"We're putting the band back together" - Jake and Elwood Blues visit Sowpub!

Dien ~

Twenty years you say!!! Dang!!! Lemme get my toes out.... 29... 30... yep... I guess I am 40 now!!! :-0 (actually I have 10 toes for you analyticals!) LOL

Jake and Elwood... The Blues Beagles

Well... Good ol' Jake and Elwood!!! Not long after the movie hit the theaters I acquired a couple of beagle pups from a hunting buddy of mine. We just fed them and kept them around the house in a nice roomy run I had built for them.

At the time I was training my Black Lab and duck/goose hunting was my all-time favorite thing to do. (Yes I said All-time!!!)

But after the wildfowl were gone... I decided to take the beagles out into the brush to bust some rabbits and have a little fun. My brother-in-law and I also ran Blue Ticks and Red Bone hounds on raccoons too! Yep... Jest a good ol' farmboy... Been to two county fairs and one hog callin'!!!

Well these two beagles were ravenous after bunnies!!! Just like the hounds chasing 'Cool Hand Luke' through the swamps... My beagles were inside of the thickest of brush piles rootin' out the game!

Then once the rabbit broke cover... You should have heard those dawgs sing the blues!!! Wailing deep and long. Much like B.B. King or Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker!!!

They were my "Blues Beagles"!!!

So rightfully so... Both being males... They were ceremoniusly dubbed "Jake and Elwood"... "The Blues Beagles"...

Sadly enough, one afternoon I come pulling into the yard in a Ford F-150, 4" lift with 12.50 x 33 B.F. Goodrich mud tires... and Jake was lose...

I was 26 then, and cried to myself as I buried him alone that afternoon, down along the Marais des Cygnes river. I sat afterwards and watched the squirrels play in the trees and fish rise in the waters where we set trotlines for flatheads.

Leaning against an old oak tree heavy with ripening acorns. Smelling the breezes I knew Jake would never scent again. I was feeling sorry for myself and guilty I didn't see Jake come around the corner to meet me.

The Marais des Cygnes river was, and still is, one of my favorite places to be. I'm a River Rat to the core... We hunted, fished, skinny dipped as kids (and adults) in the river that flowed through our town. It's french for River of Swans.

Soon after burying Jake, Dave, my brother-in-law, and I took Elwood out to the bunny fields to enjoy an afternoon of running rabbits in the crisp Fall air. But Elwood wouldn't hunt. Not without Jake.

We both came home understanding the quizzical look Jake was giving us. We missed Jake too. It wasn't the same any longer... Not without the pair. Elwood wouldn't go into a brushpile without his partner Jake.

No longer did we go out after bunnies... Elwood became a pet for my three toddlers. He would be fine with us.

But a few months later... I heard shotgun blasts from the neighbors and Elwood wasn't home. A few minutes later here he came limping home.

The phone began to ring...

Elwood had killed some chickens up the road and the neighbor took a few shots at him as he was escaping...

Elwood died later that night... I went and paid for the hens he had killed. Cost me a twenty dollar bill and the life of my beagle.

I understood though... The way of life on a farm. He didn't want to shoot my dawg anymore than I wanted him to. But it's the code. Dawgs chasing cows, livestock and chickenkillers needed to be dealt with. If 'Ol' Man Walker' hadn't of shot him... I would've had to.

The next day we buried him next to his brother Jake overlooking the river. Dave and I both had tears welling up in our eyes, but said nothing to one another... We ended up in the local tavern shooting pool, drinking beers, telling stories of hunts gone by. Jake and Elwood were chasing rabbits, and each other, elsewhere. Romping through the tall grass together.

Cheers to Jake and Elwood... The Blues Beagles

We were given rides home...

Think I'll go rent 'The Blues Brothers' this weekend...