Hubby ran out to the hardware store and picked up the items we needed while I did some scrubbing on the area that we will be working on today. Managed to complete the job by mid-afternoon, yeah!!! Looks great, glad we finally have a new awning to replace the one that’s been deteriorating for some time now. We also did a few other odd jobs just to finish off the day, setting up a nice living area in the “patio” we now have under the awning. Relaxed for the evening, happy that we are checking items off the list. Somehow, it seems most of the rest of the jobs are relatively minor now, hoping to get a few more done tomorrow, since the weather looks like it will be too bad to go riding, which was our original plan. Horses are bored and need some attention, but there’s a 30 percent chance of rain. We also are expecting a package from UPS, a new credit card, as some illicit charges suddenly showed up yesterday which have been identified as fraudulent, so security is requiring us to get a new card (darn it, another card number I have to memorize!)
Archives for 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012 – Doctor and Shopping
Went to a doctor’s appointment for Hubby around mid-day, then did a little essential shopping. Arrived home and after lunch we started to work on replacing the awning on the RV, a long-awaited chore that’s one of the major jobs still on our list of things to do. Got more than halfway done, but need to take a trip to the hardware store before we can finish, to pick up some new bolts and screws to replace the old ones. Hoping to finish this tomorrow so that we can progress the plot!
Sunday, March 4, 2012 – Catch Up on Blog
Spent the day doing more laundry, catching up on my blog (sorry, it got way overdue!), and trying to get over the back ache, once and for all.
Saturday, March 3, 2012 – Rest and Odd Jobs
Still feeling achey and tired, so we just did a few things around the house and then relaxed in front of the TV most of the day, though we did unpack and I did do laundry.
Friday, March 2, 2012 – Rest and Catscan
Slept as late as we could, feeling thoroughly exhausted from all our activity. Headed out to the testing place for the catscan, waited almost half an hour before going in for the three-minute procedure. That’s all we had the energy for today anyway, crashed for the rest of the day.
Thursday, March 1, 2012 – Travel Day From Miami, Dr. Appt.
Slept late, headed down to the little Spanish restaurant next door to the hotel where we got a great breakfast for about half the price of the hotel, packed and were out at noon. Made several stops along the way, including getting lost BIG TIME trying to find the feed store in Palm City where I had ordered some senior feed for the horses. My Verizon GPS was just totally off, and the roads are so weird up there we just couldn’t figure it out. Anyway, we wasted do much time there we just made it to Hubby’s doctor’s appointment in Jupiter, a new doctor that will hopefully finally solve his back problem once and for all. He ordered a catscan for tomorrow, and we headed home, exhausted once again.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 – Work Day
Spent the day facilitating Day Two of our workshop. Finished up by 4:00, went to happy hour, had fish and chips for dinner, then changed into our bathing suits and went down to the pool and hot tub for a while, which helped my back quite a bit. Got back to the room and discovered that one of the two movie channels was doing a Star Trek Movie Marathon. The next one starting was one of my favorites, IV (the one about the whales), and I was glued until the end of VI, which was about 1:00 am.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 – Work Day
Spent the day facilitating Day One of our workshop. Had a Chinese restuarant deliver food so we could rest as much as possible, also had a hot bath to ease my back.
Monday, February 27, 2012 – Rest Day
Slept late, ordered a room service breakfast so we wouldn’t have to go anywhere (it was excellent, first time I ever had room service eggs over easy that were cooked to perfection and even still hot!) Spent the day between the bed and a hot bath, until we finally had to go down and get the meeting room ready for tomorrow. Then we got a call from our friends Don and Toni, who had driven down from Melbourne Beach just to spend the first day at our workshop, and we met them for drinks and a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, before retiring by 9:00 for a good night’s sleep.Sunday, February 26, 2012 – OTL Trail Ride and Travel Day
Well, today’s the day! Since last year we’ve wanted to do the Ocean to Lake Trail Ride (though in reality, it goes from near the lake to near the ocean, but who’s counting?), and though our original plan was to do both Friday and Sunday, it’s probably working out for the best that we only do Sunday, as we have an extremely busy schedule this week and we’re already tired from all the work on vehicle repairs that we’ve had to do, not to mention the pain we were both in from our respective back problems. A quick stop at the McDonalds to pick up breakfast, and off we go to Jupiter Farms Park for the start of the ride. We saddled up in our usual way, then at 8:30, following some last minute instructions from one of the organizers, we headed out the road. Before stayed toward the back, as our horses aren’t used to all those horses and people around, but they’re so calm they fell into step almost immediately. Everything would have been fine except some guy on horseback came rushing up behind us, with a poncho flapping behind him, and my horse, usually oblivious to such things, was so startled he started rodeo-ing on me, finishing with his head down and me landing on his neck before sliding onto the tarmac on my hip. I’m sure if I had been 100% I would have been fine, but with my back twisted from yesterday, I was far from 100%, so I couldn’t keep my balance and hit the street rather hard. Seems I only fall off when I’m already under the weather, last time it was when I had been in bed with the flu for a week! Anyway, after a minute to catch my breath, I climbed back up into the saddle (to the applause of a couple of bystanders), and off we went. The weather was cloudy and a little windy, which, frankly, was better than hot and humid, which it had been earlier in the week, the temps perfect in the upper 60’s for the start of the ride. We trailed along some roads in the neighborhood until we reached Riverside Park, taking trails which, for the most part, we had done before. At the north end of the park, we were directed through an underpass they call a Critter Crossing, to get to the north of Indiantown Road, then followed that a bit until we reached a spot where we all had to bunch up, then the sheriff’s office stopped traffic on the six-lane highway while we crossed the bridge across the river. It only took about 5-10 minutes for everyone to cross, and then we were on our way! The next section we hadn’t been on before, through Cypress Creek Park, until we went through some old groves and under a couple more narrow and dark critter crossing under the Florida Turnpike and I-95. Shortly afterward, there was a water stop, then a water crossing across the Hobe Ditch (which didn’t phase our guys a bit, fortunately), until we were on the well-marked trails of Jonathon Dickinson State Park. It wasn’t too long before we started recognizing that area, as we had ridden there a number of times last year. We arrived at the final picnic area right at 2:00, in time for lunch but too late for the first shuttle back to the parking area where we left the trailer. We unsaddled, watered and fed the horses, then enjoyed a rather large burrito and chips for lunch (included in the ride price), before rinsing the horses off. The whole time I was struggling because of my wrenched back, which I knew some people would interpret as being out of shape for the ride, which, as you know, is about as far from the truth as can be! That part really sucked. Anyway, we killed a couple of hours until the final shuttle left at 4:00, when I got carried back to the park, picked up the vehicles and finally arrived back at JD about 5:00. Got home after 6:00, settled the horses in, finished packing, dropped off the horse trailer, fed everyone, then headed south to Miami. Arrived at our hotel (the Marriott on Biscayne Bay) around 9:00, exhausted, in pain and ready to do NOTHING until Tuesday morning when we have a Workshop to facilitate. We both took painkillers, I had a hot bath, and off to bed we went.