Summer Update 4R Ranch Newsletter
Hello to all our friends in the 4R Family! I trust this note finds you healthy, safe and enjoying your summer.
Jill and I are currently in New Mexico where you would be hard pressed to be any farther away from madness of The Three “Ps”: Pandemic, Protests and Politics. The greatest asset any small community possesses is independence. Independence in this sense is from all the chaos that is ensuing in the larger urban areas of our Country. Masks are minimal, tourists are flocking to the mountains in droves and spirits are high. When I asked the owner of the local Hardware Store if there had been any protests in Cloudcroft, he said “No!”. He then followed that up by saying, “if anyone lied down on the streets here in town they would get run over, they know that, so they don’t do it.” Frank talk is another asset in any town!
Jill is getting the calendar ready for the upcoming season and I ask everyone to be ready for change. The calendar normally falls together without a lot of juggling or consternation. However, with the Kung Fu-Flu, we are being ultra cautious in the lodge and that has thrown a fly in the ointment as it pertains to the calendar. Jill is working in a half day in between lodgers so her and Norma can thoroughly clean and sanitize the lodge. What that means to you is that your hunt day of the week might be changing. She is trying her best to keep your date(s) as close to where they were last year, but there will be several exceptions.
The news from the kennels is all great news. As most everyone knows we have been fighting the Kissing Bugs that carry Chagas Disease for over a dozen years now. In 2017 when we started testing and treating our dogs for Chagas, we had already lost 10 dogs to the disease and over 50% of our dogs tested positive on our first test. Fast-forward to 2020 and we have not lost a single dog to Chagas since 2017 and we have had no dogs test positive on 3 consecutive tests. What is most encouraging is that our environmental controls of pesticides and repellents work! We are not seeing the bugs in and around our kennels as in years past, which is remarkable compared to where we were two years ago.
Scotty and his family are preparing to be minus 1 when Austin leaves for college in August. Austin is going to Texas A&M Kingsville to study law enforcement and become a Texas Game Warden. He is also going to participate in track & field where he excelled in High School. We will sorely miss that young man. He has been a great asset to the 4R over the past 4 years and we wish him all the best as he begins this most exciting new chapter of his life.
On a closing note I walk the slippery slope of political correctness. As everyone knows, tearing down statues of Confederate Generals has become sport for some in these troubling times. As someone who loves and respects history, I am going to do my part to keep their history alive and well, albeit on a small scale. Therefore be ready for all of our young male 4R dogs to possess the names of these men. We cannot simply discard the parts of history we don’t like. There is no sanitizer strong enough to succeed in that enterprise and no person or persons morally capable of composing such a judge and jury.
In these times of uncertainty I find myself taking inventory of all the good that surrounds me everyday. I have good health and a family that loves me. I live in the single best place on the planet, Texas! I get to spend countless hours guiding you on quail hunts, visiting and laughing all the while. I am a hero to roughly 50 dogs! So yes, there is still plenty of great news that surrounds us daily and I cannot think of a better time to acknowledge and appreciate how great a life we have than today.
Adios for now;
Deryl & Jill
Posted in: News
