Thursday, August 28, 2014

Random thoughts

Of all the many gifts that God has graced us with, the gift of sight may be one of the most precious. To be able to see the moon beams sparkling off the flowing waters of the Flint River at 4:00 am in the morning is an awesome sight to behold. Why you may ask am I out at that time of the morning? What you should really ask yourself is why is this lunatic walking around in his yard in his underdrawers, toting a 12 gauge shotgun, and wearing a miner's helmet with a light on the top of it? I'm doing that because the dadblame armadillos are about to destroy my yard. I have killed five so far, but there appears to be at least that many more still out there since my grass and yard looks like a herd of hogs have rooted in it. Armadillos seem to have no natural enemies around here other than me. They use their long claws to dig up the grass in search of grubs and worms. Interestingly, the Tall Timbers Quail Research program has added them to the class of nest predators that destroy quail eggs along with other critters such as skunks, coons, and possums. So now I have yet another reason to have a "license to kill" these aggravating pests. I certainly would have preferred them to stay in Mexico and Texas. When I was growing up, we did not have coyotes or armadillos in this area. We do a really good job of trapping our coyotes on Riverview, but I have never found an armadillo trap that works. If any of you know of one that works, please e-mail me at: cader@riverviewplantation.com
 Another blessing of sight is the ability to read. I have always enjoyed reading, and I seem to enjoy it even more as I grow older. For one thing, it doesn't require nearly as much exertion as most of my other hobbies that I still enjoy. Yesterday I read this quote from Aldo Leopold that really resonated with me. He said," We shall never achieve harmony with the land,anymore than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these aspirations the important thing is not to achieve but to strive." Now that is very profound. I firmly believe that God granted us the stewardship of the land and waters of His creation. It is my job to leave it better than I found it for the next generation. I do not own it, but am just renting it for my time here on earth.
 I believe that perfect harmony is impossible, but we try very hard here at Riverview to manage this beautiful piece of property to the best of our ability. We have already had to fight off our federal government who wanted to make the eastern diamondback rattlesnake an endangered species which would have required us to manage our habitat for rattlesnakes rather than quail. A large number of plantations had to kick in money to hire the legal staff to fight an environmental law firm which is 100% funded by the federal government; so we were fighting a group who was being paid by our own tax dollars. Only in the USA ! If these folks try to add the armadillo to that group, they are going to make a grievous error. They don't want a bunch of mad, old women marching on Washington with their broomsticks in their hands. Perhaps I forgot to mention that the reason I am getting no sleep and hunting armadillos at night is that Martha Cox told me that these little 'expletive deleteds' were not going to destroy her yard any longer, and that I WAS going to handle it.
 I need to go take a nap now. More to come later!

Monday, August 18, 2014

That time of the year

Well, we are definitely in the dog days of summer in more ways than one. To an old Southerner like me, the Dog Days of summer meant that the temperature and humidity was going to be almost unbearable each day. According to my mother, it also meant that any cut or scratch would not heal during this miserable period of time, and she was correct as always!
 However, at Riverview, Dog Days have another meaning also. This is the time of the year that Moss begins to solidify his pointing dog strings. By now, we have determined which dogs are gamers and which ones are just trying to collect a meal ticket. We have trained, traded, and drafted new dogs into the rotation. Moss told Cader IV last week that he is still in the market for about 15 more good hunting dogs, and that he has good leads to fill out his quota. In my early years at Riverview, dog buying was one of my many jobs. I don't remember the names of any of the dogs I purchased, but I still remember the tightest pair of hunting britches I ever saw on a female dog trainer who sold me a dog. I couldn't recall the dog's name when I got home with him, and Pop was none too pleased with me. He reminded me about the simple operation we performed on trouble making male dogs, and he had no more problems with my attention to details after that.
 As I have mentioned several times, we are very excited about our introduction of the English Cocker flushing and retrieving dogs into our program at Riverview. Chuck and Jerry have worked real hard on this program, and we are thrilled with their progress. These little dogs are amazing. I intend to own one myself one day if I am still able to shoot anything for them to retrieve. My beloved old Lab will  just be too old to subject to field work any longer.
 I just spoke to Jerry, and he is confident that we will have seven of these dogs ready to go by the beginning of the season, and hopes to integrate another three or four into the hunting rotation before the end of the season. The problem will not be these bright little dogs. The bigger problem may be training the guides and pointing dogs that will have to all work together as a team. Since dogs are much easier to train than people, I would dare say the guides who have never worked with these sensitive little souls may be the biggest challenge of all. Speaking on this subject reminds me of a quote by Robert Ruark that my good friend, Herb Haughton shared with me recently.Ruark said," If a man is really intelligent, there's practically nothing a good dog can't teach him. But a dumb man can't learn anything from a smart dog, while a dumb dog can occasionally learn something from a smart man."
 These Dog Days of summer will eventually give way to the scent of autumn, cooler nights, football season, AND hunting season. I can't wait !

