I’m not certain that this has ever happened in my life which is a LONG time. Fall officially arrives this afternoon. Arriving right along with it is a cold front that will plunge our temperatures in the morning into the low 50’s also accompanied by low humidity. Now, this might not sound like such of a big deal to you folks who live north of the Smith & Wesson line. But for those of us who have suffered all summer with high heat and humidity, it is a God send.

Not only do we feel it, but our dogs do also. They have spent the summer getting fat and sassy. Now we are exercising them for two hours every morning, and they will have more pep in their step tomorrow. Just FYI, the dogs ain’t the only creatures who have gotten fat this summer. A few of our guides are also working off some pounds from this summer.

One of the primary ways that the guides are shedding weight each day after dog training is what they refer to as the dreaded lodge grounds cleanup. This task involves tough manual labor getting this apple polished before we open, and it usually takes about three weeks. The sound of chain saws, weed eaters, rakes, tree pruning, and cussing can be heard on my porch every day. Slinging the riverbanks with an old-fashioned sling blade kind of reminds me of chain gang work. We always give our new guides the nastiest jobs because if they are going to be quitters, we want them to quit now rather than during hunting season.

Speaking of the lodge grounds, all of our kitchen and cottage help have also returned to duty. They are diligently cleaning and sanitizing our cottages and getting them into pristine shape. The fig preserves have already been put up, but we made our pear preserves this week. I could smell them from my desk, and it made my stomach growl. Now if Retha would have just made me some of our famous Riverview cathead biscuits, I would have died and gone to heaven.

While I am on the subject of Retha, I want to honor the memory of her older sister, Dorothy, who passed away this past Sunday. Dorothy was our beloved head cook for many years and was married to one of our top guides for many years, Thomas Gaines. Both Thomas and Dorothy retired from Riverview after many years of loyal service. We pray for Tommy and his fine family and will always honor the memory of our dear Dorothy!

That about wraps up our busy activities on Riverview. Suffice it to say to say that we are excited and will be ready to see y’all in a few weeks. If you haven’t booked a date, I would encourage you to do so now as our phones are steadily ringing now for available dates for the 2021-2022 hunting season.

As always, I like to end with a few thoughts that either come from my own twisted mind or the Internet; so here they are:

1. As all of you know my beloved Martha was vertically challenged. I think that it’s a good idea to marry a short girl, and keep your guns up high. She still might get you, but you should be able to hear her dragging the chair.
2. 50 million kids were home schooled in the homes of gun owners, and not a single one of them was shot. It wasn’t the guns after all!
3. If a fence around the Capitol for our worthless politicians seems like a good idea but not on the US border, you must be a special kind of stupid.
4. And, finally following up on my “stupid” observation above. Duct tape can’t fix stupid, but it does muzzle the sound.

I hope everyone has a pleasant fall, and may God bless y’all!