We have made amazing progress in our cleanup efforts of our hunting courses since hunting season ended. We now have 11 hunting courses that look pristine. I would like to give a big shout out of thanks to Yancey Brothers Caterpillar for helping us secure some much needed logging equipment like skidders. We already own enough heavy equipment to have our own little construction company, but there were a few pieces of the puzzle missing, and the good folks at Yancey helped us fill that void. We have also bartered a bit with our timber buyers to use a bit of their equipment. We knew that it was going to happen, but the timber mills have finally ceased taking our downed trees for the magnificent sum of $1 per ton. The price was not as important as the fact that they were getting it out of the woods. Now, we are using the equipment that we either own or lease to drag everything to various points to pile and burn. There is a dual purpose for this. First, it will make our courses beautiful again. Secondly, removing down or damaged trees will lessen the chance of bugs spreading from bad timber to our good timber, and we still have plenty of good timber standing. Some of you MAY even be able to see the quail better, and will lose one of your favorite alibis. Jerry is supervising this program while Greg is concentrating on our blueberry and orange projects.
Even though it has slowed up our piling and burning this week, we are finally getting some much needed rainfall. We got almost three inches of rain scattered over three days late last week and weekend, and more is predicted for today. Since we burned all of Riverview this year, which is something that we never do, in an effort to burn up the small and scattered pine tops, we really needed the rain to begin the regeneration of our natural ground cover. I have not prayed for rain since the great flood of 1994, but I did casually mention to God in prayer the other night that it was getting a bit dry down here. I expect to see the black ground to begin turning green again this week. All in all, Cader IV and the gang are doing an even better job of restoration than I had even dared to hope for.
Up until this week, it has been an unusually cold spring for us down here with lows in the 40’s and highs in the mid 60’s, which is at least 15 degrees cooler than normal for this time of the year. Someone told me that it has been so cold that Elizabeth Warren is now claiming to be an Eskimo. I will make no such claim, but I know that I am keeping a hat on this follically challenged head. After the next two days, our weather appears to return to normal. We should see temperatures back up into the low 80’s by midweek.
I just have to close with a few observations and quotes, which are mostly aimed at Washington. Congresswoman Ortez who claims not to be the village idiot because she lives in the city is now terribly concerned that cow flatulence might destroy the earth. I’m assuming that her solution is to do away with all of our cows. I have a newsflash for her—Democrats poot too. Why don’t we get rid of them, and keep the cows. I like my beef. I love the cartoon that I saw recently where a cow walks up to her and says, “here, pull my hoof.”
Now, I will close with a few quotes from some famous people who really nailed it. Ronald Reagan once said, “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” This president really had a way with words. The comedian, Dennis Miller said, “Quite frankly, for Trump to receive a nice welcome to California, he’d have to come here illegally.”
One of the greatest writers and satirists of all time was Will Rogers. These last quotes all come from him:
- The short memories of American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.
- Our Constitution protects aliens, drunks, and US Senators.
- There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
Boy, where are Will Rogers and Lewis Grizzard when we need them so much to point out the insanity of our politically correct but clueless elected officials. I hope that you and your families are enjoying a great spring. My heart and prayers go out to the folks along the Mississippi who are experiencing terrible flooding. Having survived two epic floods here, I can really empathize with what they are facing.