georgia    Kodachrome 64 film    Georgia coast     Tybee Island     lighthouses     Fort Screven     U.S. Highway 80     Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 film scanner     beaches

Winter Light: An Island of Rocks and Trees

An island of rocks and trees in a large field.

 From 1984 until 2000, I had commercial photography studios in Chattanooga. The last and best one was at 730 Cherry Street, downtown, where I worked from 1993 to 2000.

By the late '90s the studio was just barely paying its own way. More and more of my work was done on location, and the income derived from in-studio photography was at best only covering the costs of operating the studio. A no-brainer. A sad one, because it was a great studio space and I loved working there, but a no-brainer nonetheless. It was time to move my business home and use my basement as a studio.

In preparation for the move, I began to reduce my equipment inventory. I sold my Cambo 4x5 view camera and my medium format Mamiya RB67 and their lenses and invested the money in a Fuji GX680, which I thought would be able to do the work of the other two. Although the format was smaller than 4x5, it was larger than the RB, and also used cheaper 120 roll film. It also had front-standard movements, which offered some perspective control, like the 4x5. 

The GX680 was very capable and I liked it, but it was a big, heavy beast of a camera! In 2003, again reading the handwriting on the wall, I sold it to buy my first digital camera.

Sometime in the winter of 2001, I was on my way home from Nashville, driving down one of the old U.S. highways (41 or 41A), when my eye was caught by a small island of trees in the middle of a large field. It was surrounded by a ring of very large rocks, which had apparently been dug out of the field in years past to make it usable for farming. I had the trusty GX680 with me, of course (I seldom go anywhere without a camera), so I pulled over and made a couple of exposures on Ilford Delta Pro 100 black and white film, which I processed in Kodak T-Max developer and scanned on my old but still good Epson Professional 4990 scanner.

First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga.

 I also had some pictures of Chattanooga's First Presbyterian Church on that roll, part of a project I was working on at the time, so I'm including one of them to show how the front rise movement of the GX680 enabled me to keep all the vertical lines vertical without showing too much of the street in the foreground.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2001-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   film photography   black and white photography    Fuji GX680 camera     Ilford Delta Pro 100 film    Kodak T-Max developer     Epson Perfection 4990 scanner    First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga

The Fuji X-T20: A Little Camera for Big Pictures

The Fujifilm X-T20 digital camera, looking snazzy in its black half-case.

I have a Fuji X-T3 camera, and like it a lot. It goes with me when I go out purposefully looking for photographs. But when I'm out and about, just carrying a camera in case I might see something I want to photograph, the camera that goes with me is the tiny, lightweight, yet fully capable, X-T20. 

Actually, the weight difference isn't all that great -- only a little over half a pound. But it feels like more than that. Bulk might have something to do with that. The X-T20 with the 16-50mm kit lens weighs only one pound, seven ounces, and makes a tiny package. In fact, it's so small that I had to add the half-case to improve the handling!

 The X-T3 with the Fujicron 16-80mm f4 lens weighs two pounds, four ounces and is noticeably larger than the X-T20. But still a small package, as digital cameras go.

Although in earlier years I was 6 feet, two inches tall, weighed about 240 pounds, and was quite strong, I've always had a thing about carrying more weight than necessary. In 1979 I dumped my heavy Nikkormats and Nikon F2 and switched to the small and lightweight Olympus OM system, which I used very happily for the next 13 years until aging eyes forced me to move to a system that offered autofocus. The X-T20 is very close to my Olympus OM2n in size and weight.

Butterfly and azalea in our back yard at the farm.

The X-T20 doesn't give anything away in terms of picture quality, either. Its 24-megapixel sensor is at what many experts call the "sweet spot" of sensor size -- neither too many pixels, nor too few. The photo above hangs as a 24x36-inch print above our fireplace and looks great. The X-T3 has a few more pixels, but not enough to make a noticeable difference.

  

 The Grand Canyon. Looking upriver from the north rim. Fuji X-T20.

I bought the X-T20 used from an online forum in 2018, and it was my principle camera on our trip west that year. I used it for the above picture of the Grand Canyon, which I had printed as a 32-inch-wide panel and gave to my sister-in-law. 

I've thought about selling the X-T3 and getting another X-T20, or perhaps the slighter newer X-T30, but I'll keep the 3 for now because it balances better with my heavier lenses such as the XF 16-80  and the XF 55-200.  