Friday, August 15, 2014

travels

Martha and I just returned from two weeks in France on vacation with another couple we travel somewhere in the world with each year. I will not divulge their names to protect the innocent, but we always have fun together,and share a lot of laughs and memories together. Since couple "X" is almost as country as the Cox's, we generally fare well when we get out into the country side while struggling in the big cities.
 We spent three days in Paris before escaping to the Normandy region for the balance of the trip. Our first observation of Paris is that there has to be something wrong with a place that will charge more for a coke than a glass of wine. Our next "eureka moment" was that the Eiffel Tower was a much more impressive structure than we had envisioned from photos. It was a sight to see, and was right outside of our hotel room door. Speaking of hotels, I assume that our hotel really enjoyed having me there since they decided to trap me on an elevator for 30 minutes. Have I ever mentioned that I am extremely claustrophobic? Well, I am, and that is no joke. Maybe it comes from spending my life in open spaces. At any rate, the elevator was jam packed,had no ventilation, and had four heat lamps for lights. there was no "call box" or emergency button on the elevator. What saved us was having an employee of the hotel stuck with us. She was able to use her cell phone to call for help who took their own sweet time about arriving. I should have taken that as a sign from the Lord to go home, but I failed to listen.
 On the next day, we visited Versailles where I was trapped in a restroom the size of a shoe box. The handle on the outside worked, but there was no handle on the inside of the door. I did not panic this time because I had sized the door up, and had determined that I could kick the sucker off the hinges. I gave one loud shout for help, and was going to wait one minute before busting the door down. Luckily, my friend heard me, and opened the door. Of course he was laughing so hard that he could hardly turn the knob. It was at this point in time that I realized that the French folks loved me so much that they were determined to keep me in their country.
 A third observation is that all churches in France have the same name, Notre Dame, not to be confused with the football team. I did not see a single First Baptist Church in any town. This Notre Dame lady has the market cornered on churches there. Their churches also appear to be more museums than places of worship. I was disheartened to talk to many young French people who seem to think that religion is a thing of the past, and is only practiced by old folks. Almost all of the young French folks that I was able to talk to had formed their entire opinions of the U.S. by one visit to New York City. Now I have been to NYC many times and know many folks who live there, but folks that ain't typical of the USA that I know and live in.
 We spent most of our time in the Normandy region and absolutely loved it. We visited farms, apple orchards, and cheese production spots. That was where my buddy and I excelled with our small travel group because we knew what the folks were talking about at these locations. We visited one goat farm where they make cheese. The old stud Billy goat services the nannies 24 times a day for two months. One of our Yankee ladies on the tour asked why they called him a "Billy goat". Before the guide could respond, I said,"Hell, lady,he doesn't care what they call him with a job like that". I'm still nursing my bruised ribs from where Martha elbowed me.
 By far and away, the most memorable part of the trip was our visit to the site of the American forces landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day and the American Cemetery there. Martha and I found the cross of a Georgia boy and placed a flower at the base of his cross. I am not at all ashamed to say that I wept!
 For me my most favorite part of any trip is seeing my house and sleeping in my bed when I get home. I could live without these dang gnats, but I sure do love south Georgia. Since hunting season is fast approaching, my next blog will be more about what's going on here.