I may have been the only place in Decatur that was not getting rain, but I can tell you that my neighborhood was a dry one during most of the month of July.

We got enough sprinkles to keep having to cut the grass, but that is about it. Then along came August and it quickly turned around. Just a few days in the month and the even-numbered days have been wet. With just two rains, on the second and fourth, we have already gotten more rainfall than we had all of last month.

It is time to put some seasoning in the ground especially if you plan to put in a fall garden. We used to have a garden most all year, at least during the warmer months, when I was a kid. Now my daughter-in-law is getting into gardening and though hers is a small one, she is raising produce like a trooper. She has to do better on the squash, but the tomatoes and peas did right well.

Watermelons are a different story. They would have to have a garden the size of the eastern side of Bainbridge to grow enough fast enough to satisfy Kaylee. She is a watermelon eating little girl. I am better off buying her those than anyone trying to raise them. If she ever decides she likes any other kind of melon, it will take a lot of pressure off the watermelon growers.

The first of August has also brought us the delivery of the Georgia Hunting Seasons and Regulations booklets, which arrived right on time, the first of August as it is supposed to each year.

On page six is listed the major changes in rules and regulations since last year. Not much in that small section this year except for a small advantage for the under-16 hunters and an increase in the quota in alligators from 700 to 850 with each of the nine zones getting additional quota.

If the folks that decide how many gators are to be taken each year were to visit certain parts of Lake Seminole, the limit would go away and the hunters could take all they could anyway that they could.

Probably the most important hunting season for us is the deer season. Still three different seasons for us here in Decatur County. It begins with the archery season opening on Sept. 11 and running until Oct. 8.

From the 9th until the 15th is the primitive weapons season or black powder season as most folks in south Georgia refer to it. The long-awaited firearms season comes in the next day, the 16th of October and will hang in there until the 15th of January of next year, 2011. That is a little over four months to get your limit of deer, which has not changed from last year and it is 10 antlerless deer and two with antlers. One of those has to be at least four points on one side.

The next most popular hunting season in southwest Georgia is the dove season. It comes in on Sept. 4 until Sept. 19; Oct. 9 until Oct. 17; and finally the third season runs from the 25th of November until Jan. 8, 2011.

The third season has become our best one and lasts much longer than the other two. Again this year the squirrel season is the first to come in and that will happen in just a few days, on the 15th of August. Rabbit and quail will have to wait until the 13th of November.

Alligator season runs from Sept. 4 until Oct. 3, and the quota for Zone two, which is us, is 140 alligators. That will not make a dent in the population we have on the lake and the zone consists of six counties, four of which do not touch the lake at any point.

Get you hunting booklet from any dealer that sells license and start making plans for the upcoming hunting seasons.