Death of Ole Blue

Death of Ole Blue

Grandpa Kader Lewis had a lot of hound dogs throughout the years, but probably the best one he ever had was a blue tick hound that we all called 'Ole Blue'. Now, Ole Blue had about the sweetest bass voice you have ever heard singing in the Dismal Swamps. Combined with the tenor of Pepper and harmonized with Buster it made a sound that would bring joy to the heart of any hunter. I have watched Ole Blue many a time tracking. That hound could track without hardly ever putting his nose to the ground. It was almost like he could read the mind of whatever he was tracking. Be it man or beast. Once he tracked a bank robber from the bank to where he got in a car and then tracked the car to the mans house. If you think a good hound can't do that, just do a little research. They are amazing animals. When hunting, we would take Ole Blue to the area we wanted him to start from and then sit and wait a spell. You could hear him ranging through the swamps and directly he would start singing. Shortly, Pepper and Buster would join in and we would listen real close. After a bit we could figure which way they were running the deer and we would take off running through the swamps as hard as we could go. We may have to run 3 to 5 miles, but in just a short while they would push that deer right to us. Blue was a fine coon dog and treed more coons than the rest of Grandpa Kader's pack put together. He was a great scrapper and would tackle an old boar coon in a heartbeat. Hounds had to be careful when fighting a boar coon though. The Coon would try to get the hound to fight him in a creek and then he would latch on to the hounds nose and hold him under water till he drowned. One September night we went cooning and just sat back and listened to Ole Blue singing his heart out. They kept getting closer and closer and we realized that they were going to pass right by us. Just before they got to us, Old Blue caught up with that boar coon and they commenced to scrapping up and down the railroad track. Boys, it was a glorious fight. We headed towards them on a dead run, but before we could get up to them the midnight freight train from Chinquapin to Beulaville came by bellering steam and sparks and killed both Ole Blue and the coon. Grandpa ran up to Ole Blue and dropped to his knees and commenced to bellering Waaaauuugh Waaaauugh. I put my hand on his shoulder and said "Grandpa, please don't cry over Old Blue like that". Grandpa jumped up and started whacking me over the head with his hat and said.."You demed idgit, I ain't crying over no hound dog. I'm crying cause Old Blue died thinking that demed coon whupped him”.

Carolina Barbequed Pork - Slow Cooked

Carolina Barbequed Pork - Slow Cooked

• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (4 to 6 pound) boneless pork butt or shoulder roast
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Hamburger buns
• Coleslaw

Place onions in slow cooker. Combine brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper; rub over meat. Place meat over onions in slow cooker.

Combine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne; stir to mix well. Drizzle about one-third vinegar mixture over meat; cover and refrigerate remaining vinegar mixture. Place cover on slow cooker and cook on LOW 10 to 12 hours (HIGH 4 to 6 hours).

Drizzle about one-third reserved vinegar mixture over meat during last half hour of cooking. Remove meat and onions, drain. Chop or shred meat and chop onions. Serve meat and onions on buns. If desired, top sandwiches with coleslaw. Pass remaining vinegar mixture to drizzle over sandwiches.