(All my opinions about gear, by the way, are subject to change and/or revision!)

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   digital photography   Fujinon XC 16-50 lens    Fuji X-T20 camera     Fujicron XF16-80 lens    Fuji X-T3 camera     Fujinon XF 55-200 lens    Grand Canyon  

Great Dogs: Part II

Harley and Schnoodles quickly adapted to life in the country.

 When we moved from Miami to Chattanooga in 1970, we bought a small house in East Brainerd and soon were adopted by a small, black, Labrador type dog that we named Joe II. He had apparently suffered some abuse and didn't fully trust adults. He bonded with Don (we called him Donny in those days, before he became a successful businessman), who loved him and grieved when he was killed by some neighborhood dogs several years later.

David and Hot Dog.

 Around 1974, someone gave us one of our all-time favorite dogs. He was a feisty, little Toy Manchester mix, and one of the two most intelligent dogs we've ever owned. We named him Hot Dog. Unfortunately, he was with us less than a year before a car hit him in the street in front of our house. He is gone, but never forgotten, and we still laugh about some of his antics.

Harley and Schnoodles.

 In 1976, a friend gave us a schnoodle (half poodle/half schnauzer) puppy. She looked like a purebred poodle. We named her Schnoodles. She was our other smartest dog. When she was grown we mated her to a full schnauzer and she had a litter of four, of which two looked like purebred poodles, and two looked like purebred schnauzers. 

Louise and baby Harley.

We found good homes for three of them and kept one, which we named Harley. Harley was a great singer. Just say, "Sing Harley" and he would throw his head back and sing "Awoo, awoo, awoo." 

Schoodles and Harley were great companions for each other, and for us. They came with us when we moved to the farm in 1987 and soon adapted to life as country dogs.

To be continued. 

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   family history   dogs

A Lifetime of Great Dogs

 

Rusty and Honey. Our last two big dogs.

For nearly 60 years it has been our privilege to have been owned by a succession of great dogs. Pooch was the first.

I wish I had a picture of Pooch, but I wasn't a photographer in those days. I had a little Kodak box camera, but didn't take many pictures. But think "beagle," and you'll know what Pooch looked like.

The year was 1965 and Louise and I were newlyweds, living in a small house in Tallahassee. She was a Music Ed. student at FSU, and, since there weren't many openings for teachers in Leon County (too many FSU grad students' wives) I was working my alternate career as a barber, which required me to work some evenings. Louise welcomed Pooch into our lives as her companion for those lonely evenings. She was broken-hearted a few months later when a car hit Pooch as he was running to her across the road behind our house.

Everyone who is owned by a pet must come to terms with the fact that you are most likely going to outlive the pet. Are the joys of having pets worth the grief that will inevitably come? For us, the joys of having our dogs have far outweighed the times of sorrow at their passing.

Pregnant Louise and Joe in our yard in Miami. Yes, that's a 1950 Packard.

A few weeks after Pooch's passing, our next-door neighbor gave us a purebred black Labrador puppy that we named Joe. He was to be our BFF and companion for the next several years and was the only purebred dog who has ever owned us. I have better pictures of him, but they're in a box somewhere in the garage -- a major project to dig out, but one of these days I'll dig them out and scan them.

After Louise's graduation from FSU, we moved to Miami, her home town, where we both took teaching jobs.

(About the Packard: Our first home was in southwest Miami, off Bird Road. I taught in an elementary school in northeast Miami -- about a 20-mile drive up the Palmetto Expressway [we called it the Bypass in those days]. I rode my Honda 305 SuperHawk motorcycle every day, until one day I had a small accident. I wasn't hurt, but after that I bought an old Packard from a friend for $50. It used a lot of oil, but ran great, and was like driving an armored tank up the Bypass.)  

In 1968 our son Don was born and we were involved in the founding of Florida Christian School. (Which continues to flourish to this day.) We both became teachers there, and moved into a duplex on the school property. I had been keeping Joe on a chain, but because the school property was extensive, I thought it would be safe to let him run loose. I was wrong. He was hit and killed by a car in front of our house. I cried like a baby. He was a great dog, and we have never forgotten him.

(To be continued.)

Blog Note: I just watched President Trump's inauguration. I have lived a long life, and I thank God that I have lived to see this day.

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I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   family history   dogs