Not an easy blog to write

While it seems like two years ago, it was actually only two weeks ago that my beloved wife of over 46 years, Martha, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This is the same type of cancer that claimed my mother's life over 30 years ago. While everyone has told me that there have been great strides in cancer surgeries and treatments in the past 30 years, this was still a very tough diagnosis for me to hear.

Back when I was really running Riverview on a day to day basis, I always trained my guides to stay away from the subjects of politics and religion because they are very controversial subjects. But I am going to break that rule here and state for the record that I am a very strong believer in God and the power of intercessory prayer. There is no doubt that God's grace and mercy have been very evident in how fast the past two weeks have unfolded.

Martha's OBGYN in Albany said that there was only one surgeon that he would send his wife or mother to if they had this diagnosis. Her Albany doctor was able to get her an appointment right away, and we went to Atlanta on Sunday of last week for a Monday appointment. The doctor in Atlanta said that he was booked through October on surgery, but he wanted to go ahead and perform an exam on Martha. While performing the exam, his office received a call that he had a surgery cancellation opening for Thursday of last week. However, there was one lady on the waiting list. He instructed his office to call that lady, and she was not quite ready.

We could see God's hands at work, and we accepted the opening right away for Martha to have surgery on last Thursday. As per normal operating procedures, we signed about 4000 forms, and were told of all of the dire outcomes. Dr. Feuer did say that, depending upon what he found, he might be able to perform the surgery robotically. If so, Martha's stay in the hospital , and recovery would be much shorter. My definition of eternity was the time between her being taken to surgery and the time the doctor came out to talk to us.

He was able to perform the surgery by robot, and in his own words he said, " I would deem this surgery an A+ success. I was able to get all of the cancer". We go back to see him this Monday, and we do know that we face chemo in our future, but we feel confident that God is going to restore Martha back to good health.

Now I know all of the statistics out there; so I know that many of you are facing similar situations with loved ones. I know that I am praying for a few of you like Mark's wife and others. I just thought it important to let everyone know why I have been so silent at the time of the year when I should be rambling on about hunting season getting ready to start up.

I will say that we are expecting our first fall weather to arrive tomorrow, and everything here looks great. In any company, succession planning is so important, and I am so glad that I started working on that plan years ago. Cader IV firmly has this place humming at top speed along with the help of Jerry and Greg. While I plan to be around as much as possible, my primary job is going to be in a role as " Nurse Nick" to Martha. As a natter of fact, I'm "driving Miss Daisy" to her beauty parlor appointment tomorrow, and this is being done by a man who has not needed anything but his "sidewalls" trimmed for years.

So long for now, but I hope to see many of you at Riverview during the 2016-2017 hunting season!

Of dogs and politicians

I know that we have all seen the funny emails over the years comparing dogs to wives. My personal favorite has always been the one about locking your dog and wife in the trunk of the car for an hour. Then open the trunk and see which one is the happiest to see you. That got me to thinking about comparing dogs to politicians, especially in this particularly insane political climate.

When I feed my dog, he has never immediately started begging for another bowl of food. When I give money to a politician, he starts asking for more money as soon as the first check clears the bank.

All politicians lie skilfully and often. I have had a few dogs false point on me from time to time, and occasionally a young dog will point a stink sparrow. But all of my dogs have been ashamed of themselves for being untruthful. A politician is born without a hint of shame. To say that a politician "lies like a dog" is an insult to all of the dogs that I have known.

Usually when a dog barks, he is trying to let you know something. Politicians bark incessantly without saying anything. When a dog defecates, the worst that can happen is that you get crap on your boots. With politicians, we get covered in doo-doo up to our ears. I could go on like this forever, but I think that everyone gets the message.

On the Riverview front, we have all begun our lodge grounds clean up. It kind of reminds me of the old chain gang crews except the equipment is more modern than the slings and axes of yesteryear. In this rich land and humid soil, a lot of things can grow up on the lodge grounds in six months that need to be pruned, cut, or completely eradicated. We are beginning to get into hunting season shape, and look forward to seeing a lot of old and new friends this season!

A short weather blog

I just wanted to send out this short blog letting everyone know that Riverview survived the hurricane with absolutely no damage. The forecast for us was for 35-50 mph winds along with 5-8 inches of rain. We were certain that we would lose power since all it takes for us to lose our electricity is for a mule to poot.

When we went to bed we had our lanterns, flashlights, and all of our emergency gear around us . We left all of our shutters open under the assumption that the lightning and strong winds would wake us up. Evidently the storm shifted just enough to the east of Riverview to spare us. We never lost power, and only received an inch of rain. The storm has now shifted north and east of us; so I would say that it is over here.

I have talked to friends in Tallahassee, Thomasville, and Valdosta. Many of those cities are without power with a lot of down power lines due to fallen trees on the power lines. Our thoughts and prayers got out to them as they begin the clean up from the hurricane. I have been there/done that, and it's not a lot of fun. But, it could have been much worse, and for that we are grateful