This week i have been traveling in Kentucky and noticed several things that without thinking, brought a smile to my face. A combine was tooling down a road parallel to the interstate. The corn in the fields is turning brown. Some of the fodder corn (and where do I find da mudder corn?) has been cut and headed for the silo's.The temps this morning in Lexington this morning was 55*. A guy in a Jeep on his way to work had a hoodie on with the hood pulled tight. The sunrise was just after 5am, later than I was planning a trip for just a short while ago. This all spells that my favorite time of year is just about here. I don't know anyone on this site that doesn't look forward to the cooler weather and the changes it brings with it. The colors and foggy mornings and school zones are sure bet indicators that better fishing is very close. My attitude improves just thinking about it.
But Lo, this year it will be a bittersweet change as I won't get to enjoy it as I have for the past ten years. The Wife and I celebrated our 35th anniversary of our first date back in May and it goes without saying that She means the world to me. This past winter was hard on us in several ways. I was dropping and hooking trailers in 20* below temps and my bones, especially the ones that have been broken or fixed in the past, hurt for days with no relief found and I'm not going into pain killers. Joni has sat home for days on end with no family close by and the long gray periods really drag her down. There are other considerations but those are the main ones. We have 3 Granddaughters that aren't going to be young forever and we both long for time with them. So enter the upcoming changes. Next Tuesday is the first of September which to most folks doesn't mean a whole lot other than the rent is due. But to me and many like me it means the opener of Dove season. Right now I feel like jumping up and down like a kid on his birthday and Grandma just pulled in the driveway. Since I have been here in Tennessee I haven't missed an opener and they will all be remembered as some of the best shoots I have ever attended, and a couple go clean off the charts. I'll keep you posted on this years outcome but not having missed a limit yet my hopes are high. My wife will go to Chattanooga that afternoon and pick up our Daughter from the airport. The second will find us loading the truck and the third, if all goes as planned, we will caravan south back to where we came from. My job can't go with us but I have a good driving record and have had several good conversations with prospective employers. So we will once again be Floridians, not too far removed from Slabs wintertime digs. It's a big change but we are both looking forward to it. We will miss the seasons that we both enjoy but will be able to enjoy the young ones growing up. Hope Y'all enjoy the coming fall and catch a bunch of the bigger fish that the cooler temps get moving. I'll have my plate full of a lot of things but I think I know where the fish are. Wish us luck.......Skeet.
