If there is such a thing as a slow time at Riverview, it is the period from mid-July until the end of August. It is also the most unpleasant time of the year in South Georgia as the heat, humidity and gnats all seem to peak at the same time. In the old days when I was still running the company, if I wanted to find an employee during this time of the year, all I had to do was find the shady spots on Riverview.

Seriously, all of the sweet corn has been harvested and sold, all of the food plots have been planted and look great. This is a time of the year when we are down to maintenance on equipment, woods mowing, road work, jeep repairs and painting, and building and maintenance repairs. We probably would not need to paint many jeeps annually if we had a few less guests who could distinguish a jeep from a quail. Of course, I do believe by the midpoint of each hunting season, some of our more wily coveys of quail have learned to flush straight towards the jeep in hopes of not getting shot at. Most of them don’t get fired upon, but a few still do!

Since this is a slow time and I have very little to update or report on, I thought that I would close by sharing a few thoughts with my “mature” guests. I knew that it was time for me to turn the business over to Cader IV when I realized that I was writing birthdates on licenses for guests, and would realize that some of my hunting boots were older than my guests. So with that thought in mind, here are just a few comments for those of you still of my generation. And for those of you who are not there yet, if God graces you to reach this age, you will feel the same way. Trust me on that! My dad warned me that this age business would sneak up on me before I knew it, but I failed to recognize how right he was.

1. Begin each day as if it were on purpose. Try very hard not to be surprised to wake up to another day, and thank God for it.
2. I hate it when I see an old person and realize that we were in high school together.
3. When I was a kid, I wanted to get older – this mess is not what I expected.
4. I sometimes think that our dog is watching us with this thought in mind, “Crap, if these old folks fall, who is going to feed me.”
5. And finally, and my favorite — Age is merely the number of years that the world has been enjoying you!

Confirmation notices and deposit requests will be going out this week, and the pace will begin to pick up here before long as serious dog work and grounds grooming will begin in September. I hope everyone has a great week!