Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Random thoughts from a mature mind

Well, our weather man called for 3-6 inches of rain yesterday while we received just a shade less than one-tenth of an inch. These folks predict the weather about as good as I predict the stock market. In actuality, the light drizzle worked in our favor since we have just finished planting all of our winter rye grass on the lodge grounds. A deluge would have just washed the seed up into piles, and we would have been forced to replant. Additionally, all of our fertilizer would have leached out, and we would have needed to re-fertilize all of the property. The aforementioned weatherman is also calling for lows in the 50's this weekend; so I think that I will make certain to have my shorts and T-shirts ready for a heat wave.
 This is the time of the year that the gnats start declining in favor of the love bugs. I think that I like love bugs better. As I was sitting on the patio overlooking the beautiful Flint River yesterday, I noticed something interesting. There was an old lady on the other side of the river who was throwing her bait as far out in the river as she could cast. Meanwhile there was a man fishing from a boat in the middle of the river who was casting his plug as close to the shore as he could possibly get it. Don't you think that is as good of a definition of "the grass always being greener on the other side" as one can observe.
 It kind of reminds me of the banking industry. I once thought that that bankers had such an easy life. They worked from 9:00-5:00 just raking in money, and having a good time. How I wished that I could be a banker, and not have to work so hard for a living! Well, my wish came true in 1994 at least from a bank director's stand point. Having just served 20 years in that capacity, I have decided that my day job is much better than a career in banking.
 My Dad got in this business in 1957 after attending a seminar on how to make money and have fun in the hunting business. I have been attending those same seminars for years. I'm waiting on one that is titled" how to get out of the hunting business once you are in it". Since I never found that seminar, I did the next best thing. I stuck Cader IV with the headaches, and am enjoying being an adviser and grandparent.
 I'm going to jump back to my patio for a final rambling thought. As Martha and I were sitting out on the patio, I watched about 12 turkeys amble through the yard. I was actually watching for our little albino deer that is living somewhere in my back yard when the turkeys strolled through. As I was reflecting on this beautiful creation of God's, Martha casually asked me which vacation I had enjoyed the most this summer. Now I have not stayed married for 44 years to the same woman by being stupid, but I do sometimes speak before placing my brain in gear. I said,"Honey, I am enjoying this time on the patio more than any vacation destination we had this year because I have not had to visit the first cathedral or museum." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the fight started!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Fall

Fall officially arrives in south Georgia at 10:36 pm this evening, and, right on cue, Mother Nature is pushing us a cold front through here tonight. We should have very fall-like conditions here for the balance of the week. One thing is certain--we are flat ready for fall at Riverview. The woods are beautiful, and the dogs are playing themselves into hunting season shape with dog running occurring two hours each morning now.
 We have also brought in all of our kitchen and housekeeping staff to begin cleaning and going through all of our cottages. Greg says that we will plant our winter grass on all of the lodge grounds later in the week. When that grass starts coming up, I know that the arrival of guests is just around the corner.
 This past Saturday, I took my triplet nine year old grandchildren on a dove hunt. I had already tried the two boys with a shotgun earlier, and neither of them have quite enough upper body strength to handle a shotgun yet other than at a gun range. Nate and Keaton did kill hundreds of doves(according to them) with their BB guns while Eva picked every dove I killed up without losing a single bird. She is the best pick-up person I have ever had, at least of the two-footed version. I would tell you how many she picked up, but let's just say that she picked up the limit.
 I did have one minor problem with my little pick-up lady. During the best 40 minutes of the hunt, she looked at me with those big beautiful eyes and said, "Papa, I need to go to the bathroom, and I can't do that out here. You need to take me to Mimi's house". So, away we went. When I shared this story with my son, Cader IV, he looked at me and stated,"Who is this old person in my dad's body"? Then he proceeded to remind me of the time that he got stung by 4 bees on a dove hunt, and I would not take him to the house. He then recounted the time he cut himself with his pocket knife on another shoot, and I suggested that he pee on it and rub some turpentine on the cut because I was not leaving the field.
 Grandchildren are different, and that is all i have to say on that subject!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Of Boys,puppies, and shotguns

I've always believed that if a parent can teach his children to love the outdoors, that parent is leaving his children a legacy much more important than any monetary wealth he might leave them.Those children will always enjoy life, and be a lot less likely to get in trouble. One of the most interesting correlations that I ever read concerning prisons is that very few prisoners have ever owned a hunting or fishing license.
 The first time I ever shot a shotgun is a memory that I will hold and treasure forever. Looking back, I can readily admit that I was much too young and small to pull the trigger, but I begged my Dad so hard that he pulled the dogs in close just in case I could not hold the muzzle up. I never knew for certain whether Pop loved me or his bird dogs the most. At any rate, he handed me his 12 gauge, LC Smith double barrel and double triggered shotgun, and advised me to step on up. A covey of quail burst out from under my feet. I managed to get that heavy gun up to my shoulders, and promptly pulled both triggers at the same time. By some stroke of fate, a bird fell. As the bird was falling, so was I--minus my two front teeth that the shock of the recoil knocked out of my mouth. Pop always said that he had never seen anyone laugh and cry at the same time until then.
 My favorite Christmas was the Christmas that Santa brought me a 20 gauge single shot, shotgun, a hatchet, and a non-folding knife. I already had been well-schooled in gun safety, but Pop went through the importance of gun safety again before turning me loose with this one piece of advice, " do not shoot anything that you do not plan to eat unless it's a varmint." The only problem with that advice is that he failed to give me a definition of a "varmint". I promptly went out in the yard and shot a squirrel out of a pecan tree. We always called them "tree rats"; so I figured that squirrels were varmints. According to Pop, a squirrel was an edible animal. Since I had killed him, I had to clean and skin him, and Mom would cook him for me to eat. In my later years, I cleaned an entire deer quicker than it took me to handle my first outdoor butchering process of my trophy squirrel with my brand new knife that would hardly cut hot butter.
 My favorite memory involving teaching Cader IV to shoot was the year that I was training him and a new lab puppy at the same time. The day that I finally decided that both were ready, we took my boat to a little island on the river to try to bushwhack some doves flying in to water and pick up a little sand grit from the river. I had Cader standing in front of me, and had Josie on a leash. The action would go like this-- a dove would come drifting in, Cader IV would shoot falling back on me. I would catch him with one hand, and grab Josie's leash with the other hand while yelling,"Stay, Josie, and no, Cader, you did not hit that bird". At the end of the afternoon, I was completely sweated down. If memory serves me correctly, Cader IV killed four doves, and Josie retrieved all four of them. Those are precious memories !
 Both of my daughters can shoot also, but they kind of lost interest in it when they started wearing make-up, but they both still enjoy fishing. Thanks to the outdoors and the good Lord, none of my children, who are now parents themselves, ever got in trouble while growing up.
 Hunting season is just around the corner. The weatherman says that we should feel our first hint of fall next week, and we are ready for it!