Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Fall season

I believe that I saw on our local weather station that South Georgia has gone 76 straight days during which our low temperatures at night have not fallen below the low 70's. Sometimes the seasons and the temperatures actually get on the same page. This weekend is Labor Day, and we are predicting temperatures in the mid 60's on Sunday and Monday.

This weekend also kicks off college football season, and there are some pretty big games being played on week one. My television and porch will be a very popular destination for me on Saturday. Hopefully by then, this tropical depression will have dumped a little rain on our thirsty soil. We have not had a drop
of rain since Martha and I returned from overseas on August 13th. Prior to then, we had been getting steady rains once or twice a week. Some folks at Riverview are beginning to draw unflattering conclusions about these two events. I plan to stick with my dad's old words of wisdom that stated "dry weather will scare you, but wet weather will ruin you". I've experience both extremes in my life, and I will take "too dry" any day of the week.

At any rate, our food plots have all made it, and our grain sorghum has all been harvested. A rain would be most welcome, but it is not critical at this moment. We would like to see some cooler weather so that we could have more productive hours of dog training, and that appears to be headed our way.

On an entirely different subject, it seems that any discussion of politics these days is difficult to have in a civil manner; so what I'm about to say is a matter of public record rather than an opinion. I just read the list of companies who have paid Hilary Clinton huge sums of money for her speeches. I recognize many of those companies as having visited here in the past. As anyone who has ever hunted with us knows, I always give a very in depth safety talk to each group. I never realized that I could have been charging $250,000+ for my speeches. I know what I talked about, but I certainly wonder what she said that was worth so much money?

In closing, if football season begins this weekend, we know that hunting season is also just around the corner, and we are VERY ready for that also. Come see us this season!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Seasons of the year

I do believe that I would hate to live in a location where the seasons never changed, even if the climate there was always pleasant. I look forward to the change of seasons in South Georgia, and enjoy each of them with the exception of summer. I just can't find anything positive to say about the summer season in my part of the country. Yesterday our temperature/humidity index reached 112 degrees. I raised the white flag and retreated to the AC.

Perhaps that is why my favorite season of the year here is fall. Fall is when I can see summer in my rear view window. Fall is also college football and hunting seasons, two of my favorite past times. I enjoy watching one and participating in the other. Living as close to nature as I do, I promise you that I can smell fall before it arrives. I've begun sniffing the air every morning in hopes of picking up that scent which I can't define. Regretfully, I have yet to smell it, but I know that any day now I might catch a whiff of it in the air. Right now, I can't sniff too hard because I might still inhale a bunch of gnats and have a sneezing fit.

Another sure indication that fall ids just around the corner is how much later daylight is coming. I have always been an early riser, and love to watch day slowly break. Just a few short months ago, we were in the sweet corn fields, and actually picking corn before 6:00 am with decent light. This morning it was 6:40 am before I could even begin to define the trees in my yard. Of course, Cader IV says that is because I can't see good, but I disagree with him on that point. I have noticed that he no longer trusts me to tell him that no cars are coming when we approach a stop sign while riding together.

So I would say," Please hurry up and arrive at Riverview, Mr. Fall Season". We are more than ready for your arrival. Well, maybe the quail are not too excited about it. However, if I were a quail, I think that I would prefer a quick, clean kill shot to being eaten alive by a hawk. Maybe that's kind of like choosing between Trump and Clinton.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

There's no place like home, Toto

I've always been told that there are three things that a man should never do--don't pee into the wind, don't pull on Superman's cape, and don't sword fight with Zorro. Well, I would like to add one more--do not try to visit five European countries in 13 days !

Martha and I just got back from a blitz of Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. We pulled into our drive at about 2:00 am yesterday morning, and my biological clock is still completely confused due to the six hour time difference. I was wide awake and drinking coffee at 3:30 this morning. I know that many of our guests routinely travel the world on business. I just want you to know that I have an even higher respect for the lifestyle so many of our executive guests lead than ever before.

Although we saw many beautiful and historic sites, I have never seen a more beautiful sight than my home and river, highlighted by a full moon, as we finally pulled into our yard. Even the armadillo rooting up my grass looked good. Of course he will look even better when he is dead before the end of the week.

Cader IV told me that when Jonah left( that would be me), we got beneficial rains almost every day. He rode me all around yesterday, and our woods and food plots have never looked better. I was shocked at how much our grain sorghum had matured while I was away. We planted several hundred acres under center pivots in order to supplemental feed the quail during the fall and winter months. We combine this grain sorghum, store it in our grain bins, and then spread it in the woods from October through March. When I left, this grain was a golden yellow, and when I returned, it was brown and ready for harvest.

One thing that I did NOT miss while we were on our trip was the non-stop, incessant political commentary of all of the 24 hour news channels. I've about decided that ignorance may be bliss. I miss the days when Walter Cronkite told us everything we needed to know once a night in a 30 minute broadcast. However, I was unaware of the devastating flooding in Louisana  until I got home. Having lived through two historic floods here in 1994 and 1998, my prayers go out to all of my friends in that great state

In closing this short blog, let me say that I would like to reach a larger audience with these blogs; so please feel free to forward them, or send me a name of anyone whom you think might be interested in being added to this list. One of my goals in writing, other than the pure joy of writing, is to introduce more potential guests to Riverview.

Everything looks great here. All we need now is for fall to arrive along with YOU !